The Ambivalence Project

The Ambivalence Project

January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2022

The Ambivalence Project hypothesizes that ambivalence could be a productive construct for feminist and anti-racist scholarship and pedagogy and has identified ambivalence serving as a political diagnostic tool, survival technique, affective mode, democratic ideal, and method for achieving greater social justice. The Ambivalence Project’s interdisciplinary team—composed of faculty, staff, and graduate students in the humanities, social sciences, and health fields—intends to theorize, historicize, and apply ambivalence to a diverse set of scholarly, pedagogical, and public-facing activities.

Team members include PI Valerie Traub (Adrienne Rich Distinguished University Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies); Lisa Harris (Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical School); Sara McClelland (Associate Professor of Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies); Ava Purkiss (Assistant Professor of American Culture and Women’s and Gender Studies); Cathy Sanok (Professor of English); and Cecilia Morales (Engaged Scholarship Manager, Edward Ginsberg Center of Community Service and Learning).