The Language of Battered Women: A Rhetorical Analysis of Personal Theologies

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the people who supported and inspired me as I wrote about violence against women. First of all, I wish to honor the women through the ages who have worked to end sexual discrimination and violence against women. More immediately, I acknowledge my profound debt to residents of the Women’s House, a shelter for battered women in the upper South. The women spoke freely to me about painful events and emotions and their deep faith with the hope that their voices would be heard. Their participation is a testimony to their faith and to their activity for social change. In particular I thank Sharon, a young woman I met at the shelter, whose whereabouts I no longer know. The complexity of her behaviors and beliefs invited me to see survivors in more depth than the literature typically portrays them and to appreciate their struggles more acutely. She stirred my curiosity and caused me to ask more meaningful questions about the lives of victims and survivors of domestic violence. I would like to recognize the administration and staff of the shelter for granting me research access during the course of my volunteer work. They helped me to learn about the social service aspects of the struggle against domestic violence. One former staff person, Debbie Burstion, has been a particular friend and teacher to me. She dedicates her life in service to marginalized women, first in the battered women’s movement and now in women’s AIDS education. Debbie has shown me angles on African American women’s issues that I—as a white academician—may have never discovered by myself. I owe much to my colleagues, Marie Giblin, a theologian and ethicist, and Kandi Stinson, a sociologist and ethnographer. Marie, Kandi, and I meet regularly to talk about our research and to encourage each other to move forward with our visions and projects. They have spoken to me for many hours about violence against women from the perspective of their own fields. I could not have wished for better readers, co-mentors, and friends. Life in the academy is a challenge for women, yet Kandi and Marie have supported xi 33011_SP_WIN_FM_00i-XII 10/10/03, 11:40 AM 11 and inspired me during the past ten years. I am thankful for the gift of their scholarly company and good friendship. I celebrate the supportive climate at Xavier University, particularly in its concern for the spirituality of its professors, staff, and students. Undaunted by the delicacy of this task, my colleagues Joe Wessling and George Traub, S.J., have been key figures, indeed mentors, to me as I have tried to discern ways to use my intellectual, academic life in service to the community. Joe and George exemplify at its best the meaning of Catholic identity at the Jesuit university. I am indebted to several organizations for support during the stages of this project. The Association for Religion and Intellectual Life granted me a summer fellowship at Yale University where I began to configure the initial stages of this project in the company of inspiring women scholars, including Annie Imbens-Fransen and Emilie M. Townes. At Calvin College , in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I participated with analytical philosophers in a Pew-supported summer colloquium on the problem of evil. I am grateful to Xavier University, in Cincinnati, Ohio, for granting me a sabbatical to finish this work. I acknowledge my students at Xavier University, the young women and men who teach me as we explore the issues of language and gender. Jenny Chwalibog provided much cheerfully rendered library research assistance. Finally, and most earnestly, I thank my family. My husband, John Ippoliti, and my son, Christopher R. McLaughlin, gave me endless encouragement . Personally, they embody for me the meaning of loving-kindness, and politically, they are the best of allies in the struggle for women’s rights. My father, Edward R. Winkelmann, passed away as I was finishing my manuscript. He encouraged me lovingly to the end. May we all have the inspiration we need to flourish. xii THE LANGUAGE OF BATTERED WOMEN 33011_SP_WIN_FM_00i-XII 10/10/03, 11:40 AM 12 ...