Jean Fox O'Barr

Jean Fox O'Barr (born 1942) is an American feminist teacher, scholar, and administrator whose pioneering work helped establish women’s studies as a program of academic study and support for women in higher education.

O'Barr received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University in 1964 and her Master’s (1965) and PhD (1970) in Political Sciencefrom Northwestern University. She also earned a certificate in African Studies from Northwestern in 1970 based on her graduate work in Tanzania.

Change magazine named her among One Hundred Outstanding Young Leaders in Education in 1978, and O'Barr was selected for the Ford and Exxon Education Foundation’s study of 25 influential female leaders of the women’s movement.

O’Barr is the founding director of Duke University Women’s Studies Program and led the program for almost 20 years (1983-2001). In 2000, she was named Distinguished University Service Professor at Duke University, the first woman to be named in school history.O'Barr has won numerous awards for teaching and mentoring. In 2010,she was awarded with one of Duke's highest awards, the University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service.

O'Barr has written nearly 100 articles and books, including Transforming Knowledge: Public Talks on Women’s Studies 1976-2011 (2013), Feminism in Action: Building Community and Institutions through Women’s Studies (1995), Women Imagine Change: A Global Anthology of Women's Resistance from 600 B.C.E. to Present (1997; with Eugenia DeLamotte and Natania Meeke), and Africa in the Disciplines: Contributions of the Study of Africa to the Humanities and Social Sciences (1993; with Robert H. Yates and Valentin Y. Mudimbe). She also served as editor-in-chief of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, the leading international journal in women's studies, and co-founded the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, part of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University. Her papers are housed at the Bingham Center.

Articles

• J.F. O'Barr. "The Movement to Establish Women's Studies." Encyclopedia of Social Movements 2 (2004): 415-421.
• J.F. O'Barr. "My Master List for the Millenium: Commissioned essay." SIGNS: Journal of Women in Society and Culture (special issue) 25.4 (Summer, 2000): 1205-1208. (Reprinted in Judith Howard and Carolyn Allen, eds. Feminisms at a Millenium (Chicago: University of Chicago) 2001, 202-204.)
• J.F. O'Barr and Kathryn Firmin-Sellers. "African Women in Politics." African Women South of the Sahara all new chapter, revised edition (January, 1995).
• J.F. O'Barr. "Making the Invisible Visible: African Women in Politics and Policy." African Studies Review 18 (1975): 19-27.
• J.F. O'Barr. "Report on Changes in Tanzanian Rural Society and Their Relevance for Development Planning." Rural Africana 13 (1971): 43-49.

Books

• J.F. O'Barr. Transforming Knowledge: Public Talks on Women’s Studies 1976-2011. 2013.
• J.F. O'Barr with Eugenia DeLamotte and Natania Meeker. Women Imagine Change: A Global Anthology of Women's Resistance from 600 BCE to Present. New York: Routledge, 1997.
• J.F. O'Barr, with Nancy Hewitt and Nanvy Rosebaugh, eds.. Talking Gender: Public Images, Personal Journeys, and Political Critiques. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1996.
• J.F. O'Barr. Feminism in Action: Building Institutions and Community Through Women's Studies. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 1994.
• J.F. O'Barr with Robert H. Yates and Valentin Y. Mudimbe, eds.. Africa and the Disciplines: Contributions of the Study of Africa to the Humanities and Social Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1993.