Daring to be Powerful: Remembering Sari Knopp Biklen

When we celebrated her retirement in May, 2014 there was no way to understand the meaning of our good-byes. Professor Emerita Sari Knopp Biklen, Laura and Douglas Meredith Professor in Teaching Excellence, Director of the Institute of Popular Culture, Media Literacy and Education at Syracuse University and twice appointed chair of Cultural Foundations, passed away on the afternoon of September 16, 2014.

Born in 1945, Professor Biklen was her mother's daughter. Her mother, Fay Honey Knopp, was a feminist pacifist, prison abolitionist, and a pioneer for sexual-abuse prevention whose sense of independence was remarkable for a woman of her time. Professor Biklen brought that same commitment to social justice to her work at Syracuse University and became a powerful voice in support of equity both on our campus and in her field.

Professor Biklen was a pioneer for social justice and fearlessly dared to act. In 1971, she was hired to teach at the Martin Luther King School in Syracuse. In December of that year, Professor Biklen legally challenged that part of the Education Law that required teachers to take an oath of allegiance to the federal and state constitutions. Professor Biklen's case, however, was dismissed—William O. Douglas was the only Supreme Court Justice who wanted to hear her case. Nevertheless, in later years, the New York loyalty statue was declared unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment and attempted to prescribe what a teacher can say, casting a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom. A groundbreaking pioneer, Professor Biklen's commitments to social justice were ahead of her time in so many ways.

Her activism and her scholarship influenced each other. As a national leader and a respected scholar in the area of gender and education, Professor Biklen's earliest works involved editing three influential volumes: Women and Educational Leadership (coedited with Marilyn Brannigan, 1980), Changing Education: Women as Radicals and Conservators (coedited with Joyce Antler, 1990), and Gender and Education (National Society for the Study of Education, coedited with Diane Pollard, 1993).

Her 1995 book, School Work: Gender and the Cultural Construction of Teaching, a study of the challenges that female elementary school teachers face, was groundbreaking in that it focused on these women's own stories, as told in their own voices. By contrasting different historical moments and employing qualitative methods, Professor Biklen demonstrated how teacher work is socially constructed and how historical discourses of schooling influence the complex meanings actual teachers develop about what it means to work as teachers in schools. In 1996, School Works won the Critics’ Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association.

Professor Biklen was equally a leader in the field of qualitative methods. Her Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theories and Methods, coauthored with Professor Robert Bogdan, is now in its 5th edition and translated into numerous languages.

Her accomplishments earned her numerous national and university accolades, among which are the Chancellor's Citation for Excellence in Scholarship (2009), Syracuse University Outstanding Teacher Award (1996), and the Willystine Goodsell Award for scholarship and practice in gender and education from the American Educational Research Association (1988). Her articles appeared in numerous journals, including Teachers College Record, Qualitative Inquiry, Phi Delta Kappan, and History of Education. She served on various editorial boards and was a longtime and devoted member of the American Educational Studies Association.

In the last few years of her life, Professor Biklen codirected (with Professor Michael Schoonmaker, chair of the television-radio-film department at Syracuse University) the Smart Kids, Visual Stories project, an unprecedented multimedia alternative storytelling and listening project. A marvelous illustration of scholarship in action, the project was initiated to explore the deficit discourse that presumes that children in urban education should be viewed as a problem. Sari, always the consummate ethnographer, understood that urban school reform has traditionally overlooked the voices of those most affected by such reform, particularly the narratives of young middle school students. The intensely meaningful videos that the students produced as a result of this project expressed the students’ deep desire to be heard, as well as evidenced their credibility as a source of valuable knowledge.

Professor Biklen was revered as a teacher, mentor, and advisor. Upon hearing of her passing, the outpouring of love and sadness was evidence of all the people she has touched, especially her students.

Rebecca Johnson wrote:

I will be forever grateful for her guidance and vision of the world. She was a peaceful warrior and a generous mentor. I will forever be indebted to her for her mentorship and her challenges and her unbelievable ability to stay grounded in challenging power rather than grabbing for opportunity or advancement. She was a strong woman and the world needs more strong women.

Rannveig Traustadottir expressed the following: “She was the kind of teacher I have aspired to be in my own teaching. … I have often thought of her with admiration and gratitude through the years and will continue to do so.”

Jianping Xu notes, “Her passion for scholarship, for life, for us students.” In addition, she acknowledges that Professor Biklen “has become part of who I am, intellectually and personally.”

In the many e-mails that I have received, Professor Biklen's students recall the positive role she played not only in their academic, but also their personal, lives.

Sari was a generous mentor and a caring friend. She personally inspired me with her leadership skills—she was compassionate, enthusiastic, and most of all, a visionary. When I had to make the transition from being one of the faculty members to leading the team, she challenged me to do more than I thought I could. Sari gave me the confidence I needed by encouraging me “to see over the horizon” and to look ahead to envision my own way to guide the department into the future.

Sari was always intellectually stimulating. She was a vociferous reader and enthusiastic observer of popular culture. I miss her early morning visits to my office, when she shared the latest book or movie that captivated her thoughts. We usually had long conversations about the new ideas these books and movies aroused in her. I was always riveted by her critical insights and her passion. And she was full of fun and life—I remember fondly the times we laughed hysterically.

She is survived by her partner in life, Dean Emeritus Doug Biklen (Syracuse University, School of Education), their children Noah and Molly, their partners Naomi and Jason respectively, and two granddaughters, Anika and Nora. Her family and grandchildren gave her great joy.

When I think of Sari, I am reminded of the words of Audre Lorde, who wrote, “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” Professor Biklen challenged us and she was not afraid to be an instigator in the name of justice. She was willing to stand by her convictions even when there were personal consequences for her doing so. She was also someone with an enormous ability to care. Professor Biklen will be remembered for her vision, her compassion and her courage.