About the Book
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
Prologue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part One: Inspirations for Transformation
How the Inquiry Grew. Wooster College, April 1988. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What Is There to Talk About? Feminist Thought
the First Time Around. Duke Alumni/ae Lecture, Fall 1991. . . . . . . . . . 15
Creating Spaces, Shaping Voices: Women, Gender, and Graduate
Education for the Twenty-first Century. Texas A & M
University and Western Kentucky University, Fall 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Partners in Transformation: Educating Students and
Institutions Through Women’s Studies. The Inaugural Lecture
of the Margaret Taylor Smith Directorship of Women’s Studies,
Duke University, March 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Coping with the Future. Tift College, October 1976. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Social Movements of the 1960s: The Women’s Movement.
Duke University, Sunday Morning Seminar Series Run
by Duke Continuing Education, October 1986. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Women’s Studies and Perkins Library: A Working Partnership.
Duke University, June 1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Women, Education, and Access to Power. Multiple Lectures, late 1980s. . 103
Understanding Women’s Diversities and Commonalities. Women
Administrators in North Carolina Higher Education Forum.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, June 1990. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Part Two: Getting Things Done
Comments in Celebration of the Endowment of the
Directorship in Honor of Margaret Taylor Smith.
Duke University, March 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Conference of the Alumnae Council on Women’s Studies:
A Personal Tribute to Jean Fox O’Barr from
Margaret Taylor Smith, and Remarks
by Jean Fox O’Barr. Washington D.C., March 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Traveling. With an Introduction by Stephanie Sieburth
and Remarks by Sara Johnson. Women’s Studies Graduation.
Duke University, May 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
The Social Science Curriculum and Women’s Studies.
Common Differences Conference Workshop Presentation,
Duke University, November 1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Will Women’s Studies Give $500? Duke University, 1992. . . . . . . . . . . 157
Anniversary of the Sallie Bingham Center for
Women’s History and Archives in Perkins Library.
Duke University, October 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
SIGNS in the South: Comments to the Southern Regional
Conference on Southern Women’s Cultural History.
Spartanburg, South Carolina, June 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Moving to a Major: Women’s Studies and the Disciplines.
Colby College, 1995. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Lessons from the Majority: Women’s Studies as a
Model for Higher Education. Appalachian State University
and Berea College, Fall 1994 and October 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Matter of Difference: Feminist Theory in Practice
and Process. Hollins College, Sowell Lecture, March 1990 . . . . . . . . . . 207
Recruiting Women to Science: An Alternative Suggestion.
Duke University, 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Introduction of Eleanor Smeal. The Sallie Bingham Center
Symposium, Duke University, October 2005. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Mentoring: A Talk to the Baldwin Scholars.
Duke University, April 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Why Do We Need Women’s Studies? Questions from
Students in the 1980s. A Talk to the A.B. Duke Scholars
at Quaker Lake, North Carolina, August 1985 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Part Three: After All That
Strong Women and Feminists: Challenging
Institutional Cultures. An Address to the Opening Session
of BRIDGES: A Year-Long Training Program in
Academic Leadership for Women,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, September l994. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Comments by Jean O’Barr on Receiving the University
Medal for Distinguished, Meritorious Service.
Founders Day, Duke University, September 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Women Imagine Change. Pfeiffer University, September 2001. . . . . . . . . . . 281
Pursuing Equity and Excellence. Duke University, 1983. . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
A Place That Works: A Lecture for Candidates for the
A.B. Duke Scholarship. Duke University, 1994. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Questions on the Eve of Leave. Women’s Studies Faculty Seminar,
Duke University, February 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Comments for the Faculty Women’s Network Reception.
Duke University, September 2004. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
An Inward Journey. Altrusa Club, Durham, NC, November 2001. . . . . . . . . .331
Life with Books. Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship,
Durham, North Carolina, 2010. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Looking Backward, Giving Forward. Reflections Given
at a Private Gathering for the Spring Equinox.
713 Anderson Street, Durham, North Carolina, March 2011. . . . . . . . 343
About the Author :
Now retired, Jean O'Barr founded and led the Duke University Women's Studies Program for two decades. She is a premier feminist thinker, educator, and activist, and an author of many books, including Women Imagine Change and Feminism in Action, and is a former editor in chief of SIGNS: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
Jean O'Barr has received numerous distinctions and awards. Throughout her career she was much loved by her colleagues and her students, who over the years established numerous endowments in her name, including lectureships and a university chair. Jean O'Barr's teaching and her strategic ways of seeing the world and enacting feminist change have inspired feminist students to enter every field, industry, and part of society imaginable; they include lawyers, judges, management consultants, professors, museum directors, public servants, and even a former Olympic swimmer.
In 2009, the gathering of her former students yielded the e-book What Does It Mean to be an Educated Woman, available at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/bingham/education-symposium/resources.html.
Review :
“Illuminating and inspirational at once, Transforming Knowledge is a journey through the world of women’s studies over the last four decades. A must-read for anyone who wonders where we have been, how we got where we are, and what might lie ahead.”
—Mary A. Armstrong, Chair and Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Lafayette College
“Jean Fox O’Barr taught me everything I know, and more. The difference between being a strong woman and a feminist. The importance of always finding your allies. That feminism isn’t about having the right answer; it’s making change and transforming the institutions we live, work, and teach in, bit-by-bit, day-by-day, conversation-by-conversation.”
—Miriam Peskowitz, New York Times bestselling author of The Daring Book for Girls
“For women who hold (and who seek) leadership positions in higher education, O’Barr’s experiences as a lifelong administrator remind us of the rewards of this work, and of the power of individuals to transform society.”
—Carolyn J. Stefanco, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of History and Women’s Studies, Agnes Scott College
“O’Barr is the only academic feminist I know who can translate the importance of women’s studies into language that non-academics can understand. I have often wished I could put her wisdom in a bottle and send it to anyone I wanted. Now I can!”
—Judy Touchton, retired former Deputy Director, Office of Women in Higher Education, American Council on Education
