Jane Collier : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this oral history, Jane Collier, professor of cultural and social anthropology, emerita, discusses her family background, her undergraduate and graduate education in anthropology, and her field work in Chiapas, Mexico. She also describes the growth of feminist thought and activity at Stanford University and reflects on change over time in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford and in the field of cultural anthropology more generally. In an accompanying written biography, Collier describes her research and teaching interests.
- Summary
- In this oral history, Jane Collier, professor of cultural and social anthropology, emerita, discusses her family background, her undergraduate and graduate education in anthropology, and her field work in Chiapas, Mexico. She also describes the growth of feminist thought and activity at Stanford University and reflects on change over time in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford and in the field of cultural anthropology more generally. In an accompanying written biography, Collier describes her research and teaching interests. With her father in the foreign service, Collier’s childhood was lived in five countries and three languages, and she recalls always feeling like the odd person out, especially in a missionary school where she was the only student who had not been “saved.” At the time, Collier explains, women’s work was generally defined as caring for a family, and she remembers often wanting to be a boy. Gender expectations thwarted her desire to be a Mayan archaeologist, she points out, leading her to study anthropology at Radcliffe College. A life-changing course on South America introduced her to the late Professor Evon Z. Vogt, her longtime mentor. Summers with his student team in Chiapas, Mexico, generate rich anecdotes about her work on the role of women in Zinatancan households and her courtship with George Collier. Soon she and George were married with two children, and Collier describes how they balanced childcare with scholarly pursuits. Following George to Stanford’s Department of Anthropology, she tells how she became part of an informal collective of women anthropologists including the late Michelle (Shelly) Rosaldo. While prevailing anthropological thinking in 1971 circumscribed women as family caregivers, Collier explains, the collective’s ethnographic reading showed that women held various roles, often involving power but rarely prestige. One outcome was a course entitled “Women in Cross-Cultural Perspective.” Collier also describes the exciting atmosphere at Stanford’s Center for Research on Women (CROW) where women faculty members from a variety of disciplines discussed research involving gender. As a teacher, Collier acknowledges an ongoing challenge when women students accepted biological determinism’s consignment of women to maternal roles. She discusses her own experience combining motherhood with an academic career, highlighting the positive influence of then Department Chair Benjamin D. Paul, who hired Rosaldo and Collier as the department’s first tenure-track women. Recalling the Faculty Senate’s review of Stanford’s “Western Civ” requirement, Collier describes a unique and diverse course sequence developed by the Department of Anthropology. While students liked the new focus, she says, their families often supported the traditional view. She also discusses an investigation she led into the ethics of a graduate student’s activity in China. As the twentieth century neared an end, Collier experienced conflicts within the Department of Anthropology over approaches based on biology versus culture, as well as a generational division among cultural anthropologists. Before the 1960s, she says, the focus was on what kept societies stable, while later research turned to power and its uneven distribution. As “the kind of anthropology I loved was going out of fashion,” she discusses leaving campus for fieldwork and eventually taking early retirement.
Description
| Type of resource | sound recording-nonmusical, text, still image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 2 audio files; 1 text file; 1 photograph |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | November 15, 2016 - 2017-07-21 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Collier, Jane Fishburne | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Collier, Jane Fishburne | |
| Interviewer | Torre, Alicia | |
| Interviewer | Asfaha, Dina | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Collier, Jane Fishburne |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Anthropology |
| Subject | Stanford University. Center for Research on Women |
| Subject | Collier, George Allen, 1942- |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile |
Jane Fishburne Collier is an emeritus professor of anthropology at Stanford University. Collier’s father was a member of the Foreign Service, leading to a childhood spent abroad in Colombia, Ecuador, and Belgium She earned her BA in anthropology from Radcliffe College in 1962. While at Radcliffe, she studied under Evon Z. Vogt and assisted in his summer field work in Chiapas, Mexico. She earned a Fulbright scholarship to Spain and went on to earn her PhD in anthropology from Tulane University in 1970.
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| Transcript |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/nh306jc7190 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- Digital recordings from this collection may be accessed freely. These files may not be reproduced or used for any purpose without permission. For permission requests, please contact Stanford University Department of Special Collections & University Archives (speccoll@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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