Staging Women's Lives in Academia

Description

Staging Women's Lives in Academia demonstrates how ostensibly personal decisions are shaped by institutions and advocates for ways that workplaces, not women, must be changed. Addressing life stages ranging from graduate school through retirement, these essays represent a gamut of institutions and women who draw upon both personal experience and scholarly expertise. The contributors contemplate the slipperiness of the very categories we construct to explain the stages of life and ask key questions, such as what does it mean to be a graduate student at fifty? Or a full professor at thirty-five? The book explores the ways women in all stages of academia feel that they are always too young or too old, too attentive to work or too overly focused on family. By including the voices of those who leave, as well as those who stay, this collection signals the need to rebuild the house of academia so that women can have not only classrooms of their own but also lives of their own.
Preface
Introduction

Part I. Graduate School

1. A Job That Gets Old Fast: Age Studies, Academic Labor Criticism, and the Graduate Employee
Heather M. Steffen

2. Discourse of Aspiration: A Community of Nontraditional Women Students
Nancy Scott Fox

3. The Accidental Academic, or How to Succeed in Academia through Failure and Doubt
Jennifer Ann Ho

4. Uses of My Anger: Negotiating Mothering, Feminism, and Graduate School
Martha Pitts

5. The Chaos of Kairos: Conflicting Discourses of Timing, Mothering, and Flexibility
Jessica Ketcham

Part II. Early Career (Including Pre-Tenure)

6. Working-Class Women on the Tenure Track
Lynn Arner

7. My Double Life in Academia, or Extreme Parenting on the Tenure Track
Mariana Past

8. Solo on Stage: The Single Mother’s Solitary Path to Tenure
Hélène E. Bilis

9. Square Peg, Round Hole: My Journey toward Professor of Practice
Kheli R. Willetts

10. Currency
Elline Lipkin

11. Settling Down without Settling: Reflecting on Ambition, Agency, and Acquiescence
Jessica McKelvie Kemp

Part III. Midcareer (Including Post-Tenure)

12. Lives Like Mine: Notes at Midlife on Career Change
Cynthia Miller Coffel

13. The Good Enough Academic Mother at Midcareer
Devoney Looser

14. Solitary in the South: Confessions of a Single Academic at Midlife
Cynthia Port

15. (In)Visibilities: A Woman Faculty of Color’s Search for a Disabled Identity That Fits
Ellen M. Gil-Gómez

16. Voicing Discontent: Gender, Working-Class Values, and Composition Studies
Rhonda Filipan

17. Staging Women’s Lives on the “Altac” Track
Brenda Bethman and Donna M. Bickford

18. Gratitude, Agency, and the Reformation of the Stage Approach
Kathryn D. Temple

Part IV. Late Career and Retirement

19. The Academic Slow Lane
Katie J. Hogan

20. Relentless Improvising: A Full Professor Struggles to Manage Work, Family, and Health
Carol Colatrella

21. An Academic Evolution: From Chicanita to Mamá to Abuela
Angelica Duran

22. Love’s Labors: Taking Care of Mother
Ruth Perry

23. A View of Her Own
Lynn Z. Bloom

24. The Work of Retirement
Deborah Kaplan

25. Retirement in Two Voices
Evelyn Torton Beck and Deborah S. Rosenfelt

Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Tertiary education
• Gender studies

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 12 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438464220
• Langue: English

Extrait

STAGING WOMEN’S LIVES IN ACADEMIA
SUNY series in Feminist Criticism and Theory
Michelle A. Massé, editor
STAGING WOMEN’S LIVES IN ACADEMIA
Gendered Life Stages in Language and Literature Workplaces
Edited by
MICHELLE A. MASSÉ AND NAN BAUER-MAGLIN
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2017 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Jenn Bennett
Marketing, Kate R. Seburyamo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Massé, Michelle A., editor | Bauer-Maglin, Nan, editor.
Title: Staging women’s lives in academia : gendered life stages in language and literature workplaces / Michelle A. Massé and Nan Bauer-Maglin, editors.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2016] | Series: SUNY series in feminist criticism and theory| Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781438464213 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438464220 (e-book)
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedication
To Jim and Chris, as always, and to our colleagues and students
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part I. Graduate School Chapter 1. A Job That Gets Old Fast: Age Studies, Academic Labor Criticism, and the Graduate Employee Heather M. Steffen Chapter 2. Discourse of Aspiration: A Community of Nontraditional Women Students Nancy Scott Fox Chapter 3. The Accidental Academic, or How to Succeed in Academia through Failure and Doubt Jennifer Ann Ho Chapter 4. Uses of My Anger: Negotiating Mothering, Feminism, and Graduate School Martha Pitts Chapter 5. The Chaos of Kairos: Conflicting Discourses of Timing, Mothering, and Flexibility Jessica Ketcham
Part II. Early Career (Including Pre-Tenure) Chapter 6. Working-Class Women on the Tenure Track Lynn Arner Chapter 7. My Double Life in Academia, or Extreme Parenting on the Tenure Track Mariana Past Chapter 8. Solo on Stage: The Single Mother’s Solitary Path to Tenure Hélène E. Bilis Chapter 9. Square Peg, Round Hole: My Journey toward Professor of Practice Kheli R. Willetts Chapter 10. Currency Elline Lipkin Chapter 11. Settling Down without Settling: Reflecting on Ambition, Agency, and Acquiescence Jessica McKelvie Kemp
Part III. Midcareer (Including Post-Tenure) Chapter 12. Lives Like Mine: Notes at Midlife on Career Change Cynthia Miller Coffel Chapter 13. The Good Enough Academic Mother at Midcareer Devoney Looser Chapter 14: Solitary in the South: Confessions of a Single Academic at Midlife Cynthia Port Chapter 15: (In)Visibilities: A Woman Faculty of Color’s Search for a Disabled Identity That Fits Ellen M. Gil-Gómez Chapter 16: Voicing Discontent: Gender, Working-Class Values, and Composition Studies Rhonda Filipan Chapter 17. Staging Women’s Lives on the “Altac” Track Brenda Bethman and Donna M. Bickford Chapter 18. Gratitude, Agency, and the Reformation of the Stage Approach Kathryn D. Temple
Part IV. Late Career and Retirement Chapter 19: The Academic Slow Lane Katie J. Hogan Chapter 20: Relentless Improvising: A Full Professor Struggles to Manage Work, Family, and Health Carol Colatrella Chapter 21: An Academic Evolution: From Chicanita to Mamá to Abuela Angelica Duran Chapter 22: Love’s Labors: Taking Care of Mother Ruth Perry Chapter 23: A View of Her Own Lynn Z. Bloom Chapter 24: The Work of Retirement Deborah Kaplan Chapter 25: Retirement in Two Voices Evelyn Torton Beck and Deborah S. Rosenfelt
Contributors
Index
Preface
W hen Michelle Massé invited me to speak on a panel, “Staging a Woman’s Life in Academia,” at the Modern Language Association convention in 2012, I hesitated, but I eventually said yes. On a panel of three women (one graduate student, one in midcareer, and one retired), I felt I had much to share about the arc of my career; even more important was the opportunity it would give me to review and take stock of where I had gone and not gone since I had retired in 2007. As it turned out, the issues we examined were resonant to many in the audience, and the panel was so well received that Michelle and I decided to turn the discussion into a book.
Because we received so many fine submissions in response to our call, we decided not to include our own stories in this collection so more of these articulate voices could be heard. Nevertheless, I want to note two things about my career in academia which might be useful for others treading this path.
After twenty-seven years of mainly teaching composition in the English department at Borough of Manhattan Community College, I became academic director of a program (situated at the CUNY Graduate Center) in which students could design their own interdisciplinary baccalaureate degrees. I did this for nine years and then retired. Becoming an administrator is not a stage every woman academic needs to go through, but for me it was a very self-affirming, empowering stage. I am also glad I retired when I was young enough (if sixty-five is young) to allow myself to be called on in new ways to work creatively and independently and volunteer in nonprofit organizations dealing with topics I have been dedicated to. Retirement has not meant a significant slowing down, not a down side of the arc of life leading toward death; for me, it has been quite a demanding and rich time.
There are many people to thank, and I especially thank Michelle for her vision and hard work to make the panel and the book come to life. She is an insightful and generous reader and editor. I also thank Alexandra Weinbaum and Camille Rodriguez, my sister documentarians, for their understanding while I seesawed between our work documenting the formation of a new community college and work on this book; Angie Sadhu at Guttman Community College for technical assistance; and my partner, Jon-Christian Suggs, for his constant support.
For me (Michelle), too, this collection brings together strands of activist work in research, teaching, administration, and what’s usually construed as “service to the profession.” First and foremost I thank every contributor to this collection, whose insights, honesty, and generosity made this collection the powerful statement it is. I thank Nan for her patience and persistence when progress faltered. My relationships with our authors and Nan are professional (and sometimes personal), and have evolved over time, but just as sincere is my gratitude to the women and men, often unknown, who have participated in the many workshops, panels, and discussions that undergird this collaborative enterprise and who continue to work in solidarity toward a better future for all of us.
The Women’s Caucus for the Modern Languages in particular has served as a forum through which to address core issues for women in academia, and I want to note the achievements of Kirsten Christensen, Roseanna Dufault, Teresa Mangum, and Monica Miller, the executive committee members of the Caucus, as they have worked to fulfill that commitment. The unflagging support of Jim Catano, Devon Hodges, Anna Nardo, Doris Massé, and Ruth Oppenheim made this project and much else possible for me.
We both thank Beth Bouloukos, our extraordinary editor at SUNY Press, for her critical acumen and encouragement, and Jenn Bennett, our Production Editor. Lindsay Dearinger and Jordan Von Cannon provided much-needed assistance in early stages of the manuscript’s preparation, and Stacey Amo’s editorial assistance has been invaluable throughout the project’s development. This project is a part of our thanks to them and to our students for being the extraordinary harbingers of academia’s next stage that they are.
Introduction
Michelle A. Massé
I n Carol Gilligan’s groundbreaking 1982 book, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development , she made a revolutionary claim that supposedly “universal” life stages were in fact deeply gendered. The title of her first chapter, “Woman’s Place in Man’s Life Cycle,” is itself a succinct statement of her argument. Assessing the enormously influential developmental schema set forth by Jean Piaget, Bruno Bettelheim, and Erik Erikson, she concludes that their models implicitly assume that “the male model is the better one since it fits the requirements for modern corporate success” (10). In Erikson’s aptly named “Eight Ages of Man” chapter, for example, the penultimate life stage, “Generativity,” or the guiding of younger generations, is what a man turns to after he’s consolidated adult identity and career so that he can guide younger generations that, significantly, usually aren’t his own offspring. Men begin that rewarding and rewarded stage at a time when most women are finishing the stages of childbearing and child-rearing that are their embodied “generativity.”
Gilligan’s refusal of that gendered paradox, in tandem with that of Nancy Chodorow in The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender (1978), established a new women’s legacy and mapped developmental paths not hitherto traced. As stunningly obvious an identification of a “problem that has no name”—but which affects every woman’s well-being—as that Betty Friedan announced in The Feminine Mystique (1963), Gilligan’s and Cho