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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Recognizing Race: The Impact Of Twentieth-Century Feminist Movements On Race Relations In West Germany, Lindsey Stobaugh
Recognizing Race: The Impact Of Twentieth-Century Feminist Movements On Race Relations In West Germany, Lindsey Stobaugh
Master's Theses
After World War II, many West German women had a difficult time coming to terms with the atrocities that the National Socialist leadership committed during that war, as well as their own participation in the Party. Discussions of the roles of women within twentieth-century society began to grow in West Germany as the new women’s movement (die Neue Fraenbewegung) emerged from 1960s student protests. This movement included primarily middle-class white German women. They often dismissed their participation in Party racism by framing themselves as victims of a patriarchal regime. As German women discussed these matters, they ignored the …
“I’Ll Make A Captain Among Ye, And Do Somewhat To Be Talk Of Forever After”: Female Civic Agency In Sir Thomas More’S Staged Insurrection, Heather Miller
“I’Ll Make A Captain Among Ye, And Do Somewhat To Be Talk Of Forever After”: Female Civic Agency In Sir Thomas More’S Staged Insurrection, Heather Miller
Master's Theses
Sir Thomas More is an English chronicle play that has received far less critical attention than generically similar histories written by Shakespeare. Doll Williamson, the play’s strongest female character, assumes a leadership position in initiating, as well as ultimately quelling, the Evil May Day riots, which provide the play’s initial dramatic impetus. Despite the critical tendency to overlook or diminish the seriousness of her dramatic role in the play, including in the staged insurrection scene, I argue in this thesis that we should take the concerns that Doll articulates and embodies seriously from a feminist perspective. Furthermore, I place Doll’s …
“Part Of That (Man’S) World”: Analyzing “Cinderella” And “The Little Mermaid” Fairy Tale Variants Through A Feminist Lens, K. Morgan Mitchell
“Part Of That (Man’S) World”: Analyzing “Cinderella” And “The Little Mermaid” Fairy Tale Variants Through A Feminist Lens, K. Morgan Mitchell
Honors Theses
Fairy tales are often reduced to nothing more than the moral lesson that can be taught to children. However, when we move past the impulse to search for the simplified moral of the story, we can begin to ascertain the impact of fairy tales on different audiences. This thesis uses both impact theory, which yields a close reading of the textual and cinematic evidence, and reception research, which provides an opportunity to discuss the significance of the material by speculating about the message that readers receive. Under consideration are four variants each of the “Cinderella” and “The Little Mermaid” fairy …
Academic Feminists Analyses Of Female Celebrities From The 1980s To Today, Brittany A. Carey
Academic Feminists Analyses Of Female Celebrities From The 1980s To Today, Brittany A. Carey
Honors Theses
This thesis examines the history of academic feminists and their changing debates over race, class, sexism, and sexual preference from the 1980s to the present. In the 1980s, white feminists tended to focus on sexism in the workplace and class discrimination, while black feminists focused instead on the racism and classism that black women faced both inside and outside of academia. More recently, millennial feminists, in both third- and fourth-wave feminism, have continued to focus on racial discrimination within feminism (and broader society) while also examining women’s sexual preferences. However, they have stopped focusing on sexism in the workplace and …
Mother Feminism: A Study In Jewish American Literature, Hannah Jane Leduff
Mother Feminism: A Study In Jewish American Literature, Hannah Jane Leduff
Honors Theses
Traditionally, Jewish mothers in the orthodox practice of the religion are socially marginalized by the same patriarchy that institutionally reveres them. Orthodox tradition requires that Jewish women value family above all other aspects in life by fulfilling their divine calling: motherhood. Typically, the scholarly community regards orthodox Jewish mothers as oppressed by the patriarchy because they accept motherhood as a divine calling to which they have no alternative. Their arduous efforts in instilling progressive values in their children, however, reveal their feminist intentions despite the oppression they encounter within their religion. The term “mother feminism” describes Jewish mothers’ altruistic feminist …
Naturalism And The New Woman: Fated Motherhood In Kate Chopin's The Awakening And Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth, Lindsay J. Patorno
Naturalism And The New Woman: Fated Motherhood In Kate Chopin's The Awakening And Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth, Lindsay J. Patorno
Honors Theses
Proto-feminist novels have garnered great critical attention in recent decades, largely owing to the reclamation efforts of feminist scholars from the 1960s onwards. These feminist scholars have remarked the fin-de-siècle emergence of a recurring narrative archetype: the unabashed New Woman, whose exploits in what were traditionally male-dominated spheres distinguished her from the domesticated matrons and sentimental bachelorettes of past literary paradigms. While the New Woman is now a commonplace among feminist critics, the following thesis uniquely interprets this feministic archetype in conjunction with the concurrent movement of American literary naturalism—a genre that proffers a deterministic worldview and is often regarded …
Exhuming Ophelia: A Feminist, Costume Design Exploration, Shelby M. Gable
Exhuming Ophelia: A Feminist, Costume Design Exploration, Shelby M. Gable
Honors Theses
Ophelia is a character that has captivated and moved audiences since her first appearance onstage in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark around the year 1600. Unfortunately, she represents a negative and slim representation of femininity that reflects a long-standing trend that has established a specific and limited iconic understanding of her character. As a feminist theatre maker I have undertaken a multi-phase approach to reconstructing Ophelia based on four separate approaches. First, I will examine how it is that Ophelia’s representation is harmful in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Second I will show how feminist readers and critics have approached the …
“Forget The Old . . . The New Wonder Woman Is Here”: The New Wonder Woman And The Feminist Movement, 1968-1972, Kristi N. Fleetwood
“Forget The Old . . . The New Wonder Woman Is Here”: The New Wonder Woman And The Feminist Movement, 1968-1972, Kristi N. Fleetwood
Honors Theses
In 1968, Wonder Woman gives up her powers and embraces her human identity as Diana Prince. Powerless, she learns martial arts and continues to fight. The majority of discussion surrounding the Diana Prince era—Wonder Woman #178-204—argues for the period as embracing anti-feminist sentiment. This analysis of the Diana Prince era argues that the portrayal of Diana Prince without her superhero persona aligns with the ideals of the 1970s feminist movement. By incorporating general themes and ideas of feminism, the comic portrays Diana Prince in a feminist light throughout the comic. Even though her powers are striped, she is able …
Petticoat Government: Poems And Essays, Tiffany Ann Noonan
Petticoat Government: Poems And Essays, Tiffany Ann Noonan
Dissertations
Petticoat Government is a collection of poems and essays that draw upon the varied lexicons of science, mythology, sports, literature, travel, art, fashion, and popular culture in an attempt to understand what deliminates womanhood. Using a mix of traditional and contemporary forms, these texts seek to complicate the myriad—and often conflicting—models of femaleness and the female body.