Feminist Activism in Academia
Essays on Personal, Political and Professional Change
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About the Book
The eleven essays making up this book unite scholars from various disciplines to explore how feminists live, survive, and thrive in academia. The pieces investigate innovative ways that women academics occupy the space of the Academy as real living bodies while resisting being judged, devalued, or valued on the basis of their biological bodies. Specific themes include abortion rights activism, authority in the classroom, feminist mentoring, the role of women’s studies programs, division of labor, and the role of theater and performance in enacting lasting change.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Edited by Ellen C. Mayock and Domnica Radulescu
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 206
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4568-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5770-0
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ellen Mayock and Domnica Radulescu 1
Part I: Feminist Pedagogies and Mentorship
Defending a Choice for Women: A Feminist Video Ethnography
Beverly Yuen Thompson 11
Get Out of My Uterus! A Manifesto against Reproductive Politics in the Academic World and in the World at Large
Domnica Radulescu 27
Teaching to Spite Your Body
Robin M. LeBlanc 45
Running the Gauntlet: Battling Sexism in Academia with Greasepaint, Bed Sheets, and Mardi Gras Beads
Norma Bowles 61
Feminist Mentorship in the Academy: Revolutionary Feminism in Action
Jennifer A. Boisvert 78
Mothering Out of Place: Deconstructing the Maternal Wall in Academia
Jeanine Silveira Stewart 98
Part II: Negotiating the Academy
Post-Tenure: A Performance of Blatant Subversion
Kathleen Juhl 112
“Mothering Language” in the Academic Workplace
Ellen Mayock 126
On the Front Lines: Feminist Activism in a Catholic University
Cate Siejk and Jane A. Rinehart 142
Motherhood Status and the Limits of Flexibility: Recognition and Invisibility among Women Faculty at a Public Liberal Arts University
Karin E. Peterson and Alice A.Weldon 160
The Tender Track
Sara Warner 176
About the Contributors 191
Index 195
Book Reviews & Awards
“Each of the authors takes a different approach in how she view and experiences the academy…this diversity adds richness and complexity to the volume”—Feminist Formations; “illuminating, inspiring and inventive, this collection documents the ongoing struggle women in academia face in their efforts to help obliterate sexism and its ideological as well as practical consequences”—Letras Femeninas; “This collection clarifies the vexations of trying to be an ethical professor, an honorable human being, and a woman, in a context in which ‘female’ and ‘academic’ are too often oxymoronic. Each writer details struggles faced in the classroom, at faculty meetings, or during parents’ weekend, as they find their authority challenged because of their gender. Filled with personal and theoretical wisdom, these essays shake the ivory tower at its foundation in white upper-class male privilege.”—Jill Dolan, Director, Program in the Study of Women and Gender, Princeton University.