Oral history interview with Marianne Hirsch, 2015

Biographical Note

Marianne Hirsch is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She is one of several professors who were hired in the early 2000s with a joint appointment in the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her work focuses on feminist theory and memory studies. Before coming to Columbia in 2004, she taught at Dartmouth College from 1974 to 2003. She did her undergraduate studies at Brown and began graduate studies there in 1970. She served as director of IRWGS from 2007-2008 and is one of the founders of the CSSD, including its global initiative "Women Creating Change," under the auspices of which she is currently co-directing the working group "Women Mobilizing Memory"

Scope and Contents

In the first session of this interview, Marianne Hirsch discusses her undergraduate experience at Brown University, including her involvement in anti-war demonstrations, her female professors, and her senior thesis. Hirsch joined a consciousness-raising group consisting of female graduate students and professors' wives in 1970. She explains how this exposure to feminism became a crucial element of her professional and personal development as a graduate student at Dartmouth College. Hirsch explains her role in helping to establish a women's program of mentoring and public speaking programs at Dartmouth in 1978, the first of such at any Ivy League institution. Building coalitions with the Brown Center for Research on Women and the Radcliffe (now Bunting) Institute at Harvard, Hirsch cites the importance of conversation and conflict in forming stronger alliances, especially in the 1980s, when categories of womanhood and white feminism were being called into question. Hirsch goes on to describe her familial background. Hirsch characterizes feminism as a source of strength as a single mother and scholar. Lastly, Hirsch touches on her first marriage, her brief time teaching at Vanderbilt University, and her partner Leo Spitzer. In the second session of this interview, Hirsch recalls her early years at Columbia University, her introduction to IRWGS, and the creation of the Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD). She speaks of the challenges facing IRWGS and the importance of the broader New York City community in serving as a resource for IRWGS. Hirsch reflects on her first experience teaching at IRWGS as well as the institute's increasing orientation towards queer scholarship and global perspectives. She goes on to describe her experience within Engendering the Archive and Women Mobilizing Memory, two working groups of the CSSD. Hirsch summarizes her latest efforts to support IRWGS, including an initiative for graduate fellows, higher adjunct professor pay, and increased infrastructure for abroad programs. Hirsch concludes the interview by describing her concern and excitement regarding Columbia's Global Centers

Subjects

• Brown University.
• Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University.
• College teachers--Interviews.
• Columbia University. Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
• Crow, Andrea, interviewer.
• Dartmouth College.
• Feminism and higher education--United States.
• Feminist theory.
• Gay and lesbian studies--United States.
• Hirsch, Marianne--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2015