Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Art As Ritual: The Realm Between Identities, Haley Scarboro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ritualism is everywhere in the world and something that everyone takes part in, whether we acknowledge it or not. Rituals can be as simple as a morning routine or as monumental as memorializing a loved one. The works in this thesis are within the covenant of southern witchcraft and how it comes together in Ritual Art. Through documentation, memory-fueled found objects, and time-based installation I consider how growing up in Georgia and being a practicing witch played a role in my identity formation. Rituals are vital to the identities themselves and the history they hold. Symbolism plays a major role …

The Effects Of “No Pro Homo” Policies On Lgbtq+ Perceptions In The American South, Isabella L. Brocato

Honors Theses

Five states in the American South currently have “no pro homo” policies in place, while an increasing number of bills targeting discussions about sexuality and gender identity in public schools are being introduced to House floors around the country. Although there is extensive research on the ways in which these policies put the physical and mental well-being of LGBTQ+ students at risk, there is little to no research about how they shape public perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community collectively. With inspiration from Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s social science study cited in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), this study works …

Jarrod Hayes. Queer Roots For The Diaspora: Ghosts In The Family Tree. Ann Arbor: U Of Michigan P, 2016., Annie De Saussure

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Review of Jarrod Hayes. Queer Roots for the Diaspora: Ghosts in the family tree. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016. 325 pp.

“I Thought I Found Home”: Locating The Hidden And Symbolic Spaces Of African American Lesbian Belonging, Aretina Rochelle Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation investigates the place-making practices of African American lesbians in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1990 to 2010. For this project, I ask how African American lesbians claim space to examine how race, sexuality, and class shape their place-making practices. The study is situated in the city before and following the 1996 Olympic Games, which was a period of rapid social, economic, and political growth.

The primary question posed in this study is as follows: How do African American lesbians claim space in Atlanta? This dissertation posits three arguments. First, African American queer spaces are transitory, reflecting the shrinking boundaries of …

Women In Labor: How Birthing Practices Reflect Society's View Of Women, Catherine Hill

Honors Senior Capstone Projects

An analysis of the shift from midwifery to doctor/hospital births in the American South, from 1900 to present.

Censorship In Black And White: The Burning Cross (1947), Band Of Angels (1957) And The Politics Of Film Censorship In The American South After World War Ii, Melissa Ooten

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications

In 1806, Richmond entrepreneurs built the city’s first theater, the New Theater, at the present-day juncture of Thirteenth and Broad streets. This theater was likely the first in Virginia, and Richmonders of all colors, classes, and genders attended, although a three-tiered system of seating and ticket pricing separated attendees by race and class. Wealthy white patrons paid a dollar or more to sit in boxes thoroughly separated from the rest of the audience. Their middle and working class counterparts paid two or three quarters for orchestra seating. For a quarter or less, the city’s poorest citizens, any people of color, …

William Faulkner And The Mithraic Midwife, Owen Elmore

Journal of International Women's Studies

The two parts of William Faulkner’s If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem—“The Wild Palms” and “Old Man”—mirror one another; the second story reflects a more familiar way of illustrating the same theme as the first. Each story emphasizes the other, building the shared theme subversive of traditional gender roles. It is also my feeling that Faulkner inverts Arthurian motifs to tell both stories (especially “The Wild Palms,” though most assume “Old Man” to be the more romantically accessible tale) exactly as Nathaniel Hawthorne did to tell The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s bifurcating of the Grail legend in order to reclaim …

Challenging Assumptions: A Social Worker's View Of Future Of The Field, Lori Messinger

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

It was a pleasure to gather with other LGBT scholars from across the country, including some of the biggest names in the field, at the conference, "Futures of the Field: Building LGBT Studies into the 21 st Century." That said, I came away with some serious reservations about the state of our field, where we will be going, and who is leading us there. I spoke a few times at the conference, but I wanted to offer my thoughts in a more coherent and comprehensive manner.