Why ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ Still Matters

Dr. Wendy Kline was quoted in Newsweek’s ‘The Daily Beast‘ for her reflections on Our Bodies, Ourselves.  First published in 1973, the book remains relevant, in part, because of the accessibility of its message.

At the time, abortion was illegal. Most doctors were male. There was little, if any, sex education in schools. So when the group—who’d later call themselves the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective—decided to release a 138-page pamphlet called “Women and Their Bodies” (what would ultimately become Our Bodies Ourselves) it was nothing short of revolutionary. “Our Bodies, Ourselves transformed people’s understanding,” says historian Wendy Kline, a professor at the University of Cincinnati and the author of “Bodies of Knowledge,” about the book’s influence. “It was revolutionary both because it provided so much information, but also because that information was, for the first time, in lay-people’s terms.”

More about Dr. Kline’s research and her book, Bodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Women’s Health in the Second Wave can be found on the Department of History Website.

Awards and Accolades for UC Faculty

Dr. Shailaja Paik is one of two faculty who have been nominated by the University of Cincinnati for the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Summer Stipend Competition, 2011.  She plans to revise two of the foundational chapters in her monograph which is under advance contract with Routledge.  Paik briefly explains her project saying:

In my critical engagement with education as a tool for producing modern Indian citizens, I argue that Dalit women have been embraced by the modern Indian state as proto-citizens, yet simultaneously restricted by a distinctly limited form of citizenship laden with responsibilities but shorn of rights. My work asks sharp questions of this constructed Indian nation by investigating the history of a key constituency: Dalit women.

Congratulations on the nomination and good luck with your project!

Tales from Early Islamic History

Dr. Robert Haug was interviewed this month by Ryan Varney for the most recent issue of the McMicken Monthly.  In the article, Haug talks about a variety of subjects including alternative ways of examining sources and the idea of globalization in early civilizations.

We like to think of ours as this globalized age where we’re all connected, but the fact is we always have been. Another example is lapis lazuli, a shimmering blue gemstone, mined in Badakhshan. It was traded halfway across Asia. And this was before writing and yet people knew about these connections.

In addition to teaching and research interests in the early Islamic world, Dr. Haug is the Director of Undergraduate Advising in the Department of History at the University of Cincinnati.