Simmons College

This paper analyzes the report of a session of "mutual criticism" that took place in 1870 at the Oneida Community in which one of the community leaders is criticized for her educational philosophy and methods. By placing the contested pedagogy in the context of both the history of the utopian community and the history of American educational thought, I seek to show how the education of Oneida's young people was a political activity through which the community elders sought to transmit their counter-cultural values to a younger generation while simultaneously fostering individual growth.

Why did cultural institutions such as universities and literary publications begin to respect the field of children's literature in the late 1980s? I consider the case of a picture book, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, and examine twentieth-century trends of literary criticism as applied to children's literature. Early and mid-century New Criticism limited the scope of analysis and devalued picture books. By the 1980s, critics applied newer theories such as structuralism to children's literature and called attention to the field. As librarians and faculty members find new meaning in old texts, picture books continue to gain prominence.

How to encourage women in science is frequently considered in the media, with much attention paid to improving science education and encouraging girls' participation in primary school classrooms. The aims of this study are to show that women face greater barriers in pursuing higher education in academic science disciplines than in many other career paths and to examine the causes of these barriers. My research shows that many policies and cultural attitudes propagate this pattern, and though it may be unintentional, it is ingrained in our culture and institutional policies. Many women seem unaware of the barriers to their success until they pursue a career in science and encounter difficulties in balancing their lives and careers. The barriers women face should be of particular interest to women aspiring to careers in academic science, institutions providing their education, and those hiring Ph.D. level scientists. Without support and preparation from colleges and without positive examples of female mentors, many aspiring female scientists ultimately make a career change. While all women in academia face barriers regarding work and family balance, the most significant evidence that these barriers are greater in science is shown by cultural attitudes that parenting and academic science are incompatible. This situation could be changed through preparing and mentoring women, reducing long work hours, and allowing for parental leave without penalties from grant associations or tenure committees.

On the eve of his execution, Joseph Plunkett, signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and member of the Irish Provisional Government, married Grace Gifford, an artist and political cartoonist active in Sinn Fein. Only hours before Plunkett's execution on 4 May, 1916, the two were married in the chapel of Kilmainham Jail. Grace Gifford Plunkett became a heroine of the movement and the rebellion, immortalized in ballads and collective memory, but not for her art, political cartoons, or other efforts; rather, her marital sacrifice as a wife and widow became her legacy. The case of Grace Gifford Plunkett is exceptional, but the ideology it exposes is anything but. Artwork, leaflets, and newspapers offered women recommendations for how to participate in nationalist efforts in ways consistent with prevailing notions regarding the gendered division of labor and the conception of separate spheres. Advice from organizations such as the Gaelic League and Sinn Fein reveal a tendency to view women's efforts in the nationalist movements in terms of their roles as wives, mothers, and daughters. Despite assertions that the women were allies and not handmaidens of the rebellion, propaganda and republican rhetoric more often than not attempted to bind their efforts to the hearth and home.