Digital Commons Network^™

Women's Response To Spousal Unemployment: Economic, Labor Force, And Family Constraints, Elizabeth Miklya Legerski

Theses and Dissertations

Using data collected from 29 interviews with the wives of steelworkers who were forced into unemployment, I explore the conditions and factors that shape women's choices in response to their husbands' job loss. Access to a unique and under-studied sample of women married to unemployed working-class men necessitates the use of grounded theory research techniques that allow me to "give voice" to working-class women.

Community And Land Attachment Of Chagga Women On Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Elizabeth Parnell Carr

Theses and Dissertations

Chagga women who control land on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, have a deep and profound sense of attachment to their lands and homes. This thesis compares their reasons for attachment to the systemic model. The systemic model states that community attachment is dependent on social ties and interactions. The three factors that lead to these ties are length of residence, social status, and age. In-depth interviews with women in 2002 and 2003, a survey from 2002, and field notes from 2002 and 2003 are used to explain the main factors of attachment of women in three villages on the mountain: Mbahe, …

Margaret Cavendish And Scientific Discourse In Seventeenth-Century England, Alisa Curtis Bolander

Theses and Dissertations

Although the natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish is eclectic and uncustomary, it offers an important critique of contemporary scientific methods, especially mechanism and experimentalism. As presented in Observations upon Experimental Philosophy and Blazing World, Cavendish's natural philosophy incorporates rationalistic and subjective elements, urging contemporary natural philosophers to recognize that pure objectivity is unattainable through any method of inquiry and that reason is essential in making sense and use of scientific observation.

In addition to its scientific implications, Cavendish's three-tiered model of matter presents interesting sociopolitical associations. Through her own use of metaphor and her theoretical fusion of matter and motion, …

The Rhetoric Of The Frontier And The Frontier Of Rhetoric, Carly Kay Paul

Theses and Dissertations

The definition of rhetoric has recently been expanded to include elements of experience, particularly the experiences that landscape provides. One landscape that has rhetorical significance is the American frontier, both in Colonial times and in the nineteenth century. The frontier had a rhetorical impact on women, in particular, giving them freedom to change their roles and achieve economic, political, and social success. Because of the tremendous significance of the frontier in women's lives, a new definition of frontiers emphasizes conditions such as opportunity for change, a dangerous and uncertain atmosphere, a freedom of thought and action, and an ability to …

Body Image And Beliefs About Appearance: Maternal Influences And Resulting Constraints On Leisure Of College-Age Women, Toni Liechty

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between body image, attitudes about appearance, and levels of constrained leisure for college-age women and their mothers. It also examined how the body image concerns of young women are influenced by their mothers'. Thompson and Gray's Body-Image Assessment Scale (BIAS) was used to assess body image while Spangler's Beliefs About Appearance Scale (BAAS) was used to assess the participants' beliefs about appearance. Raymore's hierarchical leisure constraints scale was used to measure levels of leisure constraints. The sample was taken from female students at a private western American university and consisted …

Color (Sub)Conscious: African American Women, Authors, And The Color Line In Their Literature, Dikeita N. Eley

Theses and Dissertations

Color (sub)Conscious explores the African American female's experience with colorism. Divided into three distinct sections. The first section is a literary analysis of such works as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Alice Walker's "If the Present Looks Like the Past, What Does the Future Look Like?" an essay from her collection In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. The second section is a research project based on data gathered from 12 African American females willing to share their own experiences and insights on colorism. …