Arts and Humanities Commons^™

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

"The Quality Of Women's Intelligence" : Female Humanists In Renaissance Italy., Julie Myers-Mushkin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the advent of humanism in Renaissance Italy impacted women, namely those who were raised within intellectual families and granted educational opportunities not before afforded to members of their sex. In quattrocento Italy, learned women began to circulate their writings and participate in the humanist milieu, and the intellectual lives and published works of these female humanists all in some manner contested Renaissance patriarchy and gender perceptions. As such, this thesis challenges the conception that the Renaissance further disenfranchised women and offers a framework for analyzing and appreciating the ways in which women participated in the academic …

Women Of The Incan Empire: Before And After The Conquest Of Peru, Sarah A. Hunt

Student Research

This paper contrasts the life of Incan women before and after the Spanish conquest of Peru by Pizarro. Spanish colonization of Peru had a significant, negative impact on Incan women, across social, economic, and religious sectors. Before the conquest, women held fairly complimentary, rather than subordinate roles to men in society. Spanish rule introduced a strict patriarchy, which reduced Incan women to second-class citizens. The Spanish exploited women within the economy, and destroyed the once revered female religious institutions. Examining women in conquest history provides an intimate look at gender and power relations, socio-economics, and the shifting familial and cultural …

History Of Key Events In Women’S Health Care, Zoё M. Chambliss

Student Publications

In 1973, ninety-three percent of all American doctors were men (Ehrenreich and English). Gender based inequity permeates all spheres of women’s health care from employment to access to treatment to biologically-based myths of male superiority, yet women once presided over the health and spirituality of their communities and their own bodies. All of the earliest human societies worshipped the Earth Goddess and respected women as holy givers of life. This tradition persisted until the rise of the patriarchy and Western “Civilization” increasingly forced women out of positions of power and rewrote the religious stories to give supremacy to male sun …

An Alliance Of Ladies: Power, Public Affairs, And Class Construction In Early National New York City, Alisa J. Wade

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dissertation studies elite women’s political consciousness in New York City between 1783 and 1815, contextualizing women’s position within the city’s social strata and the rise of market capitalism in the post-Revolutionary era. In a period of deferential politics, women within the leadership class played a unique role in remodeling the structure of republican government and determining who belonged within it. Building on the foundation of learned femininity, they constructed the etiquette that undergirded men’s political careers and oversaw the marriage market. They mediated divisions between new merchant capital and more established landed wealth, reinforcing dynastic stability. Moreover, they were …

The "Rib" Of The South? An Analysis Of Feminine Agency Among Southern Elite Women Of The Antebellum Period (1815-1860), Louann Marie Sabatini

Theses

No abstract provided.

“If There Are Men Who Are Afraid To Die, There Are Women Who Are Not”: African American Women's Civil Rights Leadership In Boston, 1920-1975., Julie De Chantal

Doctoral Dissertations

Since the 1980s, narratives surrounding the Boston Busing Crisis focus on South Boston white working-class’s reaction to Judge Arthur W. Garrity's forced desegregation order of 1974. Yet, by analyzing the crises from such narrow perspective, the narratives leave out half of the story. This dissertation challenges these narratives by situating the busing crisis as the culmination of more than half a century of grassroots activism led by Black working-class mothers. By taking action at the neighborhood and the city levels, these mothers succeeded where the National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People and the Urban League had failed. …

Dress And Womanhood Of Ancient Rome, Eliza Burbano

Honors Theses

Fashion transcends its own role of imagery, as it becomes the medium through which individuals express their place in society. Fashion history would not consider the ancient world as part of the history of the discipline. Nevertheless, the function of dress in ancient cultures like that of Rome has definitely helped shape social hierarchies that are still present today. Clothing structured Roman society deeply, just as class, race, and sexuality did. Scholar Kelly Olson (2002) defines the function of clothing as part of a sign system. This study argues that dress in ancient Rome goes beyond this idea, in that …

Maine Women's Giving Tree Quarterly Review Vol. 1 No. 1 (2016), Maine Women's Giving Tree Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

The Persistence Of Patriarchy In Latin America: An Analysis Of Negative And Positive Trends, Eliza Burbano

Honors Theses

The last 25 years have seen the rise of women as political leaders in Latin America. There are now three female presidents, including Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Argentina), and Dilma Rousseff (Brazil). This sociopolitical progress owes its success to the consolidation of democratic institutions, a strong feminist movements such as Argentina’s “Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres” and a strong regional push towards egalitarian legislation. According to ECLAC there are a number of important feminist movements in the region that catalyze egalitarian legislative changes. #NIUNAMENOS is one of such campaigns promoting zero tolerance against gender violence and aims is …

Revolutionary Era Women In War: A Move For Societal Reform, Claire Williams

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

As tensions grew in the British colonies in the late eighteenth century, colonists began expressing their new hopes for an independent nation. While the call to action for the physical fight against the British was directed toward men, women could not help but respond in kind. After centuries of domestic confinement and the new Enlightenment period showing possibilities for secondary roles, women used the coming war as a showcase for their capabilities. Some chose to act on the home front, boycotting British goods and fundraising for the soldiers, while others stepped outside of their bounds and participated in battle. Later …

Femininity And Higher Education: Women At Ontario Universities, 1890 To 1920, Marilla Mccargar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the experiences of women studying at six institutions of higher education from 1890 to 1920. The universities include Queen’s University in Kingston, The University of Western Ontario in London, the University of Toronto and its affiliates Victoria University, University College, and Trinity College in Toronto. While pioneering women who attended universities in the 1880s were opposed by people who believed a belief that women’s intellects were inferior to men’s, women in this study faced the belief that by engaging in the “masculine” pursuit of higher education they risked their future as wives and mothers and thus jeopardized …

Taking On The Man: Female Rebellion Against Gender Roles In Classical Greek Drama, Gabrielle Killough

Senior Honors Theses

The portrayal of women in Ancient Greek drama seems at times opposed to the societal gender roles within Classical Athens. In the plays, women are strong and dynamic figures who enact change and upheaval in their world. Ancient dramas, like Agamemnon, Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata, portrayed women with strong autonomy and minds which matched their male counterparts; whereas the women in Classical Athens found themselves in more limited circumstances. In analyzing the nature of these disparities, it seems that the constant factor is that the plays concern the violation of the household. The female characters respond in one of …

Gemini 15 Memories, Karen Mahaffey

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Answers given by Karen Mahaffey to WKU Gemini jazz bands questionnaire in spring of 2016. See Gemini Jazz Bands online exhibit for more information.

"So Long As I Can Read": Farm Women's Reading Experiences In Depression-Era South Dakota, Lisa Lindell

Lisa R. Lindell

During the Great Depression, with conditions grim, entertainment scarce, and educational opportunities limited, many South Dakota farm women relied on reading to fill emotional, social, and informational needs. To read to any degree, these rural women had to overcome multiple obstacles. Extensive reading (whether books, farm journals, or newspapers) was limited to those who had access to publications and could make time to read. The South Dakota Free Library Commission was valuable in circulating reading materials to the state's rural population. In the 1930s the commission collaborated with the USDA's Extension Service in a popular reading project geared toward South …

Gemini 14 Memories, Nancy Cron

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Answers given by Nancy (Hill) Cron to WKU Gemini jazz bands questionnaire in spring of 2016. See Gemini Jazz Bands online exhibit for more information.

Introduction To "Independent Stardom: Freelance Women In The Hollywood Studio System", Emily Carman

Film and Media Arts Faculty Books and Book Chapters

During the heyday of Hollywood’s studio system, stars were carefully cultivated and promoted, but at the price of their independence. This familiar narrative of Hollywood stardom receives a long-overdue shakeup in Emily Carman’s new book. Far from passive victims of coercive seven-year contracts, a number of classic Hollywood’s best-known actresses worked on a freelance basis within the restrictive studio system. In leveraging their stardom to play an active role in shaping their careers, female stars including Irene Dunne, Janet Gaynor, Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard, and Barbara Stanwyck challenged Hollywood’s patriarchal structure.

Through extensive, original archival research, Independent Stardom uncovers this …

Faroosh And Elina, Faroosh, Elina, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Faroosh was a cameraman for a private television program in Afghanistan working on a documentary about the Taliban. When he and his crew were discovered, the Taliban attacked them and he and his wife fled to Turkey, walking 12 hours to get there. Upon arrival the police arrested and harassed them. Turkey was not a safe place. After several suicide bombings in the area, they decided to move on to Greece, where they are in a refugee camp without any progress in their situation. They have no money to move forward and no ability to work and the economic situation …

The Traveler's Aid Society: Moral Reform And Social Work In New York City, 1907-1916, Eric C. Cimino Ph.D.

Faculty Works: HPS (2015-2021)

The prominent philanthropist, Grace Hoadley Dodge, founded the Travelers' Aid Society as a response to the moral and sexual dangers that she believed confronted single women (immigrant and native-born) as they entered American cities in search of work and leisure. Moral reformers like Dodge assumed that traveling women who were adrift from their family and community existed on the “border line of tragedy,” where the slightest misstep could result in a downward spiral that culminated in white slavery, the coerced prostitution of white women. To prevent the tragedy of white slavery, the Travelers' Aid Society provided social work to at-risk …

Female Perceptions Of Islam In Today’S Morocco, Fatima Sadiqi

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This paper is based on a survey, 25 interviews, and observation. According to the results so far, Islam means three things for women in today’s Morocco: faith, culture, and politics. Islam as faith is generally perceived as a personal relationship with God. Such a relationship is seen as both rewarding and empowering, but also private. Women who perceive Islam as faith observe the Islamic rituals and may or may not wear the veil. Women’s perception of Islam as faith is a rather poorly understood topic in research in a heavily space-based patriarchy, probably because of its intimate relationship with the …

Gynecologists, Bureaucrats, And Stoners: The Rise Of Women In Television Comedies And Critiquing The Postfeminist Perspective, Victoria Montecillo

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis looks to explore the rise of women in television comedy and the accompanying implications of this phenomenon. Using a historical framework, this thesis looks at the progression of representations of women in television comedies beginning in the 1950s up to today. Considering factors such as the rise of social media, as well as online television streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix as more legitimate avenues to distribute content, this thesis traces women’s place within television comedy, and argues that shows such as Parks and Recreation, The Mindy Project, and Broad City serve as examples of the progress …

Gemini 15 Memories, Merry Herbert

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Merry Herbert's answers to WKU Gemini jazz band questionnaire. See Gemini Jazz Bands online exhibit for more information.

"Life Under Union Occupation: Elite Women In Richmond, April And May 1865", Amanda C. Tompkins

Theses and Dissertations

This paper crafts a narrative about how elite, white Richmond women experienced the fall and rebuilding of their city in April and May 1865. At first, the women feared the entrance of the occupying army because they believed the troops would treat them as enemies. However, the goal of the white occupiers was to restore order in the city. Even though they were initially saddened by the occupation, many women were surprised at the courtesy and respected afforded them by the Union troops. Black soldiers also made up the occupying army, and women struggled to submit to black authority. With …

Gemini 14 Memories, Nancy Pollard

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Nancy (Baker) Pollard's answers to WKU Gemini jazz bands questionnaire. See Gemini Jazz Bands online exhibit for more information.

Gemini 14 Memories, Karen Matchus

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Karen (Warren) Matchus' answers to WKU Gemini jazz band questionnaire. See Gemini Jazz Bands online exhibit for more information.

Gemini 15 Memories, Pam Thurman

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Pam (Livingston) Thurman's answers to WKU Gemini jazz band questionnaire. See Gemini Jazz Bands online exhibit for more information.