Barnard Center for Research on Women

Barnard Center for Research on Women
Name	Barnard Center for Research on Women
Formation	1971
Type	Research center
Headquarters	Barnard College, Manhattan, New York City
Leader title	Director
Affiliations	Barnard College, Columbia University

Barnard Center for Research on Women is a research center based at Barnard College in Manhattan that focuses on feminist scholarship, social justice, and interdisciplinary inquiry. Founded in the early 1970s, the center has engaged with activists, scholars, and institutions across New York City and internationally to advance research on gender, race, sexuality, and human rights. Its programs have connected faculty and students at Barnard College and Columbia University with nonprofit organizations, foundations, and cultural institutions.

History

The center emerged in the context of the 1970s women's movement and campus activism, aligning with broader currents associated with National Organization for Women, Ms. Magazine, Soledad O'Brien, and campus groups at Columbia University and Barnard College; it developed amid debates that also involved figures linked to Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and organizations such as The Feminist Press and Sisterhood Is Powerful. Early collaborations touched networks connected to New York City, the Henry Kissinger–era foreign policy milieu only peripherally, and international feminism represented by conferences including the World Conference on Women and activists associated with Angela Davis, Cherríe Moraga, and Patricia Hill Collins. Over ensuing decades the center adapted to intellectual shifts associated with scholars like Judith Butler, Nancy Fraser, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and institutional partners such as The New School, Columbia Law School, Teachers College, Columbia University, and regional nonprofits including ACLU-affiliated groups and the Women's Media Center.

Mission and Programs

The center's mission emphasizes interdisciplinary feminist research and public engagement, forming partnerships with entities like Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Rockefeller Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and local cultural partners such as Museum of Modern Art, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and Public Theater. Core programs have included fellowships, symposia, and lecture series featuring visiting scholars and activists with ties to Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Harvard University, and international institutions such as London School of Economics and University of Cape Town. Programmatic themes intersect with legal advocacy by groups like Planned Parenthood Federation of America, public policy debates involving United Nations Women, and cultural projects with organizations like National Endowment for the Arts.

Research and Publications

Scholarly output from the center has engaged with scholarship by writers and academics associated with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Oxford University Press, and journals including Signs (journal), Feminist Review, Social Text, and GLQ. The center has supported research by postdoctoral fellows and senior scholars linked to projects on intersectionality as articulated by Kimberlé Crenshaw, histories of activism studied by Martha Ackelsberg, and queer theory extending work by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Michael Warner. Publications and edited volumes have been produced in collaboration with presses such as Columbia University Press and Duke University Press, and have featured contributors from institutions including Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, and New York University.

Educational and Community Initiatives

Educational initiatives have connected Barnard students and Columbia affiliates with community partners including Harlem Children's Zone, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (NYC), Planned Parenthood, and legal clinics at Columbia Law School and NYU School of Law. Programs include internships, lecture series, and public events featuring activists and scholars tied to SisterSong, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Black Lives Matter, Me Too Movement, and transnational networks linked to Amnesty International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Workshops and collaborative projects have involved cultural institutions like The Public Theater, Coalition for the Homeless, and archives such as Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Leadership and Organization

Leadership has typically included directors drawn from Barnard and Columbia faculty and affiliated scholars with connections to institutions like Columbia University Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Barnard College Department of Political Science, and national consortia such as American Association of University Women and Modern Language Association. Advisory boards have featured academics and public intellectuals with ties to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Duke, UCLA, University of Chicago, and nonprofit leaders from Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation. Organizational practices reflect governance common to independent research centers affiliated with liberal arts colleges and Ivy League networks including collaborative grants with National Endowment for the Humanities.

Facilities and Archives

Based on the Barnard campus in Manhattan, the center's facilities provide meeting spaces, seminar rooms, and archival holdings that have been used by researchers from Columbia Libraries, New York Public Library, Schlesinger Library, and specialist collections such as the Women's Studies Archive. The archives and special collections linked to the center preserve oral histories, organizational records, and ephemera related to movements and figures associated with Audre Lorde, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis, bell hooks, and regional activist groups. The center's physical and digital repositories enable scholars from institutions including The New School, Cooper Union, City University of New York, and international partners to access materials for projects and exhibitions.

Category:Barnard College Category:Women's studies organizations Category:Research institutes in New York City