Digital Commons Network^™

La Movida Madrileña: Pedro Almodóvar Y La Representación De Las Mujeres, Jack Licata

World Languages and Cultures Senior Capstones

This paper is an exploration in the connection between La Movida Madrileña, Pedro Almodovar and the representation of women. This paper looks at what the Movida was, and what it meant for the people in Spain during the height of the movement. Following an introduction, the paper explores who Almodovar was and the role that he played during the movement, with several examples of his contributions and the way that his works demonstrates the ideas and thoughts of the movement. Finally, this paper mentions the connection between the movement and how women were represented during this time with examples of …

Seeing Her, Wanting Her: Postfeminist Desire And Its Contradictions In Zendaya’S Magazine Covers, Sophia Shelley

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

This article examines Zendaya’s modelling evolution as a case study to explore how a postfeminist critique and psychoanalysis can illuminate the contradictory nature of women’s advertising. My analysis compares Zendaya’s covers in Seventeen (2012) and Essence (2020), emphasizing the stark differences in aesthetics, where Seventeen conforms to ideals of (white) femininity, and in opposition, Essence centres around Black femininity and desire. By situating Zendaya as both a gendered and racialized ‘other,’ the intricate dynamics of femininity, race, and age in media portrayals are made visible. I argue that Zendaya’s image is sold through postfeminist ideals of empowerment, choice, and sexuality …

Book Review: Locker Room Talk: A Woman’S Struggle To Get Inside, Sneha V. John, Thahiya Afzal

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Tracing The Collective Endeavors: The Cultural Discourses Of Women Printmakers Throughout History, Ann Henrietta Bittl

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the dissertation is to examine the women who paved the way for future generations of women printmakers by tracing the influences and practices of women printmakers throughout history within collective workshops. In the West, the concept of a collective endeavor began during the Middle Ages with monasteries and convents, where artisans created religious works of art as a way to teach illiterate audiences and also to adorn churches and cathedrals. However, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the concept of the collective workshop grew out of artist’s studios and ateliers. Artists were trained in the apprentice system, …

The Roots Of Womanism As Identity, Empowerment, And Liberation For Black American Women: Raciolinguistic Genealogical Exploration, Shante Noel Millercent Morgan

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Black American women intellectuals, activists, and scholars have grappled with womanism in relation to Black women’s presence in the world, particularly in the context of feminist and Black liberation movements. Since womanism was introduced more than four decades ago, both movements claimed Black women were a priority in theory and rhetoric but often excluded them in practice. For this reason, this dissertation examines womanist thought as a source of identity, empowerment, and liberation for Black American women. I employed two methods to investigate womanist thought that align with a qualitative inquiry: genealogy focus and raciolinguistic genealogy analysis. I conducted a …

Consumptive Femininity: (De)Constructions Of Gender And Colonization In Korean Diaspora Literature, Jack Kelly

Honors Program Theses

This paper explores how two authors with Korean heritage use similar metaphors to write about the same historical traumas. I engage close readings of two novels—Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and Yu Miri’s The End of August—to interrogate how each author uses images of food/food preparation as well as images of sexual encounters to draw links between exploited bodies and exploited land. Ultimately, I find that the differences in these two authors’ approaches reflect their distance from modern centers of empire. This reminds us of the importance of having a diverse literary and historical canon that centers on authors who have …

Advancing Gender-Inclusive Financial Systems: A G20 Policy Agenda For South Africa, Tinuade A. Ojo, M. E. Sotunsa, Diana J. Fox, Karen Carpenter, Leith L. Dunn

Journal of International Women's Studies

This policy brief calls for comprehensive reforms of South Africa’s financial systems to broaden women’s access to capital. Women’s economic empowerment is critical to inclusive and sustainable development in Africa. Despite ongoing global commitments to gender equality, systemic financial exclusion continues to marginalise women—particularly in South Africa—thereby impeding their full economic participation. Microfinance has emerged as a pivotal strategy for fostering financial inclusion among women, especially those in rural and economically disadvantaged urban areas. International models, such as the Grameen Bank, have illustrated that women from low-income backgrounds often exhibit higher loan repayment rates than their male counterparts. Institutions specifically …

True Crime Podcasts As A Scene Of Feminist Reckoning: A Comparative Analysis Of My Favorite Murder And Sistas Who Kill, Rachel C.C. Matteri

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research examines the cultural impact and ethical implications of true crime podcasts (TCPs). In recent years, TCPs have become a powerful cultural force, with White women often emerging as the primary storytellers and most visible participants in the genre. Their dominance in this space is not neutral and it carries representational weight. It explores the potential for feminist activity made possible by the auditory, self-publishing genre of podcasting. This work focuses on the buddy-comedy subgenre of TCPs. The concerns of this text are that TCPs are dominated by White feminist values and are not an intersectional feminist project. Textual …

Dismembering The Final Girl: Examining The Shifting Trope In Contemporary Horror Films, Abby Divine

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research explores gender representation in horror films as it moves away from representation shaped by the male gaze and, instead, showcases social values related to current feminist movements. While the horror genre is largely considered to be lacking complex messages or social commentary, many contemporary horror films actually utilize well-known tropes to cultivate a larger discussion on social issues. With the rise of the slasher film in the 1970s and 1980s, the character of the Final Girl was popularized. These final surviving female victims are usually defined by a constricting set of rules; however, newer trends in horror films …

Cultural And Counter-Cultural Contexts In Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club And Cristina GarcíA'S Dreaming In Cuban, Melinda M. Ninewise

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis explores the cultural and counter-cultural narratives presented in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club and Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, examining how these works impact the literary canon and redefine the immigrant experience through a distinctly female lens. Both novels share themes of generational conflict, fragmented identities, and the struggles of communication shaped by cultural and linguistic divides. While these works feature distinct cultural backgrounds, Chinese American and Cuban American respectively, the authors challenge patriarchal norms by privileging female voices and presenting nuanced portrayals of mother-daughter relationships. The analysis highlights shared literary techniques and thematic parallels, including identity …

Modernity, Domesticity, And Women’S Subjectivity: A Comparative Study Of The Fiction Of Jane Austen And Ling Shuhua, Rou Li

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examines how Jane Austen and Ling Shuhua represent women’s conceptions of selfhood through domestic narratives during periods of modernization in their respective societies. Drawing on Anthony Giddens’ theory of modern intimacy and Gary Kelly’s analysis of the bourgeois cultural revolution, this comparative analysis explores how their works reflect broader societal transformations through the depiction of intimate domestic spaces. Through detailed textual analysis of Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice and several of Ling Shuhua’s short stories in Collected Essays of Ling Shuhua, this study demonstrates how both authors employ domestic settings not merely as backdrops but as dynamic …

Book Review: Ethical Encounters: Transnational Feminism, Human Rights, And War Cinema In Bangladesh, Masrufa Nusrat

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Janet Jagan: Freedom Fighter Of Guyana, Suzanne C. Persard

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Film Review: Breasts And Body Politics In B 32 Muthal 44 Vare, Aswathy A., Meenu B.

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Shadows: How Taylor Swift's Music Embodies Dark Sound As A Popular Music Artist, Kristyn E. Cole

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

To challenge the conceptual matter of “dark sound”, this major research paper centers around the popular music artist, Taylor Swift to demonstrate an overarching feminist wisdom in an alternative style of music to identify how Taylor Swift presents and embodies qualities of “dark sound”. Research done by D. Ferrett, Theodor Adorno, Roland Barthes and Paul C. Jasen are used to examine her popular music, and its intersections and influence on our culture and society. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, this research paper discusses three of Swift’s songs; “willow” (evermore, 2020) for her sound, All Too Well: The Short …

Pink Hair As A Cyberfeminist Symbol: Online Gender-Based Violence And The “Pinkup” Movement In China, Yuchen Viveka Li

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper investigates online gender-based violence (OGBV) in China using the perspectives of queer feminism and cyberfeminism. As a case study, it examines the cyberviolence against the “Pink Hair Girl” on Xiaohongshu (a popular Chinese social media platform) and the subsequent resistance by women. The study focuses on the following questions: How does the symbolic use of pink hair represent queerness and challenge gender norms in cyberspace? What are the power dynamics and types of violence faced by women in this situation? The research employs a case study method, incorporating qualitative data such as interviews and evaluations of social media …

Cultural Linguistics And Identity Negotiation Within The Singaporean Chinese Diaspora In Hwee Hwee Tan's Mammon Inc., Hanwen Wang, Halimah Mohamed Ali

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study explores the representation of Singaporean Chinese diasporic identity in Hwee Hwee Tan’s novel Mammon Inc. with the help of cultural linguistics. This article seeks to analyze how the novel contributes to understanding diasporic identity and cultural negotiation, with a focus on how the portrayal of the main character reshapes the delicate equilibrium between traditional values and global capitalist pressures. Drawing on Farzad Sharifian’s cultural conceptualization framework and Gary B. Palmer’s ethnosemantic analysis, this study focuses on cultural schemas and metaphors in the novel. We identify passages in Mammon Inc. that illustrate themes of identity negotiation, cultural displacement, and …

Mindfulness Matters: Addressing Anxiety And Navigating Toward Wellbeing Through Miea Mindfulness Practices, A Mixed-Methods Study Of Lgbtiq Graduate Writing Students, Kim Westerman

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Mindfulness Matters: Addressing Anxiety and Navigating Toward Wellbeing Through MIEA Mindfulness Practices, a Mixed-Methods Study of LGBTIQ Graduate Writing Students

Anxiety has always been a part of the human experience, even before the phenomenon was conceptualized in the 17^th century and named by Freud in the 19th. And human beings have devised many strategies for addressing anxiety: reducing it, ignoring it, distracting oneself from it, despairing over it, medicating it, engaging with it, moving through it, co-existing with it. The current zeitgeist, more than four years into the COVID-19 global pandemic, situates anxiety as a central facet of …

Best Integrated Writing Fall 2024 - Complete Edition, Wright State University School Of Humanities And Cultural Studies, Kristie Mckiernan, Tracy Smith

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University.

Tackling History In The Cultural Studies Seminar, Becca Cragin

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

While cultural theory developed in past eras was often marred by the biases of its privileged authors, we are still often required to teach the canon, so that graduate students can recognize past intellectual trends to which current critiques of the canon respond. In this article, a “History of Feminist Theory” course is employed as an example of larger principles of foundations course design that can be used in any cultural studies seminar to productively address the tension between old and new schools of thought. It provides suggestions for structuring syllabi and discussions in ways that productively engage with earlier …

Will The Odds Ever Be In Her Favor? Katniss Everdeen And The Female Athlete, Tony Kemerly

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that allows the author to write in a highly personalized style, drawing on his or her experience to extend understanding about a specific issue. One subset of autoethnography, critical autoethnography, combines the narrative or storytelling aspect of autoethnography with critical theory approaches in order to gain illustrate for the reader a specific site of oppression within one’s culture. Through an examination of the books and films of The Hunger Games’ saga, this paper will examine the interaction between students and professor in regard to the journey of the female athlete through the power …

Media Literacy, Education, And A Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned In A Gender And Pop Culture Classroom, Jessica Lowell Mason, Ebehitale Imobhio

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

In Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, bell hooks writes that “to engage in dialogue is one of the simplest ways we can begin as teachers, scholars, and critical thinkers to cross boundaries.” Hence, this paper explores, through narrative dialogue, teacher and student perspectives on the pedagogical impact of the global pandemic on the process of engaging with and learning about media literacy. By naming and narrating teacher and student experiences and perspectives from a course on gender and pop culture that took place during the Spring 2020 semester, the paper aims to demonstrate the …

Sexual Harassment Effects On Bodies Of Work: Engaging Students Through The Application Of Historical Context And Communication Theory To Pop Culture And Social Media, Bryan Vizzini, Kristina Drumheller

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Rarely do professors have the opportunity to branch out and create a course that is literally shaped by the day’s news. The mediated unveiling of sexual predators in the summer of 2018 provided an opportunity to teach an honors seminar that wrote itself over the course of five weeks. Professors from the communication and history disciplines drew on theory commonly used in the communication discipline and used historical readings to frame a discussion of popular culture and its relation to current events. Each week, a film was incorporated for discussion and student projects were drawn from examples of popular culture, …

A Gaze Of Cruelty, Deferred: Actualizing The Female Gaze In Cate Shortland’S Berlin Syndrome (2017), Natasha Chuk

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Australian director Cate Shortland’s dramatic thriller Berlin Syndrome (2017) follows the conventions of the genre involving a psychologically unstable male perpetrator and his female victim, thus could hinge on patriarchal control. Instead, based on a close reading of feminist film scholar Laura Mulvey’s theoretical definition of the former, Shortland’s cinematic apparatus can be read as an inverse of the male gaze, a type of systematic ‘female gaze’. This observation both warrants clarification of the term and concept behind the female gaze and suggests a pressing need to re-evaluate the language of cinema and its habitually damaging depictions of women. In …

Amc’S Infamous Criminal Partnerships: Suppressing The Female Antihero, Melissa Vosen Callens

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This paper explores the limited number of female antiheroes in AMC’s critically acclaimed drama series. Using a feminist lens, the author argues that audiences have failed to embrace female characters on AMC as antiheroes, particularly when they are in romantic relationships with male antiheroes, for three primary reasons. First, female characters often challenge binary thinking, and thus, gender role stereotypes. Rather than exhibiting passive, yet nurturing characteristics, characteristics often associated with femininity and motherhood, female characters within the dataset frequently challenge their partners and exert their dominance. Second, writers often fail to fully develop female characters. The absence of their …

Bad Girls: Agency, Revenge, And Redemption In Contemporary Drama, Courtney Watson

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Cultural movements including #TimesUp and #MeToo have contributed momentum to the demand for and development of smart, justified female criminal characters in contemporary television drama. These women are representations of shifting power dynamics, and they possess agency as they channel their desires and fury into success, redemption, and revenge. Building on works including Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, dramas produced since 2016—including The Handmaid’s Tale, Ozark, and Killing Eve—have featured the rise of women who use rule-breaking, rebellion, and crime to enact positive change.

The Representation Of Women With Disabilities In Shahira Al-Hasan’S Cochlea’S Secrets, Mohammed Abou Adel, Amr M. Mohamed, Mubarak Altwaiji

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examines the representation of women living with disabilities in Shahira Al-Hassan’s novel Cochlea’s Secrets. This is an important endeavor as it highlights fiction’s role in advocating for women with disabilities, particularly in the Arab region. Such a study is crucial for increasing awareness and support for women with disabilities, especially in literary writing. Also, worldwide readers can learn about the impact of Arab novelists in supporting women with disabilities. Fiction, like the media, plays a pivotal role in promoting the status of women living with disabilities and enhancing their societal role. By addressing this topic from the perspective …

Science Fiction, Eng 2420, Syllabus And Course Outline, Jason W. Ellis

Open Educational Resources

This Science Fiction, ENG2420 syllabus and course outline was written for an online, asynchronous class taught in the Department of English at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY. It was designed to compliment the OER Yet Another Science Fiction Textbook (YASFT) and have a Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) approach with readings and viewings found primarily through the Internet Archive. The course follows a historical approach to the science fiction genre covering the Origins of Science Fiction, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Proto-SF, Pulp SF, SF Film Serials, Golden Age SF, SF Film Through the 1950s, New Wave …

Book Review Essay: Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi And Women Reporters In Hollywood, Muhammad Asad Latif

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Gendered Fortunes: Divination, Precarity, And Affect In Postsecular Turkey, Canan Tanir

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.