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Chapter 24 - Choosing Both

Finding a Path as an Academic Feminist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2022

By
Abigail J. Stewart
Edited by
Jamila Bookwala  and
Nicky J. Newton
Jamila Bookwala
Affiliation:
Lafayette College, Pennsylvania
Nicky J. Newton
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario
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Summary

In this chapter, I illustrate a central theme in my life as an academic feminist by describing the challenges I felt were posed by five particular dilemmas. The theme is the effort to avoid foreclosing choices or alternatives, in the interest of maintaining the breadth of my interests and commitments. The dilemmas include: the decision to study psychology vs. other fields; adopting the “micro” perspective of psychology vs. a more “macro” focus; studying women, but not sex differences; recognizing multiple hierarchies that structure social relations vs. focusing on gender; being a scholar vs. an advocate for social change. I outline how my career involved repeated efforts to avoid making choices that would narrow the range of my thinking, my scholarship, and working to improve “the world,” or at least the university.

Type
Chapter
Information
Reflections from Pioneering Women in Psychology , pp. 306 - 317
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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