Communications and information material, Cheris Kramarae 1989 visit., Lectures & lecturin

Condray, Suzanne

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Denison UniversityDenison Digital CommonsLooking Back, Looking Forward Women's and Gender Studies1989Cheris Kramarae 1989 VisitSuzanne CondrayDenison UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/lookingbackThis Letter is brought to you for free and open access by the Women's and Gender Studies at Denison Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Looking Back, Looking Forward by an authorized administrator of Denison Digital Commons.Recommended CitationCondray, Suzanne, "Cheris Kramarae 1989 Visit" (1989). Looking Back, Looking Forward. 17.http://digitalcommons.denison.edu/lookingback/17Denison UniversityFounded 183Granville. Ohio 43023(614) 587-0810May 9, 1988Margot DuleyWomen's StudiesDear Margot:The Speech Communication Department is recommending that Women's StudiesCommittee bring Cheris Kramarae to campus as a part of the curriculum seminars.Dr. Kramarae has published widely on the topic of language and Gender.In addition to the numerous articles she has published in professional journalsshe is the author of Women and Men Speaking, Language, Gender and Society, andA Feminist Dictionary. The 180 page annotated bibliography which is included inLanguage, Gender and Society, attests to Kramarae's knowledge and familiarity withresearch in this area.While Cheris Kramarae is presently associated with the Department of SpeechCommunication at the University of Illinois, her work is well known to those inother disciplines, including English, Psychology, and Sociology. I believe shewould draw participants from a variety of disciplines on our campus. If I am notmistaken, I believe Sandy Runzo may have worked with Kramarae at Illinois.I have heard the nominee speak on several occasions at the Speech CommunicationAssociation national meetings and have talked with her informally as well. Ihighly endorse her nomination for a curriculum seminar.Cordially,November 4, 1988Suzanne CondraySpeech CommunicationsDear Suzanne:This is to confirm the willingness of the Women's Studies Committee tounderwrite the visit of Dr. Cheris Kramarae to Denison during the 1989-90academic year. Our contribution will be $500, Unfortunately our grantcannot carry over into the next academic year. When you settle on a dateand format, please let me know.During the Spring Semester, I will be away on an R.C Good Fellowship.Robin Bartlett will be Acting Director of Women's Studies, If you havequestions at that time regarding the visit, please contact Robin.We appreciate the interest of the Speech-Communications Departmentin sponsoring a Women's Studies scholar.Yours sincerely,Margot I. DuleyDirector of Women's Studies\(> pC \J,y, ^.^.er>t<J'*""Department of Speech Communication Denison UniversityMarch 21, 1989Founded 1831Robin BartlettWomen Studies CoordinatorDear Robin:Granville, Ohio 43023(614) 587-6289In the spring of 1988 the Women Studies Committee voted tosupport the Speech Communication Department's recommendation thatCheris Kramarae be invited to campus to present a WomenStudies/Departmental seminar. I pursued that invitation only todiscover that Che'ris would be on leave at the University of Oregonfor the 1988-89 academic year.The Department would like to request that Cheris Kramarae beinvited to present a Women Studies seminar in the fall of 1989.We make this recommendation in keeping with the 10th anniversarycelebration. Cheris Kramarae has written extensively on genderissues in language. She is the author of Women and Men Speaking,Language Gender and Society, and A Feminist Dictionary. She ispresently affiliated with the Department of Speech Communicationat the University of Illinois.We would expect to use her in a couple of courses includingpossibly Voice and Diction, and Women Minority in the Media. Inaddition, we would invite those collegues for English, Psychology,Sociology and other disciplines to join us in a faculty seminar.Margot Duley had confirmed a willingness to underwriteKramarae's visit to Denison during 1989-90 and committed $500 fromthe Women Studies budget. However, ,she also indicated in herletter of November 4, 1988 that the grant could not carry overinto the next academic year. Since I am confused about thisauthorization, I would like to request that you investigate thismatter and also consider our request in lieu of Sam Thios1 letterof February 20. Since Kramarae is coming from Illinois Ianticipate a commitment of no more than $700 for travel amihonorarium.Cordially,9IFSu'zanne E. CondrayChairpersonSEC/ddtA-uispatch chartFeminists track language, powerBy Kenneth Warren• A FEMINIST DICTION-ARY by Cheris Kramarae andPaula A. Treichler. PandoraPress, $12.95.A Feminist Dictionary, cutbroadly from notions of criticalresistance to authority, and tiedto the thinking of Mary Daly andAdrienne Rich, issues a radicalstream of challenges to receivedopinions about what constitutes adictionary and what purposes adictionary might serve.A Feminist Dictionary is ahighly polemical reference bookthat eschews traditional values; ofauthority, codification and meth-od. Its editors refuse to abide bytraditional lexicographical stan-dards and ground their book on afeminist recognition of men's pur-poseful control of women throughthe standard convention of dic-tionary making.PUT SIMPLY, d ict ionary''• makers Cheris Kramarae andPaula A. Treichler, researchers atthe University of Illinois, hopetheir dictionary "will be used aswomen work to name and analyzespecific structural oppressionsand work for revolutionarychange." From a broader ideologi-cal viewpoint, radical feministand Marxist ideas regarding wom-en's oppression and economic de-pendence within the family influ-ence various "definitions" in thedictionary while pluralism (some-thing we've come to accept inFile photoDictionary makers Cheris Kramarae, Paula A. Treichlermainstream feminist thinking)permits a range of racial perspec-tives and sexual provocations.In their valuable introduction,Kramarae and Treichler explainthat A Feminist Dictionary "in-sists upon the significance ofwomen as speaking subjects anddocuments their linguistic contribution." With this primary con-cern with how language is usedand understood by women, theysucceed in assembling articulatestatements from women of manyages and circumstances: Anglo,academic, black, Latino andA s i a n - A m e r i c a n . G i v e n thestrong slant toward pluralism andsemantics, however, several moreformal perspectives informingcontemporary feminist discourseare not adequately represented.Especially lacking are opinionsfrom psychoanalytic, deconstruc-tive and semiotic disciplines.The making of a dictionary, ofcourse, is a scholarly pursuit. Forbetter or worse, A Feminist Dic-tionary in many of its entriescommemorates a shorthand forvexed relations with professorialmen. This book, frequently out oftouch with important contempo-rary issues such as computer technology and child care, could beconsidered damaging to the inter-ests of information-seeking work-ing mothers.Consider day care, with its en-tpy/definition tied only to Shula-mith Firestone's 1970s position:"Institutions which buy womenoff. They ease the immediate pres-sure without asking why thatpressure is on WOMEN." Fires-tone's telling snippet, silent aboutthe pressures put upon the child,reveals the dictionary's limita-tions. , 'These feminist dict ionarymakers err by believing that thetrajectory of women with academ-ic careers will raise consciousness,and that the recovery of stalepolemics will effect radical changein social development. However,the love for the language of wom-en that blinds them to currentsocial conditions illuminates thehistorical realities of dictionarymaking. With these conditions inmind, people interested in track-ing connections between languageand power will find A FeministDictionary an essential resource.Kenneth Warren is an associ-ate editor of Cleveland's Alterna-tive Press and a librarian in Lake-wood, Ohio.

Cheris Kramarae 1989 Visit

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