Arts and Humanities Commons^™

You’Re Killing Me, Smalls, Ryan Mehigan

The Graduate Review

No abstract provided.

“No Happy Woman Writes”: An Analysis Of Novels Of Seduction And Domestic Fiction In Early American Literature, Janene Johnson

Honors Program Theses and Projects

American novelists writing in the new Republic contributed to a collective cultural effort to create a new written voice. Writers in the new nation aimed to develop a style of writing distinct from the contemporary European conventions, one that would reflect American ideals and society. Though increasing in popularity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, novels and fictional works received an inauspicious stigma that marked the works, authors, and often even readers of the genre. Twentieth-century scholars of the early American novel denounced the genre as simply melodramatic romantic work that would not improve the intellect of the …

It’S Kind Of A Curious Incident In The Bell Jar: Using Literature And Discussion To Advocate For Mental Health Education In The High School English Classroom, Margaret Keefe

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Literature has served as an outlet for those who have both written and read it, powerfully describing all aspects of the human condition—even the mental disorders we suffer from. Language Arts classrooms provide students with the ability to access and critically analyze this unique outlet for expression and understanding. Given the high rate of mental disorders among young adults and students, this often stigmatized issue cannot be ignored inside or outside the classroom. The purpose of this project is to analyze how texts which discuss mental disorders might be taught in the high school English classroom. This will include not …

“Racial Repercussions Of The British Imperial Curriculum:” Misperceptions Of The Natives In George Orwell’S Burmese Days, Cyi Gyi Paradis

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This study explores how English writers falsely portray the indigenous people of the British colonies in novels. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, in particular, authors of Imperialist fiction often misrepresent natives in the British colonies as deviant, detestable, deplorable beings that lack moral compasses. By researching the fields of literature, history, education, and cultural studies, I will examine how George Orwell’s novel Burmese Days distorts descriptions of the Burmese people. Previous studies on Burmese Days focus mainly on misrepresentations of the Burmese as a homogenous race; however, my research will encompass how literary distortions target multiple …

Fighting For Their Lives: Why The Marginalized Irish From The 1840s-1910 Dominated American Prizefighting, Owen Marshall

Honors Program Theses and Projects

One of the most recognizable figures in the world during his lifetime, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, previously Cassius Clay and Cassius X, put his self-esteem on display with the simple declaration “I am the greatest.” This was a phrase he told himself long before he truly was the greatest, but he proved it to the world in 1964 when he defeated defending champion Sonny Liston. Upon knocking out his dangerous, violent, and cheating opponent, Ali whipped himself into a frenzy, as onlookers saw him fall over the ropes, scream at the ringside reporters who had previously doubted him, and …

“Only A Passing Idiocy”: The Ku Klux Klan In Maine State Politics, Erin Best

Honors Program Theses and Projects

During the late the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, French Canadians migrated to the United States to fill existing labor gaps in New England’s textile mills. By the 1920s, French Canadians and Franco-Americans dominated textile labor in Maine. Despite its general rural cultural landscape, the modernism of the 1920s did come to influence the lived-experience of Maine’s French-speaking population. Urban centers like Lewiston-Auburn, Portland, and Bangor were urban-industrial towns that tended to be oppositional to the state’s more rural and conservative demographic. This sparked a general counter-movement among Maine’s conservative Protestant population. Similar to other rural regions in the United …

Limiting Queer Reproduction In Hungary, Judit Takács

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article discusses several limiting factors that affect queer reproduction desires and practices in present-day Hungary, including distorting media representations, legislative frameworks, and social inequalities. It draws on relevant legal developments and results from previous research studies. The article focuses on how Hungarian LGBTQI people can resist the social norms and policies of heteronormatively prescribed childlessness resulting from normative expectations that non-heteronormative reproduction must be limited as much as possible, and highlights that better-off couples and individuals have more chance to realize their fertility plans through adoption, surrogacy or accessing ART than those in a more disadvantageous situation. In this …

Negotiating Access To Assisted Reproduction Technologies In A Post-Socialist Heteronormative Context, Hana Hašková, Zdeněk Sloboda

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article centres on the impact of heteronormativity on the ways in which parental desires, intentions and practices of lesbian, gay, or trans people in Czechia are subjected to barriers. It explores heteronormativity by analysing how access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) for non-straight couples (including single women) has been negotiated. We discuss discrimination against, and the statistical marginalisation of, homoparental families; the fact that same-sex Czech couples are not yet allowed to marry and that instead a new legal institution, the civil union, was introduced exclusively for them, explicitly prohibiting them from forming parental couples; the political disregard of …

Unfit For Parenthood? Compulsory Sterilization And Transgender Reproductive Justice In Finland, Julian Honkasalo

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the rationale of the continuing Finnish transgender sterilization requirement against the background of reproductive justice. I examine how and why the Finnish public debate on removing the sterilization clause from the Trans Act does not include an equal demand to 1) include a parental law reform and 2) a legislation on accessible, affordable and just reproductive health care for transgender persons and (cis)women alike. I will argue that since the citizens’ initiative of the marriage equality legislation in Finland was followed by another citizens’ initiative to reform the Maternity Act to include lesbian couples, transgender reproductive justice …

Unlearning Cisnormativity In The Clinic: Enacting Transgender Reproductive Rights In Everyday Patient Encounters, Theo Erbenius, Jenny Gunnarsson Payne

Journal of International Women's Studies

In recent years, transgender reproduction has become increasingly visible in public debates in Sweden. Heated debates and years of activism and advocacy ultimately led to a change in law in 2013. In the new law, the previously controversial demands for patients to be unmarried and sterile had been removed from the legal framework. As a consequence, transgender patients also became entitled to fertility preservation through assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). This gave rise to a new patient group of fertility patients with specific medical and psychosocial needs.

Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals in a Stockholm clinic for reproductive …

Queer And Trans Access To Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Comparison Of Three Eu-States, Poland, Spain And Sweden, Doris Leibetseder

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article is about the legal challenges and difficulties of queer and trans reproduction with ART in three purposely selected European states: Sweden, Poland and Spain, representing the north, east and west of Europe. Isabell Engeli and Christine Rothmayr Allison’s (2017) continuum model of classifying countries according to their permissive, intermediate or restrictive regulations for ART access serves as an example how a national comparative analysis on ART policies is established. However, this framework needs to be adjusted to address the regulations pertaining to queer and trans people’s reproductive, parenthood, and partnership opportunities. Thus, the queer and trans model I …

Introduction: Queer And Trans Reproduction With Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Art), In Europe, Doris Leibetseder, Gabriele Griffin

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Searching For Identity: Connecting Students To Young Adult Literature In The Classroom Through Language, Samantha Correia

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Young adult literature largely influences the cultures and the lives of young people; often these popular young adult novels become well-known as they are made into movies and are in high demand. These novels are not just for young adults; these texts can be read at any age and have accessible themes that many people can relate to. However, in this research, young adult literature will be discussed in terms of how these novels affect children, mostly from ages ten to eighteen, as many of the characters in these texts are a similar age to them. Young adult literature (YA …

Marriage In Victorian England, Cheryl Ann Mcdonnell

Honors Program Theses and Projects

When most people consider the lives of women in the Victorian age in Great Britain, a period which covers the years of Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901, they have a pretty rigid idea of what women were like in that era. Most see Victorian women as stifled and restricted, happy in their domestic role, both before and after their marriage. This stereotype is not accurate in reality to the women of the Victorian era. In this essay, I plan to explore what the reality of daily life was for Victorian women. More specifically I plan to examine what …

Something Solid To Rest Upon: Abraham Lincoln’S Interest In Science, William F. Hanna

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Suspended: The Art Of Paul Stopforth, Jonathan Shirland

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Note: Cultural Immersion And Student Perceptions Of Jordan, Sarah Thomas, Christy Lyons Graham

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Film Review: Women In Iranian Cinema: Moving Beyond Conventional Legends, Bahar Davary

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of the film Under the Smoky Roof; Pouran Derakhshandeh (director). 2017

Book Review: Women And Death In Film, Television, And News, Jarice Hanson

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Women and Death in Film, Television, and News by Joanne Clarke Dillman.

Book Review: Women In Twentieth-Century Africa, Serena J. Rivera

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Women in Twentieth-Century Africa, by Iris Berger. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Book Review: Gender (In)Equality And Gender Politics In Southeastern Europe: A Question Of Justice, Meltem Ince-Yenilmez

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Gender (In)equality and Gender Politics in Southeastern Europe: A Question of Justice, edited by Christine Hassenstab & Sabrina P. Ramet. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Book Review: Balzac’S Cane, Randi M. Rezendes

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Balzac’s Cane by Delphine de Girardin. Peter Lang, 2017

Epistemology Revisited: A Feminist Critique, Anupam Yadav

Journal of International Women's Studies

The Platonic legacy of Western epistemology has been severely attacked for its dominant exclusivist and coercive rationality in the discourses of anti-foundationalism and anti-representationalism, which have also given rise to several alternative epistemologies. The feminist discourse challenges the exclusivist and appropriationist logic of Western epistemology, or science, for being highly gender-biased and oppressive. Weininger’s remark that ‘No woman is really interested in science, she may deceive herself and many good men, but bad psychologists, by thinking so’ is one of such silencing masculine diktats that have deeper roots in the sexist, racist and classist biases. The feminists’ revolts against the …

Inequality Analyses Of Gendering Jordanian Citizenship And Legislative Rights, Rania F. Al-Rabadi, Anas N. Al-Rabadi

Journal of International Women's Studies

Awareness has been recently increased about gender-based rights and citizenship in Jordan. Many of the issues concerning gender equality arise in the private sphere. Therefore, focusing on the politics of family law is important with regards to women’s rights in particular. Family law is the law related to matters such as polygamy, divorce, inheritance, child custody, guardianship and obedience. The effects are observed especially when Jordanian women try to exercise their granted constitutional political rights. It is the family (personal status) law that runs individual affairs within the private sphere in a patriarchal society where it affects also on exercising …

Gender Mainstreaming And Gender Policies In Contemporary Taiwan, Doris T. Chang

Journal of International Women's Studies

In 1995, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (hereafter referred to as the Platform for Action) promulgated during the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women called for the use of gender mainstreaming as a strategy in policy formulations for pursuing the goals of gender equality. Feminist leaders of NGOs who joined the Taiwanese government in the mid-1990s were strategically positioned to contribute to policy formulations that would integrate gender-mainstreaming perspectives into policies and institutions in the Taiwanese government. Among the various approaches to gender-mainstreaming, taking positive actions to set pro-women policy agendas have been the predominant approach deployed …

Family-Work Conflict And Performance Of Women-Owned Enterprises: The Role Of Social Capital In Developing Countries--Implications For South Africa And Beyond, Ngek Brownhilder Neneh

Journal of International Women's Studies

One critical issue that is highly overlooked in developing regions is the family embeddedness of women entrepreneurs, even though the women in developing countries simultaneously hold several roles in the family and their businesses. As such, this study focused on evaluating the impact of family-work conflict (FWC) on the performance of women-owned businesses in a developing world context. The findings indicate that FWC negatively influenced the performance of women-owned businesses. Additionally, the moderating effect of social capital in this association was examined. The findings suggest that both bonding social capital and bridging social capital buffers the negative effect of FWC …

Using A Model Of Economic Solvency To Understand The Connection Between Economic Factors And Intimate Partner Violence, Heidi Gilroy, Judith Mcfarlane, Nina Fredland, Sandra Cesario, Angeles Nava, John Maddoux

Journal of International Women's Studies

Poverty is a risk factor for intimate partner violence (IPV); however, little is known about the economic state at which women are no longer at risk for IPV due to their economic status, which is economic solvency. A Model of Economic Solvency in women has been developed from the literature that includes four factors: human capital, social capital, sustainable employment, and independence. The purpose of this research is to validate the model in a sample of women reporting IPV. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the model using data from 280 abused women. Examination of the model yielded …

How Children Of Lgbq Parents Negotiate Courtesy Stigma Over The Life Course, Rebecca Dibennardo, Abigail Saguy

Journal of International Women's Studies

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 28 U.S. adults who have at least one lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ) parent, we examine how this group negotiates the courtesy stigma of a parent’s sexual identity over the life course. Respondents reported less control over revealing courtesy stigma during childhood, when they were closely linked to their parents, but increased ability to conceal parents’ sexual orientation as they aged. During childhood and adolescence, parents’ gender presentation and choice of partner(s) impacted the visibility and degree of courtesy stigma, as did their peer networks and social environments. As adults, respondents continued to face …

Exploring Women’S Perspectives Of Family Planning: A Qualitative Study From Rural Papua New Guinea, Sari Andajani-Sutjahjo, Zuabe Manguruc Tinning, John F. Smith

Journal of International Women's Studies

Papua New Guinea has one of the highest fertility rates and lowest usage rates of modern contraceptives in the Pacific, especially in rural areas. Provision of modern family planning services in rural indigenous communities is challenged by geographic distance, organizational logistics, sparse human service resourcing issues, and lack of integration and understanding of the diversity of PNG’s indigenous knowledge and practices around reproductive health. Face-to-face interviews followed by two focus group discussions were held with 14 purposively sampled indigenous women and two community volunteers, aiming to explore their experiences of what were termed “modern family planning practices” and the perceived …

Speaking And Silence As Means Of Resistance In Alifa Rifaat's Distant View Of A Minaret And Bahiyya's Eyes, Sumaya M. Alhaj Mohammad

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study aims at investigating the dilemma of creating a counter discourse that speaks against the dominant androcentric one in Alifa Rifaat’s fiction. The study explores the characterization of the protagonists of two short stories: “Distant View of a Minaret” and “Bahiyya’s Eyes,” culled from Rifaat’s collection Distant View of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (1983). These stories present two different paradigms of resistance that the female protagonists use, which are speaking and silence. The study argues that both speaking and silence are attempts to heal women’s cyclic trauma, as they are means of representing women’s experience and oppression …