Digital Commons Network^™

Power Politics And Sexual Harassment In Downtown Cairo, Cally Walker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how the meaning and experience of space contributes to our understanding of sexual harassment in downtown Cairo. I argue that we cannot understand relationships on the street without acknowledging the various affective discourses concerning space. Experiences of the everyday social, political and economic affect men and women differently, and constitute visible contextual and temporal sites of tension. I argue that the development-esque term of sexual harassment envelopes a wide range of practices that depend entirely on the moment and context of utterance. According to a 2013 United Nations report on Egypt, 48.9% of women believe that harassment …

The Neglected Heavens: Gender And The Cults Of Helios, Selene, And Eos In Bronze Age And Historical Greece, Katherine A. Rea

Classics: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Why is it that the sun and moon held such a small place in cults of the Greeks, and is it that the sun is male and the moon is female in Greek myth? Aristophanes in Peace 406-413 claims that “we sacrifice to you [the Olympians], the barbarians sacrifice to them [the sun and moon]”. But if we look at nearby or related civilizations, the situation is quite different. In Ugaritic, Minoan, and Hittite religion (as well as among other Indo-European speaking people), the sun and other celestial deities have much more prominence. However, while the Greeks acknowledged the divinity …

Female Reverberations Online: An Analysis Of Tunisian, Egyptian, And Moroccan Female Cyberactivism During The Arab Spring, Brittany Landorf

International Studies Honors Projects

Digital technologies and social media networks have the potential to open new platforms for women in the public domain. During the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions, female cyberactivists used digital technologies to participate in and at times led protests. This thesis examines how Tunisian, Egyptian, and Moroccan female cyberactivists deployed social media networks to write a new body politic online. It argues throughout that female activists turned to online activism to disrupt gender relations in their countries and demand social, religious, economic, and political gender parity.

Neither (Fully) Here Nor There: Negotiation Narratives Of Nashville's Kurdish Youth, Stephen Ross Goddard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nashville, Tennessee, is home to nearly fifteen thousand ethnic Kurds. They have come in four distinct groups over the course of two decades to escape the hardship and horror of brutal central government policies, some directed toward their extinction. Many of that number are young people who were infants or toddlers when they were whisked away to the safety of temporary way stations prior to their arrival in the United States. What that means is that these youth have spent the majority of their formative years within the context of the American culture. This thesis is a study of how …

Look At Me: Japanese Women Writers At The Millennial Turn, David Holloway

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Look at Me: Japanese Women Writers at the Millennial Turn

This dissertation explores body aesthetics and anxieties through analyses of contemporary fiction by women. Framed in terms of "the male gaze," it analyzes the ways in which women writing today negotiate and reappropriate the subject/object binary upon which the gaze itself rests. The four authors on whom I focus-- Hasegawa Junko, Kanehara Hitomi, Matsumoto Yûko, and Sakurai Ami--deliberately disturb readers with stories of incest, sadomasochism, and eating disorders. Representative texts from their respective oeuvres are categorized and analyzed in terms of the "obscene," the "abject," and the "traumatic" in order …

Gender Confusion, Genocide And The Apocalypse: Directing Moira Buffini's Silence, Dennis N. Henry

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis contains the written documentation of the process of directing a theatrical production of Silence by Moira Buffini, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Fine Arts in Directing for Stage and Screen at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

This documentation and analysis of the processes herein include: play selection, background research, concept development, casting, rehearsal process, development of design elements and evaluation based on critical response, audience reception and self-reflection.

Advisor: Virginia Smith

Geographies That Make Resistance”: Remapping The Politics Of Gender And Place In Uttarakhand, India, Shubhra Gururani

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

By examining women’s active participation in a range of social movements over many decades in Uttarakhand Himalayas, the paper first explores what is it about this place that has produced such vibrant interventions from rural women and produced a gendered geography of resistance. It then focuses on the regional autonomy movement that shook the region in the nineties. Taking women’s participation seriously, the paper argues that the demand for a separate state and assertion of a regional identity even though was enmeshed in the messy electoral and reservation politics of caste, women’s large-scale participation and shifting support suggests that women …

An Indigenous Women Perspective Of Work And Organisation: The Maya Way, Jennifer Manning, J. Miguel Imas, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Western literature in management/organisation studies focuses primarily on gender issues that affect inequalities experienced by women at work. Adopting, in some cases, critical and feminist theoretical positions, the gender debate unfolds questions on the prevailing male discourse that is dominant in management and business organisations. Most of these theoretical assumptions tend to influence, subsequently, the way in which we understand the experiences of women in the developing or under-developed world. That is, these theoretical positions occupy a privileged voice upon which to write, describe and analyse the experiences of women in contexts where these Western discourses seem either alien or …

We Work, We Eat Together: Anti-Authoritarian Mutual Aid Politics In New York City, 2004-2013, David Spataro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

New York City's neoliberal restructuring has fundamentally transformed the city's labor market and privatized many important aspects of a once robust municipal welfare system. In this research I examine one radical response to these changes: anti-authoritarian mutual aid groups that blend Do-It-Yourself (DIY) culture with direct action politics. These are projects where activists attempt to build strong communities of resistance by organizing collective forms of social reproduction. I find that these projects are a threat to neoliberal urbanization because they reorganize reproduction beyond the household scale while simultaneously criticizing the social relations of capitalism as the root of household insecurity. …

The Monster Within And Without: Identity Assignment And Construction In Slave Narratives And Horror Fiction, Chelsey Lucas

Theses & ETDs

This thesis presents an analysis of the relation between the human and the monster as it is used in nineteenth-century American slave narratives (Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs) and British and American horror fiction (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Glen Duncan’s Last Werewolf trilogy). I begin with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), asserting that Victor Frankenstein attempts to abject his own monstrousness through the creation of his monster. The creature tries to discover his nature in relation to human persons, and acquires language and literacy. Through this, he becomes a recognizable person despite his physical deformity, at least for the reader. He remains …

“Am I Still Lost?”: Cultivating Complex Identities And Subjectivity In 20th-Century Women's Writing On Madness, Molly Mccormick

Theses & ETDs

This thesis examines the role “madness” plays in the works of three contemporary female writers: Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, Anne Sexton's To Bedlam and Part Way Back, and Hannah Weiner's Clairvoyant Journal. I argue against reading these texts in such a way that would oversimplify portrayals of female madness as mere “metaphor” or else medicalizes them to the extent that text can be read as a symptom. I point to ways the three texts specifically address and resist such limiting readings in order to reclaim and maintain voice and control over experience. Insisting on the power of voice and …

Gender Mainstreaming In Journalism Education, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

In a time of swift technological changes in the news media, much of journalism education is focused on preparing students for careers in a new media landscape instead of focusing on gender or other diversity issues. For example, Pavlik (2013, p.213) argued in a recent article that a curriculum that ‘emphasized innovation and digital media entrepreneurship is one of the keys to a robust professional future for the field and students seeking a media career’. Even so, Pavlik (2013, p.217) recognised that most programmes in media education are holding on to an outdated professional model of journalism and mass communication, …

"I'M Not Good Enough For Anyone" : Legal Status And The Dating Lives Of Undocumented Young Adults, Daniela Jan Torres Pila

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Legal status' impact on romantic relationships has not yet been adequately explored in the literature. Based on video and phone interviews with twenty five undocumented activists from the ages of 18 to 28 years old, this research brings to light how legal status affects the romantic relationships of undocumented women and men. Gender roles are highly prevalent among young adults' accounts and were consistent with stereotypical male and female roles in dating which often attribute more power and responsibility to men. As such, women experienced a slight advantage because traditional notions of courtship did not require them to provide resources, …

Musical Geography, Colena Corbett

Theses and Dissertations

This series is a collection of poems covering a writer's journey through family and personal narratives and travels. The collection includes various poetry styles such as persona, ballad, prose, and other received contemporary forms. The work has been inspired from photographs, archival research, and personal interviews. The poems' subjects date from the late 1940's to present day and take place throughout the North Carolina region and elsewhere. The musicality is present within the poet's use of voice and familiar sounds. Subjects include: race and gender studies, the southern textile industry, Western North Carolina history, tobacco, textile production, industrial plant life, …

Who Is The Customer? Identifying The Initial Adopters Of Formal Savings. Field Evidence From Malawi, Karan Saggi

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines household characteristics as determinants of formal savings accounts in rural Malawi. The main questions answered in this paper include the effects of household characteristics on the probability of having formal savings, the amounts saved in these accounts, and the probability of adopting formal savings. The central discussion aims to identify the initial adopters of formal savings accounts, using a marketing approach previously unapplied to this area of research. This paper also contributes to the dialogue of the household composition by considering three untried variables: number of adults, number of children, and literacy of all household members. Results …

Understanding Insurance Anti-Discrimination Laws, Ronen Avraham, Kyle D. Logue, Daniel Schwarcz

Articles

Insurance companies are in the business of discrimination. Insurers attempt to segregate insureds into separate risk pools based on the differences in their risk profiles, first, so that different premiums can be charged to the different groups based on their differing risks and, second, to incentivize risk reduction by insureds. This is why we let insurers discriminate. There are limits, however, to the types of discrimination that are permissible for insurers. But what exactly are those limits and how are they justified? To answer these questions, this Article (a) articulates the leading fairness and efficiency arguments for and against limiting …

Transnational Marriage: Modern Imaginings, Relational Realignments, And Persistent Inequalities, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

In the context of shifting cultural anchors as well as unstable global economic conditions, new practices of intimacy and sexuality may become tactics in an individual’s negotiation of conflicting desires and potentials. This article offers reflection on the interface between global forces, powerful transcultural narratives, and state policies, on the one hand, and local, even individual, constructions and tactics in regard to sexuality, marriage, migration, and work, on the other. The article focuses on the life trajectory of Gudiya, an ambitious young Hindu woman who started out life with little social capital and few economic resources in a dusty corner …

Warmikuna Juyayay! Ecuadorian And Latin American Indigenous Women Gaining Spaces In Ethnic Politics, Maria S. Moreno Parra

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This research utilizes an agency framework to examine the complexities of the participation of indigenous women in local, national, and global spaces of activism. By examining the connections between processes of globalization of indigenous and women’s rights, development agendas, local politics, and gender dynamics in indigenous organizations, this research highlights the connection of ethnicity, gender, and power in an indigenous organization of Cotacachi, Ecuador, and for Ecuadorian and Latin American indigenous leaders and professionals working in national and global arenas.

Four interconnected topics are explored: (1) the understanding of indigenous women’s participation in the history of their organization within a …

Women Struggle To Reach The Top: Gender Disparities In The Workplace, Shannon E. Doherty

Departmental Honors Projects

Abstract

The study examined the degree to which gender role expectations, anticipated role conflict and same-gendered role models are related to women’s career centrality. It was predicted that women who adhere more to male norms than female norms will indicate more career centrality than women who adhere more to female norms; women who anticipate less work-family conflict will indicate more career centrality; women will identify female role models more often than male role models; and women who identify female role models will report those individuals to have a higher degree of impact on their career centrality. There were 97 students …

The Environment Of Poverty And The Limits Of Girlhood: The Struggle For The Right To An Education In North India. Gareebi Ka Mahual Aur Ladkeo Ki Hud, Imandeep Kaur Grewal

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation explored the lived worlds and educational experiences of adolescent girls living in poverty in North India. Class, caste, gender, and regionally-based inequalities result in striking disparities leading to restricted, gendered opportunities and individual freedoms. The purpose of this ethnographic study was an in-depth exploration of the lives of 20 girls living in poverty, and how their own educational futures were impacted by educational policy and practices. Illustrative case studies were used to explore the broader question of educational access. In keeping with Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the primary focus …

International Relations Or International Sanitations? Exploring Student Perceptions Of Intro To Ir Course Content, Nick Sundback

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis draws on student testimony, curriculum analysis, and statistical tests to explore 1) the degree to which gender, financial aid status, and race/ethnicity correlate with student perceptions of Intro to IR course content and 2) the degree to which students conceptualize IR as interrelated with social identities, as opposed to an abstracted state-centric discipline.

Pedagogía Crítica, Crónica Cultural Y Corporeidad Auto/Biográfica En "Nahui Olin: La Que Hizo Olas" De Elena Poniatowska, Magdalena Maiz-Peña

Diálogo

By mapping epistemological, pedagogical, and feminist frameworks, this study pursues a reading of Elena Poniatowska’s cultural essay on Nahui Olin, to focus on auto/bio/graphical subjects, gender, ideology, and representation within diverse theoretical approaches and discursive explorations. This study is applied to an undergraduate, multidisciplinary seminar in Hispanic Studies and reading practices, dismantling canonical life-writing models of female representation.

Este estudio considera la crónica cultural de Elena Poniatowska sobre Nahui Olin a partir de marcos referenciales epistemológicos, pedagógicos y feministas concentrándose en los sujetos auto/bio/gráficos, género, ideología y representación desde diversas aproximaciones teóricas y exploraciones discursivas. Se sitúa en relación a …

The Argentine Tango As A Discursive Instrument And Agent Of Social Empowerment: Buenos Aires, 1880-1955, Lorena Elizabeth Tabares

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As an indisputable central element of Argentine popular culture, the tango constitutes much more than an artistic expression or a recreational activity. It is the manifestation of a collective ideology and idiosyncrasy. The development of the tango as a song of the people and social history between the 1880's and the first half of the 20th century, was not merely the result of a matter of identification but more importantly, the fact that it, in its `tridimensionality' comprised of music, dance and lyrics, offered the milieu to the existence of the people that identified with it. In other words, the …

Learning To Be Muslim—Transnationally, Louise Cainkar

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

This essay discusses the religious upbringing experiences and reflections upon them articulated by 53 Muslim American youth who were interviewed as part of a larger sociological study of Arab American teenagers living transnationally. On extended sojourns in their parents’ homelands, these youth—most were born in the US although some migrated to the US at a young age—were taken “back home” to Palestine and Jordan by their parents so they could learn “their language, culture, and religion." They were asked about learning to be Muslim in the US and overseas in the context of a much larger set of questions about …

A Home With Dignity: Domestic Violence And Property Rights, Margaret E. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the legal system should do more to address intimate partner violence and each party's need for a home for several reasons. First, domestic violence is a leading cause of individual and family homelessness. Second, the struggle over rights to a shared home can increase the violence to which the woman is subjected. And third, a woman who decides to continue to live with the person who abused her receives little or no legal support, despite the evidence that this decision could most effectively reduce the violence. The legal system's current failings result from its limited goals-achieving …

Women In Leadership And The Politics Of Power, Caitlin Maeve Kendall

Master's Theses

With the use of intimate interviews, this qualitative research study employed an experiential, story-telling approach to gather a more thorough understanding of individual female experiences in leadership positions in the field of education in relation to the literature on female leadership in a gendered workforce. Although this study only included the experiences of several women leaders in the field of education in the Chicago area, the preexisting research on the topic guided the interview questions and divulged the nexus between a culture of systematic gendered hierarchy in the workplace and the strategies and characteristics of success employed by female leaders …

Public Perceptions Of The Uk Marine Environment, Rl Jefferson, I Bailey, Dd Laffoley, Jp Richards, Mj Attrill

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The damaging effects of human activities on marine health suggest that a major shift is required in the way marine systems are used by individuals. Identifying how to engage society in this shift is an ongoing debate. This includes strengthening the positive connections between society and the sea. This study uses a survey (n¼1047) to investigate UK public perceptions of subtidal species and marine health to assess whether it is possible to build more positive connections between society and the sea. Respondents showed considerable interest in traditionally charismatic species (puffins, seals and seahorses) although many respondents thought these species did …

Exploring Influences On Gender Equality In Photojournalism: Is The Field Picture-Perfect?, Andrea Briscoe

LSU Master's Theses

America prides itself on having a free press. Ideally, this free press would look like the communities in which they cover. However, research shows that gender discrepancies are quite common in newsrooms (Anderson 2014; Briscoe 2012; Norris 1997; Willnat and Weaver 2014). Women often have a marginal presence in newsrooms, and this is troublesome, because scholars have noted that men and women approach newsgathering and reporting differently (Beam and Cicco 2010; Briscoe 2012; Grabe et al. 2011; Weaver 1997). While research has focused on gender discrepancies in various types of media, little to no research has looked at the field …

To Count And Be Counted: A Response To Professor Levinson, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

This Essay deepens the discussion Professor Levinson began in his lecture for the Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture at SLU Law, Who Counts?. Professor Levinson explored the question of who counts as a member of the US community, and who gets to decide who counts. Inevitably, given our history of exclusion on the basis of race and sex, questions about belonging and race and sex form a central part of the current debate. Labeling a person with a race and sex presupposes the questions of what makes a person a certain race or sex? This essay explores what identity …

Art Imitating Life: How Heteronormative Values Shape And Encourage The Censorship Of Jamaican Dancehall Music, Aleia Walker

Open Access Theses

In 2009, increasingly violent and sexually explicit lyrics led the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica to issue directives severely censoring the broadcasting of dancehall music on radio and television. Dancehall music, a descendant of reggae, serves as a cathartic release for the working-class in Jamaica with lyrics and dances that focus on achieving primal pleasures. Since entering mainstream society, dancehall has been unappreciated by those outside of its following. This thesis seeks to understand the purpose of the offensive lyrics and the subsequent need for censorship by combining various gender theories with the analysis of lyrics, media, government documents, historical contentions …