In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

xiii A C K N O w L E d G M E N T S Together, we thank Katrina M. Powell for organizing a gathering of feminist rhetoricians at Virginia Tech University that provided us with extended time for conversation and eventually led us to collaborations on an article and this book. We greatly appreciate the many colleagues who attended and inspired our work, as well as the many scholars who have embarked on exciting new work in the field of feminist rhetorical studies. It is the rich and diverse nature of this groundbreaking work that motivated this book. We are mindful of and deeply indebted to the many women who went before us—scholars and rhetors in their own right—whose voices and visions continue to inspire us and help us image a brighter future. We are grateful for the valuable feedback and suggestions the reviewer of this manuscript and Cheryl Glenn and Shirley Wilson Logan, editors of the Studies in Feminisms and Rhetorics series, provided. Many thanks go to Patricia Bizzell for introducing this volume so thoughtfully and to Karl Kageff, editor-in-chief, Southern Illinois University Press, for his support and enthusiasm . Finally, we thank Vanessa Rouillon for suggesting the cover image for our book. Jackie Royster: I thank the Ohio State University for the gift of time. A muchlonged -for faculty professional leave permitted me the privilege of research, contemplation, and time to write. There is no better gift than time. I thank the Georgia Institute of Technology for a research grant that enabled me to take care of some final logistics that were critical to publication. I also owe a particular debt of gratitude to students over the years whose passion for knowledge, surprise at what might be knowable about women’s work and achievements, and efforts to pursue research on women have constituted the very best reason for even trying to develop a volume like this. The questions remain always: How can we make the pursuit of knowledge—even about “nontraditional” subjects more manageable? How can we bring our needs to know into the circle of academic regard in a way that actually furthers Acknowledgments xiv the work and inspires the worker? For me, this volume is the best answer that I have managed so far, and I am eternally grateful to the students who made me ask myself some pretty tough questions. I am also grateful to my family, who after all these years understand that there is work that I must do. I take great pleasure in saying that Patrick Royster offers me unconditional love, support, and patience and helps me to know that the desires of my heart and mind are possible and necessary. I take equal joy in knowing that my children, Rebecca and Giles, are discovering in their own unique ways that finding their own passions, no matter what the pursuit happens to be, is what makes life worth living. I am incredibly grateful that no explanations are necessary to Lilla Ashe Mitchell, who at this point in the course of our mother-daughter relationship no longer even needs to ask what I’m doing now. She just accepts that whatever it is, it is important. I add to this list my gratitude for the privilege of working on a project that I care so much about with a long-time colleague who cares just as much. This collaboration has been a blessing—exemplifying to incredible effect the importance of a complementarity of strengths, mutual respect, a sense of goodwill, and a love of intellectual synergy. Gesa Kirsch: I thank Bentley University and the English and Media Studies Department for travel and research support for work on this book, as well as colleagues at Bentley for their interest in and support of my work. Many thanks go to Liz Rohan and contributors to Beyond the Archives: Research as a Lived Process, whose work continues to inspire and fascinate me. A special note of thanks goes to Gail Hawisher for inviting me to visit, teach, and present my work-in-progress at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign during the spring 2010. I am also grateful to the graduate students in my seminar at UIUC for the many rich conversations we shared about alternative sites of rhetorical education. A special thanks to my writing group in Boston—Rosaleen Greene-Smith, Jim Webber, and Sara Shukla—for close readings, lively discussions, excellent feedback, and lots of laughter during our Friday...

Share