US-RPB-ms2010.007 Guide to the Karen Brodkin papers1960-2010 Finding aid prepared by Miranda Nero and Wendy Korwin on behalf of the Pembroke Center for the Teaching and Research on Women and the Brown University Library. Curatorial work and processing provided by the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women on behalf of the Feminist Theory Archive, Brown University Library. Brown University Library
John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI, 02912 Tel: 401-863-3723 email:hay@brown.edu
2010-04-09 This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2015-05-26 English Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) Karen Brodkin papers Ms.2010.007 John Hay LibraryUniversity Archives and Manuscripts
Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu
English 1960-2010 The Karen Brodkin Papers consist of writings, photographs, audio and visual materials, correspondence, and ephemera from 1960-2010. The materials in the collection relate to her research and work in the field of Anthropology. Brodkin, Karen Feminist Theory Archive. Brodkin (Karen) papers Biographical note

Karen Brodkin is a prominent figure in the field of Anthropology. Her research focuses on gender studies and race studies, primarily dealing with Jewish issues. Brodkin received her A.B. from Brandeis University in 1963, her M.A. from Harvard University in 1964, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1971. Her dissertation was titled “Economic Bases of Sexual Equality: A Comparative Study of Four African Societies.” She held Assistant Professor positions at several universities from 1967-1980 and spent seven years at Oakland University during that time. After holding various other faculty positions, Brodkin served for six years as the Director of Women’s Studies at UCLA beginning in 1987. In 1989, she became Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies at UCLA, and is currently Professor Emerita.

Brodkin has received several fellowships, honors, and grants in her scholarly career, including an Honorable Mention for the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America (Rutgers University Press, 1998) and the Conrad Arensberg Award from the Society for the Anthropology of Work for Caring by the Hour (University of Illinois Press, 1998). Her other awards include two National Science Foundation grants.

Brodkin’s published books are Sisters and Wives: The Past and Future of Sexual Equality (University of Illinois Press, 1982), My Troubles are Going to Have Trouble with Me (Rutgers University Press, 1984), Making Democracy Matter: Identity and Activism in Los Angeles (Rutgers University Press, 2007), and Power Politics: Environmental Activism in South Los Angeles (Rutgers University Press, 2009). She has also been published in scholarly journals including Anthropologica, American Ethnologist, and Jewish Currents, and has served on over fifteen editorial and advisory boards.

 Accessions from 2010 Series 1 1960-2006 Writings Subseries 2 1-2 Article: "Agrarian Reform in Cuba" 1 1 1968 Article: "Social Bases for Sexual Equality: A Comparative Review" 1 2 1970 Brodkin's Review of Women and the Public Interest: An Essay on Policy and Protest 1 3 1972 Article: "Engels Revisited: Women, The Organization of Production, and Private Property" 1 4 1974 Article: "Class Roots of Feminism" 1 5 1976 Feb Article: "State Bias and Women's Status" 1 6 1976 Sep Brodkin's Review of Salt of the Earth 1 7 undated Article: "Women and Class Struggle in Sembene's God's Bits of Wood" 1 8 1978 Reviews of Brodkin's Sisters and Wives: The Past and Future of Sexual Equality 1 9 1981 Article: "Causality and Chance on the Upper Nile" 1 10 1979 Feb 11 Brodkin's Review of Pseudoscience and Mental Aibility: The Origins and Fallacies of the IQ Controversy 1 11 1980 Feb Book Reviews by Brodkin: "Racist Eugenics Dissected" 1 12 1981 Feb Article: "The New 'Rassenscience': The Racism of the Jensens and Shockleys" 1 13 1978 Feb Article: "An Overview of Women & Power in Africa" 1 14 1982 Article: "Equal Pay for Work of Comparable Value" 1 15 1982 Apr Article: "Women and Work: A New Response" 1 16 1982 Article: "Then, Now & Future Women" 1 17 1983 Jul-Aug Article: "Networking: When Potluck is Political" 1 18 1983 Apr Brodkin's Review of The Goba of Zambezi: Sex Roles, Economics, and Change. 1 19 1981? Article: "Work" in The Women's Annual 1 20 1982-1983 Article: "Women and Power Within the Historical Dynamic of Feminist Scholarship" 1 21 undated Essay: "Part VI: Kinship and Class Consciousness" in "Interest and Emotion" 1 22 undated Book Reviews by Brodkin: "Lab Coats and Pink Collars" 1 23 1984 Jul Report: "Women's Wages: A Key to Preserving Middle Income Jobs" 1 24 1986 Aug Scope and Contents note

Includes two newspaper clippings that cite this report and correspondence regarding the report

 Brodkin's Review of Trade, Women, Class, and Society in Ancient Western Asia 1 25 1986 Dec Introduction to Women's Studies 13(3) 1 26 1987 Working Paper: "A Two-Way Street: Gendering International Studies and Internationalizing Women's Studies" 1 27 1987 Book Reviews by Brodkin: "'Dirty Old Ladies,' Mothers, and Others: Age and Gender in Cultural and Biological Perspectives" 1 28 1987 Article: "The Origins of Women's Oppression" 1 29 1986? Scope and Contents note

Brodkin's Review of Women's Work, Men's Property: The Origin of Gender and Class

 Reviews of Brodkin's Caring By The Hour 1 30 1989? Article: "Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire: Macroeconomic Trends and Women's Life Chances" 1 31 1988 Mar Article: "The Demise of Domesticity in America" 1 32 undated Article: "Gender and Grassroots Leadership" 1 33 undated Article: "Toward a Unified Theory of Class, Race and Gender" 1 34 1989 Aug Article: "What's a Life Story Got to Do with It?" 1 35 undated Scope and Contents note

Includes two articles that cite this article

 Brodkin's Review of Patriarchy and Class: African Women in the Home and the Workforce 1 36 1989 Mar Brodkin's Review of Marriage and Inequality in Classless Societies 1 37 1988? Brodkin's Review of Feminism and Anthropology 1 38 1990 May Paper: "Does It Pay to Care?" 1 39 1988 Apr Interview with Brodkin: "Everyday Women's Values" 1 40 1992 Fishing in the City 1 41 1990-2002 Scope and Contents note

VHS, Cassette, and Papers from the film Fishing in the City

 Brodkin's Review of Michael Levin's "Black Antisemitism" 1 42 1992 Jun Introduction: New Views of Middle-Aged Women 1 43 undated Two Book Reviews by Karen Brodkin 1 44 1992? Article: "Euro-Ethnic Working-Class Women's Community Culture" 1 45 1993 Article: "How Did Jews Become White Folks?" 1 46 undated Article: "Anthropology, Imperialism and Resistance: The Work of Kathleen Gough" 1 47 1993 Brodkin's Review of Anthropology and the Crisis of the Intellectuals 1 48 1995 Brodkin's Review of Hear My Testimony: Maria Teresa Tula, Human Rights Activist of El Salvador 1 49 1994? Brodkin's Review of Beyond A Dream Deferred: Multicultural Education and the Politics of Excellence 1 50 1995 May Brodkin's Review of White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness 1 51 1995 Feb Book: How Jews Became White Folks 1 52 1998 Reviews of How Jews Became White Folks 1 53 1998? Papers relating to How Jews Became White Folks 1 54 1990-2002 Video: Let's Own It! 1 55 1998 Oct 4 Scope and Contents note

Includes laminated set of pictures, VHS, and invitation

 Book Reviews by Brodkin: "A Better World Is Possible? Anthropology and Social Movements" 1 56 2005 Article: "Survival of the Fattest" 2 1 1978 Mar "The Struggle for Justice" and "Race, Class and Gender" in Transforming Anthropology 2 2 1998 Article: "Race, Class, and the Limits of Democratization in the Academy" 2 3 undated Brodkin's Review of The Teeth Are Smiling: the Persistence of Racism in Multicultural Australia 2 4 1998 May Book Reviews by Karen Brodkin 2 5 1996? Article: "Women, Work, and Karl Marx" 2 6 1998 Article: "Studying Whiteness: What's the Point and Where do We go from Here?" 2 7 1999 May Article: "Once More into the Streets" 2 8 2000 Article: "Global Capitalism: What's Race Got to Do With it?" 2 9 2000 Article: "Comments on 'Discourses of Whiteness"' 2 10 2001 Jun Article: "Diversity in Anthropological Theory" 2 11 undated Article: "Whiteness: A Mixed Bag" 2 12 2002 Article: "On the Politics of Being Jewish in a Multiracial State" 2 13 2003 Article: "The Struggle for Hearts and Minds: Organization, Ideology, and Emotion" 2 14 2004 Brodkin's Review of Upheaval in the Quite Zone: A History of Hospital Workers' Union, Local 1199 2 15 1989 Article: "Race and Gender in the Construction of Class" 2 16 1996-1997 CD: "Karen Brodkin Files: Talks, Writing, + Misc" 2 17 undated Proof: "Making Democracy Matter: Identity and Activism in Los Angeles" 2 18 2006 Aug Non-Academic Writing and Activity (1 of 2) 2 19 1982 Jun - 1985 Jul 10 Scope and Contents note

"Two Steps Forward, One Step Back," "Women, Technology and Health Care"

 Non-Academic Writing and Activity (2 of 2) 2 20 1986-1993 Scope and Contents note

"Theft of Parenting," " Work and Family Lives," "Murphy Hall goes marching in," "Let there be light!," "UCLA Executive Program"

 Cassettes 2 21 1991-1994 Scope and Contents note

Beyond the Pale: The Progressive Jewish Radio House 11/7/99, Includes Karen Brodkin Interview, Plenary Sessions "Politics of Women's Work" 1994, Joe Domanick's Beneath the Surface, Williams/Jews 5/27/99

 Talks Subseries 2 2 Talks Folder (1 of 2) 2 22 1990-1999 Scope and Contents note

"Anthropological Research on Women in the Workplace," "Look What they Done to my Song," "The Political Economies of Kinship: The Political is Really Personal," "Network Paper," "Theft of Parenting," "MOMDIDIT," "Presentation, Women at Work Conference."

 Talks Folder (2 of 2) 2 23 1990-1999 Scope and Contents note

"Captialism Hurting American Family," "Social Darwinism, Sociobiology and Sexism: IPS 11/9/82," "Greensboro Talk @ Equity and Excellence," "Racism and Sexism in the Groves of Academe," "What do Workers Want?," "Can We Be Scholars and Activists at the Same

 Travel to Cuba Subseries 3 2 Brodkin's Trip to Cuba (1 of 3): Newspaper Clippings 2 24 1964 Brodkin's Trip to Cuba (2 of 3): Stamps 2 25 1962-1965 Brodkin's Trip to Cuba (3 of 3): Notebooks 2 26 1964 Passport Case 2 27 1964-1966 Brodkin's Trip to Cuba 2 28 1991 Cuba Photo Disc 2 29 1964 Professional Organizations and Conferences Subseries 4 3 Conference on Anthropology In and About Los Angeles 3 1 2002 Apr 5 Scope and Contents note

Photographs, program, and paper abstracts

 American Ethnological Society 116th Annual Spring Meeting 3 2 1994 Apr 14-16 Scope and Contents note

Program and abstracts

 ARPA Newsletters 3 3 1970-1979 ARPA and Radical Anthropology 3 4 1960-1979 Rebellion 3 5 1965 Scope and Contents note

Newsletters and other papers

 Non-Teaching Faculty Activity Subseries 5 3 Miscellaneous Correspondence 3 6 1964 Chain Letter & Faculty Organizing 3 7 1989 Faculty for Affirmative Action/ Amicus Brief 3 8 1995-1997 Luckman Teaching Award Nomination 3 9 1997-1998 Funded NSF Grants/ Applications 3 10 1984, 1990 Oakland University Sex Discrimination Suit and Reappointment Fight 3 11 1975 Miscellaneous Subseries 6 3 Common Threads 3 12 1990-1999 Scope and Contents note

Information regarding Guess? Workers Controversy

 WAC Stats 3 13 undated Brodkin's CV 3 14 undated Accessions from 2015 Series 2 1964-2010 50-Mile Walk Completed with Carol Jacklin 3 15 1990 Boston C.O.R.E. Reunion 3 16 1992 CD of Photographs, Writings, and Course Materials 3 17 1964-2010 Collection information

The Karen Brodkin papers contain materials related to and including Brodkin’s writings, talks, trips to Cuba, professional organizations, and conferences. Brodkin’s materials are arragned according to her own organizational scheme. The “Writings” subseries contains Brodkin’s articles and book reviews written of other authors’ works, along with articles reviewing or citing her works. The “Talks” subseries includes physical copies of talks she presented throughout her career. Within these two subseries are some audio and video recordings and discs of her talks and her research. The “Travel to Cuba” subseries includes newspaper clippings, stamps, notebooks, documents relating to her lost passport case, and a disc of pictures from her two trips to Cuba. The “Professional Organizations and Conferences” subseries includes programs and newsletters for specific organizations and conferences, including. The “Non-Teaching Faculty Activity” subseries includes papers relating to various events Brodkin participated in while Brodkin a faculty member at various institutions. The “Miscellaneous” subseries contains a booklet of WAC Stats and information about a Guess? Workers controversy.

Karen Brodkin papers, Ms.2010.007, Feminist Theory Archive, Brown University Library.

The collection is divided into the following series:

Series 1. Accession from 2010 Subseries 1. Writings Subseries 2. Talks Subseries 3. Travel to Cuba Subseries 4. Professional Organizations and Conferences Subseries 5. Non-Teaching Faculty Activity Subseries 6. Miscellaneous.

Series 2. Accession from 2015

Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.

There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.

 Administrative information

Gift of Karen Brodkin beginning in 2009.

Collection processed in 2010 by Miranda Nero, with additions processed in 2015 by Wendy Korwin.

Further accruals for this collection are possible.

 Additional information

To find Karen Brodkin's published works, follow this link: Brodkin,Karen.

Names Brodkin, Karen Feminist Theory Archive. Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. Subjects Feminist theory Gender Issues Jews--Study and teaching Social Anthropology Occupations Professors Anthropologists Types of Materials Audiovisual Materials Correspondence Manuscripts Publications Speeches RIAMCO Browsing Term Race, Ethnicity, and Gender