Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy

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  Liz Lapovsky Kennedy Facilitating an Anti-Racism Workshop at the University of Arizona in Fall 2008

Dr. Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy (1939- ) is one of the founding feminists of the field of Women's Studies and is a queer historian whose book Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of the Lesbian Community (with Madeline Davis) documents the lesbian community of Buffalo, New York in the decades before Stonewall.

Biography

Elizabeth Lapovsky was born on December 3, 1939 in Brooklyn New York. She attended public schools, notably The Bronx High School of Science and also developed talent as a dancer. From 1956 to 1960, she attended Smith College, earning a BA in Philosophy in 1960. After working on archaeological sites at Seattle, Albuquerque, and Jerusalem, under the mentorship of David Schneider, Kennedy received her MA in anthropology from the University of New Mexico.

Early Work

Extensive research and fieldwork of the Waunan people in Colombia led to her 1972 PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University. While at Cambridge, Kennedy produced three documentary films on indigenous peoples of South America allowing her to later consult with both the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and ITV in Great Britain. Liz Kennedy began her scholarly career as a Deganaweda Fellow in American Studies (AMS) at the University of Buffalo in 1969, where she remained on faculty until 1998.

Building the Field of Women's Studies

In 1971, Liz Kennedy helped found the Women's Studies College at SUNY Buffalo, one of the first Women's Studies institutions in the United States.

In January 1998, Liz Kennedy moved to Tucson, Arizona to become head of the Department of Women's Studies at the University of Arizona. During her tenure in this position, Kennedy initiated the Women's Plaza of Honor with WOSAC (the Women's Studies Advisory Council), a project to commemorate women's contributions to history, particularly in the southwest, as well as support the Department of Women's Studies. Fundraising efforts from the Plaza made it possible for the department to create a Ph.D. program in fall 2008.

Liz Kennedy remains on faculty at the University of Arizona in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies.

After a conference to reflect on the evolution of the field of Women's Studies after 25 years, Kennedy co-edited a book with Agatha Beins published in 2005 titled Women's Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics.

Lesbian History

Liz Kennedy worked on a thirteen-year community history project in Buffalo, New York with Madeline Davis. The project compiled the oral histories of lesbian women from the 1930s to the 1960s and culminated in 1993 with the publication of Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community. The book was awarded the 1994 Jesse Barnard Award, 1994 Ruth Benedict Award, and a 1993 Lambda Literary Award.

Works

• Feminist Scholarship: Kindling in the Groves of Academe (1983)
• Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (1993)
• Women's Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics (2005)
  

External links

• [University of Buffalo ELK Page http://ublib.buffalo.edu/archives/womens_work/bios/kennedy.htm]
• [University of Arizona ELK Faculty Page http://ws.web.arizona.edu/people/faculty/kennedy.php]
• [ELK Archives http://libweb1.lib.buffalo.edu:8080/findingaids/view?docId=ead/archives/ubar_1012.xml]
• [MBT Boots of Leather on Queer Theory http://www.mbtmvp.com]
• [ELK Biography for Women's Plaza of Honor http://womensplaza.arizona.edu/honor/view.php?id=429]