Search Results
Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality Oral History Collection, 2014-2015 35 Volumes (transcripts: 2554 pp.) 285 Gigabytes (1,462 digital files)
- Creator
- Columbia University. Institute for Research on Women and Gender
- Abstract Or Scope
-
The Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality (IRWGS) at Columbia University is an interdisciplinary institute for feminist scholarship and education. It was established as the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWAG) in 1987. Anticipating its 25th anniversary, the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality (IRWGS) approached the Columbia Center for Oral History Research (CCOHR) in 2012, about an oral history project to document the history of the department and the growth and development of feminism at Columbia. The IRWGS Oral History Project was conducted with funding from the President's Office and was the first project undertaken by CCOHR in its new home at the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE). Interviews with current and past directors of IRWGS, affiliated and allied faculty, administrators, and students were conducted between 2014 and 2015. The Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality Oral History Project is comprised of interviews with 36 individuals involved in the founding and development of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality (IRWGS) at Columbia University. Interviewers conducted these interviews over 68 sessions, creating over 90 hours of recordings. Nine of these sessions were recorded on video, and interviews have been transcribed. Interviewers were guided by a set of research questions, which emphasized the role of IRWGS as a political actor within the broader context of Columbia University, agitating for the inclusion of feminist analysis and practice. As the project progressed, questions expanded to explore issues of generation, activism, the developments within feminism(s), evidence of increasing support of IRWGS by the university, and the challenge of addressing diversity, sexuality and other forms of social difference theoretically and as professional practice.
- Collection Context
Greg Pflugfelder, 2014 December 10, 2015 January 29
- Abstract Or Scope
-
In the first session of this interview, Greg Pflugfelder explains how he was first inspired to study gender history through the instruction of Barbara Solomon during his undergraduate years at Harvard. He addresses his following years at Waseda University and Stanford University and the continuation of his research on gender history, including the publication of his first book Politics and the Kitchen: A History of the Women's Suffrage Movement in Akita Prefecture. Pflugfelder discusses how he began to research sexuality studies and what the intellectual environment was like for the study of queer history at that time. Pflugfelder describes his initial involvement with IRWGS after joining the East Asian Language and Cultures department at Columbia University in 1996, including his contribution of a focus on queer and sexuality studies to the Institute. In the second session of this interview, Pflugfelder explains his role in IRWGS's Executive Committee and his role as a male scholar within the Institute. He also explains how he, along with Lila Abu-Lughod, helped contribute to IRWGS's shift from a primarily Western perspective to a global one. Pflugfelder goes on to address the unique interdisciplinary space IRWGS is on Columbia's campus and its importance as both an intellectual and social community.
- Collection Context
Rosalind Morris, 2014 December 17, 2015 February 26
- Abstract Or Scope
-
Rosalind Morris begins this interview by discussing the status of the Department of Anthropology upon her arrival at Columbia University. She goes on to describe her interest in IRWGS's content and teaching style. Morris also discusses her role in the establishment of the IRWGS Feminist Interventions series. Additionally, Morris discusses the problems faced by IRWGS throughout her directorship including the crises of labor and energy, the institutional vulnerability of IRWGS' faculty, the ongoing debates about activism in the classroom, the relationship between institutional marginality and autonomy, and the Institute's relationship with Barnard College. Morris explains the evolution of IRWGS in its inclusion of queer studies, race studies, and third-wave feminism. She also focuses on the resurgence of misogyny and white supremacy in response to these ideas. Here she discusses 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, and sexual assault on college campuses, citing Emma Sulkowicz's Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight).
- Collection Context
Julie Crawford, 2014 December 18
- Abstract Or Scope
-
Crawford begins this interview with a discussion of her time as a junior faculty member at Columbia University and her experience working within a union at Simon Fraser University. She explains how this experience increased her awareness of unfair institutional practices and contributed to the subsequent creation of the Junior Faculty Committee to empower faculty. Crawford talks about joining IRWGS, being respected as an individual, and the challenges of being a female professor. She cites Jean Howard as a mentor. As the Chair of Lit Hum, Crawford describes the Feminist to the Core Series, and how to transform classroom debate into fruitful discussion. Crawford discusses the ways in which IRWGS has become more interdisciplinary, and the titular recognition of "sexuality" in IRWGS. Crawford discusses her close relationship with Katherine Franke, and the importance of intellectual and institutional support among IRWGS faculty. Crawford continues with a discussion of thinking globally, the relationship of feminism to global justice, and Third World Feminism. Crawford also talks about the Title IX complaint filed against Columbia University and No Red Tape's shortcomings, her own experience with activism as an undergraduate student, the importance of intellectualism in activism, and how she was affected by the death of Trayvon Martin. She goes on to discuss the benefits and limitations of the internet for contemporary feminists, IRWGS's relationship to Columbia's CORE curriculum, and how to minimize misogyny on campus. Finally, Crawford describes the size of the university administration and number of faculty appointments during her career at Columbia.
- Collection Context
Alice Kessler-Harris, 2014 December 18
- Abstract Or Scope
-
Across this four-session interview, Alice Kessler-Harris discusses her research and early career which emerged from the women's movement of the 1970s. Kessler-Harris discusses her role as a lead witness in the 1986 case brought against Sears, Roebuck and Company for gender discrimination, and her related 1990 publication A Woman's Wage. Kessler-Harris talks about the beginnings of her academic career, including her experiences teaching at Rutgers University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Hofstra University. She also discusses the guidance she received from Rutgers historian Warren Sussman and her work with District 65 of the United Automobile Workers union before accepting a position at Columbia University. Kessler-Harris discusses the introduction of gender as a category of analysis in the 1990s and, upon her arrival at Columbia, the transition within the women's studies department from activist scholarship to public intellectualism, and the increasingly post-structural, theoretical direction of women's studies. Additionally, Kessler-Harris describes what she sees as a decline in student activism while also acknowledging the role of students in helping her create safe spaces for transgender students. Furthermore, Kessler-Harris discusses her program "Social Justice After the Welfare State" at the Center for the Study of Social Difference, and the role of intersectionality in the future of IRWGS.
- Collection Context
Patricia Dailey, 2014 December 18, 2015 June 16
- Abstract Or Scope
-
In the first session of this interview, Dailey explains her introduction to medieval studies, the benefits of graduate studies, and her activism as the Director of IRWGS. Dailey discusses her graduate studies at the University of California, Irvine in Comparative Literature under Jacques Derrida and Jean-François Lyotard. Dailey discusses how she developed her own literary approach and considers her work to be a reaction to the first wave of feminist medieval scholarship. She cites Caroline Walker Bynum's book,Holy Feast and Holy Fast, as a particularly inspiring work. Dailey goes on to describe her role as Director of IRWGS, including her introduction of a University seminar on affect studies, and the involvement of professors from EALAC (East Asian Languages and Cultures), such as Hikari Hori and Mana Kia, with IRWGS. Dailey also describes the creation of the Junior Faculty Advisory Board. Dailey describes the challenges of single parenting and the pressures of the academy, naming Alondra Nelson as a mentor throughout these challenges.
- Collection Context
Gillian Lindt, 2014 December 19
- Abstract Or Scope
-
Lindt begins this interview with a discussion of her time as chair of the Columbia University Ad Hoc Committee on Women's Studies. Lindt describes the emerging questions concerning women in academia in the mid- to late-1980s at Columbia. Lindt talks about the formation of IRWGS, the procedural challenges facing the young institute, and the impact of IRWGS on Columbia's academic environment, including a new examination of the Core Curriculum. Lindt then moves into a discussion of the Breslow Committee, a panel created in 1980 to consider the implementation of co-education at Columbia. Lindt cites her experience on the Breslow Committee as one which further motivated her to advocate on behalf of women in the academy. Lindt describes the inequality evident in the classroom following the admission of women, and the silence of both Barnard and Columbia College students. Lindt discusses the dilemma of teaching versus research experienced by faculty. She also discusses issues of sexual assault at Columbia and the ways that women's studies addresses sexual violence and harassment.
- Collection Context
Ellen MacKay, 2014 December 30
- Abstract Or Scope
-
In this interview, Ellen MacKay discusses her early life including her high school studies, her undergraduate years at Barnard College, and her appreciation of the theater—all of which helped direct her course of study. MacKay details her most influential courses and instructors, including an undergraduate Feminist Text course with Ellen Chesler and a graduate course on early modern theater with Jean Howard, which led to her personal pursuit of a greater knowledge of history, literary criticism, and feminist theory. Jean Howard, along with Julie Crawford and Rachel Adams, became both a mentor and role model for MacKay and led her to pursue a graduate certificate at IRWGS. MacKay discusses the inspiration and guidance she received under these women and others. Additionally, MacKay addresses the influence IRWGS's Feminist Pedagogy workshop had on her career.
- Collection Context
Barbara Simon, 2014 January 21, 2015 March 11
- Abstract Or Scope
-
In the first session of this interview, Barbara Simon talks about her early involvement with the newly-established IRWGS upon her arrival at Columbia University in 1986. Simon talks at length about how IRWGS became a significant part of her scholarship at Columbia. At IRWGS, Simon says, she found scholars with similar ideas, gave a book talk after the publication of her first book Never Married Women, and participated in a grant-funded faculty seminar on intersectionality in feminism that continued to inform her work at the time of the interview. Simon also addresses the current state of IRWGS, applauding the institute for becoming more interdisciplinary and theoretically sophisticated, and for adding 'sexuality' to its name. Simon talks about the necessity of studying both gender and sexuality. Simon discusses how she was drawn to the Columbia University School of Social Work (CSSW) and the challenges she has faced as a qualitative researcher, ethnographer, feminist scholar, activist, and an openly gay woman. Simon puts emphasis on the challenges which still remained at the time of the interview, including circumstances which make it very difficult for scholars to teach interdisciplinarily at centers like IRWGS. In the second session of this interview, Simon offers advice, imagines the possible future of IRWGS, and notes the continuing problems for feminism on Columbia's campus and elsewhere. Additionally, Simon addresses the administration's response to issues of sexual assault on campus and the relationship between IRWGS and Barnard College.
- Collection Context