History of Gender Commons^™

Re-Visioning White Nudes: Race And Sexual Discourse In Ottoman Harems 1700-1900, Jennifer M. Black

The Hilltop Review

As a viable social actor, art constitutes one of many institutions participating in the creation and reification of ideologies constructed within our society. Investigating the work of Ingres, Gérôme, and others reveals striking connections between the ritual use of Europeanized women in Orientalist harem paintings and the perpetual nature of women’s social oppression. A close examination of prominent works provokes the question “why paint recognizably white women against such non-white Eastern backdrops?” Continually, visual hierarchies and prescriptive codes allow the virtual entrance of the male voyeur into the painting. (first paragraph)

The Housewife, The Single Girl, And The Prostitute: Constructions Of Femininity In Postwar American Historiography, Marie Rowley

Psi Sigma Siren

America in the two decades after World War II experienced conditions that seemed to indicate an unprecedented focus on domesticity and traditional gender roles. Couples married at younger ages, fertility rates soared, and population shifted to suburban areas all over the country. Just beneath this surface, however, a more complex discourse about gender norms was also emerging. Gay and lesbian communities began to organize, teenagers emerged as a cultural force, and young single women began to view economic independence as a legitimate goal. These contradictory forces coexisted in a culture struggling to define gender and sexuality in the anxiety-ridden era …

'My Happiness Overturned': Mourning, Memory And A Woman's Writing, Rachel Greenblatt

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In the late seventeenth century, Beila Perlhefter mourned her seven children in the introduction she wrote to a Yiddish ethical work written (at her urging, she tells her readers) by her husband, Ber. While the autobiographical information provided in the introduction is sparse indeed, it shares certain generic characteristics with other self-writing by early modern Jews from Prague, including Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller's "Megillat eivah." At the same time, each voice is a different voice, all the more so the rare instance of a woman's voice, and this short piece defies easy categorization.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Sefer …

From Marriage Revolution To Revolutionary Marriage: Marriage Practice Of The Chinese Communist Party In Modern Era, 1910s-1950s, Wei Xu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation focuses on exploring the myth of ―revolutionary marriage‖, a popular and lasting marriage tradition of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The concept of ―revolutionary marriage‖ came out of a marriage revolution initiated by the May Fourth radicals in order to challenge the traditional marriage system. This term was then borrowed by the early Chinese Communists who used it to describe their socialist marriage ideal. However, regarding the CCP‘s marriage policy, there was always a gap between the progressive ideals and the conservative realities. In every piece of propaganda the CCP swore to completely overthrow the feudal arranged marriage …

The Powered Generation: Canadians, Electricity, And Everyday Life, Dorotea Gucciardo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Most studies of electricity in Canada have examined the process of electrification from a business or political perspective, emphasizing the role of private and public institutions in electrifying the country. Such approaches neglect the primary targets of the electrification process: Canadians as consumers of electricity. This dissertation analyzes electrification as a social phenomenon. Drawing from archival sources in Canada and the United States, as well as newspapers, magazines, and government documents, the author addresses technological debates in Canadian history and investigates the relationship between technology and society. The broader themes in this dissertation include: urban electrification, rural electrification, domestic electrification …

A Body Politic To Govern: The Political Humanism Of Elizabeth I, Teddy W. Booth Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

“A Body Politic to Govern: The Political Humanism of Elizabeth I” is a study that examines the influence between the virtues and thoughts of the political humanists of the Italian Renaissance, and the political persona of England’s Elizabeth I. In order to do this I have dealt with questions concerning how Elizabeth constructed literary works such as letters and speeches, as well the style in which she governed England. I have studied Elizabeth’s works and methods within their literary and historical contexts. This has included the examination of the works of relevant humanist contemporaries such as her own advisors, Members …

"This Murder Done": Misogyny, Femicide, And Modernity In 19th-Century Appalachian Murder Ballads, Christina Ruth Hastie

Masters Theses

This thesis contextualizes Appalachian murder ballads of the 19^th- and early 20^th-centuries through a close reading of the lyric texts. Using a research frame that draws from the musicological and feminist concepts of Diana Russell, Susan McClary, Norm Cohen, and Christopher Small, I reveal 19^th-century Appalachia as a patriarchal, modern, and highly codified society despite its popularized image as a culturally isolated and “backward” place. I use the ballads to demonstrate how music serves the greater cultural purpose of preserving and perpetuating social ideologies. Specifically, the murder ballads reveal layers of meaning regarding hegemonic …

Projecting Pornography, Enacting (In)Equality, And Mexican Modernity, Ageeth Sluis

Ageeth Sluis

If pornography proves a problematic avenue within women’s bid for sexual liberation and equality today, how then has this historically been constructed? In an attempt to determine the role of pornography within articulations of women’s sexual (in)equality, I use a banned pornographic magazine published in 1930s Mexico as the starting point for a broader examination of the relationships between female sexual visibility and modernity, and sexual normativity and the state. Employing the Foucaultian methodology of genealogy, I trace popular representations of female sexuality as well as civic discourse on sexual prohibitions through space (from the USA and Europe to Mexico) …

Confounding Identity: Exploring The Life And Discourse Of Lucy E. Parsons, Michelle Diane Wright

Michelle Diane Wright

Despite the vast research conducted on radical activist history of late nineteenth century Chicago, there is very little that examines political and social ideologies that diverged from the westernized male archetype of the era. Furthermore, the contrived disciplinary divide that separates scholarly study into artificial and static compartments such as labor history, anarchist history, women’s studies or others, oversimplifies the contributions of individuals that straddle all categories of endeavor. Lucy Parsons, a woman of color, was born in Waco, Texas in 1853 but moved to Chicago in 1873 and became a pivotal figure in the labor and anarchist movements well …

The Cultural Significance Of Precious Stones In Early Modern England, Cassandra Auble

Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History

Sixteenth and seventeenth century sources reveal that precious stones served a number of important functions in Elizabethan and early Stuart society. The beauty and rarity of certain precious stones made them ideal additions to fashion and dress of the day. These stones also served political purposes when flaunted as examples of a country’s wealth, bestowed as favors, or even worn as a show of royal support. Lapidaries and medical texts advised readers to use stones in myriad ways ranging from the subtle and common, to the bizarre and mystical.

Stones and gems are excellent tools for studying diverse aspects of …

Activist Women's Voices Oral History Collection, 1995-2000 Finding Aid, Graduate Center Library, Cuny

Finding Aids

The Activist Women's Voices Oral History Project, funded by AT&T, the Ford Foundation, the Ms. Foundation for Education and Communication, and the New York Council for Humanities, is committed to documenting the voices of unheralded activist women in community-based organizations in New York City. The archive was established in 1995 under the direction of Professors Joyce Gelb and Patricia Laurence with the aim of creating linkages between activist women in the New York City community and student and faculty researchers at the City University of New York.

A War Within World War Ii: Racialized Masculinity And Citizenship Of Japanese Americans And Korean Colonial Subjects, Jeffrey Yamashita

History Honors Projects

Even though the Pacific Ocean stands as an aqueous wall between Japan and the United States, World War II exposed the shared relationship between these two nations in their utilization of racial minority populations for the war effort. I interrogate the intersections of gender identity, race, and citizenship of Japanese Americans and Korean colonial subjects in the Japanese Empire during World War II. Specifically, I compare Japanese Americans—soldiers of the segregated Japanese American100^th/442^nd Regimental Combat Team, draft resisters from Heart Mountain, and prisoners of war—with Korean colonial subjects—soldiers who fought for the Imperial Japanese Army— and hope …

Not All Were Created Equal, Sarah Cox

Young Historians Conference

This paper explores the exceptional social, political and economic status afforded to women in Sparta by their society. Women were not simply relegated to the domestic sphere in Sparta, their responsibilities included managing both public and private affairs in the absence of their husbands, brothers and fathers. Their collective role in society allowed them to contribute to and serve their city state. It asserts that women in Sparta, unlike their contemporaries in other ancient Greek city states, had more opportunities to affect the overall impact of Sparta as a dominate military power.

Being Seen: An Art Historical And Statistical Analysis Of Feminized Worship In Early Modern Rome, Olivia J. Belote

History Honors Projects

Female saints in early Christianity found their place in public veneration often through violent means, martyrdom. These saints, while publicly suffering in the imitation of Christ, were the original agents to navigate the gendered hierarchy within the religion. Female saints created an avenue for later female worshippers to understand Christianity on a strictly feminine level. Through the frescoed depictions of these female saints in 18 churches throughout Rome, this paper historically and statistically analyzes how the artistic representations of female saints added to or created a space for feminized worship.

Piracy, Slavery, And Assimilation: Women In Early Modern Captivity Literature, David C. Moberly

Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English

This thesis examines a hitherto neglected body of works featuring female characters enslaved in Islamicate lands. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many Englishmen and women were taken captive by pirates and enslaved in what is now the Middle East and North Africa. Several writers of the time created narratives and dramas about the experiences of such captives. Recent scholarship has brought to light many of these works and pointed out their importance in establishing what was still a young, unsure, and developing English identity in this early period. Most of this scholarship, however, has dealt with narratives of the …

Naccs 38th Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

Sites of Education for Social Justice
March 30-April 2, 2011
The Westin Pasadena

Interview Of Steven J. Stahley, Steven J. Stahley, Kate Ambrose

All Oral Histories

Steven J. Stahley was born in 1951 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He spent his childhood growing up in the Catholic school system, eventually moving to Cardinal Dougherty in 1965 to attend high school. It was in high school that Mr. Stahley decided he would enter the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. During his first year with the Missionary Servants, a decision was made that all men would attend college and receive the “full college experience.” This brought Mr. Stahley to LaSalle University in 1970. After three years, Mr. Stahley graduated and worked his way through the process of becoming …

Kiss The War Good-Bye, Hello Return To Normalcy, Marisa Francesca Benfanti

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton And The Notion Of A Legal Class Of Gender, Tracy A. Thomas

Akron Law Faculty Publications

In the mid-nineteenth century, Elizabeth Cady Stanton used narratives of women and their involvement with the law of domestic relations to collectivize women. This recognition of a gender class was the first step towards women’s transformation of the law. Stanton’s stories of working-class women, immigrants, Mormon polygamist wives, and privileged white women revealed common realities among women in an effort to form a collective conscious. The parable-like stories were designed to inspire a collective consciousness among women, one capable of arousing them to social and political action. For to Stanton’s consternation, women showed a lack of appreciation of their own …

Law, History, And Feminism, Tracy A. Thomas

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This is the introduction to the book, Feminist Legal History. This edited collection offers new visions of American legal history that reveal women’s engagement with the law over the past two centuries. It integrates the stories of women into the dominant history of the law in what has been called “engendering legal history,” (Batlan 2005) and then seeks to reconstruct the assumed contours of history. The introduction provides the context necessary to appreciate the diverse essays in the book. It starts with an overview of the existing state of women’s legal history, tracing the core events over the past two …