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Catherine De’ Médicis: Seeking Strength In Schism?, Melissa E. Cuzzo

Honors College Theses

Throughout history Catherine de’ Médicis has been seen as Machiavellian and deceitful. However, what has been largely ignored is that her style of governance has been based on that of male sovereigns before her. Her goal was to keep the Valois line intact in a time of upheaval. The actions in which the queen mother participated in were an attempt to quell dissent within France and to reinforce the social order of the Ancien Régime. This paper will argue that while Catherine de’ Médicis governmental strategies were not dissimilar to previous years, her authority was undermined by her gender, alien …

"Why Do You Keep Alone?:" Isolated Women In The Plays Of Shakespeare, Alexus Litchfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The works of William Shakespeare have been well explored, but there is a lack of criticism that examines how the depiction of women is shaped by the genre of the play. Linda Bamber is one of the few critics who have explored this connection between gender and genre. However, while she focuses on the plays’ psychological dynamics, I examine the social dynamics between characters in my study of gender and genre. I suggest that, in both tragedy and comedy, isolation is a strong marker of unhappiness for Shakespeare’s female characters. Examining three tragedies, I find that Lady Macbeth, Goneril, Regan, …

The Forgotten Activists Of Georgia: The Black Women Of Savannah, Emily Zanieski

Honors College Theses

Historians of the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia have primarily focused on how the national movement unfolded in the city of Atlanta. More recent scholarship has highlighted the role Martin Luther King Jr. played in Albany; however, many of these analyses focus on figures within the larger movement rather than focusing on local, grassroots organizers. Additionally, their primary focus tends to be on the role of Black men, leaving behind the voices of Black women who led alongside them. Through a Long Civil Rights Movement (LCRM) approach, I argue that Black women in Savannah, Georgia played an instrumental role in …

Images Of Ancient Egypt And The Gender Politics Of The Faerie Queene, Genavieve Alt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis argues that Edmund Spenser uses radically different representations of Ancient Egypt to explore complex ideas about gender roles in the Faerie Queene. Book III emphasizes the negative view of Egypt perpetuated through the Book of Exodus and Greek understanding of the mythological king Busiris. Book V emphasizes the positive view of Egypt through the many benevolent myths surrounding the goddess Isis. Spenser uses images of good and evil Egypt to discuss the abolition of normative gender roles.

The introductory section will introduce the mythology surrounding Isis followed by a discussion of the literature referenced throughout. The first …

The Utopia For All—With Exceptions: Gender Roles In Thomas More's Utopia And Early Modern England, Ryan Miller

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This essay takes a critical view of women’s role in the heavily influential work, Utopia, and how that compared to that role in the contemporary English society. Sir Thomas More’s Utopia was both influencing to and revealing of the early modern England under the rule of the Tudor monarchs of the 16th century. Coupling this with the sheer fact that this book is designed to explore a utopian society (in fact this is the first time the word was used as such), this work represents the gender ideas of England that were the background and motivation of the English …

Deconstructing Abject Complacency Of Ascribed Gender, Kyle M. Hooten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My life has been dedicated to the relentless pursuit of masculinity throughout my transition from female to male. While originally focusing on the physical transition, my attention is now focused on the social aspects of transition. For me, this involved coming out, managing legal name/gender change paperwork, and understanding a newfound, cultural privilege. This is where I draw inspiration to create my work. My process and techniques are informed by Drag Kings and Queens as well as contemporary culture and art. After performing as a Drag King for a year I developed a sense of gender that differed from what …

The Daily Life Of Peasants In A Turbulent Time: 17th-Century China In The Death Of Woman Wang, Ethan Marshall

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

About the author:

Ethan Marshall is a history major in his junior year at Armstrong. After graduating he hopes to achieve a Masters degree in either History or Foreign Affairs. Ethan is primarily interested in the study of medieval Europe, but also enjoys studying East Asian history and 19th Century Imperialism.

The Gossamer Years: Gender, Religion And Aesthetics In Heian Japan, Caitlyn Floyd Geiger, Rodellen Mae Largo, John Hendrix, Fred Smithberg

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

About the authors :

Caitlyn is a senior History major at Armstrong State University and will graduate with her B.A. in December of 2016. Her main interests in the field are military history and archaeological studies. Upon completion of her degree, Caitlyn hopes to use the knowledge and skills she has gained to further her career as a fiction writer. Rodellen, a Philippine native, is a senior majoring in Cell/Molecular Biology. She plans on going to a medical school to pursue a career in Cardiology. John is junior and he hopes to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies. …

From A Northern Home To A Southern School: Cultural Imperialists Or Just Stubborn Yankees, Janel Janiczek Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the cultural influences on the lives of northern teachers in southern schools. During the 1860s, white, northern, middle-class women traveled to southern homes to begin and maintain schools for the recently freed slaves. Each woman carried with her an independent set of cultural systems that predetermined her perspective for educating the African American students. Furthermore, the northern relief agencies, Freedmen's Bureau agents, southern white citizens, and southern freedmen all had their own opinions for the education of the students. Although much time has elapsed between the 1860s and 2013, the same topics …

"What Shall We Use To Fill The Empty Spaces?": Displacement In Frank Norris's Mcteague, Jennifer Bugna Lambeth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: McTeague, Frank Norris's Naturalistc text written in 1899, depicts the corruption of a California couple due to influences outside of their control. In positioning Trina McTeague as a woman unable to identify with either of the two major feminine ideologies of the day, the Angel in the House and the New Woman, this paper examines her identity as conflicted because of this lack of autonomy. Her failure to identify herself leads to a mental break that is reflected in the domestic spaces she inhabits. The places she lives each become smaller and dirtier reflecting her diminished mental capacity. …

La Complejidad Del Concepto De La Mujer Española De La Posguerra En La Novela De Manuel Mantero, Maria Aurora Álvarez Andréu

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Ever since antiquity until the present, the concept of woman has been based on the duality of Mary and Eve. The intention of the present work is to study a third option to complete this preexisting duality of womanhood. More precisely, the objective of this work is to analyze how the characters of the single woman, the nun and the prostitute in León de Manuel Mantero's novel Estiércol [Manure] constitute an empty idea of the feminine which, consequently, will allow us to have a more clear perception of the social reality during Spain's post civil war era.

Writing The Female Body In Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies, Darren K. Broome

The Coastal Review: An Online Peer-reviewed Journal

Julia Alvarez in In the Time of the Butterflies utilizes the female body and sexuality to combat male dominated rhetoric. The use of the female body retrieves women’s forgotten role as subjects instead of objects as seen in male-oriented novel. Expressing sexuality in a way that is determined by women, she discovers new means of verbal or written expression. The female body emerges as a form of expression in Butterflies which at times is connected to one of the characters’ revolutionary participation.

(En)Gendered Performances And The Problematics Of Identity Construction In Contemporary Gay Literature, William Paul Banks

Legacy ETDs

No abstract provided.

Black Midas: Arthur George Gaston, Patricia Thompson Stelts

Legacy ETDs

No abstract provided.