Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Intercessory Power: A Literary Analysis Of Ethics And Care In Toni Morrison’S Song Of Solomon, Alice Walker’S Meridian, And Toni Cade Bambara’S Those Bones Are Not My Child, Kelly Mills

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine post-Reconstruction literature as an intercessor that creates a common memory among readers and activates them as ethical agents who can move through retributive violence rather than enact violence. With the increase of racial violence in the United States, it is essential to find ways to end the cycle of retributive violence and establish a justice system that does not marginalize individuals but forges connections in the midst of oppression. This literary analysis engages three novels—Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Alice Walker’s Meridian, and Toni Cade Bambara’s Those Bones Are Not My Child: …

Border-Crossing Travels Across Literary Worlds: My Shamanic Conscientization, Scott Neumeister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Border-Crossing Travels Across Literary Worlds is an autocritographical journey that places a group of U.S. literary texts into critically conscious dialogue with the “text” of my life. As a white, American, middle-class, cishetero, able-bodied man, I historicize, contextualize, analyze, and deconstruct the process by which my ten years of graduate academic studies at the University of South Florida fostered my ongoing awakening to critical consciousness—the personal and political evolution Paolo Freire terms “conscientization.” I present the analytical insights I realized about landmark feminist and womanist texts I encountered during my graduate studies that resonate with the prominent literary works and …

"He Didn't Mean It": What Kubrick's, Kelley O'Brien

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With Second Wave Feminism and the Women’s Rights Movement, 1970’s Americans began to see a shift in gender norms affecting how we relate to one another, particularly within a family structure. Scholars have noted an anxiety permeating the decade over the potential negative ramifications of such a drastic cultural shift. We see these issues of gender politics played out in numerous popular films from the 1970s and into the 1980s. Kubrick’s The Shining, like many horror films of the time, preys upon the societal fear for the family, due to these shifting gender norms, by featuring a crumbling patriarch (Jack), …

Don't Blame It On My Ovaries: Exploring The Lived Experience Of Women With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome And The Creation Of Discourse, Jennifer Lynn Ellerman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder among females of childbearing age, affecting between 6-8% of the population. It is also the most common cause of infertility. Females with PCOS may have two or more of a constellation of symptoms that can potentially leave them at odds in terms of normative ideals of femininity. This study examines how feminist theory interrogates and analyzes knowledge about the body and PCOS, integrating the lived experiences of women to provide a deeper, more meaningful understanding of what it means to be a woman with PCOS.

Sexually Explicit, Socially Empowered: Sexual Liberation And Feminist Discourse In 1960s Playboy And Cosmopolitan, Lina Salete Chaves

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I provide an analysis of 1960s American popular culture by examining Playboy, "The Playboy Philosophy," Cosmopolitan, and Sex and the Single Girl. These cultural artifacts furthered the feminist movement by challenging gender structures and sexuality. I discuss how these publications focused on the advancement of the individual through careerism, consumerism and sexuality. These publications assisted in challenging and breaking down various aspects of gender and sexual boundaries and assisted in reworking social limitations that kept women from advancing themselves outside of the pre-set gender roles of domesticity. Regardless of the traditional feminist critique of …

Goddesses And Doormats, Elizabeth Kicak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following is a collection of original poetry written over a span of two years while attending the University of South Florida. The poetry is divided into three numbered sections, marking the major thematic divisions. Preceding the poetry is a critical introduction to the work which outlines the author's developing thematic ideology.

Women And Architecture: Re-Making Shelter Through Woven Tectonics, Kirsten Lee Dahlquist

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weaving and architecture, conceived simultaneously with cave paintings, are two ancient forms of craft used to enclose space and provide shelter harmoniously with nature. In its basic composition, a useable textile is the interlacing of two members, warp and weft, at right angles to create structure and surface respectively. Textile artist Anni Albers of the Bauhaus attributes the organization of weaving to the skills of an ancient goddess. Her understanding of prehistoric cultures further links women closer to the overall creation of structure, though perceived as a masculine endeavor. Consequently, early advancements in architecture, the structural organization of shelter, are …

Neoliberalism And Dependence: A Case Study Of The Orphan Care Crisis In Sub-Saharan Africa, Christine Concetta Gibson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have examined the impacts of neoliberal policies on women, children, small farmers and more, but little attention has been paid to the impact of these policies on orphans. The issue of orphan care is crucial now, and will become increasingly more urgent in the future. Even as HIV/AIDS rates are on the decline, more and more children are being orphaned by the disease. This paper examines the policies, positions and language of the World Bank and I.M.F. regarding orphans in order to understand the biases and assumptions within neoliberalism about orphans, and who is responsible for providing care for …

Power-Control Theory: An Examination Of Private And Public Patriarchy, Jessica Nicole Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The gender difference in crime is indisputable. In an attempt to explain gender differences in adolescents' involvement in crime, secondary data analysis of middle and high school students and their neighborhoods will be examined. Feminists have identified the concept of patriarchy as the root of gender differences in all behavior and particularly in criminal behavior. Hagan's Power-Control Theory incorporates the concept of patriarchy through measures within home to examine how differences in occupational authority between parents affects the gender difference in delinquency through differential controls placed on sons and daughters. However, it has been suggested that the measure of patriarchy …

Women In Wargasm: The Politics Of Womenís Liberation In The Weather Underground Organization, Cyrana B. Wyker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I examine women's participation in the violent revolutionary organization, Weatherman/Weather Underground. My attempt is to uncover Weatherman's view of women's liberation, their differences to the women's liberation movement and examine the practices implemented. I discuss Weatherman, more generally, in the context and circumstances of their emergence from the Students for a Democratic Society in the late sixties. Influenced by popular revolutionary thinkers Weatherman declared itself and its members revolutionaries dedicated to bringing about a socialist revolution in the United States through strategies of guerilla warfare. Weatherman's insistence on revolutionary violence situated masculinity and machismo within the center …

“I Stand For Sovereignty”: Reading Portia In Shakespeare’S The Merchant Of Venice, Deborah Van Pelt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Portia serves as a complex and often underestimated character in William Shakespeare's controversial comedy The Merchant of Venice. Using the critical methodologies of New Historicism and feminism, this thesis explores Portia's representation of Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England from 1558 to 1603. Striking similarities exist between character and Queen, including physical description, suitors, marriage issues, and rhetoric. In addition, the tripartite marriage at the play's conclusion among Portia, Bassanio, and Antonio represents the relationship Elizabeth Tudor formed between her merchant class and her aristocracy. Shylock serves as a representation of a generic or perhaps Catholic threat to England during …

Gender Trouble In Northern Ireland: An Examination Of Gender And Bodies Within The 1970s And 1980s Provisional Irish Republican Army In Northern Ireland, Jennifer Earles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With this thesis, I will utilize both feminist and queer theory to highlight the gendered and bodily tactics used by the women of the 1970s/1980s Provisional Irish Republican Army. I will explore how women can both manipulate gender and use their bodies as a response to gender, ethnic, class, and colonial power relations and conflict discourses, the limitations of these approaches, and how these actions can work to reconfigure political movements, local cultures, and create a space for social change and a future beyond conflict which includes women. My methods will include a feminist content analysis of interviews, written records, …

Identity, Desire And Spectatorship: An Examination Of Germaine Dulac’S La Coquille Et Le Clergyman, Jennifer A. Melko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Germaine Dulac's 1928 avant-garde film, La Coquille et le Clergyman, based on a script written by Antonin Artaud, presents the idea of the woman as an object of desire, subjected to the male gaze through the cinematic process. Not only is the lone female character the object of desire of her two male suitors on screen, but she also becomes the object of desire for the presumably male viewer of the film, who has become a silent character in the film. Rather than simply being the spectator, the viewer's own identity becomes entwined with that of the on screen …

I Am Warrior Woman, Hear Me Roar: The Challenge And Reproduction Of Heteronormativity In Speculative Television Programs, Leisa Anne Clark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores how the "warrior woman" trope in western culture, as portrayed in late 20th century science fiction/fantasy and speculative television, reflects heteronormative/heterosexist discourses of femininity in American culture. First, I will examine feminine discourse in American culture, especially in the late 20th century. Then I will discuss how the tenets of second and third wave feminism influenced western paradigms of "the ideal female" and impacted pop culture by producing "warrior women" who both reflected and challenged heteronormative ideas and feminist principles. By examining several television shows produced in the United States and Great Britain from the late 1960s …

Opportunities For Spiritual Awakening And Growth In Mothering, Melissa J. Albee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My experiences as a mother have been enhanced by spirituality and my spirituality has been transformed through the practice of mothering. I will argue that part of the transformation available in mothering is that one can go from thinking of oneself as an individual with free will, self autonomy, and independence to believing maybe we are all more connected and dependent upon each other than we thought. I intend to explore my personal spiritual journey from an academic perspective in order to gain and share knowledge. Intense emotional experiences such as childbirth, learning how to take care of a person …

Gender, Quota Laws, And The Struggles Of Women’S Social Movements In Latin America, Merav Frazier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Assuming gender neutrality in comparative analysis, i.e. not including either explicit or implicit references to a particular gender or sex, runs the risk of camouflaging the unequal distribution of political power, economic influence, and political access for men and women. Unfortunately, in assuming such neutrality, one is blinded to the inherent flaws of political systems, the inequalities they create, and their lack of consideration of gender and women's rights. To counteract this inequality between the sexes, women's social movements are fighting to create gender awareness and establish formal policies that place them at the same level as their male counterparts, …

A Paradox Of Diversity: Billions Invested, But Women Still Leave, Rebekah S. Heppner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2005, women made up 46.4 percent of the United States labor force but only 1.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs (Catalyst 2006). Although gains have been made since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, there is clearly something stopping women from equal representation at the top. Since the late 1980s, businesses have spent billions of dollars on initiatives designed to assist them in dealing with the anticipated increase in the "diversity" of their workplaces (Lubove 1997; Stodghill II 1996; Johnston and Packer 1987). Is there potential for diversity initiatives to help women conquer the "glass ceiling?" …

Ecological Art: Ruth Wallen And Cultural Activism, Susan Birchler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Twentieth century modernity has provoked multiple problems ranging from environmental degradation to human rights violations. Globally, diverse communities of people have organized to promote, not just reactive reforms, but a fundamental alteration of the foundational worldview underlying these issues. Radical activists committed their work to promoting an alternative ethos based on egalitarian, democratic, and ecologically-wise concepts. An array of methodologies emerged from these endeavors. More radical political groups focused on cultural tools to engage people in the construction of an alternative worldview. Radical activists utilized two forms of cultural politics: prefigurative politics, the physical presentation of an envisioned future and …

The Conundrum Of Women’S Studies As Institutional: New Niches, Undergraduate Concerns, And The Move Towards Contemporary Feminist Theory And Action, Rebecca K. Willman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I address current debates on the perceived lack of contemporary feminist activism and concerns of Women's Studies as existing within university institutions. I propose that Women's Studies programs and departments serve as locations useful for feminists interested in participating in feminist activism in and beyond the university. By viewing Women's Studies programs and departments as contemporary abeyance structures in feminist movements, I revisit the ways in which debates on differences between second and third wave feminisms have contributed to social change. In doing so, I highlight how the feminist movement maintains itself between upsurges in mass-based visible …

The Constructions Of Fay Weldon, Woman Of Letters, Harriet Blymiller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary British novelist Fay Weldon negotiates the postmodern "culture industry" as the self-conscious heir to a traditon of women writers dating back to the Middle Ages. Like her predecessors, Weldon defensively and offensively negotiates ideological constructions of womanhood, including injunctions to chastity, modesty, and silence; prohibitions against formal education for women; disdain for the literary production and commercial success of women writers; and the application of double standards in the critical reception of their works. Modernizing the strategies traditionally deployed by women writers, Weldon engages with the advertising industry and the mass-oriented literature of radio and television, using them to …

Palabra Inédita Género, Raza, E Identidad: Estrategias De La Memoria Cultural En La Poesía De Georgina Herrera, Nancy Morejón, Y Excilia Saldaña, Lissette Corsa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

En esta tesis analizaré en la poesía de Georgina Herrera, Nancy Morejón y Excilia

Saldaña

1 los conceptos de género y raza y cómo han sido apropiados del esquema

patriarcal y redefinidos en la elaboración de identidad y nación a través de lo que Flora

González Mandri y Catherine Davies han llamado la memoria cultural.

Mi propósito es demostrar como dichas poetas han subvertido, a través de la

palabra, un discurso historicamente maniqueísta que ha servido para reafirmar la doble

subyugación de raza y género, como también exploro los resortes de auto-inscripción y el

imaginario mítico-cultural que cada poeta emplea …

Virginia Woolf And The Persistent Question Of Class: The Protean Nature Of Class And Self, Mary C. Madden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From the beginning of her career, Virginia Woolf moves beyond the perspective of her inherited class position to challenge a damaging class system. She increasingly recognizes the extent of her own complicity in the creation and maintenance of class structures supporting patriarchy, war, and British imperialism. Highlighting ambiguities inherent in the very category of class, she acknowledges the limiting "boxes" of language itself in attempts to rethink class. For Woolf, class is not monolithic but internally differentiated by gender and race. Examining Woolf's early work in relation to class theory shows that throughout her career Woolf interrogates the imbrication of …

Audience Interpretations Of The Representation Of Women In Music Videos By Women Artists, Libby Mckenna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how young women audiences may make sense of music videos and how they relate music video messages to their own femininity. Studies of the representation of women in music videos mostly have focused on critiquing content, rather than audience interpretations. This study, using focus groups, looked at how young women interpret music videos featuring women artists and showed that young women perceive sexist and/or stereotypical depictions presented in the videos. During six focus groups, three music videos were reviewed by 49 college students, mostly consisting of young women in their early 20s. The researcher found themes emerging …

Bel-Imperia: The (Early) Modern Woman In Thomas Kyd’S Spanish Tragedy, Ann Mccauley Basso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At the heart of Thomas Kyd's revenge tragedy The Spanish Tragedy lies an arranged marriage around which all of the other action revolves. Bel-Imperia of Spain has been betrothed against her will to Prince Balthazar of Portugal, but she is no ordinary woman, and she has plans of her own. Bel-Imperia's unwillingness to participate in the arranged marriage is indicative of the rise of the companionate marriage; it represents a rejection of the arranged marriage that dominated upper class society in earlier years.

This study seeks to throw light upon early modern attitudes towards marriage, focusing particularly on the arranged …

Reconstructing Women's Identities: The Phenomenon Of Cosmetic Surgery In The United States, Cara L. Okopny

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The popularity of cosmetic surgery in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last ten years - particularly for women, who make up the largest group of cosmetic surgery consumers. Cosmetic surgery can include relatively simple procedures such as permanent hair removal or Botox to more complicated procedures like breast augmentations and face-lifts. The rise in popularity of cosmetic surgery exalts only one kind of beauty and excludes many women from ever attaining this ideal, so while women may feel empowered, surgery acts as a form of assimilation, because the act of cosmetic surgery reifies an exclusionary beauty norm. With …

From Just War To Just Peace: Re-Visioning Just War Theory From A Feminist Perspective, Naomi Malone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper studies the history of just war theory and critiques it from various feminist perspectives. Using a definition of war as inseparable from the system within which it is embedded, the paper contends that just war theory has been incorporated into the realist paradigm that predominates current political thought, making it susceptible to manipulation. Most importantly, this usurpation has shifted just war theory's focus from jus ad bellum to jus in bello considerations, seriously weakening its deterrent effects on war. The paper proposes its replacement with a just peace theory, discussing several existing frameworks and explaining the important part …

The Politics Of Being An Egg “Donor” And Shifting Notions Of Reproductive Freedom, Elizabeth A. Dedrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As an Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) that has been available for over twenty years, the transfer of healthy eggs from a presumably fertile woman into the womb of a woman diagnosed as infertile has become a common part of the landscape of human reproduction in the United States. Yet the general societal acceptance of this practice commonly known as "egg donation" oversimplifies the complex medical, ethical, and societal issues ignited by its use. In light of the limited critical discussions presently occurring about egg transfer, I will interrogate some of the silences and more ambiguous issues invoked by its practice. …

Safe At Home: Agoraphobia And The Discourse On Women’S Place, Suzie Siegel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis explores how discourse and material practices have created agoraphobia, the fear of public places. This psychological disorder predominates among women. Throughout much of Western history, women have been encouraged to stay home for their safety and for the safety of society. I argue that agoraphobic women have internalized this discourse, expressing fears of being in public or being alone without a companion to support and protect them; losing control over their minds or their bodies; and endangering or humiliating themselves. Therapeutic discourse also has created agoraphobia by naming it, categorizing the emotions and behaviors associated with it, and …