Sidonie Smith Explained

Sidonie Smith is the Lorna G. Goodison Distinguished University Professor Emerita of English and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. She is known for her work on autobiography studies, narrative and human rights, feminist theories, and women’s studies in literature.

Education

Smith earned her undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan in April of 1966 and her master’s degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan in December of 1966. In 1971, she received her doctorate in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University.^[1]

Career

Smith taught at the University of Arizona from 1973 until 1983. From 1983-1996 she worked at Binghamton University, where she served as interim deal from 1987 until 1990. Smith moved to the University of Michigan in 1996 where she was a full professor in the women's studies program. In 2017 she was named the Lorna G. Goodison Distinguished University Professor of English and Women’s Studies.

Smith served as president for the Modern Language Association from 2010 to 2011.^[2]

Smith is known for her work in autobiography studies, theories of feminism, and women's literature.

Selected publications

• Book: Smith . Sidonie . Robert H. . Walker . 1974. Where I'm Bound: Patterns of Slavery and Freedom in Black Autobiography . Bloomsbury Publishing. ^[3]
• Book: Smith, Sidonie . A Poetics of Women's Autobiography . 1987 . Indiana Univ. Press . 0-253-20443-7 . Bloomington, Ind.. ^[4]
• Smith, Sidonie (1993). Subjectivity, Identity, and the Body: Women's Autobiographical Practices in the Twentieth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ^[5]
• Book: Smith, Sidonie . Interfaces . Watson . Julia . 2002 . University of Michigan Press . 978-0-472-06814-2 . Ann Arbor. ^[6]
• Book: Schaffer, Kay . Human Rights and Narrated Lives . Smith . Sidonie . 2004 . Palgrave Macmillan US . 978-1-4039-6495-3 . New York . en . 10.1057/9781403973665. ^[7]
• Book: Smith, Sidonie . Reading Autobiography . Watson . Julia . 2010 . University of Minnesota Press . 978-0-8166-6986-8 . Minneapolis . 559860857.
• Smith . Sidonie . Watson . Julia . 2012 . Witness or False Witness?: Metrics of Authenticity, Collective I-Formations, and the Ethic of Verification in First-Person Testimony . Biography . 35 . 4 . 590–626 . 0162-4962.
• Book: Smith, Sidonie Ann . Manifesto for the Humanities . 2015-11-25 . University of Michigan Press . 0-472-07304-4 . Ann Arbor.
• Book: Smith, Sidonie . Reading Autobiography Now . Watson . Julia . 2024 . University of Minnesota Press . 1-5179-1688-7 . Minneapolis.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sidonie Smith 2018 CV . University of Michigan.
2. Web site: The One Hundred Thirty-Four Presidents . 2024-10-28 . Modern Language Association . en.
3. Reviews of Where I'm Bound
   • Jones . Howard . 1975 . Review of WHERE I'M BOUND: Patterns of Slavery and Freedom in Black American Autobiography . American Studies . 16 . 2 . 94–94 . 0026-3079.
   • Baker . Houston A. . 1975 . Review of Where I'm Bound: Patterns of Slavery and Freedom in Black American Autobiography. . American Literature . 47 . 2 . 296–298 . 10.2307/2925505 . 0002-9831.
   • Swetnam . Susan Hendricks . 1999 . Review of Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader . Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature . 53 . 1 . 135–137 . 10.2307/1347974 . 0361-1299.
4. Reviews of A Poetics of Women's Autobiography
   • Helle . Anita Plath . 1988 . Review of A Poetics of Women's Autobiography: Marginality and the Fictions of Self-Representation . NWSA Journal . 1 . 2 . 324–326 . 1040-0656.
   • Straub . Kristina . 1989 . Review of A Poetics of Women's Autobiography: Marginality and the Fictions of Self-Representation . Criticism . 31 . 2 . 207–212 . 0011-1589.
5. Reviews of Subjectivity, Identity, and the Body
   • Peterson . Linda H. . 1994 . Review of Subjectivity, Identity, and the Body: Women's Autobiographical Practices in the Twentieth Century . Biography . 17 . 4 . 405–408 . 0162-4962.
   • Frey . Olivia . 1995 . Review of Subjectivity, Identity, and the Body: Women's Autobiographical Practices in the Twentieth Century . Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature . 14 . 1 . 170–173 . 10.2307/464254 . 0732-7730.
   • Heller . Ergá . 1994 . Review of Subjectivity, Identity, and the Body: Women's Autobiographical Practices in the Twentieth Century . Poetics Today . 15 . 3 . 501–502 . 10.2307/1773325 . 0333-5372.
6. Reviews of Interfaces
   • Pullen . Kirsten . 2005 . Review of Interfaces: Women, Autobiography, Image, Performance . Theatre Journal . 57 . 1 . 151–152 . 0192-2882.
   • Friedman . Ellen G. . 2003 . Review of Interfaces: Women/Autobiography/Image/Performance . Biography . 26 . 4 . 712–719 . 0162-4962.
7. Reviews of Human Rights and Narrated Lives
   • Coullie . Judith Lütge . 2006 . Schaffer . Kay . Smith . Sidonie . Put to Rights: Testimony, Witnessing and Human Rights in Human Rights and Narrated Lives: The Ethics of Recognition . English in Africa . 33 . 1 . 137–149 . 0376-8902.
   • Jolly . Margaretta . Jolly . Richard . 2006 . Review of Human Rights and Narrated Lives: The Ethics of Recognition . Human Rights Quarterly . 28 . 3 . 780–783 . 0275-0392.
   • Mauldin . Ryan . 2009 . Review of Human Rights and Narrated Lives: The Ethics of Recognition . Comparative Literature Studies . 46 . 1 . 206–209 . 0010-4132.