Digital Commons Network^™

Patriarchy, Empire, And Ping Pong Shows: The Political Economy Of Sex Tourism In Thailand, Kristen Kelley

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project provides a postcolonial feminist analysis of the prosperity and reputation of the sex tourism industry in Thailand. It examines the ways in which Western imperialism created the space for the globalization of sex work, as well as providing a postcolonial analysis of the hegemonic structures which have existed throughout Thailand's history that enable the sex tourism industry to thrive today. This project also explores how policy making and enforcement in Thailand affects the sex tourism industry, as well as the ways in which activism works to change or support these policies, and how this affects individuals who are …

Siren Song: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender And Intimate Partner Violence In Gotham City Sirens, Katlin Schmidt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project investigates comic book discourse. Specifically, I investigate how comic narratives provide readers with an interpretation for how they should discern and assess “appropriate” behaviors for women. The artifact of analysis included in this project is DC Comics Gotham City Sirens (2009). This text features popular female superheroes, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Because comic books utilize both textual and visual means to disseminate a message, this project evaluates the visual rhetoric of these characters within the narrative. Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm is used to provide an understanding to how these visual means contribute to the meanings assigned …

Stand Strong, Stand Proud: Alternative And Pariah Femininities In San Diego's Punk Rock Community, Steve Moog

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception nearly 40 years ago, punk rock has often been understood as a Social space for rebellion and resistance to dominant cultural norms. As such, punk rock culture becomes fertile ground for explorations of subversive constructions of genders. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the San Diego punk rock community, this thesis unpacks the construction, embodiment and enactment of alternative and pariah forms of femininities and examines their impact on gender dynamics within the scene. Ultimately, this thesis argues that (1) the San Diego punk rock community is a space where alternative and pariah femininities can be embodied …

Naccs 42nd Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

Chicana/o In/Civilities: Contestación y Lucha: Cornerstones of Chicana & Chicano Studies

April 15-19, 2015

Parc 55 A Hilton Hotel

#NACCSSF

Undoing The Claim Of Objectivity: Contradictions At The Heart Of Bergtji Van Der Haak, Saudi Solutions (2005), Anisa Saeed Mohammed Nasser

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper is a study of Bergtji van der Haak, Saudi Solutions (2005). It attempts to question Bergtji van der Haak’s claim of “objective” depiction of Saudi women’s “reality,” as well as the claim of portraying Saudi women through their perspectives as stated in the opening scene. The premise is that the editing strives to undercut the very views of the women that the film is claiming to present, and in the process it duplicates some of the very mechanisms of oppression that the film is denouncing. The documentary’s attempt at ‘subalternizing’ and diminishing Saudi women discloses the subjectivity of …

Iranian Women, Iranian Cinema: Negotiating With Ideology And Tradition, Najmeh Moradiyan Rizi

Journal of Religion & Film

Throughout the ruptures of Iran’s history, Iranian women have been at the core of any social and political changes and challenges. In this historical context, Iranian women’s body, sexuality, and individuality have been confined within the constitution of religion and tradition. In recent years, however, the new generation of Iranian women is negotiating the notions of femininity, sexuality, and modernity in Iran’s society. Along with this negotiation, Iranian cinema, as the visual showcase of Iranian culture and society, has recently represented an unprecedented portrayal of Iranian women on the screen. This portrayal stems from the gender consciousness of Iranian women …

Women's, Gender, And Sexuality Studies Newsletter Spring 2015, Sandra L. Faulkner

Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Mother's Bed: Gender Representation In Children's Literature, Karin Hanni

Senior Theses

This children's book and accompanying research paper both address gender inequity in children's literature. There is a significant imbalance of gender representation in children's literature, with the number of central male characters almost doubling that of central female characters. Additionally, the roles of males and females still tend to be stereotypical: boys are action-oriented and heroic, while girls are nurturing and passive. Further, it is believed that boys will only enjoy books about boys, while girls will enjoy books about both boys and girls. This imbalance in children's literature hurts both genders. Children not only learn to read from books, …

The F Word: An Analysis Of The Perceptions And Performance Of Feminisms Amongst Five Black, Xhosa Women Living In Langa, Victoria Chigozie Akah

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This independent study project analyzes the perceptions and practice of feminisms amongst female township residents through a small-scale research project that involved interviewing a group of five women living in Langa as well as research on the development of feminist thought on the African continent and in South Africa. Some might say that the South African constitution is decidedly feminist with Section 9 of its constitution guaranteeing equality for all, regardless of gender or sex. Despite the development of feminist thought in South Africa, especially in “the Academy”, articles often hint at the skepticism feminism receives in Black, female spaces …

Wsq: Child Editor's Note, Cynthia Chris, Matt Brim

Publications and Research

This Editor's Note introduces the WSQ issue "Child," co-edited by Sarah Chinn and Anna Mae Duane, which takes a kaleidoscopically interdisciplinary approach to childhood studies, focusing on the legibility and autonomy of children.

Puppets On A String? How Young Adolescents Explore Gender And Health In Advertising, Deborah L. Begoray, Elizabeth M. Banister, Joan Wharf Higgins, Robin Wilmot

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article presents qualitative research on young adolescents’ abilities in communicating and evaluating health messages in advertising especially how they understand and create gendered identities. A group of grade 6-8 students learned about media techniques and movie making. In groups divided by gender, they created iMovie advertisements for health activities in their school. They represented themselves in these advertisements by creating stick puppets. Observations during lessons, examination of movies and puppets, and interviews with students and their teacher revealed that young adolescents were neither completely manipulated by media nor were they completely in charge of their responses to media’s messages …

The Reception Of Mao's 'Talks At The Yan'an Forum On Literature And Art' In English-Language Scholarship, Qilin Fu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Reception of Mao's 'Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art' in English-language Scholarship" Qilin Fu examines the three waves of the reception of Mao Zedong's 1942 text. Fu elaborates on the understandings of Mao's ideas about literature and art and discusses the changes depending on historical and political contexts. Fu argues that the changes are explicit or implicit representations of cultural politics ranging from an anti-communist criticism based on Cold War ideology to the concerns of literary theory and the cultural critique of discourse in the context of globalization.

About Chinese-Western Comparative Poetics: A Review Article On Liu's, Miner's, Owen's, And Yip's Work, Yina Cao

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Study Of Chinese Literature In The Anglophone World, Shunqing Cao

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Mapping Chinese Literature As World Literature, Yingjin Zhang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Mapping Chinese Literature as World Literature" Yingjin Zhang revisits the challenge of mapping Chinese literature as world literature in three steps: 1) he delineates of positions of view as proposed by Western scholars who engaged in rethinking world literature(s) in the age of globalization, 2) evaluates consequences of such a new mapping for Chinese literature and tests a different set of "technologies of recognition" (Shih) in the context of Chinese versus Sinophone studies, and 3) returns to the notion of world literature(s) by considering issues of language and translation and entertains a new vision of mobility via …

About The Chinese School Of Comparative Literature, He Lin, Danqing Huang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "About the Chinese School of Comparative Literature" He Lin and Danqing Huang discuss the development of the Chinese school of comparative literature since the 1980s. Lin and Huang describe how based on traditions in Chinese literary history, comparatists constructed a system of theoretical frameworks and methods. They argue that the Chinese School should not be criticized as "Chinacentric" just for the fact that its practitioners perform Chinese-Western comparative studies within its own historical and cultural context. Further, they defend the Chinese School by examining the achievements it has made in comparative poetics and the study of reception …

Designations Of Poetry In Translations Of Liu Xie's (劉勰) Work On Literary Genres, Ying Liu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Designations of Poetry in Translations of Liu Xie's (劉勰) Work on Literary Genres" Ying Liu discusses how Liu Xie (劉勰 465-521 AD) in his文心雕龍 (Wenxin diaolong) followed the tradition of The Book of Songs (詩經) and synthesized the original concept of sung (genre of classical poetry) in the Book of Songs with some later variations and thus constructed and shaped the notion of the genre sung. Liu analyses translations by selected scholars and explores the subtle nuances between sung and its English counterparts historically including "ode," "panegyric," "eulogy," and "hymn" in …

Han's (韓邦慶) Novel 海上花列傳 (The Sing-Song Girls Of Shanghai) And Urbanity In Late Qing Shanghai, Xiaojue Wang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Han's (韓邦慶) Novel海上花列傳 (The Sing-Song Girls of Shanghai) and Urbanity in Late Qing Shanghai" Xiaojue Wang discusses the relationship between the urban milieu in the foreign concessions of Shanghai and the late Qing courtesan culture through a critical reading of Bangqing Han's (韓邦慶1856-1894) novel The Sing-Song Girls of Shanghai. Wang argues that Han's novel is a significant departure from traditional vernacular fiction in three aspects: 1) its illustration of the connection between courtesan culture and the rising modern city, 2) its portrayal of emergent female subjectivity and female space in the late Qing, …

About English-Language Scholarship On Humor In Ancient Chinese Literature, Peina Zhuang, Lei Cheng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "About English-language Scholarship on Humor in Ancient Chinese Literature" Peina Zhuang and Lei Cheng present an overview of scholarship by English-language Sinologists on humor. Zhuang and Cheng argue that while English-language scholars have played a path-breaking role in making prominent an important aspect of ancient Chinese literature, their studies also display weaknesses including questionable choices of source material, decontextualized analysis, or even mistranslation. They posit that the study of humor in ancient Chinese literature ought to be performed in a contextual perspective including linguistics, literary history, society, politics, etc.

Bibliography For The Study Of Chinese Literature In The Anglophone World, He Lin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Animating Gender Roles: How Disney Is Redefining The Modern Princess, Juliana Garabedian

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

A prominent voice in the entertainment industry, Disney impacts many facets of society, including how we define gender roles. For the past 80 years, America’s younger generations have taken social cues from their favorite animated movies, learning to act like their favorite princes and princesses. Over the past few decades, Disney has broken through the concept of the damsel in distress and transitioned to represent and even advance modern feminist ideals. From likable protagonists to prominent images and popular products, the movies reinforce the gender roles they present because children learn to imitate the characters during playtime.

Notes On How To Rework A Ph.D. Dissertation For Publication As A Book, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Young Activists, New Movements: Contemporary Chinese Queer Feminism And Transnational Genealogies, Wen Liu, Ana Huang, Jingchao Ma

Graduate Student Publications and Research

As young, diasporic feminist activist–scholars involved in queer feminist move- ments across China, Taiwan, and New York City, we reflect on the emergent ‘‘new’’ queer feminism in China today, with its amorphous cohesion and dramatic impact, as highlighted by the subway protest. Drawing on transnational feminism, we are part of this latest ‘‘new’’ response to growing global inequalities and neo-colonial feminist discourses that calls for a critical re-engagement with global politics (Grewal & Kaplan, 2001). However, as activists who center our political involvement in Asia, ‘‘transnationalism’’ is not only a vision, but an already exist- ing state, as we see …

"Beyond Chingones And Chingados: Performing Masculinities In Contemporary Mexican Theatre", Zaida Godoy Navarro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present investigation focuses on how masculinities are conformed and represented in the plays of two generations of Mexican playwrights, the New Dramatists of Mexico and the younger Sixth Generation in an attempt to reflect upon recent conceptualizations of gender as well as contemporary changes in society mainly due to globalization and the impact of feminism and gay movements. The limited literature focused on Mexican masculinities has overlooked the importance of theatre as a privileged and productive setting for the study of gender. Another common factor in studies dedicated to the representation of Mexican men in literature is the focus …

Let The Record Show: Mapping Queer Art And Activism In New York City, 1986-1995, Tara Jean-Kelly Burk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although scholars increasingly scrutinize late twentieth-century American art produced in relation to social movements organized around feminism, anti-racist politics, health activism, and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) identity, scholars usually fail to address the importance of printed ephemera as a medium of artistic expression. Ephemeral materials, such as posters, are cheap to make and print. They are typically distributed illicitly via un-commissioned wheat-paste campaigns in urban public space. Collectives tend to make their designs copyright-free to encourage wide distribution. Particularly in the era before digital social media, these materials were central to the ways in which communities coalesced in …

Facts Behind The Façade: Is There More To Dieting Than Meets The Eye?, Huda Iqbal Ahmed Qazi

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper extends a previous qualitative research on female yo-yo dieters/weight cyclers in the UK. Out of nine participants in the previous study, this investigation has made use of feminist perspectives to further analyze the data of four participants that was previously derived via thematic analysis. Feminist analysis revealed that initiation of frequent dieting episodes is not merely to lose weight; rather complex control and identity issues as well as negative emotions play a role in triggering yo-yo dieting in some women. Furthermore, the similarity of these manifestations to eating disorders is discussed.

You're Trans-Mexi-Fying Right Before Our Eyes: Westernized Bodily Features And Beauty Practices In Ugly Betty, Luz-Maria Tato-Pazo

Journal of International Women's Studies

Makeover narratives are a form of discourse which relies on some type of transformation as a path to success. These narratives mainly target the bodies of white middle-class and middle-aged heterosexual women with the aim of creating more conventionally beautiful feminine subjects. This article explores the beauty practices and rituals present in the US dramedy Ugly Betty. We look in detail at makeover narratives and their close association with contemporary idealized versions of female attractiveness. Closely tied up with the makeover canon, the beauty industry entails processes of disciplining women’s bodies to meet the requirements of an ideal feminine …

Ecofeminism And Natural Disasters: Sri Lankan Women Post-Tsunami, Alyssa Banford, Cameron Kiely Froude

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women experience a host of negative consequences during and after a natural disaster. A variety of feminist theories have been used to explore this phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to posit the need for an ecofeminist perspective on analyzing women’s vulnerabilities post-natural disaster. The authors will discuss the history and branches of ecofeminism, highlighting their utility in exploring the intersection of race, class, and gender in the aftermath of disaster. An ecofeminist analysis of Sri Lankan women’s vulnerability in the wake of the 2004 tsunami will be used to illustrate the utility of the theory. Implications of using …

Journey With No Maps: A Life Of P.K. Page By Sandra Djwa, Mckay Mcfadden

The Goose

Review of Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page by Sandra Djwa.

In Solidarity Epilogue, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This piece offers a postscript to the book In Solidarity: Friendship, Family, and Activism Beyond Gay and Straight (Routledge, 2015).