Dear Professor < >:

I am writing in response to your recent advertisement in the Modern Language Association Job List for the full-time joint appointment in Women’s Studies at the rank of Assistant Professor. I notice that you are looking for a scholar who is interested in local/global connections in the study of immigration, development, sexuality or community activism. I am very impressed with your Global Women’s Studies Curriculum and Faculty Development Project about which I read via your website. I think you will find that my teaching and research interests dovetail nicely with the vision and goals of your program and with those of Rutgers University.

I am currently completing my doctoral dissertation in the Department of French and Italian at Tulane University and I expect to receive my Ph.D. in French in May, 2000. My dissertation, entitled, "The Self in Other Words: Autobiography and Autoethnography in Francophone Women’s Writing" explores autoethnography in the work of francophone women writers from the Maghreb, Belgium and Vietnam. My focus on the hybrid genre of autoethnography, a blend of autobiography and ethnography, provides me with a unique way to address the question of cultural representation and identity. I consider how women who belong to cultural groups that have traditionally been the object of representation reclaim representation and reconfigure fixed categories of self and other.

My study of autoethnography involves an extended meditation on the interview as anthropological method and literary genre. Since the interview has played such an important role in traditional ethnographies, contemporary francophone women writers have in many cases analyzed the interview as a genre and reworked its structure with the goal of contesting rigid boundaries between self/other, fact/fiction, objective analysis/subjective narration. I have tested my thinking on this process of revision by conducting a series of interviews with the Belgian writer Evelyne Wilwerth. Together we explored the interview as a self/other encounter that redefines the terms of subjectivity and heightens consciousness of the fundamental collectivity of identity in the postmodern world. I have also conducted interviews with the Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi, and have been fortunate enough to work with her in the development of several recent projects. My work with Professor Mernissi has centered on women’s contribution to economic reform and to the building of civil society in Morocco. Autoethnography is a medium through which Mernissi recasts the terms of representation. On the one hand, Moroccan women have historically been portrayed as passive odalisques trapped within the private realm of harem walls. The images and texts in Mernissi’s recent work, on the other hand, depict Moroccan women as active participants who build civil society in the public sphere through associative life and non-governmental organizations

Over the past two years, I have joined other graduate students at Tulane University in forming the Interdisciplinary Scholars Network (http://www.tulane.edu/~isn). ISN strives to build community and foster interdisciplinary collaboration on a local level by nurturing faculty and graduate student cooperation within the Tulane community. Our successful 1999 Spring Lecture Series, "The Global and the Local" featured sociologist Saskia Sassen of the University of Chicago and sociologist James Petras of SUNY. ISN’s vision closely resembles the philosophy expressed in Rutgers overview and strategic planning statement in that it emphasizes the university’s role in the global arena, as well as the importance of interdisciplinary and intercampus collaboration.

The opportunity to join your Women’s Studies program interests me greatly as it would afford me a wonderful opportunity to pursue a vocation I have been committed to ever since conducting cross-cultural research for my B.A. thesis titled, "Recent Trends and Developments in French Feminisms: Towards a ‘First’ and "Third’ World Dialogue." My continued research in this area over the years, as well as my teaching experience, have taught me that a student’s first experience with cultural difference is often the most crucial, and I relish the opportunity to further develop students’ understanding of local/global dynamics. In this vein, I am currently developing a course on immigration, culture, and gender identity in France and Belgium which utilizes newly available technology in the electronic classroom to more effectively convey the depth and diversity of the subject matter. I have tested this idea by teaching a two-week ‘unit’ of a French civilization course during the 1999 spring semester at Tulane University and received a positive response from students enrolled in this class.

I enclose my vita and a stamped, self-addressed envelope with a card that you may use to acknowledge receipt of my application. Please do not hesitate to contact me at the address and phone number listed on my vita should you have any questions or should you be interested in obtaining any more information regarding my dossier. I will be attending the MLA Convention in Chicago this December and would welcome the opportunity to interview with you there. In addition, I will be presenting a paper titled "Autoethnography and the Interview in Mai Thu Van’s Vietnam: un peuple, des voix" at the MLA Convention should you be interested in attending.