Bard College at Simon's Rock: the Early College
  1. Home
  2. Academics
  3. Faculty Bios
  4. Division of Languages and Literature
  5. Jennifer Browdy

Jennifer Browdy

Faculty member Jennifer Browdy

Professor of Comparative Literature & Media Arts

Contact

Hall College Center

Academic Program Affiliation(s)

Languages and Literature, Gender Studies, Social Action/Social Change, Electronic Media and the Arts

Areas of Specialization

  • Contemporary world literature by women
  • Women’s and gender studies
  • Journalism, media studies, and digital media strategies
  • Leadership development and public speaking
  • Autobiography and memoir
  • Pedagogy of writing
  • Environmental writing, environmental activism through media and the arts

Interests

Research Interest: Purposeful memoir by women who use writing as a vehicle for social and environmental justice; writing, film, and other media as strategies for social change and environmental justice

Teaching Interest: Contemporary literature of human rights; social justice and environmental awareness and activism; journalism and creative nonfiction; women’s and gender studies; world literature by women, especially personal narratives by women working for social change

Other Interests: Leadership development, especially for teen girls; building creative community by cultivating the voices and visions of women of all ages; memoir writing and teaching memoir, especially “purposeful memoir”

Favorite/Regular Courses Offered

  • Women Write the World (social and environmental justice writing by contemporary women activists and change agents)
  • Art of Autobiography: Focus on Memoir
  • Women Writing Resistance in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East
  • Writing, Leadership, and Public Speaking for Social and Environmental Justice
  • Journalism and Digital Media Practicum

Biography

MA and PhD in Comparative Literature, New York University
BA (magna cum laude) in English and Journalism, Bard College at Simon's Rock

Dr. Browdy teaches literature, writing and media arts with special interests in writing for social and environmental justice, arts activism and women’s leadership. Her memoir, What I Forgot ...And Why I Remembered was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards. Her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. She has also edited three anthologies of global women’s literature: Women Writing Resistance in Latin America & the Caribbean (Beacon Press, 2017); African Women Writing Resistance, co-edited with Simon’s Rock alumni Omotayo Jolaosho and Pauline Dongala (University of Wisconsin Press, 2010); and Writing Fire, co-edited with Simon’s Rock alumna Sahra Bateson Brubeck (Green Fire Press, 2015).

She was the founding director of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, which ran from 2009 – 2016, offering a variety of events featuring women writers throughout Berkshire County, during the month of March, Women’s History Month. She also founded, with Simon’s Rock alumna Grace Rossman, the Butterfly Leadership Program for teen girls, which focuses on writing and public speaking as a pathway to leadership on social and environmental issues.

As publisher of Green Fire Press, she recently edited and published Gender Artist: A Mother’s Poems About Raising A Queer Child in a Straight World by Lee Schwartz; Nature, Culture & the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership, by Bioneers co-founder Nina Simons (Nautilus Gold Medal, 2018), and Wisdom Lessons: Spirited Guidance from an Ojibwe Great-Grandmother, by Native American activist Mary Lyons.

Dr. Browdy has published many articles and book chapters and has presented papers and offered workshops at many national and international conferences, including the Modern Language Association, the National Women’s Studies Association, the African Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association, the Bioneers Conference, the Transformative Language Arts Conference, Mt. Holyoke College, the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

Dr. Browdy teaches courses in leadership, writing, and public speaking for social and environmental justice, women’s leadership, and global women’s literature. She has been teaching at Simon's Rock since 1994. 

Read more about Dr. Browdy's recent work in an interview for Simon's Rock: Language and Literature as Activism.

Highlights

  • Selected as a Bard Early College OSUN Fellow, Spring – Fall, 2021.
  • Awarded a Bard Center for Civic Engagement Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences grant for “Sister Outsiders: Women, Power & Politics” class, Spring 2021, to bring in speakers Margaret Randall, AnaLouise Keating and Simon’s Rock alumna Pooja Prema.
  • Awarded a Bard Center for Civic Engagement Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences grant for “Women & Leadership” class, Fall 2020, to bring in speakers Nina Simons and Veronica Chambers.
  • Taught “Women & Leadership” in the Open Society University Network in Summer 2020.
  • “Purposeful Memoir as Another Door into the Work That Reconnects.” Deep Times Journal, March 2020. https://journal.workthatreconnects.org/2020/03/07/purposeful-memoir-as-another-doorway-into-the-work-that-reconnects/
  • “Purposeful Memoir as a Path to a Thriving Future,” The Artful Mind Magazine, January 2020. https://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/tam_decj_2020
  • “The Paradox of Wise Activism.” Kosmos Journal, Fall 2019.    https://www.kosmosjournal.org/kj_article/the-paradox of-wise-activism/
  • Interview on SPARKS, podcast of the Transformative Language Arts Network, April 2020. https://anchor.fm/tlanetwork/episodes/Memoir-episode-1-of-3--with-Jennifer-Browdy-ecvcto
  • “Memory Work.” Hyacinth Podcast, December 2019. https://www.hyacinthpodcast.com/episodes
  • Presenter, “Purposeful Memoir as a Path to a Thriving Future,” virtual conference of the Association for the Study of Literature & the Environment, July 2020.
  • Presenter, online workshops: “Summoning the Muse,” creativity workshops co-led with Jan Seward, PsyD. (April 2020); Birthing Your Truest Stories,” for the Shuffle Weekend of Words Virtual Literary Festival, co-led with Audrey Kalman (May 2020).
  • Teacher, online class: “The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir,” Transformative Language Arts Network, March – May 2020.
  • Host and co-facilitator, Work That Reconnects day-long workshop led by Aravinda Ananda and Joseph Rotella, following Joanna Macy’s “spiral of reconnection.” Co-sponsored by the South Berkshire Climate Change &Consciousness Hub, Living the Change Berkshires and the Alliance for a Viable Future. Bard College at Simon’sRock, Great Barrington MA. November 2019.
  • Host and co-facilitator, Deep Adaptation Dialogue co-sponsored by the South Berkshire Climate Change &Consciousness Hub, Living the Change Berkshires and the Alliance for a Viable Future. Bard College at Simon’sRock, Great Barrington MA. October 2019.
  • Presenter, featured workshop: “Purposeful Memoir as a Path to a Thriving Future.” Bioneers Conference, SanRafael CA, October 2019.
  • Presenter, featured workshop: “Purposeful Memoir as a Path to a Thriving Future.” 16th annual TransformativeLanguage Arts Network “Power of Words” conference, Scottsdale AZ, September 2019.
  • Presenter, featured workshop: “The Alchemy of Purposeful Memoir: Seeking Joy,” Writers’ Federation of NovaScotia, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, July 2019.
  • Presenter, featured workshop: “The Alchemy of Purposeful Memoir: Seeking Clarity,” South Shore Public Library,Lunenburg Nova Scotia, July 2019.
  • Presenter, featured workshop: “The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir,” Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health,June 2019.