Arlene Avakian

Arlene Avakian was one of the founders of the Women, Gender, Sexuality Department at UMass and served as department chair until her retirement in 2011. Her work focuses on the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexuality.  She is the author of her memoir, Lion Woman’s Legacy:  An Armenian American Memoir and two edited books on Gender and Food:  Through the Kitchen Window: Women Writers on Food and Cooking and From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies: Critical Perspectives on Women and Foo..  She has been involved in social activism for all of her adult life – which is a long time.  She was a closet cook during the early women’s liberation movement, but is now an out and proud lover of cooking and eating.