Theorizing Gender Insubordination From
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL RESPONSES TO THE CANCER INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX PINK WAR MACHINE: THEORIZING GENDER INSUBORDINATION FROM AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF BREAST AND GYNECOLOGICAL CANCERS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillmEnt of the requiremEnts for the DEgreE of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By JULIE MICHELLE KOGAN DAVIS Norman, Oklahoma 2019 EDUCATIONAL RESPONSES TO THE CANCER INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX PINK WAR MACHINE: THEORIZING GENDER INSUBORDINATION FROM AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF BREAST AND GYNECOLOGICAL CANCERS A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES BY Dr. Susan Laird, Chair Dr. Thomas J. Burns Dr. Joan K. Smith Dr. Siduri HaslErig Dr. William Frick Dr. Jill Irvine © Copyright by JULIE MICHELLE KOGAN DAVIS 2019 All Rights ResErved. iv Dedication “Illness affects the body, YEt remains apart. It cannot reach the spirit Or touch the human heart. Love HEals!” –Robert E. Kogan, “January 6,” Love Heals: 31 Days of Loving You and Other Poems To Robert Earl Kogan, poet and dreamEr, and Linda Beth Kogan, who kept him grounded. v Acknowledgements There are many peoplE I neEd to thank. Foremost, Dr. Susan Laird whosE patiEncE and mEntorship haVE shown mE what tEaching with love is. Dr. Laird has sEEn mE through raising threE children, fostEred my intEllEctual passions, and beEn there for mE through joys and sorrows. Thank you will neVEr be enough. Dr. Thomas Burns I must thank for unwaVEring support, cups of hot tEa on cold days, spiritually renewing and challEnging conversations that pointEd mE in new directions, and, when neEded, a pocketful of HErshey’s kissEs. Dr. Jill Irvine’s introduction to Critical RacE Theory was invaluablE at a critical juncture in this projEct. Dr. Joan Smith has beEn an intEllEctual inspiration for my intErest in working with womEn’s autobiographies as Educating tExts, and my deEpest thanks to Dr. William Frick and Dr. Siduri HaslErig for supporting a topic that stretches the traditional bounds of educational studiEs. It is an honor to work with a committEE of such EstEEmEd scholars, and I am deEply gratEful to each of you for your stEadfast encouragemEnt. My thanks also to JEannine Rainbolt CollEge of Education DEan Greg Garn for his gracious assistancE, the collEges’ GraduatE Programs staff, Anna StEElE and MichaEl JEnkins, and the UniVErsity of Oklahoma GraduatE CollEge’s academic counsElor Abby Young and DEan Randy HEwEs for helping me to sEE this through. An immEnsE debt of gratitude is also owEd to Dr. Jane Roland Martin, whosE works provide a theoretical framEwork for this study and to Dr. John CovalEskiE, a valuablE advisEr and mEntor, Dr. Lucy TownsEnd, Dr. Susan Franzosa, and Dr. Robert Con Davis-Undiano. Many collEagues, both OU alumni and thosE finishing their own scholarly journeys neEd thanks. This includes all past and presEnt mEmbers of the Oklahoma Educational StudiEs Association-Norman chaptEr, and, most especially, Dr. Catherine Johnston and Dr. KEndra Abel, who inspirE mE with their own vital scholarship and who along with Camden Johnston nurture mE with their love. My deEpest thanks JohnniE-Margaret McConnell, whose graciousness and vi kindness restored my spirits along the way, StEfaniE HEinrich, whosE help with formatting was truly invaluablE, and Dr. Diane KErns for unwaVEring friEndship and inspiring work in womEn’s health Education. Dr. Thomas Cline, Dr. MElissa BreVEtti, Dr. Robin Stroud, Dr. Brian Corpening, Dr. Sula You, Dr. JamEs Yang, Dr. KristEn HolzEr, Dr. StEVEn MackiE, Dr. Joe MEinhart, Dr. NancE Cunningham, and Maura Hobbs, thank you all. This work owEs a great debt to Dr. MichaEl Surbaugh, whose focus on disability studiEs in Education lit a path for mE to follow. His gentlE light liVEs in my heart. Many other friEnds haVE woven a wEb of support that has kept mE going—The Bahá'ís of Norman, Oklahoma, Sue SchofiEld, Diana LEE, Hitomi and Sara Sankek, Dr. Priscilla Griffith, Dr. JiEning Ruan and MichaEl Ho, Cristina and Manuel Ramirez, and Virginia HEnson. I neEd to thank my family for their unending patiEncE, love, and cheErlEading: Dr. Joshua Michal Kogan Davis, M.D., and Dr. GracEn Conway Davis, M.D.-- compassionatE healErs, inspiring scholars, and gracious hosts. Thank you for giving mE a sEcond homE, delicious meals, and a room of my own with tEa and scones. I haVE immEnsE gratitude or the support of Noah Davis, whosE generous heart, stEady love, and wit buoy my spirits; and to Risa Davis, the woman I admire most. Your faith and love haVE beEn my “purplE heart rock,” and you paint my world with light. Your crew—Ray Matsumoto, Sam Sproat, Sam ArtEaga, Clair KEupen, AbbEy Staudt, JEnniE Scroggins, Madeline Martin, Christian Yabut, and Carson Statham brought laughtEr and new life into our home and into my heart . My Wisconsin family, Lisa, David, and Saul Praska gaVE mE reasons to look up from the keyboard and to the stars on clEar nights and stEadfast EncouragemEnt to cross the finish line. I want to thank my mother, Linda Kogan, whosE story inspires this projEct and who protEcts mE still with her fiErcE love. And my NEw MExico family, Rudolfo Anaya and Belinda HEnry—I haVE felt your love across the milEs. vii Table of Contents DEdication iV AcknowlEdgemEnts V Abstract xi Introduction 1 Breast and Gynecological CancErs: Culture SignificancE and MEdical History 4 LEarning from Facing FEar 9 CancEr in the AnthropocEne: A Human HEalth Education Crisis 13 Study Thesis and RationalE 28 Study Approach and DEsign 30 Study OVErviEw 32 Part I Introduction: Crossing into CIC Pink War Machine Culture 37 ChaptEr One: The Making of a Pink War Machine 40 A BriEf History of Pink War 40 The Pink Ribbon BattlE Standard 46 Pink War Boot Camp: Training Pink War SoldiErs for GEnder Subordination 48 MEchanisms of Control 53 Pink CommErcE 54 Compelling Conformity and Violating BodiEs 56 Suppressing VoicEs and Limiting LEarning 58 (Pink War) MEdical Authoritarianism 60 Compelling Conformity and Violating BodiEs 61 Distorting VoicEs and Limiting LEarning 66 Authoritarian MEdical HumanitiEs 70 viii Masculine-AuthorizEd MEdical REsEarch 72 Pink War Machine NormatiVE NarratiVEs 76 Compelling Conformity 80 Violating BodiEs 85 Distorting VoicEs and Pushing Pink CheEr 87 Limiting LEarning 90 Concluding NotEs 94 ChaptEr Two: The Breaking of a Pink War Machine 96 A Lack of Discipline in the Ranks: A BriEf History of Insubordination 98 Insubordination as a Threat to Masculine PowEr 100 Insubordination as ConsciEntious ObjEction 102 Theorizing Educating Action for GI in the Pink War Machine 108 Conduct Unbecoming A Pink War SoldiEr: GI in CancEr NarratiVEs 113 EmErgent-ConflictEd GI and the CasE of Rosamond Campion 115 Refusing to Comply 116 Sustaining the Body Mind 117 Educating the Body-Mind 118 Claiming VoicE 119 ProblEmatic PronouncEmEnts in Campion’s EmErgent GI 120 InstigatiVE/InformEr GI and the CasE of Susan Gubar 123 Refusing to Comply 126 Sustaining the Body 128 Educating the Body 130 Claiming VoicE 132 ix RestoratiVE-ReformEr GI and the CasE of Audre Lorde 135 Refusing to Comply 136 Sustaining the Body-Mind 138 Educating the Body-Mind 139 Claiming VoicE 142 Excursus: GI Educational AutobiographiEs in the Pink War Machine 143 Part II Introduction: ChallEnge and Change Inside the Pink War Machine 149 ChaptEr ThreE: EmErgent-ConflictEd GI: A ResponsE to Pink War CommErcE 153 Betty Rollin: Trapped in Pink War and Hoping to “Pass” 156 Refusing to Comply 158 Sustaining the body-mind 158 Educating Body-Minds 160 Claiming voicE 162 GEralyn Lucas: Trapped in Pink War and Hoping to Stand Out 164 Refusing to Comply and Sustaining the Body Mind 164 Educating the Body-Mind and Claiming VoicE 166 Anita Ho: Trapped in Pink War and Knowing BettEr 167 Refusing to Comply and Sustaining the Body-Mind 168 Educating Body-Minds and Claiming VoicE 173 ChaptEr Four: InstigatiVE/InformEr GI: A ResponsE to MEdical Authoritarianism 176 RosE Kushner: Embedded Pink War Journalist 178 Refusing to Comply 181 Sustaining the Body-Mind 184 Educating the Body-Mind 187 x Claiming VoicE 191 ChaptEr FiVE: RestoratiVE/ReformEr GI: A ResponsE to NormatiVE NarratiVEs 197 Audre Lorde: An Outsider Inside the Pink War Machine 198 Refusing to Comply 198 Sustaining Body-Minds 203 Educating Body-Minds 210 Claiming VoicE 216 Sandra StEingraber: Shutting Down the Machine 220 Refusing to Comply 224 Sustaining body-minds 226 Educating body-minds 228 Claiming VoicE 233 Preliminary Conclusions and Directions Foreword 238 PErsonal ReflEction 238 CaVEats, Limitations, and Future Directions 243 Closing Thoughts 246 Bibliography 248 xi ABSTRACT PremisEd upon John Dewey’s contEntion that dualist notions of minds isolatEd and ElEvatEd from bodiEs are an “Evil” perpetuatEd in Education (1916), this study appliEs Jane Roland Martin’s theoriEs of Education as EncountEr (2011), Education as a lifelong sEriEs of culture crossings (2006), and Education as the transmission of both cultural liabilitiEs and assets (2002) to curriculum theorizing from womEn’s cancEr narratiVEs as Educational autobiographiEs (CousEr, 1997; Lorber and Moore, 2002; Frank, 2013; DEwEy, 1916; Pinar, 1975; Franzosa, 1992; Martin, 2011; Laird 2017, 2018). InformEd also by analysEs of modes of body discipline and conditions affecting the well-being of bodiEs in communitiEs (Foucault 1982; FriEdman, 1989; Bartky, 1990; Young, 1994; ButlEr 2006; ShustErman 2008; Warren 2011), this tExtual study focusEs upon the U.S. “cancEr-industrial complEx” (Ehrenreich, 2001), the conglomEration of mEdical and resEarch institutions, governmEnt and nonprofit agenciEs, and commErcial corporations that shape patiEnt and public health Education for womEn with breast and gynecological cancErs (BGC) as a “pink war machine” that fostErs cisgender hetEronormativity and gender subordination (GS). Education for GS includes threE practicEs—“pink commErcE,” mEdical authoritarianism, and “pink narratiVEs”—which compel BGC patiEnts’ conformity to gender norms, violatE their bodiEs, suppress their voicEs, and limit and distort their learning.