Cathy Rakowski
Associate Professor
Women’s Studies and Rural Sociology
309 Agricultural Administration Bldg.
2120 Fyffe Rd.
614.292.6447
rakowski.1@osu.edu
Education
B.A., Social Anthropology, University of Michigan (1973)
M.A., Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin (1977)
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Texas at Austin (1984)
Teaching/Research
Dr. Rakowski focuses on processes of development and social change: planning, social engineering, program implementation and evaluation, social impact assessment, community development under conditions of economic and political restructuring, gender and class issues, globalization, and grassroots and transnational organizing. Her research focuses on Latin America, particularly Venezuela, and Africa.
Her work has been supported by numerous grants, including from the National Science Foundation, Howard Heinz Endowment, Fulbright Scholar Program, Rockefeller Foundation, and diverse research foundations and corporations in Venezuela. It includes:
- A longitudinal study of social change in a forestry region (1989-2003)
- The gendering of a municipal government and social policy (1990-2000)
- Program evaluations and social impact assessments in Venezuela and India
She is currently completing a book project, Domesticating the “Macho City”: Gender, Public Administration and Social Policies in Venezuela’s Planned Industrial City.
Selected Publications
“Institucionalización de la Lucha Feminista/Femenina en Venezuela: Solidaridad y Fragmentación, Oportunidades y Desafíos” [“Institutionalization of feminist/women’s struggle in Venezuela: Solidarity and fragmentation, opportunities and challenges”], with Gioconda Espina, in De Lo Privado a Lo Público: Treinta años de lucha ciudadana de las mujeres en América Latina,” ed. by Elizabeth Meier and Nathalie Lebon (UNIFEM, United Nations and Siglo XXI Publishers, 2006)
“Women’s Coalitions as a Strategy at the Intersection of Economic and Political Change in Venezuela” (International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 2003)
“¿Movimiento de Mujeres o Mujeres en Movimiento? El Caso de Venezuela,” with Gioconda Espina (Cuadernos del CENDES 49, a social science journal published by the Central University of Venezuela, 2002)
“Opportunities and Obstacles to Women’s Empowerment under Neoliberal Reforms”(Journal of Developing Societies, 2000)
“Farmer’s Changing Roles in Thieudeme, Senegal: The Impact of Local and Global Factors on Three Generations of Women,” with Coumba Mar Gadio (Gender & Society, 1999)
“Microenterprise as a World Wide Movement: Some Cautionary Notes” (Social Development Issues, 1999).
Contrapunto: The Informal Sector Debate in Latin America (SUNY Press, 1994)
Engendering Wealth and Well-being: Empowerment for Global Change, ed. with Rae Lesser Blumberg, Irene Tinker and Michael Monteón (Westview Press, 1995)
Honors, Awards, and Service
Excellence in Teaching Award, Rural Sociological Society (2007)
Gamma Sigma Delta Award for Teaching (2007)
Chair, Coca Cola Critical Difference for Women Research Grants for Research on Women and Gender Committee, The Ohio State University (2001-2007)
Co-Chair, Fulbright Committee, The Ohio State University (1994-2006)
President, OSU-WID, OSU Association for Women in Development, The Ohio State University (1999-present)
Kellogg Foundation Diversity Initiative Grant, Rural Sociological Society, for work as co-chair of the Curriculum Transformation Subcommittee to improve the representation of rural diversity in the teaching of undergraduate sociology (1996-99)
Visiting Research Associate and Fulbright Scholar, National Experimental University of Guayana, Office of Anthropological Studies, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela (1997-98)
National Science Foundation Grant for $53,000 for “Pines, Planning and People: A Longitudinal Study of Social and Cultural Change in Rural Venezuela” to evaluate social, economic, and political change in 13 rural communities in a region of petroleum exploitation, forestry development, and industrialization (1990-92)
Mershon Project
Women in Development speaker series
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