My Gender In The Closet, Aspen Balducci

Student Sequential Art and Comics

This book details the transitioning and rediscovery of gender from a single person's perspective. Gender is not linear or binary, something all people should be free to study and discover.

Puppy Love And [Information] Play: An Intersection Of Theatre, Queer Kink, And Consent, Emily Kitchens

Faculty and Research Publications

This note from the field centers on a nexus of queer kink subcultures and consent-based intimacy work in theatre. I report, investigate and wrangle with the process of incorporating queer kink aesthetics into the production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill I directed at KSU February 2023. What I have learned and hope to demonstrate throughout the paper, is that queer kink subcultures are often paradigmatic examples of communities built on consent, and we as performing arts practitioners can more visibly expand the margins of our cultural competency dialogues to not only include them but look to them as …

But What Is Troy: Art In Queer Mourning, Ian Lamasney

Symposium of Student Scholars

Death is something that everyone, regardless of any arbitrary divisions, will inevitably have to experience. For a variety of reasons, queer mourning is not practiced the same way that straight society does - it manifests as raw anger at the society around them. Deconstruction and queer theory perspectives reveals political, social, and artistic strategies that inform recent visual art practice. Examinations of the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres and John Boskovich, informed by queer theory perspectives, highlight similarities in the process of queer mourning in the late 20th century. In addition, discussion of the tale of Achilles and Patroclus recorded in …

The Cycle Of Book Publishing Through A Queer Lens, Aly Gilmore

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This capstone assesses the current landscape of the publishing industry with regard to Queer authors and stories that have been published within the United States. It will start off with a literature review utilizing secondary research upon the current publishing landscape, as well as the rules that guide how writing craft is constructed and taught. Within this section, I also unpack personal experiences from working in a local bookstore as well as integrating some information from interviews from individuals with connections to the publishing industry. It will conclude with an autoethnography, in which I reflect how my own experiences intertwine …

Digital Library Of Georgia (June 2022), Mandy L. Mastrovita, Donald Summerlin, Camie Williams, Deborah Hakes

Georgia Library Quarterly

New Digital Library of Georgia collections completed in Q2 of 2022

Forbidden Temporalities: The Wayward Aesthetics Of Punchdrunk’S Sleep No More, Thomas Fish

Faculty and Research Publications

Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More is an immersive theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hitchcock’s Rebecca that has been staged in New York since 2011 with over 2000 performances. Sprawled over a hundred rooms within three intricately designed warehouses, the event offers a visceral exploration of a labyrinthine space and the potential for anonymous—even erotic—one-on-one encounters with a performer in the dark. This paper offers a new angle on Punchdrunk’s immersive style by considering the embodiment of temporality in performance and its concurrent aesthetic politics. Borrowing from queer theory’s temporal turn, it details how the company manipulates time in the space …

The Vast Unsaid: Lesbian Erasure And Celebration, Kara Ireland

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Lesbian erasure negatively impacts the accessibility to literature, archives, and records of lesbian history as a result of being buried within queer and feminist discourse. As a result, scholars often classify lesbians into other categories, effectively rendering them invisible and unimportant. Across the literature, there is no cohesive definition of lesbian and it is difficult to be exclusive on the basis of sex and gender. In addition, lesbian relationships are often dismissed as friendships. All of these factors have influenced my decision to create a website dedicated to promoting lesbian visibility and combating lesbian erasure. I have made a website …

Sample Holiday Cards: Examples To Help Visualize Your Families Holiday Card Or A Reinforcement Of Racism And Heteronormativity In America., Chasidy Harris

Symposium of Student Scholars

The United States is considered a "melting pot" with a diverse population of citizens. Each year, thousands of Americans send out holiday cards, and increasingly these cards are ordered online in bulk and are decorated with photos for family and friends. However, evidence shows that current advertising does not typically reflect the diversity present in the United States population. This research aims to show how the advertisement of photo holiday cards through sample cards posted on the retailer's website includes mostly white heterosexual couples and families and fewer same-sex couples (with and without children), racial-ethnically diverse families. This research will …

Rhetorical Resistance To Assimilation Among Cherokee Female Seminary Students, Kaelyn Ireland

Symposium of Student Scholars

Throughout the nineteenth century, Cherokees invited American missionaries into their territory to establish schools where children and youth could learn the ways of Euroamericans, particularly Christianity and spoken and written English. Although mission schools contributed to acculturation, they also provided means for Cherokees to resist assimilation. Cherokees cited school attendance as evidence they were becoming “civilized” in hopes they could demonstrate to Euroamericans that they were sufficiently like them, thus preventing Removal from their homelands, and students employed what they learned as leverage in dealing with the United States in political matters that affected their tribe. Only a small minority …

‘The Female Marine’ And ‘Clotel’: An Analysis Of Female Crossdressing To Escape Coercive Labor Situations In 19th Century American Literature, Kaelyn Ireland

Symposium of Student Scholars

Although illegal in many U.S. cities, crossdressing was a point of fascination for Americans of the nineteenth century. Stories of real women passing as men to serve in the military—for example, Revolutionary War veteran Deborah Sampson—enchanted readers and inspired writers, such as that of The Female Marine. Ostensibly written by its heroine, but most likely written by Nathaniel Hill Wright, The Female Marine was a popular story about a young woman who was forced to become a sex worker and cross-dressed to escape her situation, then enlisted in the Navy where she served abroad the U.S.S. Constitution. At …

Authenticity And Humanity: Women In Ming Dynasty Theatre, Sarah Rogers

Symposium of Student Scholars

Since the dawn of theatrical performances, women had very limited opportunities for participation and presence in productions, often being portrayed onstage by male actors in untruthful, borderline degrading drag, which fortunately was not the case for the Ming Dynasty. My research investigates the societal roles and customs that women in the Ming Dynasty were initially assigned to and the shift they experienced in these roles; this shift empowered women to have more agency in every aspect of their everyday lives, especially in participating in performances. Methodologically, I consider the feminist/gender lens of Karl Marx’s Critical Theory and the opera The …

Architectural + Language: Breaking Barriers And Creating Cultural Dialogue, Maria De Los Angeles Delgado Bailon

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

When I was 11 years old, I moved back to the United States, after having spent my whole childhood in Ecuador, my parents native land. I was moving back to the land of opportunity in the search for the so called ‘American Dream’. It was difficult to leave and move to a new place where we did not know anyone or have anything, but just the idea of a going back to my hometown piqued my curiosity and excitement. I remember very vividly, the day I left Ecuador. I remember telling myself to be happy, because this was a moment …

The Stories We Tell: Gender-Based Variances In Recovery Narratives, Jessica Mcdaniel

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Substance-related issues have long been a societal concern, yet there is a dearth of empirical evidence about effective treatments. One of the most prominent methods of resolving substance-related issues, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), has been criticized for its white, Christian middle-class, heterosexual male provenance. Particularly, the utility of AA for women has been questioned. Yet, many women do find recovery within AA. Therefore, the question becomes less about the fundamental efficacy of AA and more about for whom does AA work. As such, the present study set out to analyze recovery narratives drawn from the primary AA text. The stories of …

Harlots And Hooligans: The Representation Of Women In Hogarth’S Strolling Actresses Dressing In A Barn (1738), Hannah Arnold

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Licensing Act egregiously hindered the English theatrical community when it was placed into effect by King George II in 1737. Strolling actors were thereby forbidden to perform in new plays for profit, forcing acting troupes to disband. This act was widely protested throughout England at the time, most notably by artist William Hogarth in his etching titled Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn. This etching cleverly protests the Licensing Act as well as a myriad of quandaries that plagued 18^th-century English society, namely, gender roles both on and off the stage. Yet, what exactly is the …

The Divine Double Voice: How Female Christian Rhetors Found Rhetorical Agency Through The Voice Of God, Cara Ryfun

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This piece discusses the ways in which three specific Christian female rhetors--Teresa de Avila, Frances Willard, and Maria W. Stewart--utilized the voice of God through biblical scriptures and divine revelations in order to empower themselves. Through the voice of God, these women found agency for their own beliefs and messages, and utilized a variety of rhetorical maneuvers in order to share their messages and quietly subvert patriarchal constructs within the church. These women found agency for their feminist messages within their Christian patriarchal constructs, and they set precedents for Christian feminist rhetors to follow.

“Your Chance To Make Your Voice Heard”: Akaliyat Magazine And The Creation Of A Queer Community In Morocco, Benjamin Ale-Ebrahim

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Publicly claiming an LGBTQ identity in Morocco can place a young person under the threat of violence, both on the part of the state, which criminalizes homosexuality under Article 489 of the Penal Code, and from actors within Moroccan society who wish to uphold a heteronormative conception of Moroccan national identity. The internet, with its potential for anonymous communication, serves as a relatively free and safe space for young queer Moroccans to explore their sexuality and gender identity. Akaliyat Magazine, an internet-based publication founded in 2015, serves as one of the only Arabic-language media outlets in Morocco that focuses on …

Transgender Digital Embodiments: Questions Of The Transgender Body In The 21st Century, Jessica Fisher

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

This thesis looks at an intra-community discourse in the transgender community between “transtrenders” and “transmedicalists” or “truscum.” It observes how these different sub-communities conceive of what it means to be transgender and attempts to contextualize these conceptions within transgender history. This thesis utilizes a brief ethnography of online spaces where transgender community discourse could be found, including Reddit, Twitter, and Tumblr. It discusses the idea of “transtrenders” as cultural appropriators, looks at the role of passing, and wanting to and trying to pass, in the transgender community and in conceptions of who is truly transgender and who isn’t. This thesis …

The Inclusion Of Women’S Issues In Peace Negotiation Agreements: Guatemala, El Salvador, And Colombia, Natalia F. Meneses

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

Armed conflict and its consequences do not discriminate according to gender. It affects all people. During an armed conflict, women are the majority of civilian victims: they are forcibly displaced, their family members are killed, and they suffer sexual abuse and torture. However, most peace processes have been exclusively controlled and led by men, while women and women’s issues are usually not included in peace negotiations or resulting agreements. In the last 30 years, there have been 35 comprehensive peace accords signed across the world of which only eight included women’s issues in their agreements. It is crucial that women’s …

The Real Atlanta: Representations Of Black Southern Culture, Masculinity, And Womanhood As Seen In Season One Of The Fx Series Atlanta, Tamisha Nicole Askew

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

This project explores how the new FX original series, Atlanta, challenges previous notions of Blackness on American television. The series Atlanta delves into conversations on hip-hop and Black culture through what has been considered an authentic representation of Black Atlanta. This paper examines tropes of Southerness and perceived homophobia in hip-hop and Black culture while analyzing the way in which the series creators and producers create a dialogue on economic and social matters facing the Black Southern community in the city of Atlanta. Finally, this paper examines controlling images of Black women on American television to uncover the ways …

Pink Is The New Bull: The Feminization Of Pit Bulls In Visual And Literary Discourses As A Rescue Tactic, Stephanie Hogue

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Since the 1980s, pit bulls have been portrayed in a raced, classed, and gendered national discourse that has associated them with minority males of color in low-income urban areas. This discourse has led to a villianization of the breed that has resulted in restrictions on pit bulls and their owners. This project seeks to explore the raced, classed, and gendered representations of pit bulls in cultural productions and the nuanced ways in which the intersectional identities ascribed to pit bulls have impacted their status as acceptable pets in the United States.

I aim to demonstrate that through visual and literary …

Caitlin Keogh: Feminine Feminism, Madeline Beck

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The painter Caitlin Keogh (b. 1982) is a rising star in the Contemporary Art scene in the United States. Currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York, Keogh is one of countless emerging painters in the trendy arts hub, but her work is already receiving international attention and critical acclaim. Her refined use of flat figuration and bold but pastel colors combined with her striking subject matter has situated Keogh distinctly in the massive contemporary art scene today. Keogh’s insertion of feminist discourse, personal identity, and appropriated imagery into her paintings begs a thorough analysis of her work. She implements …

The Anti-Black Hero: Black Masculinity Media Representation As Seen In Netflix Series Luke Cage And Fox Series Empire, Meya Joyell Hemphill

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

The reoccurrence of the Black Brute, the Thug, and the modern day Coon stereotypical images on current television narrowly defines Black masculinity as a monolithic experience. Young Black boys, are often unable to see themselves as those who are portrayed on television. The images they see on screen are sometimes not realistic. Unfortunately, for some young Black boys, these stereotypical images may heavily influence their own behavior. Society often criminalizes and demonizes young Black men as angry, violent, and dangerous. They pose as a supposed threat to society and are thought to be even more problematic as they age. Currently, …

Revolutionary Every Day: A Dramatic Exploration Of Women And Their Agency In The Black Panther Party., Kristen Michelle Walker

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

This capstone project is centered around Black Panther women and explores what it means to be a revolutionary black woman dealing with politics surrounding gender in both private and public spaces during the late 1960’s and beyond. In addition, the project includes an original fictional play based on the experiences of Panther women around the world. In addressing the social conditions that impacted female Panther activism and agency, together the capstone project and play operate as a commentary on power, gender relations, and society in and around the Black Panther Party.

The Hybridizing Nature Of Ancestor Presence In Morrison’S Sula, Mounica V. Kota Ms.

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

In her writings, Toni Morrison works towards a common goal of establishing a black literary canon, once that represents black characters as autonomous and nuanced human beings unable to be boxed into a one-dimensional narrative. Part of this overarching project appears to be creating a hybridizing narrative in which the cultural roots of various African-American communities are integrated with the social movements of the modern diaspora. One common theme between her novels is the inclusion of a specific ancestral figure, one that functions as some kind of pushing point or learning tool for the community within the story. In examining …

Barrie's Traditional Woman: Wendy's Fatal Flaw, Charlsie G. Johnson

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

The primary goal of this literary critique of J.M. Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy, with the utilization of a feminist psychoanalytical approach, is to explore issues such as: Neverland’s perpetuation of patriarchal structures under the guise of a false modernity and Wendy’s inability to achieve modernity through the societal expectations that undermine the freedom within Peter’s Neverland, as well as her inherent tendencies to gravitate to the traditional feminine role. The arguments and conversation of this topic is based upon a close reading of the Centennial Edition of The Annotated Peter Pan, Barrie’s Peter and Wendy, and articles …

The Ideology Of Madness: The Rejected Artist Vs. The Capitalist Society In As I Lay Dying, Jared R. Mcswain

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This article examines the character of Darl Bundren in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying from the position that he is an artist functioning in a society that ultimately rejects and condemns him through the vessel of ideological conceptions of madness. Topics explored include the ideology of madness, the ideological project of capitalism, queering as a weapon to support an ideology, essential characteristics of “the artist” type, and the consequences of perceived madness.

Silhouettes Of A Silent Female’S Authority: A Psychoanalytic And Feminist Perspective On The Art Of Kara Walker, Angelica E. Perez

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The focus of my research centers on the contemporary work of Georgia-based artist, Kara Elizabeth Walker. In conducting extensive research on the life of the artist as well as three select artworks which recall the antebellum slave era within the south, I argue the explicit presence of the power of the enslaved prepubescent girl and young woman. The three select works that I intend to analyze are Burn, a cut-paper silhouette on canvas created in 1998, The Invisible Beauty, a mixed media piece made in 2001, and Cut, a paper cut-out silhouette made in 1998.

In a …

Peacebuilding In The Context Of Displacement: Women’S Groups In Internally Displaced Persons (Idps) Settlements In Kenya, Catherine A. Odera

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

Abstract

Following the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya, 650,000 people, comprising men, women, youth, and children, fled their communities, and found refuge in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps. Although the Kenyan Government resettled some of the IDPs later in eco-villages and inner city settlements, seven years later there were still 309,200 in IDPs camps across the country. The objective of this qualitative multi-sited single case study is to explore the role of women’s groups in peacebuilding efforts following the post-election conflict. The study focuses on four grassroots-level local women’s groups in the Bankala and Mambira eco-villages and an inner-city settlement …

The Turning Point Of Who Shall Be Master: Killer Of Sheep, Naming, Gender, And The Gaze Of African American Women, Sean Davis Watkins

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Charles Burnett’s 1978 award-winning film Killer of Sheep directly responded to the then-popular Blaxploitation genre, holding a mirror up to post-Watts, 1970s America, while exposing and exploring gender and race issues. Moreover, intentionally or not, Burnett, with this film, effectively demonstrated the lack of recognition that Black women faced in domestic, activist, and employment spheres; simultaneously, Burnett conspicuously reified the relegation of women into that silent, domestic sphere while challenging stereotypes of Black men, elevating them and establishing them as humans, capable of hubris, humanity, and vulnerability. This neo-realistic film masterfully rebirthed the African American male identity; unfortunately, though, neglected …

Art Aids America: Expressions From An Epidemic, Rebecca Holbrook, Lu Freitas, April Lammers, Rebecca Acree, Jamie Hollis, Holly Martin

P-12 Lesson Plans

This series of lessons for K-12 Art classrooms emerged from the spring 2016 ZMA exhibition, Art AIDS America. This groundbreaking exhibition underscored the deep and unforgettable presence of HIV in American art. It introduced and explored a wide spectrum of artistic responses to AIDS, from the politically outspoken to the quietly mournful, surveying works from the early 1980s to the present. Art AIDS America was organized by Tacoma Art Museum in partnership with The Bronx Museum of the Arts, and co-curated by Dr. Jonathan D. Katz, Director, Visual Studies Doctoral Program at the University at Buffalo (The State University of …