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<p><i>* Designated as an Exemplary Master's Project for 2014-15*</i></p>
<i>Against the Grain</i> revisits a period of my life long neglected: the 20 years
between my graduation from London University with a BA in African history in 1964
and my professional reinvention as an academic librarian. In keeping with second wave
feminism's emphasis on professional life, I had dismissed this period of my life as
subservient to "patriarchy": I was the dependent wife of a Foreign Service officer.
At this point in my personal and professional history I have come to recognize this
was anything but a prelude to a more real existence. With the benefit of historically
informed insights, I recognize that I lived for extended periods in hotspots throughout
Africa and beyond in the nineteen sixties and seventies, at moments of world historical
significance: Ghana, Burundi, South Africa, Bulgaria, and Zaire. Moreover, because
of my relative independence I was able to develop relationships that continue to shape
my understanding of this complex period in US foreign policy. In classic feminist
fashion, the personal and the political were inextricable. Somewhat more against the
feminist grain are the rich experiences and examined life of an adventurous, independent
woman in a traditional marriage. I eventually regained my independence; when I remarried
and moved to North Carolina in 1984, I put those years behind me. Viewing that part
of my life in historical context has revealed that, even without a career, I led a
full and rich life that has helped to shape my identity today.
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