Oral history interview with Rosalind C. Morris, 2015

Biographical Note

Rosalind C. Morris is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. She was Director of IRWGS between 1999 and 2004, and Associate Director of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia between 2003 and 2009. A scholar of both mainland Southeast Asia and South Africa, she has published widely on topics concerning the politics of representation, mass media, the relationship between violence and value, gender and sexuality, and changing forms of modernity in the global South

Scope and Contents

Rosalind Morris begins this interview by discussing the status of the Department of Anthropology upon her arrival at Columbia University. She goes on to describe her interest in IRWGS's content and teaching style. Morris also discusses her role in the establishment of the IRWGS Feminist Interventions series. Additionally, Morris discusses the problems faced by IRWGS throughout her directorship including the crises of labor and energy, the institutional vulnerability of IRWGS' faculty, the ongoing debates about activism in the classroom, the relationship between institutional marginality and autonomy, and the Institute's relationship with Barnard College. Morris explains the evolution of IRWGS in its inclusion of queer studies, race studies, and third-wave feminism. She also focuses on the resurgence of misogyny and white supremacy in response to these ideas. Here she discusses 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, and sexual assault on college campuses, citing Emma Sulkowicz's Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight). In the second session of this interview, Morris discusses her work in other mediums and disciplines, including: her poetry; her film Brewsie and Willie, an adaptation of Gertrude Stein's novella by the same name; and her work with poet Yvette Christiansë and composer Zaid Jabri on their opera, Cities of Salt, based on a series of novels by Abdul Rahman. Morris talks about the relationship of activism to art. She also addresses international feminism, touching on Margaret Mead and anthropological feminisms. Morris also addresses the legacy of Carolyn Heilbrun, the 25th year anniversary conference of Gayatri Spivak's essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?", the financing of IRWGS, the creation of the Center for the Study of Social Difference, her involvement with the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, the hiring and tenure process for women and minorities, and networking

Subjects

• Arts--Political aspects.
• Barnard College.
• Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University.
• College teachers--Interviews.
• College teachers--Political activity.
• Columbia University. Columbia University. Department of Anthropology.
• Columbia University. Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
• Dziedzic, Sarah, interviewer.
• Feminism and higher education--United States.
• Feminist theory.
• Intersectionality (Sociology)
• Interviews.
• Morris, Rosalind C.--Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Rape in universities and colleges.

Access Conditions

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