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Book Review: Re-Defining Feminisms, Voichita Nachescu

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Re-defining Feminisms, edited by Ranjana Harish and V. Bharathi Harishankar

Book Review: Power, Resistance And Women Politicians In Cambodia: Discourses Of Emancipation, Debarati Sen

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Power, Resistance and Women Politicians in Cambodia: Discourses of Emancipation, by Mona Lilja

Beyond ‘Helping’: Gender And Relations Of Power In Non-Governmental Assistance To Refugees, Alice Szczepanikova

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article pursues critical gender analysis of conditions of non-governmental (NGO) assistance in the Czech Republic. The study scrutinises practices of assistance in local, low-threshold NGOs working with immigrants, asylum seekers and/or recognized refugees. Although they provide refugees with essential support, this research shows that the NGOs can foster rather than challenge unequal power relations that define refugees primarily as dependent clients. They produce highly feminised spaces of assistance where these power relations produce gendered ‘criteria of belonging’ (Ong, 1996, 738) that impact differently on refugee women and men. The organisations have, often unacknowledged, vested interests in producing certain client …

The War On Terrorism As State Of Exception: A Challenge For Transnational Gender Theory, Sarah Blake

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this article, I explore the contributions of theoretical engagements of bare life and states of exception to gender theory in relation to the U.S.-led ‘war on terrorism,’ beginning in 2001. I discuss connections between the ongoing struggle over representations of the ‘Third World Woman,’ among feminists and the mainstream discourse that established the United States’ invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and imprisonment of an extralegal class of ‘detainees’ as an inevitable, natural consequence of exceptional difference. In addition I highlight the responsibility academics, including feminist academics, to consider their own positions in relation to the economic, political and representational …

Mapping The Global Landscape In Women's Diasporic Writing, Martha Addante

Dissertations

As a contribution to the theory of cognitive mapping, the dissertation examines the ways in which contemporary novels by women writers of diasporic literature offer new conceptual maps of the present global space. This study argues there is a need for alternative mapping strategies that locate the female diasporic subject within the new global political economy. Fredric Jameson's theory of cognitive mapping and Arjun Appadurai's model of global flows provide a useful framework for mapping global space, yet each must be filtered through a feminist critique and modified by a feminist politics. Ultimately, the dissertation argues for a feminist theory …

Feminist Perspectives On Rape, Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Although the proper definition of rape is itself a matter of some dispute, rape is generally understood to involve sexual penetration of a person by force and/or without that person's consent. Rape is committed overwhelmingly by men and boys, usually against women and girls, and sometimes against other men and boys. (For the most part, this entry will assume male perpetrators and female victims.)

Virtually all feminists agree that rape is a grave wrong, one too often ignored, mischaracterized, and legitimized. Feminists differ, however, about how the crime of rape is best understood, and about how rape should be combated …

Oppressed, Empowered, Compatriot Woman: Rawa's Online Construction Of Gendered Ideographs, Heather L. Floyd

English Theses & Dissertations

In this paper, I define the ideograph and explain its central role in the strategic communication of two very different entities invested in the advancement of women' sights in Afghanistan: the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), an Afghan feminist organization, and the Bush Administration, during the early years of the war in Afghanistan. I employ the rhetorical conceptions of Lloyd Bitzer (1966) and Richard Vatz (1999) to explore the Bush Administration's and RAWA's intentions by analyzing textual and visual ideographs in the context of the rhetorical situation.

In its mission and goals, RAWA repeatedly champions women as …

Genres Populaires Et « Érographiques » En Afrique Francophone : Le Cas Des Romans De La Collection Adoras, Sathya Rao

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article will take the Adoras novels as a case study to address the aesthetics and institutional issues related to the emergence of popular literature in francophone Africa. As the promoter of an “erographic” discourse that strives to accommodate modernity and tradition, francophone romance, which has been largely under-examined if not denigrated, raises a wide range of questions on the status of francophone literature, the socioeconomic constraints on publication in Africa, and the construction of a truly African erotic imaginary.

Le Feu Sous La Soutane, Roman Populaire? Du Génocide À Sa Transposition Fictionnelle, Josias Semyjanga

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

A reflective, first-person account, Benjamin Sehene’s Le feu sous la soutane is the story of memories of a double crime of rape and genocide by a Catholic priest, Father Stanislas. At the beginning of the killings of the Tutsi, some people take refuge in a parish in Kigali. Its priest takes under his protection a few Tutsi women, hiding them in the presbytery. But, the Holy man will rape them. He also participates alongside with the Hutu militia to the extermination of the Tutsi who came to take refuge in the parish. Later the priest took refuge in France where …

Editorial, Kathryn Kramer

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Walking The Wall: Global Flâneuse With Local Dilemmas, Kinga Araya

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

In the essay I will critically introduce and discuss some of my key “walking” performance artworks that emphasize the phenomenon of walking and talking in-between different countries, cultures and languages. More specifically, since my infamous walking away from Poland, while on a student trip in Florence, Italy in 1988, I have been trying to exercise my freedom of movement and speech while living in Italy, Canada, Germany, and currently, in the USA. The desire to make artworks that would express some of the walking ideas was very important to me.

Gay And Lesbian Life At Colby 1969-1974, Rachel Baron, Qainat Khan

WGSS Selected Student Work

The history of a gay and lesbian student community at Colby seems to point to the difficulty of visibility. For students who were able to find others like themselves, their group of lesbian and gay friends had to remain underground. For students who were grappling with their newly found, socially stigmatized sexuality, the experience was isolating if they did not know where to find others like themselves. This paper seeks to address the social forces that kept sexually variant students from expressing their sexual identities openly on campus. Part of this difficulty is attributable to the compulsory heterosexuality assumed by …

An Analysis Of The Female Experience In The School Superintendency: Understanding Female Motivations For Assuming And Exiting The Superintendency With Relevant Applications For Mentoring Programs, Laura Allport Hammack

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There were three primary purposes of this study. First, the study sought to increase the knowledge base of motivations that females hold for assuming the school superintendency while simultaneously comparing and contrasting results with male counterparts. Second, the study analyzed the degree to which motivations for assuming the superintendency were realized once the female assumes the position. The third purpose of the study was to analyze the degree to which female superintendents have profited from a role model, or mentor, to help them find their way through the unexpected anxieties while assuming the profession. 111 Of the 222 respondents, 32 …

Book Review: Gender And Globalization In Asia And The Pacific: Method, Practice, Theory, Susan Dewey

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific: Method, Practice, Theory, edited by Kathy E. Ferguson and Monique Mironesco

A Cross-Cultural, Comparative Analysis Of The Domestic Violence Policies Of Nicaragua And Russia, Jo-Ann Della Giustina

Journal of International Women's Studies

This is a cross-cultural comparative analysis of the domestic violence policies of Nicaragua and Russia. While these two countries have striking differences, they both had socialist revolutions that established workers and farmers governments. The Soviet Union was the main economic and political support for Nicaragua following the 1979 Frente Sandinista Para Liberación Nacional (FSLN - Sandinista Front for National Liberation) revolution.

This article examines the domestic violence policies of post-Soviet Russia and Nicaragua. While both countries have serious domestic violence problems, only Nicaragua is taking an aggressive stance to eradicate the problem. The Russian government barely even acknowledges that there …

Understanding Gender Differences In Online Experience And Internet Advertising, Seema Harryginsingh

Honors College Theses

The purposes of this article is to first review the literature on gender differences in advertising then explore areas that are important in today’s online environment including differences in the various areas of online experience and behavior such as shopping, privacy issues, internet usage, use of website, and new media and user generated content considerations. I will also look at online advertising particularly, online video ads and banner ads. I will attempt to show through research that there are differences that exist among the genders, which also translate to the online environment and specifically in the various areas of experience …

Understanding ‘Passion Killings’ In Botswana: An Investigation Of Media Framing, Deinera Exner, Wilfreda E. Thurston

Journal of International Women's Studies

In Botswana, local news media outlets have documented the prevalence of so-called ‘passion killings’; however, no published studies have been conducted that examine these intimate partner homicides. Using ethnographic content analysis informed by a theory of framing, this study investigated the characteristics of these crimes, and societal attitudes, myths and stereotypes regarding intimate partner homicides and passion killings. Articles from four Batswana newspapers were analyzed. The information derived from this analysis is used to develop future directions for the study of intimate partner violence and homicides in Botswana.

The Water Crisis In Blantyre City And Its Impact On Women: The Cases Of Mabyani And Ntopwa, Malawi, Lucy Chipeta

Journal of International Women's Studies

Water crises tend to impact women and men of different ages differently. In most cultures, women of different ages are primarily responsible for the use and management of water resources, sanitation and health at the household level. They are the ones who fetch water, use water for domestic purposes and therefore are affected by the impact of water crises and poor sanitation. The women and girls especially in rural areas walk long distances to fetch water while men rarely participate in such activities. This therefore puts women at a more disadvantaged position when water is scarce or when there are …

Health Consequences Of Rural Women’S Productive Role In Agriculture In The Philippines And Other Developing Countries, Ma. Elena Chiong-Javier

Journal of International Women's Studies

Agriculture is central to developing countries like the Philippines and rural women contribute a substantial share of the labor that goes into this sector as food producers or agricultural workers. In the wake of numerous studies conducted worldwide about women since the United Nations’ Decade for Women (1976-1984), data appear sparse on the relationship between women’s work and women’s health in the agricultural setting to enable policy makers and program implementors to adequately address their health needs. Thus this study aimed to determine the nature of available information in the gender literature to enable us to understand the link between …

What Remains Of Srebrenica? Motherhood, Transitional Justice And Yearning For The Truth, Olivera Simic

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article explores the role of the local non-governmental association ‘Mothers of Srebrenica’ in the complex transitional justice processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The association gathers women who survived the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995 and creates an important public space for the crying out of their grievances and lobbing for their goals. The ‘Mothers of Srebrenica’ also create a space for widows and displaced women to share their concerns and support each other. While the ‘Mothers of Srebrenica’ use the rhetoric of victimhood and motherhood whenever they speak out, I argue that they, in fact, challenge the notion of …

Poetry As Survival Of And Resistance To Genocide In Lorna Dee Cervantes’S Drive: The Last Quartet, Edith Vasquez

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article offers a critical retrospective of Lorna Dee Cervantes, the Chicana/Chumash poet as a literary analytical overview of her most recent work collected in the multi-volume poetry collection, Drive: The First Quartet (Wings Press, 2006). It offers an assessment of Cervantes’s impact on the development of Chicana poetry and its articulation of social change, women’s empowerment, critical consciousness, and poetic innovation. Having emerged from performance poetry festivals in her early career, Cervantes went on to develop a signature poetics and to produce a number of canonical poems such as, “Uncle’s First Rabbit,” “Under the Shadow of the Freeway,” “Poem …

Book Review: War And Terror: Feminist Perspectives, Anjali Nath, Melissann Herron, Kirstin Oesterle, Esther Rothblum

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of War and Terror: Feminist Perspectives, edited by Karen Alexander and Mary E. Hawkesworth

Book Review: The Single Woman: A Discursive Investigation, Katherine Lehman

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of The Single Woman: A Discursive Investigation by Jill Reynolds

Book Review: Shout Out: Women Of Color Respond To Violence, Katie White, Lisa Covington, Jenna Stephenson, Esther Rothblum

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence, edited by Maria Ochoa and Barbara K. Ige

Divine Fluidity: Shifts Of Gender And Sexuality In Conservative Christian Communities, Sarah Stewart Burgess

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis draws on ethnographic research from three communities of conservative Christian women who find empowerment and agency through their religious traditions. Two communities are politically active, outspoken women who also believe strongly in "traditional" roles for women, and one community idealizes conservative standards of sexuality while accepting women who work as sex workers. These women did not view their positions as contradictory, rather, they used religious beliefs and religious practices to enact, embody or explain their complex genders and sexualities. This thesis draws on ethnographic, feminist and queer theories while showcasing the diversity within a movement largely believed to …

Is Disney Surfing The Third Wave? A Study Of The Pervasiveness Of The Third Wave Of Feminism In Disney's Female Protagonists, Emily S. Ellington

Senior Honors Theses

It is important to understand factors that have influenced Generation Y’s view of womanhood. One way to do this is to analyze third wave feminist messages portrayed by Disney, the media powerhouse. In order to determine if Disney reflects feminist values, the third wave themes portrayed in The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Pocahontas (1995), and Mulan (1999) are examined. It is concluded that Disney portrays the feminist values of independence and multiculturalism; however, the films are set within patriarchal societies and portray women to be domestic. Ultimately, Disney portrays four messages about womanhood: Women are equal …

Brazen (Spring 2009), Hollins University

Brazen - Gender & Women's Studies Department Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Giard Fellowship Evokes Enthusiastic Response, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

In his 1997 book, Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, Robert Giard captures nearly 200 photographs of his contemporaries. Giard's compilation of these portraits of lesbian and gay writers, carefully accompanied with textual excerpts, led this coffee-table monograph to stand as a supreme example of what Giard himself describes as "the autobiography of one gay reader."

Critical Mass Representation In Uganda, Daisy-Cynthia Nneamaka Adi

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In general, most societies of the world are patriarchal and as a result women’s participation in politics has historically been minute. To correct this fault, proponents of critical mass representation advocate for explicit quota systems that create special seats for women (e.g. women’s MPs), reserve spots for women or those which mandate the inclusion of women on national party lists. Proponents advocate critical mass with the expectation that female Members of Parliament (MPs) will enhance women’s rights. However, little is known about the actual contribution of female MPs to the enhancement of women’s rights in the countries where critical mass …

Feminisms In Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, Emily G. Brown

Institute for the Humanities Theses

With Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick examines the causes and conditions in which men are more powerful and men's production, ideas and activities are seen as having greater value and higher status than women's. Eyes Wide Shut's (EWS) renders the tension between Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice Hartford (Nicole Kidman) in the modem struggle to find balance between the institution of marriage and their autonomous selves visible. As Bill's travels dominate the film, little beyond the first scene of Alice's disrobed body and the last scene highlighting her psychological stability are shown. We follow Bill as he meets several women; …