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Honors Theses

2022

Discipline
Institution
Keyword

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in American Studies

Fight Like A Ya Girl: Fourth Wave Feminism, Defense, And Weaponization Through The Lens Of Object Relations, Amanda Blakeman Jun 2022

Fight Like A Ya Girl: Fourth Wave Feminism, Defense, And Weaponization Through The Lens Of Object Relations, Amanda Blakeman

Honors Theses

This thesis will discuss how the genre of Young Adult (YA) fiction, more specifically Fantasy YA fiction, reflects the major goals and objectives of fourth wave feminism, ultimately arguing for the need for more intersectional representation in heroine characters. YA Fantasy fiction consistently features a strong heroine in both spirit and body, one who uses weapons to take on systems of injustice in their respective worlds, from systematic child murder to modern slavery. What and how, then, are these books teaching the next generation about feminism? I attempt to answer this question with this thesis, looking at three YA female …


Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray May 2022

Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray

Honors Theses

This paper is an exploration of the history of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all Black community in the Mississippi Delta formed by freedmen in the wake of Reconstruction. This paper also discusses the ways in which Mound Bayou citizens are working to preserve their history and make it known to a wider audience. In particular, this work discusses the recently opened Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History and related efforts to restore and preserve historic structures in Mound Bayou. In addition, this work also seeks to explore ways in which the University of Mississippi can effectively supplement …


Women Without Bodies: Autonomy, Empowerment, And Embodiment In Southern Women, Martha Peyton Ford May 2022

Women Without Bodies: Autonomy, Empowerment, And Embodiment In Southern Women, Martha Peyton Ford

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between rural, upper-class, Southern, white women and their bodies. In my attempts to understand this relationship, I analyze sources from the fields of gender studies, philosophy, and psychology, utilizing concepts such as the Cult of True Womanhood, the newly-emerging field of body memoirs, and the long-lasting but elusive idea of Southern ladyhood to make sense of cultural expectations of Southern women and their bodies. This research, alongside my use of autoethnography and oral history, serve as an anchor for my analysis of women’s relationships to their bodies, in which I use myself, my mother, and …


Challenging White Fragility Through Black Feminist Political Poetry, Langley Leverett May 2022

Challenging White Fragility Through Black Feminist Political Poetry, Langley Leverett

Honors Theses

Due to overwhelming patriarchal hegemonies that women – white women, rich women, young women, and cis women – continue to uphold, feminism struggles to serve all women justly. To combat this negligence in feminism’s fourth-wave movement, I will use this thesis to highlight ways that Black feminist poets have not only shaped feminist theory through their own contributions, but also have prolonged and saved the livelihood of both gender and racial equality. With a strong emphasis on Intersectional Feminism, I will explore the ways in which women can be united against tokenistic power, beginning with the inspiration from three voices: …


"Freedmen Not Freemen": The Freedmen's Bureau And Black Land Ownership In Arkansas, Eric Johnson Apr 2022

"Freedmen Not Freemen": The Freedmen's Bureau And Black Land Ownership In Arkansas, Eric Johnson

Honors Theses

When slavery ended at the close of the Civil War, there was no universal answer for where former slaves were to live. The type and quality of freedom Black Southerners would experience during Reconstruction would be largely determined by where they lived. Many freedpeople and Republicans desired for widespread Black land ownership across the South. “Forty acres and a mule” was a common phrase that spread throughout the South and represented the hope that the United States government would ensure that all former slaves would be given land to own and live on. The Freedmen’s Bureau, which was created under …


Examining Katniss Everdeen's Gender Ambiguity In The Hunger Games : How Suzanne Collins Utilizes The Ya Genre To Resist Feminine Stereotypes, Moriah K. Mcdonald Mar 2022

Examining Katniss Everdeen's Gender Ambiguity In The Hunger Games : How Suzanne Collins Utilizes The Ya Genre To Resist Feminine Stereotypes, Moriah K. Mcdonald

Honors Theses

Even those who passively engage with modern media are likely to notice a binary frequently imposed on young adult women—that of the kind, reputable and trustworthy “good girl” or the mean, scandalous and deceitful “bad girl.” Such themes remain significantly featured in young adult (YA) literature, a genre specifically aimed at teenagers. Thus, in analyzing The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, I undertake a twofold analysis. I illustrate how Collins’s works tackle the specific issue of binary representation of women in the media, thereby validating the usefulness of the YA genre in commenting on current day issues facing teens.