Faculty Profile
Each year we highlight a Boise State University faculty member who teaches courses in the Gender Studies Program. For academic year 2008, we would like to introduce:
Meet Dr. Dora Ramirez-Dhoore
English Department
PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Any great quote or personal philosophy you find inspiring and why?
Isabel Allende said “How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?” This is absolutely inspiring to me because what I strive to do with my writing, teaching, research, and activism is to bring knowledge and literacy to the community. I find that it is often best to teach people that they have a voice (whether it is through political activism, writing, or just sharing stories) than it is to speak for them. Voice is an avenue to agency. Finding strength in oneself is found in having a voice.
What current projects occupy your time?
I am member of a variety of committees on campus that are devoted to making Boise State University culture vibrant and educational, including the Gender Studies committee, the Cultural and Ethnic Diversity Board, the Latin and Latin American Studies Minor committee, the Film Studies committee, and the Arts and Letters Curriculum Committee. In addition to this, I am the advisor of the newly formed Latina sorority Lambda Theta Alpha. This sorority is made of a strong group of women working with the goal of education for the public. I also make it a point to volunteer with events the Cultural Center hosts throughout the year, as their work is vital to campus climate. One event I hosted this year and will do in the future is the African American Read-In, which gave the community the opportunity to read and enjoy literature written by African Americans. The reading began with a strong start with the reading of Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman.”
My research focuses on the phenomenal Chicana women that write literature and those issues affecting this population in the United States. I am currently working on a few articles for books and journals that are specific to Gender Studies and Chicana/o Studies. The first is an essay titled, “Let the Gummy Bears Speak: Articulating Identity in Sandra Cisneros’s ‘Never Marry a Mexican,’” that will be published in Sandra Cisneros' Woman Hollering Creek, edited by Cecilia S. Donohue in Winter 2008. This essay focuses on the relations between Chicana and Euro-American women and how each perceives the other through a mirror lens.
My work extends to that of environmental and social issues as well. Another essay I am working on focuses on Environmental Racism and how it is presented in literary texts such as Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s Desert Blood and Helena Maria Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus. In addition to this, my work often focuses on popular culture and its connections to women’s subjectivity as noted in the two essays I am working for publication: “Negotiating Conflicting Narratives: Music and Chicana Critical Subjectivity,” and “Dolores del Río’s Crossover Appeal in ‘The Wild Zone.’”
Why Gender Studies?
Gender Studies has always been at the heart of my interests in my research. I appreciate the richness of the program here at Boise State University because it offers an interdisciplinary approach of study regarding the issues that affect women globally. Gender Studies offers those interested in the subject the flexibility to research and participate in issues important to women in the United States and abroad. Because of this interdisciplinary nature, I am able to move from the literature I research and teach to that of social activism in the community. Overall, I encourage students to become part of this program as it brings together scholars, researchers, and educators and puts theory into practice.
Why do you think it is important?
The importance of Gender Studies is great and varied. Gender Studies is an inroad for individuals to learn about the way femininities, masculinities, and sexuality work in our cultures, societies, and political and socio-economic systems. Mostly, this program focuses on examining traditional knowledge through another lens that helps move our world forward to a more equitable place. Personally, I find it valuable in my research of Latina women, literacy issues affecting this population, and the literature written by these women.
Has your research into issues of gender caused you to re-evaluate society or your everyday life in any way?
Always. Many women scholars of color, such as Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo and others have brought forth the question about having to choose between gender and race. They question how they are perceived and which one they should choose as their priority. In many ways, I understand what they are speaking about, but as politics continue to shift, we are in a time period that allows women of color to understand that this is not and does not have to be a choice. I see myself as just that—a woman of color. Both offer their challenges in a heterogeneous world that seeks to be homogenous. Gender Studies has given me the theoretical language and the allies in which to make my activism (both written and physical) possible. Thus, I have devoted my research and time to that of women of color, specifically Latinas and those issues specific to how they adapt to and resist dominant structures.
Tell us about the courses you teach.
I am lucky in that my teaching is varied. I have the privilege of teaching a variety of courses that draw on my knowledge of Gender Studies. Courses I teach are Folklore, African American Literature, Ethnic Literature, Chicana/o Literature, the Survey of American Literature, and Introduction to Literary Studies. In the Fall 2008, I am very excited to have the opportunity to teach an online course with Dr. Kelley Connor (Nursing) titled “Contemporary Childbirth.” This course will give insight into the medical field and the literature written about this subject. It proves to be quite an interesting course.
Why might Gender Studies students be interested in such a course?
This course is offered as a collaboration between the Nursing and English departments at Boise State University which brings to light the idea that Gender Studies celebrates interdisciplinary dialogue. For many students, this course gives them a rare opportunity to move into two very different disciplines and examine the diversity of childbirth as a healthcare experience. This course is grounded in theories specific to Gender Studies in that students will explore issues that impact childbirth such as ethnicity, age, economic status, cultural beliefs, and health. It draws on issues of equity, women’s experience, and the systems that affect women’s health.
Personal info you’d be comfortable sharing with students?
Many of my students and colleagues realize that I have a chronic illness that has flipped my world upside right. This illness has given me a place where I’ve gained patience, a sort of understanding with humanity that I did not have before my diagnosis. I’m of the mind that energy comes from so much more than just our bodies—but also our minds. Gender Studies allows us to study and examine both the mind and the body as sites of knowledge. I would like to challenge our students to continue with their studies in Gender Studies as a way to cultivate both their minds and bodies towards building a fair and just society for all its global citizens.
Personal interests/pastimes/hobbies?
I enjoy spending time with my family. I spend much of my free time creating projects with my children, playing in the park, gardening in our yard, fixing up our house (painting, etc.), reading, cooking and trying new recipes (I love baking). My husband and I are experimenting with growing chiles this year. There is a contest going on with my parents regarding whose chiles will be the spiciest.
Spouse/partner/children/pets?
I am married to Marc Dhoore who is a great supporter of all I do and want to do. Our two children are Louis and Olivia which are a delight (except when they eat too much chocolate). We have two cats named Hector and Tobi, three fish named Nemo, Fats (Domino), and Polly Fred (there is a gender studies paper somewhere in that name), and a Venus Fly Trap named Nicolas.