My Encounter with Women's Studies

We offer an annotated translation of the first part of Mizuta Noriko's personal book, My Encounter with Women's Studies (Joseigaku to no deai, 2004). In these poignant chapters, written in an accessible and frank tone, Mizuta reminisces about her academic studies in Tokyo in the 1950s, her formative years as a graduate student at Yale University in the 1960s, her early years of teaching through the 1970s, and her role in founding Women's Studies in the United States and Japan. Mizuta's study at Yale University and her first jobs teaching Japanese and comparative literature encouraged her to reflect on what it meant to be a woman and a foreigner in 1960s America. The translator explains the history of Japanese female students at Yale University through the 1960s to better contextualize Mizuta's vivid description of women's roles on campus.