Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: Rethinking Global Sisterhood: Western Feminism And Iran, Melissa Autumn White

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Rethinking Global Sisterhood: Western Feminism and Iran by Nima Naghibi

South Asian Muslim American Girl Power: Structures And Symbols Of Control And Self-Expression, Marcia Hermansen, Mahruq F. Khan

Journal of International Women's Studies

South Asian Muslim American (SAMA) girls studied ethnographically in Chicago and more broadly in the United States negotiate these three components (South Asian, Muslim, and American) of identity across the spheres of home, Islamic institutions, and the public “American” realm. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork at an Islamic school and within South Asian families and mosques, the authors illustrate how nascent “girl” power is evidenced in these contexts drawing on media representations, academic sources, and data drawn from participant observation. Sources of SAMA girls’ expressions of confidence and power are selective use of identity markers, increased mastery of Islamic knowledge, …

Book Review: Liberating Shahrazad: Feminism, Postcolonialism, And Islam, Sanaa Benmessaoud

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Liberating Shahrazad: Feminism, Postcolonialism, and Islam by Suzanne Gauch

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 …

Fighting For Subjectivity: Articulations Of Physicality In Girlfight, Katharina Lindner

Journal of International Women's Studies

The analysis of Girlfight (Karyn Kusama, 2000) in this paper is framed by critical discourses surrounding physically active female characters in the action genre, the conventions of the boxing film ‘genre’, the relationship between bodily spectacle and narrative structure, as well as the more general significance of the female boxer’s challenge to normative and binary notions of bodily existence and subjectivity. With a particular focus on the interrelationship between narrative structure and boxing sequences (‘numbers’), this paper explores notions of the (gendered) subjectivity constructed around the film’s female boxing character, Diana (Michelle Rodriguez). I will argue that the boxing ‘numbers’ …

Introspection And Self-Transformation: Empathy In Toni Morrison’S The Bluest Eye, Samantha Alongi

Undergraduate Review

The ability to connect with and feel empathy for others is an innate quality within ourselves that serves to make each of us human. We empathize with the poor, homeless, and the less fortunate. Empathy drives us to do good for others; it allows us to make a difference in the world in which we live. In her novel The Bluest Eye the unfortunate situations and experiences in which Toni Morrison places her characters force readers to place themselves in the characters situation and grapple with the examination of oneself as a result. Moral essayist Samuel Johnson once wrote, “All …

Bridgewater “Comments” On 80 Years Of Men’S And Women’S Sports, Alicia Charpentier, Brian Hickey, Jaryd Cutting, Laura Donahue, Erika Dyer, Shannon Piatelli, Stephanie Burns, Lillianne Frye, Allison Haggerty, Sarah Blick, Courtney Gramstorff, Jared Mullane, Joey Saster, Joshua Rodrisuo, Kara Foley, Jenna Picton, Courtney Ryan, Nicole Affannato

Undergraduate Review

Sports media is important because it shapes the perceptions, aspirations and dreams of the viewers (Angelini, 2008). It shows the viewers the skill and athletic achievement of both male and female athletes. The media allows viewers to witness the athletic prowess of their favorite athletes on TV and in print. Within sports media, the viewers are able to learn about the many different sports that are offered around the world. The viewers are able to get a sense about who the athletes are, their talents, their sport and their achievement. It is apparent that sports media has a huge impact …

The Impact Of Sexual Harassment On Turnover Intentions, Absenteeism, And Job Satisfaction: Findings From Argentina, Brazil And Chile, Rebecca S. Merkin

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study, which tested the effects of sexual harassment on consequences previously indicated in US studies, (i.e., overall turnover intentions, overall absenteeism and job dissatisfaction), was conducted with 8108 employees chosen by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in three Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Multivariate and logistic regression were employed while controlling for age, education, gender, marital status, and race to analyze ILO’s database. Significant results revealed that Latin American employees who were sexually harassed were likely to have more turnover intentions and to engage in more absenteeism; yet they did not experience a significant decrease in …

Negotiating And Navigating The Rough Terrain Of Transnational Feminist Research, Tanya Bahkru

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines aspects of feminist methodology pertinent to carrying out transnational research within an era of globalization. I explore the use of self-reflexivity, engagement with conceptualizations of insider/outsider, and the employment of feminist critiques of notions of objectivity within the research process as feminist methodological tools relevant to transnational feminist research. I argue that in an age of globalization, such methodological frameworks and tools are necessary in research committed to feminist contestations of globalization in that the nature of transnational research sustains an ever dynamic and shifting landscape of personal, political, and geographical relationships. This article draws upon my …

Book Review: Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory And Practice For Composition Studies, Jessie Blackburn

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice for Composition Studies by Jonathan Alexander

Book Review: Hijab, Meaning, Identity, Otherization And Politics: British Muslim Women, Alyssa Beall

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Hijab, Meaning, Identity, Otherization and Politics: British Muslim Women by Saied R. Ameli and Arzu Merali

Reading The Gardner: Viewership, Readership, And Public Art, Nicole Williams

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Caliban’S Curses: The Decolonial Feminist Literacy Of Sycorax, Irene Lara

Journal of International Women's Studies

Working from the perspective of decolonial feminism, this essay critiques works that view Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611) as a symbol of resistance to eurocentrism, as represented in the character of Prospero. I focus on the literary figure Sycorax, the racialized, sexualized and witched mother of Caliban, because the celebration of Caliban as a symbol of subaltern resistance in Latin American/Latino studies has led to her discursive erasure or marginalization. I critically trace appropriations of Caliban, as well as Miranda (Prospero’s daughter), that silence Sycorax. Fundamentally urging the construction of a “literacy of Sycorax,” this essay explores the eurocentric …

Book Review: Conception Diary: Thinking About Pregnancy And Motherhood, Stacy Lockerbie

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Conception Diary: Thinking about Pregnancy and Motherhood by Susan Hogan

Integration, Clarification, Substantiation: Sex, Gender, Ethnicity And Migration As Social Determinants Of Women’S Health, Bilkis Vissandjee, Ilene Hyman, Denise L. Spitzer, Alisha Apale, Nahar Kamrun

Journal of International Women's Studies

The aim of this paper was to examine, via a scoping review, how the literature focusing on immigrant women’s health, based on selected criteria, has been able to capture not only sex and gender differences but also the other socially grounded determinants of health. Using selected health databases as well as a diversity of keywords, a final sample of 59 was obtained after a number of steps to increase validity and credibility of the process were taken. Since “women” was one of the main keywords, all of the studies included women either by themselves (n=20/59) or along with men (n=39/59). …

Cyberqueers In Taiwan: Locating Histories Of The Margins, Terri He

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this paper I direct the focus to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) online communities in Taiwan. On the one hand, I argue that such online communities in Taiwan are worthwhile researching and deserve special academic attention because they touch upon Taiwan’s perpetual difference in the world as a de-facto, thereby questioning how a transnational perspective permanently influences or even changes the way national identity is or is not formulated. On the other, against the backdrop of globalisation, I highlight the fact of under-theorisation of issues and politics of sexuality dissidence in a non-western, non-dominant location and culture such …

Feminism And The Politics Of Representation: Towards A Critical And Ethical Encounter With “Others”, Amy Hinterberger

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay begins from the position that a speaking subject in feminism occupies a place of power and authority which requires a commitment to an ethical involvement in the representation of ‘others.’ Specifically, this essay will address feminist concerns of speaking for others and the concerns raised by the dangers of representing across differences of race, sexuality, gender and cultures. First, it will critique feminist claims to political effectivity as a solution to ethical representation. Second, it will look at how hierarchies of oppression and privileged ontological positions are inconsistently represented in feminist discussions. Lastly, it will briefly examine how …

Journalists In Feminist Clothing: Men And Women Reporting Afghan Women During Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001, Corinne Fowler

Journal of International Women's Studies

The following discussion is based on an extensive survey of UK mainstream television news reports broadcast between September and December 2001 during the military attacks on Afghanistan, known as Operation Enduring Freedom. Also conducted was a survey of British radio and print media published and produced within the specified period. I argue that the 2001 news media coverage of Afghanistan was an important precursor to current debates about Muslim women in Europe and the United States since it highlights many of the contradictions and hypocrisies housed within western public discourses on women’s rights. Detailing numerous examples, I contend that the …

Faculty Profile: Michele Wakin - Understanding Homelessness In America, Andrew C. Holman

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Attitudes Toward Women Managers In Turkey And Pakistan, Semra Güney, Raheel Gohar, Sevcan Kılıç Akıncı, Mehmet Mutlu Akıncı

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines managerial attitudes toward women managers in Turkey and Pakistan by using “Managerial Attitudes toward Women Executives Scale (MATWES)” and draws a cross-cultural comparison between these two countries’ respondents. Significant differences were found in several managerial attitudes between these two countries’ respondents, and both women and men in Turkey have a negative attitude toward women managers as compared to Pakistani respondents. In contrast to the early findings in the literature, women’s attitudes toward women managers in Turkey were more negative than that of men’s while Pakistani women have more favorable attitudes than Turkish women toward women managers. The …

Reflections On A Fulbright Year In Bahrain, Philip Tabakow

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Bridgewater Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, June 2006

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

On The Asphalt Frontier: American Women’S Road Narratives, Spatiality, And Transgression, Alexandra Ganser

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this article, I am going to analyze the concept of “gendered space” as it appears in select post-1970s US-American road narratives produced by women writers of various ethnic and social backgrounds. Drawing on recent re-mappings in cultural geography, I will cross disciplinary boundaries and argue that for female literary protagonists, the “open road” appears as a dangerous frontier—in which women’s physical and emotional well-being is always at perilous stake—rather than as an adventurous playground. In women’s road stories, the American highway does not maintain its mythical, iconic status, signifying freedom and the heroic quest for identity, which has been …

Gender Dynamics Of Missionary Work In India And Its Impact On Women’S Education: Isabella Thoburn (1840- 1901) - A Case Study, Marthal Nalini

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article is a cross-cultural study of the work of the first North American single woman missionary educator Isabella Thoburn who was sent overseas by the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The objective of this article is to examine the motives of Isabella, her career in India, and the impact of her work on women’s education. It also highlights the facts that Isabella was an extra-ordinary woman and carved spaces for herself as professional, administrator, mentor, and matriarchs, first in her parent society and then in cross-cultural contexts, for which there was no precedent. The early …

Connections And Complicities: Reflections On Epistemology, Violence, And Humanitarian Aid, Kiri Gurd

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper explores the relationship between power/knowledge and violence. It attempts to connect epistemological constructions and discursive practices to conflict and humanitarian aid operations by deconstructing the narrative of ‘Development’. The paper also attempts to tease out the way seemingly transparent and humanitarian actions, even within the academy, are complicit in reiterating hegemonic representations that reproduce systems of inequality and injustice. The paper draws on feminist methodologies that are primarily deconstructive in nature in order to highlight these connections and complicities, making clear that the way certain knowledges become centralized, while others are subjugated, reflects the functioning of the global …

Uneasy Transvestism? Fashioning A Space For The Single Woman In Sex And The City, Nicola Rodie

Journal of International Women's Studies

‘Uneasy Transvestism? Fashioning a Space for the Single Woman in Sex and the City’ is essentially an exploration of the ways in which fashion is used within the programme to explore the parameters of the female body, and in particular, to define a sexually fluid space for the single woman. I approach the material from a cultural studies methodology, trying to especially decipher the meanings inherent in the visual language of the programme, and its use of clothing to costume its four female protagonists. Intrigued and influenced by theorists such as Butler, Hollander and Garber, but largely relying on …

Weight Control Behavior And Women: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Jacqueline A. Walcott-Mcquigg

Journal of International Women's Studies

The objective of this study was to seek directly from culturally diverse women information on their weight control behavior. Specific questions were: What types of weight control behavior are practiced by women? 2) What factors influence participation in weight control behavior? and, 3) what are the cultural influences on women’s motivation and ability to participate in weight control behavior? Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 135 middle-income women (African American, Caucasian, Mexican American, Puerto Rican) in their homes, offices, and at other places in their neighborhoods. Additional data collection included measuring body weight and height. The …

Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott: Rapping On The Frontiers Of Female Identity, Eliza Sellen

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper provides an analysis of Missy Elliott as a contemporary icon, using the innovation and creativity of two of her music videos (One Minute Man and She’s A Bitch), as media texts that both illuminate and disrupt feminist frameworks of identity. This paper begins with a discussion of the ways in which Elliott subverts and revises cultural signifiers; particular attention is paid to female embodiment and sexuality, blackness and power. The paper moves to discuss the visual landscape created through this cultural play, and explores this terrain through the theoretical frameworks of science fiction and technology.

This …

Cultural Commentary: The Danger Of Danger, William C. Levin

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Volumes, Valerie Begley, Olga Gershenson

Journal of International Women's Studies

This special issue of the JIWS seeks to examine the topic of gendered constructions of space(s). How does space structure our understanding of gender? How does it participate in cultural constructions of race, class, and sexuality? What are the political and economic dimensions of the spaces that we construct and that construct us? In this issue we wanted to explore the role(s) that space plays in shaping and maintaining identities and power relations. Far from being neutral or self-evident, we take space to be a site and a means of cultural power, informed by a set of historically and culturally …