In his column “Professors, We Need You!” New York Times
columnist Nicholas Kristof charges that most university professors “just don’t
matter in today’s great debates” and admonishes them not to cloister themselves
“like medieval monks.”
Many academics and others took offense at
what he has written. A Twitter hashtag
#engagedacademics sprung up and many have
posted opposing views.
That Kristof imagines the professors who isolate themselves
from the real world as “medieval monks” betrays his bias that the professors to
whom he is addressing and the public intellectuals he longs to see are male
(and possibly white)!
Kristof is an award-winning columnist who has written on
sexual violence against women globally, human rights issues, and Chinese
politics. Yet, he has overlooked that feminist professors have engaged in
political struggles for decades and many have used Twitter and other social
media to spread our ideas and further our causes.
Gwendolyn
Beetham, an adjunct professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Brooklyn
College, responds that Kristof has failed to take women and marginalizedgroups’ concern about public engagement seriously. Women’s voices are routinely
neglected and those who dare to enter public debates are shunned or even
threatened. Professor Brittney Cooper, an African American scholar, was
physically threatened while speaking in a forum in New York and British
classicist Mary Beard was threatened with rape and having her home bombed via
Twitter.
The
mainstream media marginalizes scholars in the field of feminism and religion.
In debates such as the provision of contraceptives in health insurance, the
future of the Catholic Church under Pope Francis, and gender violence associated
with religion, we seldom hear the voices of feminist intellectuals in the mass
media. Male scholars, conservative TV and radio hosts, and religious leaders
have the large microphones.
Kristof has
overlooked that many professors in religion who are women of color are closely
related to their communities and have worked tirelessly to effect social
change. The late Mujerista theologian Ada María Isasi-Díaz is one
shining example. She was very involved in the Women’s Ordination movement in
the Catholic Church and she interviewed grassroots Latinas and included their
voices in her ethical analysis. A new group “Women of Color Scholarship,
Teaching, and Activism” has been formed at the American Academy of Religion to
discuss challenges to women of color who want to be engaged scholars.
Many have
pointed out that Kristof has only looked at publications such as the New York Times or the New Yorker when he laments the diminishing presence
of public intellectuals. Had he looked wider, he might has noticed that feminist
scholars, including those in religion, are actively blogging, tweeting,
uploading pictures and videos in Instagram and Google Plus, and using other
forms of social media. We have written op-eds and blogged on Huffington Post, Feminism and Religion, Feminist
Studies in Religion,
Religion Dispatches, Patheos, Center
for American Progress,
and other websites. Some of us post videos or appear in YouTube and have
personal blogs. I have started a blog several years ago to share my ideas about
postcolonialism and religion and to connect with my readers.
Kristof
notes the pressure on academics to publish peer-reviewed articles and books.
But he does not mention the underclass of adjuncts who earn $2,000 to $3,000
per class and can hardly make ends meet. According to the Coalition on Academic
Workforce, adjuncts earn on average $21,600, while tenure-track positions
averaged $66,000 a year. Some labor groups estimate that adjunct faculty make
up to 75 percent of higher education positions. Women make up 61 percent ofadjunct faculty, according to the Coalition.
The scarcity
of jobs in the field of religion and the growing use of adjuncts have made many
feminist professors wonder whether they should encourage their bright female
students to pursue a PhD. Some are concerned whether to encourage their PhD
students to do research in feminism and religion, for fear that this will
further narrow their marketability. Several trade presses in religion are
publishing mostly textbooks and there are fewer venues for feminist religious
scholarship.
I am
convinced that the world needs feminist work in religion more than ever. The
generation of feminist scholars in religion before us faced ridicule,
censorship, and loss of employment when they charted a new territory and started
a new field. They have laid a solid foundation for us to build on. It is
important for us to discuss how the field will flourish and how feminist
professors can continue their work as engaged intellectuals and help the
upcoming generation.
This article is cross-posted on Feminism and Religion.