Autobiographical Writing Across the Disciplines reveals the extraordinary breadth of the intellectual movement toward self-inclusive scholarship. Presenting exemplary works of criticism incorporating personal narratives, this volume brings together twenty-seven essays from scholars in literary studies and history, mathematics and medicine, philosophy, music, film, ethnic studies, law, education, anthropology, religion, and biology. Pioneers in the development of the hybrid genre of personal scholarship, the writers whose work is presented here challenge traditional modes of inquiry and ways of knowing. In assembling their work, editors Diane P. Freedman and Olivia Frey have provided a rich source of reasons for and models of autobiographical criticism.

The editors’ introduction presents a condensed history of academic writing, chronicles the origins of autobiographical criticism, and emphasizes the role of feminism in championing the value of personal narrative to disciplinary discourse. The essays are all explicitly informed by the identities of their authors, among whom are a feminist scientist, a Jewish filmmaker living in Germany, a potential carrier of Huntington’s disease, and a doctor pregnant while in medical school. Whether describing how being a professor of ethnic literature necessarily entails being an activist, how music and cooking are related, or how a theology is shaped by cultural identity, the contributors illuminate the relationship between their scholarly pursuits and personal lives and, in the process, expand the boundaries of their disciplines.

Contributors:

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Ruth Behar

Merrill Black

David Bleich

James Cone

Brenda Daly

Laura B. DeLind

Carlos L. Dews

Michael Dorris

Diane P. Freedman

Olivia Frey

Peter Hamlin

Laura Duhan Kaplan

Perri Klass

Muriel Lederman

Deborah Lefkowitz

Eunice Lipton

Robert D. Marcus

Donald Murray

Seymour Papert

Carla T. Peterson

David Richman

Sara Ruddick

Julie Tharp

Bonnie TuSmith

Alex Wexler

Naomi Weisstein

Patricia Williams