Mary Louise Pratt : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Mary Louise Pratt shares memories of her time at Stanford as a graduate student and professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She recounts her upbringing in Canada, her undergraduate education in Toronto, and the formative experience of studying abroad in Mexico, France, and Spain. Pratt recalls her experiences as a graduate student in the 1970s during the early days of Stanford’s interdisciplinary program in Comparative Literature, including memories of faculty mentors Jean Franco, Herbert Lindenberger, and Elizabeth Traugott. She situates her academic work in the exciting currents of the time, describing her research on decolonization and gender, travel writing and transculturation, and the influential concept of the contact zone. She also speaks about the excitement of unearthing, with her students and colleagues, the contributions of previously unrecognized Latin American women writers, and she offers a nuanced analysis of both Stanford’s support of her research and embrace of faculty governance and times when she felt disrespected. Additional topics include multilingualism and foreign language education; the challenges faced by women in academia; the Socialist Feminist Alliance (SOFA); and debates about the Western-focused CIV requirements for students.
- Summary
- Growing up in Listowel, Ontario • Parents’ careers and life during the Depression • Upbringing in a large family and siblings • Growing up surrounded by older single women in Listowel • Parents’ expectations for her and her siblings • Love of reading from a young age • British-style schooling in southwestern Ontario during the 1950s • Listowel’s annual oratorical contest • Influence of high school teacher Arnie Kotanen • Languages around Listowel and early language education • Canadian politics in the 1960s • Father’s emphasis on bilingualism • Canada and decolonization in the 1960s • Canada’s indigenous people during the late 1950s • Enrolling at University of Toronto • Study abroad experiences in Mexico, Toulouse, and Salamanca • Attending political demonstrations while in Mexico • International students at Toulouse and hostility toward students from former colonies • Political education through study abroad experiences • Difficulty finding a room in Salamanca as a single woman • Love of traveling • Growing interest in non-European literature • Decolonization of institutions and knowledge • Engaging with ecocriticism and ecological thought • Lack of academic encouragement and mentoring at University of Toronto • Master’s degree in linguistics at University of Illinois • Shifts in the field of linguistics during the 1970s • Decision to return to literary studies • Knowledge of Stanford through her great aunt Mary; connection between Listowel and former Stanford President Wallace Sterling • Applying to Stanford for a PhD in Spanish • Memories of trip to California • Studying with Fernando Alegría and Aurelio Espinosa at Stanford • Transferring to the Comparative Literature Program • Mentorship from Herbert Lindenberger, Jean Franco, and Elizabeth Traugott • Early faculty in Comparative Literature • Dissertation and first book, Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse; enthusiastic reception • Bringing together Latin American literature, linguistics, and comparative literature • Literary theory in the 1970s • Teaching at UMass Amherst for one year • Courses and students, including teaching returning Vietnam veterans • Recruitment back to Stanford as an affirmative action hire • Appointment to the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and affiliation with the Program in Comparative Literature • Building up the humanities at Stanford • Jean Franco’s department-building efforts • Intellectual revolution in humanities and social sciences during the late 1970s and 1980s • Bringing lenses of colonialism and gender to literature • Departmental reaction to her lecture “Gide, Camus, and Algeria” • Struggle of women academics to be recognized at conferences; story of women organizing to be heard at a conference on narrative • Establishing the Socialist Feminist Alliance (SOFA), a study group of women Latin Americanists around the Bay Area • Receiving negative responses to work on gender in the academic world • Impact of Jean Franco’s leaving Stanford • Latin American Studies at Stanford during the 1970s • Funding sources for language study • Differences between Latin American Studies and Chicano Studies • The border and coining the term “contact zone” • Funding for Latin American Studies • Sylvia Wynter • Women’s Faculty Caucus and the Center for Research on Women • Stanford in the 1980s • Lack of maternity policies at Stanford • Attempt while she was on maternity leave to merge Spanish and Portuguese with French and Italian to create a Romance Languages Department • Students telling her she was the object of a “witch hunt” while she was on leave • Comments on the recruitment of women faculty • Thoughts on the naming of CROW and the establishment of Feminist Studies at Stanford • Culture wars and debates over Stanford’s CIV requirement • Designing the Europe and the Americas course with Renato Rosaldo and Gregson Davis • Students’ attitudes towards the CIV requirement • Response to David Stoll’s criticism of Rigoberta Menchú • Genre of testimonio • Frustration at those questioning legitimacy of Latin American genres • Writing and publishing books • Course on travel writing • Work with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. • Writing Imperial Eyes • Working with students • Teaching languages and encouraging multilingualism • American monolingualism and the problems it creates • Importance of foreign language in higher education • Serving as president of the Modern Language Association right after 9/11 • Advocacy for foreign language in education • Funding for foreign language education from defense organizations • Love of teaching • Developing courses and teaching bilingually • Advising dissertations • Sixtieth birthday party at MLA right after fracturing shoulder • Chairing Stanford’s Program in Modern Thought and Literature • Stanford’s system of faculty governance and Faculty Senate • Memories of Stanford’s shift from affirmative action to diversity • Progress and continuing challenges for women in academia, including thoughts on spousal hires and prevalence of sexual misconduct and exploitation • Advocating to change the name of Stanford’s Allan V. Cox Award during the #MeToo Movement • Incident where a student made an abusive phone call to fellow students following a class presentation and dismay at the university’s lack of action • Pay disparities at Stanford • Decision to leave Stanford for New York University • Opportunity to create the Social and Cultural Analysis Department at NYU versus situation with the Program in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford • Advice to those entering academia: you need to love what you do • Warning to women in academia: as rank increases, so does hostility • Stanford’s support for Pratt’s work on Latin America • Road trip from Palo Alto to Rio de Janiero while in graduate school • Language learning • Thoughts on the use of English in the field of Latin America studies • Unearthing the history of women’s literature and literary writing in Latin America • Having the ability to travel as part of academic life • Ongoing influence of Imperial Eyes and concept of the “contact zone” • Speech “Arts of the Contact Zone” • Seminars on gender, writing, and authoritarianism • Memories of supportive administrators Cecilia Burciaga, Ray Bacchetti, and Jim Montoya
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 18, 2019 - 2019-11-19 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Pratt, Mary Louise, 1948- | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Pratt, Mary Louise, 1948- | |
| Interviewer | Abel, Suzanne | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Pratt, Mary Louise, 1948- |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Comparative Literature |
| Subject | Stanford University. Department of Spanish and Portuguese |
| Subject | Women in higher education |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Mary Louise Pratt is the Silver Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. Prior to joining NYU, she was the Olive H. Palmer Professor of Humanities at Stanford University, working primarily in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. As a theorist of Latin American studies and language rights, Pratt’s most prominent works include Toward a Speech Act Theory of Literary Discourse and Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. She has also advocated for multi-lingual education, and written extensively on a wide range of topics. Pratt is a former president of the Modern Language Association and has received grants and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. At Stanford, she was a recipient of the Bing Fellowship for Distinguished Teaching and earned the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching twice. In 2019, she was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. |
|---|---|
| Transcript |
|
| Interview with Renato Rosaldo and Mary Louise Pratt | |
| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/vv552nc0319 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © 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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