Singing in the Fire: Stories of Women in Philosophy

by Linda Martín Alcoff Hunter College (Editor), Sandra Bartky (Contribution by), Teresa Brennan (Contribution by), Claudia Card (Contribution by), Virginia Held City University of New York (Contribution by)

Overview

Ask most people to imagine a philosopher and they probably think of someone like Socrates—absent-minded, perhaps, but with a sharp intellect and a thirst for the truth. A woman juggling car pools and housework is not the first image that springs to mind, but women have taken huge steps in the philosophy profession over the past 50 years. Still, to this day, well-established women philosophers continue to face sexism from colleagues and students. Singing in the Fire is a unique, groundbreaking collection of autobiographical essays by leading women in philosophy. It mines the experience of the generation that witnessed, and helped create, the remarkable advances now evident for women in the field. These women are leaders and innovators, looking back on how they have been treated, how they might have done things differently, and how we might make progress in future generations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461666257
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/14/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Linda Mart'n Alcoff is professor of philosophy, political science, and women's studies at Syracuse University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 A Life Sentence in Bohemia
Chapter 2 How not to make the right career moves
Chapter 3 Finding my voice: reminiscence of an outlaw
Chapter 4 Taking oneself seriously, but not too
Chapter 5 Freethinking?
Chapter 6 Etc.
Chapter 7 What's a brown girl like you doing in the ivory tower? or, How I became a feminist philosopher
Chapter 8 'Don't smile so much': Philosophy and women in the 1970's
Chapter 9 At the feet of Mrs. Ramsey
Chapter 10 Autobiography of a whistle-blower
Chapter 11 Philosophy and life: A singular case of their interconnection
Chapter 12 Getting here from there

Editorial Reviews

I couldn't put down this moving, informative, and often witty collection of essays. They reveal important sources of feminist philosophy in the life experiences of women philosophers, not to mention glimpses of the normal, everyday misogyny that, alas, is still detectable in philosophy departments today, some three decades after the episodes reported here. These essays should be required reading for every graduate student in philosophy, male or female, and for the rest of the profession.

Sandra Harding

Singing in the Fire is able to bring women from all across the field of philosophy with completely different life stories together so that more can be learned of them as a whole, while their individual experiences allow the reader to have a greater understanding of who they are and where they come from. It is a great book with so many aspects of the field represented and many useful applications that it is a must for the shelves of all women philosophers, present as well as up and coming.

Dialogue

In various less spectacular ways than documented by tales of the arrogance and oafishness woman philosophers face, these essays drive home the impact of the autobiographical on the philosophical. When philosophers share the details of their lives, the impact extends to the reader.

The Chronicle of Higher Education - Carlin Romano

This superb volume reveals how misogyny and patriarchal normative structures and practices, within the alleged 'ethereal' and abstract field of philosophy, operate to denigrate and sexualize women as objects, rendering their bodies, identities, and concerns incompatible with the demands of the life of the mind. Singing in the Fire is an apt and effective metaphor for this collection of honest personal narratives by prominent women philosophers who forged their philosophical identities with courage, vision, and tenacity.

George Yancy

Reading Singing in the Fire: Stories of Women in Philosophy is like attending a great dinner party, where every guest is smart and fascinating, an you stay too late, knowing you'll regret it at work the next day but you don't care, because you want to talk, really talk, to everyone there.

Metapsychology Online

These twelve war stories need to be read by young women entering philosophy and veterans alike. We can laugh (at the absurdities of venerable scholars acting as proverbial sexist fools), cry (with the authors as they face painful affronts to their dignity and self-esteem), and celebrate the immense courage of the generation of women who have worked to transform a particularly intransigent segment of academia, and open more doors for women in philosophy. The book is full of both fire and song. It is a book we need today.

Eva Kittay

Sexist and racist prejudice are as virulent in the academy as elsewhere. The statistics are familiar but the point is brought home by this collection of autobiographical essays by women philosophers. The contributors are among those who have made it, have found a relatively secure niche in their chosen profession. What they describe is the obstacles they encountered along the way. These range from discriminatory practices that are technically illegal to embarrassing little sexist jokes. What enabled these women to survive is their passion for philosophy and for teaching together with the support of at least one sympathetic soul—colleague, friend, or spouse. Their stories—detailed, circumstantial, and even-tempered—are both informative and moving. (Think of those women, perhaps equally talented, who are less indefatigable or less lucky and who have been left behind!)

Mary Mothersill