History Commons^™

It’S Complicated: Field Hockey And Feminism In The United States, Dara Anhouse

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Only in the United States is field hockey considered a "women's sport," and the story of its unusual transformation of male-dominated “hockey” from the British Isles to women’s-only “field hockey” in America reveals a deeper connection between sport, feminism, and society. A symbol of unlocked freedom for the "New Woman" at the turn of the twentieth century, under Title IX the sport becomes a case study in how gender is reproduced in modern society.

Woman Flytrap, Brianna Jo Hobson

Student Theses and Dissertations

Woman FlyTrap is a short story zine collection that explores the topic of sexual violence through the perpetrator and victim relationship with an explicit lens. Replete with cultural and entomological themes and motifs, Woman Flytrap seeks to remind survivors that we are not alone. In our bodies or in our lives. Neither in the world. There are over a million insects to every human, proving that there is strength in numbers. All five stories in the collection present different abstracts: revenge, transformation, justice, healing, body image, self-harm, mourning, etc. There is also a playlist and a section about the author. …

Mothering As Feminism, Meera Patel

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This critical essay proposes the concept of mothering-as-feminism, with the intention of interrogating American ideals of mothering and caregiving. Reforming the way we view mothering, as it relates to feminism, requires a re-evaluation of the American role of women and mothers—and how they are portrayed (and therefore seen and understood), valued, and supported. Focusing on the evolution of feminist theory throughout the past 70 years, as well as personal and secondary experiences, I demonstrate how political and social change occurs generationally and is dependent on the education of our children. Ultimately, I show the important role children’s literature plays …

Magic Mirrors, Jamie Ho

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

When a beam of bright light hits the convex and polished surface, an image is reflected back onto the wall. This is a description of a magic mirror, an object from the Han Dynasty (206 BC -24 AD), that embodies how Euro-America views China: both technically advanced and shrouded in mystery. The magic mirror also points to the history of photography, as this term was often used in the Victorian era to describe a camera. The image created by a camera is a mimic of reality, both all too familiar and unfamiliar.^[1] Like magic mirrors, the GIFs I create …

Power Dressing And Its Importance In Modern Democracy, Mansiben R. Patel, Dr. Catherine Amoroso Leslie

Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences

This research aimed to study the significance of Power Dressing in a modern democracy, by exploring the dynamics of clothing concerning the power it portrays for women holding influential positions in public office in a variety of countries throughout the world. This research accomplished its motive by collecting, reviewing, and analyzing scholarly articles, academic journals, newspapers, and current events which formed the foundation for data collection using a survey developed by the researchers. The analysis provided a platform for procuring knowledge of the association between Fashion and Politics, the concept of Women’s Power Dressing, and its significance in a modern …

Power Dressing And Its Importance In Modern Democracy, Mansiben R. Patel, Dr. Catherine Amoroso Leslie

Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences

This research aimed to study the significance of Power Dressing in a modern democracy, by exploring the dynamics of clothing concerning the power it portrays for women holding influential positions in public office in a variety of countries throughout the world. This research accomplished its motive by collecting, reviewing, and analyzing scholarly articles, academic journals, newspapers, and current events which formed the foundation for data collection using a survey developed by the researchers. The analysis provided a platform for procuring knowledge of the association between Fashion and Politics, the concept of Women’s Power Dressing, and its significance in a modern …

Aesthetics & Politics: A Brief History Of Japan & The Us’S 20th Century, Ricky Brown

Theatre Thesis - Written Thesis

This paper is a look at the combination of aesthetics and politics and how that combination effected the lives of black Americans, Japanese women and the people of Korea under Japanese occupation during the early 1900s.

Archiving Feminist Truth In Trump’S Wake Of Lies, Julie Shayne

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article is about an assignment I do in one of my Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies social movement classes. I revised the assignment the first time teaching the class after Trump lost the 2020 election. For the assignment, students work in groups to research local feminist and gender justice organizations and deposit all of their original materials – recordings, photos, flyers, etc. – into a digital, open access archive I co-created several years ago with librarians and staff on my campus. In 2021 I had my students do the “post-Trump” edition where they researched local organizations about how their …

A Local Lens On Global Media Literacy: Teaching Media And The Arab World, Katharina Schmoll

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The globalization and transnationalization of media use have facilitated access to voices from the Arab world. Students and teachers in Western higher education can make use of these voices within and outside the classroom to enhance students’ knowledge of the region and challenge Eurocentric imaginations of the ‘Other’. Yet to ensure students engage with these Arab sources in a meaningful way, media literacy is key. Drawing on and challenging a framework of global critical media literacy, this article argues that media literacy is grounded in time and space, meaning an effective teaching of global media literacy skills supposes an awareness …

Black Feminism And Me/Maine Webinar, University Of Maine Alumni Association

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Video of the University of Maine Alumni Association's Black Feminism and Me/Maine Webinar.

The conversation was facilitated by Laren Babb who pursued a graduate degree in chemistry from the University of Maine. Around the table will be: Dr. Samaa Abdurraqib, Associate Director, Maine Humanities Council; Dr. Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology, Bates College; Dr. Leslie Hill, Professor Emerita of Politics, Bates College; Amara Ifeji, Director of Youth Engagement and Policy, Maine Environmental Association and National Geographic Young Explorer; and Kosi Ifeji, Bangor High School student and Youth Hub Coordinator, Maine Environmental Education Association.

The event was made possible with …

Warrioress In White: A Semiotic Analysis Of America's Joan Of Arc In The Women Of The Copper Country, Akasha Khalsa

Conspectus Borealis

Mary Doria Russell’s The Women of the Copper Country is a fictionalized historical account of the 1913 mining strike in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Significantly in this strike, a great deal of leadership was focused in the Union’s Women’s Auxiliary. In particular, one woman formed the backbone of the local movement. Known by her community as Big Annie, Anna Klobuchar Clements was the heart of the 1913 strike. Memories of her bravery linger today in the form of recorded testimonies by elderly community members, immortalization in plaques and songs, and Russell’s popular novel. Today she is remembered not as herself, not …

Diversity And Inclusion_Women's History Month 2021 Poster, University Of Maine Office For Diversity And Inclusion

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Poster for the University of Maine Office for Diversity and Inclusion's Women's History Month 2021 events.

Umaine Office For Diversity And Inclusion Women's History Month Wrap-Up And Welcome Spring! Email, University Of Maine Office For Diversity And Inclusion

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email from the UMaine Office for Diversity and Inclusion with various details of the Office's work and details of events related to Women's History Month.

Umaine Office For Diversity And Inclusion Women's History Month Continues! Email, University Of Maine Office For Diversity And Inclusion

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email from the UMaine Office for Diversity and Inclusion with various details of the Office's work and events for Women's History Month.

Umaine Office For Diversity And Inclusion Happy International Women's Day! Email, University Of Maine Office For Diversity And Inclusion

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email from the UMaine Office for Diversity and Inclusion with various details of the Office's work and wishing University of Maine community members a happy International Women's Day.

Umaine Office For Diversity And Inclusion Happy Women's History Month! Email, University Of Maine Office For Diversity And Inclusion

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email from the UMaine Office for Diversity and Inclusion with various details of the Office's work and wishing University of Maine community members a happy women's history week.

Oral Interview: Contextualizing The Women's Rights Movement In Tunisia Through Family History, Walid Zarrad

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

In their path towards emancipation and equal rights, Tunisian women have gone through a number of phases that seem to be directly linked to legal changes and cultural factors. In fact, the Code of Personal Status (CPS) of 1956 seems to be a milestone in the women’s movement, and its following amendments continued on this path. However, it is a lot more complex than that. A piece of legislation officially passing is not a simple determinant of the state of Women’s Rights in a country.

Through Dorra Mahfoudh Draoui’s “Report on Gender and Marriage in Tunisian Society” and my interview …

A Devised Ethnodrama: Conscious Voices, Sonia Pasqual

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Using techniques of storytelling, dance, poems, and monologues in the process of re-enacting life stories, the ensemble display issues that may be impeding society’s growth—discrimination against body image, blackness, females, and LGBTQ individuals. In addition, engagement in storytelling and performance can help the audience increase their cognitive skills, empathy, and ability to live a communal life. This evidence-based practice can transform lives and society. It has the potential of continuing to other faculties and with other departments, such as film, musical, and additional narratives. This specific work could be extended out beyond art and education into populations of any communities …

The Female Experience With Nationalism, Feminism, And Han In Post-Choson Korea, Midori Raymond

BYU Asian Studies Journal

Women constitute roughly half of the population, yet in most patriarchal societies they are placed second to men. Throughout the course of history, there have been several attempts to improve the standing of women within the home and society to match that of their male counterparts. These attempts to achieve gender equality can be categorized as feminism. In South Korea (hereafter Korea), there have been many such attempts. Since the Japanese colonial period, many things have contributed to the rise of modern feminism in Korea; nationalism, speaking out against sexual assault, and the female experience with han can be considered …

Decolonizing Food Systems Research – The Case Of Household Agricultural Food Access In Bikotiba, Togo, Katryna Maria Kibler

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Indigenous West African farmers are among the most climate change threatened globally. Food insecurity is prevalent in West Africa because ecological, social, political, and economic instabilities, and globalization worsen climate pressures. In this study, I collaborated with the community of Bikotiba (bih-CO-ti-buh), Togo, to understand their household agricultural food access, one aspect of resilience to food insecurity. I adopted a feminist approach of reflexivity, radical vulnerability, and radical empathy, combined with decolonizing principles, to argue that there could be an ethical way for well-trained Western researchers to engage Indigenous communities, if negotiated carefully. Together, Indigenous Research Assistants and I developed …

Kamala Harris Breaks Barriers As First Female Vp, Megan Ashe

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Last week, Americans finally got some answers as to who their new president-elect and vice president-elect would be. With 306 electoral votes, Joe Biden will be the next president and Kamala Harris will be the next vice president when they are inaugurated on Jan. 21, 2021. Kamala Harris is a powerful woman in politics and she will be the first woman in the role of vice president, as well as the first person of South Asian heritage and the first Black person as vice president. This accomplishment has inspired many women, Black people and people of South Asian heritage, and …

“The Speechmaking Of A Girl-Orator”: Reason, Gender, And Authority In Dorothy Hunter’S Free Trade Oratory, Erinn Elizabeth Campbell

Honors Projects

Dorothy M. Hunter (1881-1977) rose to prominence during the 1906 United Kingdom general election as a markedly “girlish” yet widely respected free trade orator. While men on the Edwardian public political platform typically built a reputation for oratorical prowess through theatrical displays of “heroic” masculinity, Hunter established her authority as a speaker through two very different (and apparently contradictory) strategies. Her performance of “charming” middle-class femininity helped demonstrate her right to speak on free trade as a “women’s question,” extending women’s traditional authority over matters of domestic consumption to include questions of political economy. Trusting in the power of education …

Womanpriest: Tradition And Transgression In The Contemporary Roman Catholic Church, Jill Peterfeso

History

This book is openly available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

While some Catholics and even non-Catholics today are asking if priests are necessary, especially given the ongoing sex-abuse scandal, The Roman Catholic Womanpriests (RCWP) looks to reframe and reform Roman Catholic priesthood, starting with ordained women. Womanpriest is the first academic study of the RCWP movement. As an ethnography, Womanpriest analyzes the womenpriests’ actions and lived theologies in order to explore ongoing tensions in Roman Catholicism around gender and sexuality, priestly authority, and religious change.

In order to understand how womenpriests …

Marielle Franco, Rhaissa Sanches

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Marielle Franco was a Black, Brazilian activist (1979-2018) who rose from the favelas (poor areas) of Rio de Janeiro to be elected as a councilwoman in Rio's election of 2016. Franco was known for exposing the violence waged in the favelas by Brazil's military and police under the "pretense of maintaining law and order," as well as how the militia wields power over those who live in the favelas. In addition to detailing Franco's life, activism and death, this paper also explains the history and development of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the negative attitudes held …

Wgs Program Hosts 'Pop-Up' On Political Correctness, Charles Cramer

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

For the first time this semester, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies (WGS) program hosted one of their ‘Pop-up Panels.’ The panelist/audience discussions address topics of a divisive and polarizing variety in a format that is open to the student body. The hour-long event, which began at noon on Wednesday in the Memorial Union’s Bangor Room, discussed the concept of ‘political correctness’ and the connotations it often evokes.

The South African Women's Movement: The Roles Of Feminism And Multiracial Cooperation In The Struggle For Women's Rights, Amber Michelle Lenser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the historiography of South Africa’s recent past, focus has been most heavily placed on apartheid and the anti-apartheid movement, with much emphasis placed on male involvement and men as the primary agents of change in the country. Women are largely viewed as playing a supportive role to male activists throughout the movement, and far less has been written on female involvement or women’s activism in its own right. Running parallel to the anti-apartheid movement, however, was a women’s movement characterized by women across the racial and socioeconomic spectrum struggling to secure their own rights in a very hostile and …

Female Empowerment In Classical Spanish Theatre, Sarah Gielink, Johanna Adrian Burr

Student Symposium

Last spring, after reading Golden Age plays in our Early Modern Spanish Literature and Culture course, Adrian Burr and I became interested in the role women played in these stories. Within the Spanish comedia, women are relegated to two stock roles, the “dama” (lady), or the “criada” (maid), while men are able to play a much wider variation of roles. Classical Spanish works by playwrights such as Lope de Vega, Miguel de Cervantes, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca are still produced today, just as English-speakers still revive Shakespearean works. We became curious about how modern directors and theatre practitioners …

Esther Reed's Political Sentiments And Rhetoric During The Revolutionary War, Kennedy Harkins

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

In 1780, during the final stretch of the American Revolutionary War, Esther Reed penned the broadside "Sentiments of an American Woman." It circulated in Philadelphia, persuading citizens to turn over their last dollars to the cause. Reed's broadside called to action the women of Philadelphia; they knocked on doors, campaigned with words, and stepped firmly into the "man's world" of politics and revolution. Reed's words were so effective that women in cities across the colonies took to raising money as well. Using New Historicist and feminist reading strategies, this study compares and contrasts Reed's rhetoric to Thomas Paine's Common Sense …

When It Comes To Diversity, Umaine Could To Better, Anna Foster

University of Maine Racial Justice Collection

It’s Women’s History Month. The month where we all celebrate the strong women in our society who have helped paved the way to get women to where we are now.In the academic world, it wasn’t until 1840 that the first American woman, Catherine Brewer Benson, graduated with an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan Collegein Georgia. It took another 26 years for a black woman to earn a degree, and over 30 years for the first woman to earn a Ph.D.

When It Comes To Diversity, Umaine Could To Better, Anna Foster

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

It’s Women’s History Month. The month where we all celebrate the strong women in our society who have helped paved the way to get women to where we are now. In the academic world, it wasn’t until 1840 that the first American woman, Catherine Brewer Benson, graduated with an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan College in Georgia. It took another 26 years for a black woman to earn a degree, and over 30 years for the first woman to earn a Ph.D.