Register
If you haven’t already, register to start contributing news and events, and to search the Member Directory. Registration is free, but only open to current members of the American Studies Association.
Group Members
The following people are members of this group:
The following people are administrators of this group:
Member Tools
We're sorry. You are not yet a member of the Women’s Committee.
Register or login to join this group.
MAIN | Reports | Contact
Women’s Committee
Women’s Committee 2007
2007 Mid-Year Report of the Women’s Committee
During the first half of 2007, the Women’s Committee, currently co-chaired by Kristen Hogan and AnaLouise Keating, has continued carrying out and reflecting on its charges. Our work has focused on developing a coherent identity for our contributions to and relationship with the American Studies Association (ASA) as it reevaluates and develops its mission for the twenty-first century. Through the Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award, we identify the Women’s Committee as part of an intersectional network for social justice in academia; we are committed to supporting women’s diverse scholarly practices. We make this advocacy public both through the award and through our annual panels. As described below, this year’s panel will raise awareness of and funds for the award. In order to honor the history of the Women’s Committee and to determine future direction, we are holding an open panel discussion as our lunch this year. As indicated below, we also have two ongoing projects and anticipate that further projects will develop from the luncheon discussion.
Membership
Those with Women’s Committee terms ending in June are AnaLouise Keating and Katherine Ledford; Sonia Saldívar-Hull is also cycling off as our Council Member. An issue of ongoing concern is the committee’s membership size and duties. Co-chairs Kristen Hogan and AnaLouise Keating have proposed that the committee increase in size and clarify membership responsibilities. By so doing, we believe that the committee can take on more significant projects within the ASA. Both co-chairs will submit a proposal for increased membership to the Executive Committee for their May 2007 meeting. In May we will also request self-nominations from current members for the co-chair position, and we will be in conversation with John Stevens about possible replacements for Sonia Saldívar-Hull’s position.
Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award for Independent Scholars
Proposed at the 2004 October Women’s Committee business meeting and approved by the Executive Committee in May 2005, this award is designed to honor the memory of the cultural theorist and feminist scholar, Glória E. Anzaldúa. As explained in the proposal, “The prize will consist of a lifetime membership in the ASA; it will be awarded annually to an independent scholar (that is: a scholar who is not employed full-time by a university or college) who has made transformative feminist contributions to issues of gender, ‘race,’ and sexuality in the field of American Studies.” This award is designed to reflect both Anzaldúa’s status as an independent scholar and her groundbreaking contributions to women-of-color studies and queer theory. At the fall 2006 Women’s Committee meeting, it was suggested that the award be modified in the following manner: 1) Do not make the award annually but rather less frequently. 2) Include funding (travel and lodging) to bring the award winner to the annual conference. 3) Do not include a lifelong paper (hard copy) subscription to the American Quarterly. (Not including a paper subscription would enable us to carry out suggestion #2.) This spring, the Women’s Committee will work to establish a selection process.
ASA 2007 Conference Panel
In order to gain increased visibility for the Anzaldúa Award, the Women’s Committee decided to focus on Anzaldúa in our 2007 conference panel, titled “Borderlands/La frontera at Twenty: Forging New Theories, Stories, and Visions.” Celebrating Borderlands/La frontera’s twentieth anniversary, we use this occasion to chart new theoretical directions in Anzaldúan scholarship, Chican@ Studies, and Feminist Studies. Organized by AnaLouise Keating and Kristen Hogan, the roundtable brings together many leading scholars in Anzaldúan studies. We describe the roundtable as a “speculative dialogue” to explore its open-ended, innovative nature. To enhance this dialogue and maximize our time at the roundtable itself, we will create pre-conference opportunities for electronic and face-to-face conversations among participants and with a wider audience.
2007 Lunch for Women in American Studies: The Women’s Committee, Past and Futures, A Conversation
In recent years the Women’s Committee has been concerned about declining attendance, despite consistently high ticket sales, for the Women’s Breakfast. Informal discussions with ASA members revealed that the early time may be a deterrent; for several years, Women’s Committee members have advocated vigorously for a lunchtime event, rather than the traditional breakfast. At the All Chairs Meeting in 2006, John Stevens agreed that we could schedule a lunch rather than a breakfast at the 2007 meeting. In planning an open conversation with past key members of the Women’s Committee, we see this change to the lunch slot as a significant opportunity to reconnect with ASA members and to redefine the direction of the Women’s Committee in its 35th-anniversary year.
Sharon O’Brien took on the task of coordinating the lunch panel and, in conversation with AnaLouise Keating and Kristen Hogan, secured a strong panel of former Women’s Committee members: Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Mary Kelly, Doris Friedensohn, Irene Ramalho Santos, AnaLouise Keating, Sonia Saldívar-Hull. Kristen Hogan, as current co-chair, will moderate the discussion. After a period of discussion with the panel, the panelists will engage the audience in a conversation about the future of the Women’s Committee.
The panelists either have been chairs of the Women’s Committee or have taken a significant role in the 1988 report from the Women’s Committee on the status of women in the academy. This anniversary roundtable will serve several functions: provide an “oral history” of the Committee and its accomplishments and challenges; explore the panelists’ suggestions for the Women’s Committee’s future directions; and, in an open conversation, invite attendees to contribute to articulating the needs and goals of women in the ASA at this moment. This intersection of past and future will help members of the ASA to imagine and implement new connections and goals over the next few years. We will address issues including the ASA’s international initiatives, connections among committees, exploring the status of women in the academy, financial barriers to conference attendance, a history and future of intersectional feminism in the women’s committee, and more.
New Projects
The Women’s Committee anticipates developing new projects in the following areas.
Networking: As a key historic and continuing organizational force in the ASA, the Women’s Committee values its partnerships with other entities including the Ethnic Studies Committee, the Minority Scholars’ Committee, the International Committee, and the Queer Caucus. Because of our shared intellectual and political concerns, we understand that to fully develop significant projects, including the Anzaldúa Award, for change within the field and the academy, we must strengthen our structural connection with these committees and the caucus. This will happen in three ways: individual connections as key members cycle off of the Women’s Committee and stay in touch with the committee while they work in other areas of the ASA; email and personal contact with other committees and caucuses through the following year, including invitations to take part in the lunch discussion and cross-advocacy during the final stages of the Anzaldúa Award; and virtual connections through the website development.
Website: In the upcoming year we plan to develop our web content in the new website format in order to document the history of the Women’s Committee, highlight and publicize the current work of the Women’s Committee, improve connection and communication among Women’s Committee members, generate opportunities for connection and mentorship among women in the ASA, and create a virtual framework for connections with our committee and caucus partners in social change.
Results from the Lunch Conversation: As indicated above, we intend the lunch panel to generate concrete discussion of the membership’s view of the role of the Women’s Committee in the ASA. This discussion will lead to a new cycle of new projects for the Women’s Committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristen Hogan and AnaLouise Keating, ASA Women’s Committee Co-Chairs
March, 2007
2007 Annual Report of the Women’s Committee
Over the past year, the Women’s Committee has completed the exciting project of laying the foundation for reassessing and articulating its role in the ASA. We have continued with our flagship project, the Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award for Independent Scholars, initiated by AnaLouise Keating and in its advanced establishment phase. Working on the Anzaldúa Award made clear that the WC can do important work, that the WC needs to undertake conversations about intersecting identities and social justice, and that the WC can be a site for developing such conversations for the field. As a result, we determined to hold a forum for the first Women’s Lunch (we are excited to usher in a new era of increased participation by moving the breakfast to a lunch), developed with the initiation and organization of Sharon O’Brien, to examine our past and discuss our future work in conversation with our companion committees. In order to properly follow through with the Anzaldúa Award and to undertake a productive future, we have planned to discuss adopting a Vision Statement to clarify the intent (and to recognize the productive past) of the Women’s Committee. The upcoming year will be a defining one for the Women’s Committee as we explore our newly articulated role.
We have also been invited to speak with the Executive Committee (EC) about our changing role and our upcoming work. We look forward to this opportunity to speak with the EC about the future possibilities for the WC.
Membership
Co-chair AnaLouise Keating cycled off the committee in June, and current chair Kristen Hogan’s term ends in June, 2008. At the October business meeting we will develop a process for selecting a new co-chair in line with our current mandate, and we will select a new co-chair. We are pleased to welcome four new WC members, M. Alison Kibler, Catherine Ramirez, Sarah Robbins, and Jennifer Williams. In addition to the current chair, we have five continuing WC members, Judith Jackson Fossett, Shirley Jennifer Lim, Sharon O’Brien, Joni Palmer, and Sonia Torres. Sonia Saldívar-Hull cycled off as our Council Member, ex officio, in June, and we are pleased to welcome our new Council Member, ex officio, Alvina Quintana.
In our Mid-Term Report we stated that we would submit to the May, 2007 meeting of the EC a request for an increase in the number of WC members in order to better sustain WC activities. However, we have postponed that request until after the Women’s Committee Lunch this October and determine the extent of our needs. We currently have a total of ten WC members as well as one Council Member; this has been our standard membership, though it is above the seven members stipulated in the ASA Constitution.
Gloria E. Anzaldúa Award for Independent Scholars
Proposed at the 2004 October Women’s Committee business meeting and approved by the Executive Committee in May 2005, this award is designed to honor the memory of the cultural theorist and feminist scholar, Glória E. Anzaldúa. As explained in the proposal, “The prize will consist of a lifetime membership in the ASA; it will be awarded annually to an independent scholar (that is: a scholar who is not employed full-time by a university or college) who has made transformative feminist contributions to issues of gender, ‘race,’ and sexuality in the field of American Studies.” This award is designed to reflect both Anzaldúa’s status as an independent scholar and her groundbreaking contributions to women-of-color studies and queer theory. We have continued conversations with AnaLouise Keating about the Award, and we intend to finalize both the Award and a selection process at the October gathering. AnaLouise Keating will meet with the Women’s Committee to discuss the selection process and the status of the award. Our work on this Award is also reflected in our panel and Vision Statement.
ASA 2007 Conference Panel
In order to build visibility for the Anzaldúa Award, the Women’s Committee decided to focus on Anzaldúa in our 2007 conference panel, titled “Borderlands/La frontera at Twenty: Forging New Theories, Stories, and Visions.” Celebrating Borderlands/La frontera’s twentieth anniversary, we use this occasion to chart new theoretical directions in Anzaldúan scholarship, Chican@ Studies, and Feminist Studies. Organized by AnaLouise Keating and Kristen Hogan, the roundtable brings together many leading scholars in Anzaldúan studies. We describe the roundtable as a “speculative dialogue” to explore its open-ended, innovative nature.
2007 Lunch for Women in American Studies: The Women’s Committee, Past and Futures, A Conversation
The Women’s Committee has a long history of well-attended and groundbreaking breakfast events. However, in recent years the Women’s Committee has been concerned about declining attendance, despite consistently high ticket sales, for the Women’s Breakfast. Informal discussions with ASA members revealed that the early time may be a deterrent. At the All Chairs Meeting in 2006, John Stephens agreed that we could schedule a lunch rather than a breakfast at the 2007 meeting. In planning an open conversation with past key members of the Women’s Committee, we see this change to the lunch slot as a significant opportunity to reconnect with ASA members and to redefine the direction of the Women’s Committee in its 35th year.
Sharon O’Brien took on the task of coordinating the lunch panel and, in conversation with AnaLouise Keating and Kristen Hogan, secured a strong panel of former Women’s Committee chairs and members: Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Mary Kelly, Doris Friedensohn, Irene Ramalho Santos, AnaLouise Keating, and Sonia Saldívar-Hull. Kristen Hogan, as current chair, will moderate the discussion. After a period of discussion with the panel, the panelists will engage the audience in a conversation about the future of the Women’s Committee.
The panelists either have been chairs of the Women’s Committee or have taken a significant role in the 1988 report from the Women’s Committee on the status of women in the academy. This anniversary roundtable will serve several functions: provide an “oral history” of the Committee and its accomplishments and challenges; explore the panelists’ suggestions for the Women’s Committee’s future directions; and, in an open conversation, invite attendees to contribute to articulating the needs and goals of women in the ASA at this moment. This intersection of past and future will help members of the ASA to imagine and implement new connections and goals over the next few years. We will address issues including the ASA’s international initiatives, connections among committees, exploring the status of women in the academy, a history and future of intersectional feminism in the women’s committee, and more.
Generating Collaboration
In order to generate substantial change through the lunch and the Anzaldúa Award, we have actively networked with our companion committees to involve them in the lunch conversation about the future of the WC in connection with their work. The WC is a space of intersecting identities, well-suited to developing strong networks among committees and to being a space for innovative collaborations. Thanks to the support of the ASA, we have been able to invite each ASA committee to send a representative to the Women’s Lunch, free of charge. The committees have responded with enthusiasm, and we currently have commitments from representatives from the K-16 Collaboration Committee, the Committee on Ethnic Studies, the Minority Studies Committee, the Students’ Committee, the Regional Chapters Committee, and the Queer Caucus. We are also using these connections prior to the October gathering to share information between the committees about ongoing work. At the business meeting this October, we will determine how to continue and further develop these networks. We have discussed appointing liaisons to different committees and creating a listserve for discussions among committee chairs.
Vision Statement
Over the past year, we have discussed the possibility of a Vision Statement in order to maintain the mission of the Anzaldúa Award, to increase involvement in the WC, and to focus our work. Because the Anzaldúa Award selection committee will always involve Women’s Committee members, we could ensure the continuation of the original intent of the award by clarifying the nature of the Women’s Committee. Also, having a clear WC focus would be one way to publicize the WC to future interested members and to generate collaborations with other committees and organizations. Finally, since we are at a stage of transition for the WC, having a stated focus of the WC would allow us to make sustainable change in our committee. The current ASA Constitution lists a general mandate: “The Women’s Committee shall have as its function to keep the Council and the association’s membership informed of the issues affecting women in the profession and shall have responsibility for special tasks involving women in the membership.”
A new motivational focus may take the form of a Vision Statement to be forwarded to interested, new, and current members of the WC, to be posted on our website, and to be proposed to be added to the ASA Constitution. The WC membership will determine the Vision Statement at the upcoming business meeting, and the Vision Statement will include our current (and ongoing) organizing principles: recognizing intersecting identities and the need for collaboration, practicing anti-racist feminism in our organizing practices and in our projects both as a model and as a space for exploring the possibilities of such a format, making space at the ASA for discussions about such scholarship and practices.
Website
We are currently developing content for the new website interface the ASA has developed for committees. With the help of John Stephens, we are gathering WC history for the website, and administrators of our various projects are developing statements about those projects to go up on the site. We intend the website to be a space that documents WC history and provides space for ongoing collaborations. We spoke last year about developing a database of women in American Studies, and it has been unclear how to create such a database with appropriate security features and in a useable fashion. We will continue to think about how to create peer mentorship relationships among women in American Studies internationally.
Overview of Ongoing Projects
We will support the ongoing development and administration of the Anzaldúa Award.
We will hold a short meeting, in addition to our business meeting, after the lunch to discuss how to follow up on the lunch conversation and the direction of the WC. We may collect roundtable participants’ written contributions and post them on the WC website.
We will develop a Vision Statement.
We will generate a closer network among the committees.
We will create a panel for 2008 that fulfills these goals; Sharon O’Brien, Alvina Quintana, and others have suggested a panel on the intersections between Women’s Studies and American Studies; this may create connection between ASA and NWSA.
We will finalize our website content and generate discussion on the website.
We will undertake a long-term project for the next phase of the WC. This may be a publishing project, for example, a series of white papers or articles (on networking, on anti-racist feminist structures within a national organization, on supporting anti-racist feminist scholarship, on women in American Studies, on developing the Anzaldúa Award).
Respectfully submitted,
Kristen Hogan, ASA Women’s Committee Chair
On behalf of the ASA Women’s Committee
September, 2007
Quick Links
American Quarterly [official journal site]
American Quarterly [editorial site]