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AUTHOR Madsen, Sandra TITLE "The Road from Coorain": A Journey of Power. PUB DATE Apr 91 NOTE Sp.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Central States Communication Association (Chicago, IL, April 11-14, 1991). Best available copy. PUB TYPE Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120) -- Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Autobiographies; Cultural Context; Feminism; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; *Individual Power; Intellectual Development; Literature Appreciation; *Self Actualization IDENTIFIERS ; Conway (Jill Ker); *Road from Coorain (Conway); *Self Empowerment; MA

ABSTRACT "The Road from Coorain" is the autobiographical story of Jill Ker Conway, the first woman president of Smith College. The story traces Conway's journey from powerlessness to power. Born in the outback of Australia, where.all people were powerless in the face of the vacillations of nature, forced off the land into a city life to which she was emotionally and socially ill-adapted, manipulated by a mother crippled by the conventions of appropriate femalebehavior, Conway eventually found that her love of learning and pursuit of education provided the path to power. The journey from powerlessness to power, according to Ann Bookman and Sarah Morgan, requires at least three specific steps: a change of ideas about the causes of powerlessness; an awareness of systemic causes; and some courses of action which allows change in both self-perception and attitude, and ultimately in situation. Conway's change of ideas about the causes of her powerlessness came about through recognizing the similarities between the dependent relationship between Australia and Great Britain and that between her mother and herself, identifying the causes of her mother's decline into alcoholism andparanoia, and understanding the underlying causes of her own problems with her mother. Conway was forced to the second stage of empowerment when after graduating from college she was denie6 a job because she was a woman. Finally, her decision to leave Australia, her mother,and the duties imposed by the bush ethos permitted her to complete her journey to power. (PRA)

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* from the original document. * *****************************************tA**************************** THE ROAD FROM COORAIN"A Journey of Power" A Paper presented by Dr. Sandra Madsen Buena Vista College

Chicago, Spring, 1991

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THE ROAD FROM COORAIN"A Journey of Power" A Paper presented byDr. Sandra Madsen Buena Vista College

Chicago, Spring, 1991 The audirmuzainis the autobiographical storyof Jill Ker Conway, the first womanpresident of Smith College.The story traces Conway's journey frompowerlessness to power. Born inthe outback of Australia, where allpeople were powerless inthe face of the vacillations emotionally of nature, forcedoff the land into a citylife to which she was and socially ill-adapted,manipulated by a mothercrippled by the conventions of appropriatefemale behavior, Conwayeventually found that her love oflearning and pursuit of educationprovided the path to power. DieRog'. From Coorain is thestory of one person'sempowerment. As Ann Bookman andSandra Morgan point out in theirbook, Women and the Politics ofEmpowerment, "empowerment iscurrently a fashionable term,particularly as it refers toindividual self-assertion, upward mobility, or thepsychological experience offeell n (powerful" The term suggeststhe ability of individuals orgroups to gain skills or abilities which willallow them to exercisecontrol over their individual lives and the politica/and environmentalfactors which affect them. However, Bookman andMorgan go on to point out,for women especially, empowerment may not somuch exist in takingpolitical action or changing the texture of thesociety in which theyexist, but may manifestitself "when they change theirideas about the causes oftheir powerlessness, when they recognizethe systemic forcesthat oppress them, and when they act to change theconditions of their lives."This conception of empowerment is particularlyappropriate to the situationdescribed by Jill Road from Coorain. Ker Conway in The with The story begins inthe outback of Australiain the early 1930's (an the establishmentof her parent's sheeprearing enterprise, Coorain aboriginal word meaning"windy place.") Although theyoungest of three children, Jill was raised asan only childwhile her older brothers were and away at boardingschool. Guided and tutoredby her mother, working associating with herfather and the hired men,Conway lived a very nontraditional lifestyledeeply imbued with thebush ethic. The bush ethos which grewup from making a virtueout of loneliness and hardchipbuilt on the stoic virtuesof convict Australia. Settled lifeand domesticity were softand

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demoralizing. A "real man"despised comfort and scorned the expression of emotion.The important things in life werehard work, self-sufficiency,physical endurance, and loyalty to one's "mates." Knowledge about nature,the care of animals, practical mechanics was respected,but speculation and the world of ideas were signsof softness and impracticality. Religion and belief in a benevolentdeity were foolish because daily life demonstrated beyonddoubt that the universe was hostile. The weather, the fates,the bank that held the mortgage, bushfires--disasterIn some form--would get a man In the end. When disasterstruck what mattered was unflinching courage and therefusal to consider despair.(p. 8) At the age of eleven this,isolated existence was shatteredwhen a devastating drought drove herfather to suicide and her mother wasforced to turn over the ranch to acaretaker and move to thecity. The move to the city involved more than achange in geography--it requiredtotally new coping skills. world inside the school gates alienand . .1 found the small intimidating. Having never had aplaymate, I did not know how to play. Never havingknown anyone my own age, I was uncertain about how tobegin with thirty or so othereleven- year olds. The school yard with itsbusy ant heap of people skipping rope, throwingbasketballs, shouting, and playing hopscotch reduced meto a paralysis of shyness.I had never seen tennis orbasketball played, and had notthe faintest notion of the rules.I was used to knowingbetter than most people what needed to bedone. Here I was the veriest incompetent, not only In games,but in the classroom, where there were also rules tobe learned. . . Our parents had taught us to be the best ateverything we did, but the things we were supposedto excel in had alwaysbefore had some practical purpose. Now I wasintroduced to competition as an end in itself. (pp.87-88) Not only had the rulesoutside of her home changed, but therules within had changed aswell. As a settler in theoutback Conway's mother and generous". As a had been a "young competentwoman, proud, courageous, widow in post-warAustralia, Evelyn Conway accededto a "society [which] encouraged a woman to thinkher life finished after herhusband's death and

Sti 4 encouraged a woman'semotional dependence on herchildren." (p. 195) The social life of a suburbanmatron seemed pointless, herskills were not in demand in the job market,and worst of all, her children now came under the influence of others. Addingto her misery, Conway'sbrother Robert died tragically at age 21 andbrother Barry managed to escapehis mother's control by moving to theoutback, thus leaving Jill, at age15, as her mother's chief companionand confidante. Her mother'sdespair increased, as did her reliance ontranquilizers and alcohol for relief, andher only outlet was in shaping thedestiny of her daughter. The date for Barry'sdeparture for Coorain was alreadyset for late January.I would be alone withher again after that. I braced myself for theresponsibility, proud that I could cope, but at the same timedreading assuming the role I now say being laid out for me,.Thoughts of escape were unrealistic. Daughters in Australia weresupposed to be the prop and stay of their parents.Would I ever get away? Wasit wrong to want tà? How on earth could I set aboutdoing it? How could Itell this woman who livedfor me that I did not want tolive for

her? . . . (p.151) The journey frompowerlessness to power, accordmg toBookman and Morgan, requires at leastthree specific steps, a changeof ideas about the causes of powerlessness,an awareness ofsystemic causes, and some course of actionwhich allows change inboth self-perception and attitude and ultimately insituation. Conway's change of ideasabout the causes of her powerlessnesscame about through three somewhatparallel understandings. First, asshe studied history at herprivate, elite girl's highschool, she came to recognize the relationshipwhich colonial Australia hadto Great Britain. The school system, government,even history texts wereall centered in Britain and the self-perceptionsof Australians as second classcitizens with no legitimacy startedto impinge upon her consciousness.The debilitation and lack ofdevelopment even of an Australianhistory which grew out of thisdependent relationship startedher to thinking about her relationship with her mother.The second understandinginvolved identifying the causes of hermother's decline into alcoholismand paranoia. Of her mother she wrote, of so strong-willed a woman as a . . it was hard to think victim. So much of herdeterioration seemed self-imposed. Yet in another sense she wasthe victim of lack of education, of suburbia, of affluentmeaninglessness. Her rage at fate was

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justified, it was just nottempered by any moral sense or any ability to compare her ownlot with the predicaments of others. (p. 237) The third understanding aroseas she pursUes herstudies at the University of whereshe had enrolled to satisfyher mother's wishes and also to escapefor the better part of theday the oppressive conditions at home. What began as asimple avoidance technique becamethe avenue to awareness of the causesof her powerlessness.During her second year at University, the underlying causesof her problems with her motherbecame crystallized through herreading in English literature andpsychology. reading Samuel Butler's Me . . .1 was thunderstruck by Way of All Rest; for our coursein the modern novel. Toni's sardonic view of herfamily had shown me someone wholooked clear-eyed at familyirelationships,but Butler's full-fledged satirical treatment of thePontifex family and its shameless exploitation of the young,exploitation justified by parental authority and through themouthing of empty pieties, left me feeling that I had beenstruck by lightning. Another thunderboltstruck one afternoon when . . lifted from the shelves avolume of Jung's Collected Works. Flipping through the pages,I began to read an essay entitled "The Positive and NegativeAspects of the Mother Archetype." It was astounding.There I was, described to a T.There was my mothersitting on the page before me, asthough Jung had known her every mood. . .(p. 175) Awareness of the causesof her problems with her motherstarted Conway toward the pathto power, but did not prepareher for the systemic roadblocks which faced herwhen she graduated fromUniversity and sought employment as a meansto power. Graduating withhonors and first in her class, shefully expected to receive aninvitation to join the Department of ExternalAffairs, (Australian foreign service) asdid some of her peers, When theinvitation was not forthcoming she wasforced to the second stage of herroad to empowerment, an awarenessof the systemic limits placed upcinwomen in the 1950's. When the results of theselection were announced, Milton and Rob receivedinvitations to join the Departmentof External Affairs, but I received ablandly courteous letter thanking me for my interest.I was dumbfounded.Milton and I had ranked first in our class and wereto be awarded the UniversityMedal jointly for our academicachievements.1 could scarcely

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believe that my refusal wasbecause I was a woman. Inquiries made by facultyfriends and friends withconnections in Canberra confirmed th'. this was the case."Too good-looking" was one report."She'd be married within ayear." "Too intellectually aggressive" wasanother assessment. "She'd never do fordiplomacy."I knew I was no more and noless intellectually aggressivethan Milton and Rob. That left my sex and my appearance.I could not credit thatmerit could not win me a place in anendeavor I wanted toundertake, that decisions about my eligibility weremade on the mere factof my being female instead of on mytalents.I should have made me angry, but instead I wasprofoundly depressed. What wasI going to do with my life? Wherecould I put my talents to someuseful work? How was I nowgoing to extricate myselffrom my dilemma at home? Ifthere was no justice in suchthings, I could never expect to earn aplace in life through merit. People were takingwhat I'd justly earnedfrom me. It was all prejudice, blind prejudice. . (p. 191) and Having reached an awareness.of the causes of her powerlessness the the systemic barriersto be overcome,Conway finally came to accept impossibility of changingher mother's situationand the understanding herself.Applying for and being e that to achieve powershe must change accepted into the HarvardGraduate program in history,she made the decision to leaveAustralia, her mother,and duties imposed by thebush ethos, The decision toleave it all behind permittedher to complete her journey to power. ...Now I realized, inwhat amounted to aconversion experience, that I wasgoing to violate the codeof my forefathers.I wouldn't tellmyself anymore I was tough enough for any hazard,could endure anythingbecause, as my father's old friend hadsaid, she was born in theright in an country."I wasn't nearlytough enough to stay around emotional climate moredesolate than any drought I'd ever I was goim to admit seen.I wasn't going tofight anymore. defeat; turn tail;run' for cover. My parents, eachin his or her own way, hadspent the goodthings in their lites prodigally and had not beencareful about harvestingand cherishing the experiences thatnourish hope,I was going to be different. I was going tobe life-affirmingfrom now on, grateful tohave been born, notprofligate in risking mylife for the sake of the

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panache of it, not all-too-ready toembrace a hostile fate. (p. 232) The Road From Coorain is a carefully woveninterplay of power relationships and the destructivenessof the exploitation which results. Initially there is the power of theoutback, the land which replenishes and remains, while mere humans who try to conquerthere are reduced to desolation. Primary throughout is the powerrelationship of a mother and her children during a time whenthe only power which women could exert was in the home.There is the power that men possess and womenseek. All of these relationships areplayed out within the context of the British power to define, exploit andcontrol her Australian colony. Two factors must be mentionedwhich affected Conway's successful journey. One is her unusual earlysocialization which allowed her to develop as an individual, not as a femalechild. All in all, what might on the surface appearlike a lonely childhood, especially after the departureof my brothers, was one filled withinterest, stimulation, and friends.It lacked other children, and I was sevenbefore I even laid eyes on another female child. Yet thisworld gave me most of what we need in life, and gave it generously.I had the total attention of both my parents, and was secure inthe khow ledge of being loved. Better still, I knew that my capacity forwork was valued and that my contributions to the workof the property really mattered. It was a comprehensibleworld. One saw visible results from one's labors, and thelesson of my mother's garden was a permanentinstruction about the way human

beings can transform their environment. . .(p. 50) The second factor was the schooling shereceived in the city, where she attended , aprivate school for girls.The school "had given (her) a secure and orderlyenvironment in which to grow, and adults to admire who took it forgranted that women would achieve." (p. 144)In these ways-it was not untilConway had developed considerable personal strength and a secure senseof self that she was forced to confront the barriers to.power and trulybegin her journey to power.

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