Women's Studies Program

Contact

210 East Duke Building
Durham , NC 27708
Ph. (919) 684-5683
Fx. (919) 684-4652
http://womenstudies.duke.edu
cfhharri@duke.edu


The Program in Women's Studies at Duke University is dedicated to exploring gender identities, relations, practices, theories and institutions, In the field's first decades, feminist scholarship reoriented traditional disciplines toward the study of women and gender and developed new methodologies and critical vocabularies that have made interdisciplinarity a key feature of Women's Studies as an autonomous field. Today, scholars continue to explore the meaning and impact of identity as a primary though by no means transhistorical or universal way of organizing social life by pursuing an intersectional analysis of gender, race, sexuality, class, and nationality. In the classroom, as in our research, our goal is to transform the university's organization of knowledge by reaching across the epistemological and methodological divisions of historical, political, philosophical, economic, representational, technological and scientific analysis. In our Program's dual emphasis on interdisciplinarity and intersectionality, we offer students new knowledge while equipping them with a wide range of analytical and methodological skills.

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Principal Staff

Ranjana Khanna, Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Women's Studies and DUS
Ph.(919) 684-4063
E-mail: rkhanna@duke.edu

Melanie J. Mitchell, Program Coordinator
Ph. (919) 684-3655
E-mail: melanie.mitchell@duke.edu

Tina M. Campt, Director of Graduate Studies
Ph. (919) 684-4267
E-mail: tcampt@duke.edu

Gwendolyn Rogers, Staff Assistant
Ph. (919) 684-4052
E-mail Address: grogers@duke.edu

Lillian P. Spiller, Administrative Coordinator
Ph. (919) 684-3770
E-mail: llps@duke.edu

Marialana L Weitzel, Staff Assistant
Ph. (919) 684-5683
E-mail: m.weitzel@duke.edu

Areas of Expertise:

Access & Disparities, Awareness & Education, Barriers & Opportunities, Culture & Identity, Higher Education, Sexuality & Gender, Women in History, Women's Movements, Women's, Gender & Feminist Studies, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Member Experts:


Projects & Campaigns

 

The Pipeline Project

Women are under-represented in the political process, both at the state and federal level. In the US, there are 17 women senators and in the North Carolina senate only 6 women. Justtwenty-five per cent of legislators in North Carolina are women (a combination of house and senate).

To help address this issue, on January 15 and 16, Duke students and others, from the Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem areas, participated in a two-day workshop designed to help prepare women to run for office at the local, state or federal level. Martha Reeves, Visiting Professor in Sociology and Women’s Studies and Barbara Ferris, Executive Director of the International Women’s Democracy Center in Washington, DC, organized and conducted the Pipeline Project workshop.
 
The program covered all of the steps needed to prepare and run a successful campaign. Among the many topics, participants learned the steps required to get on the ballot; how to manage a team of volunteers and campaign staff; how to raise money and develop a budget; how to craft one’s message; and how to effectively deal with the media. A lunch-time seminar featuring Ellie Kinnaird, state senator from North Carolina, and Randee Haven-O’Donnell, alderperson from Carrboro, NC provided the attendees with first-hand knowledge of both the challenges and rewards of public service.

 

Reports & Resources

R. Khanna. Algeria Cuts: Women and Representation, 1830 to the Present. November, November, 2007.

R. Khanna. "Frames, Contexts, Community, Justice." Diacritics 33:2, November 2005: 11-41, Summer 2003.
 
R. Khanna. "Signatures of the Impossible." Duke Journal of Law and Gender Policy  (2004).

Women's Studies Newsletter

The Women's Studies Program publishes a newsletter twice a year featuring activities in the Program and scholarship by Faculty and Students.

 

Opportunities, Grants & Fellowships

Awards & Grants

Women's Studies administers a variety of awards and grants of up to $1500 each to currently enrolled Duke students in recognition of outstanding scholarship and research. The awards have been generously endowed through the Council on Women's Studies, alumnae/i, and friends.

Fellowships

The Graduate School awards two full fellowships to Women's Studies each year. Each fellowship carries a nine-month $19,840 stipend (tuition and fees to be paid by the Graduate School).

Employment Opportunities

Women's Studies offers a number of Graduate Instructor positions, Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships each year. Students may also find additional opportunities for research and jobs on DukeList.