Digital Commons Network^™

He, She, They, Other: An Examination Of Gender Associations With The Chatelaine In The Anglo-Saxon Culture, Dane A. Williams

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this paper is to study the chatelaine as a marker of gender attribution and overall usage within the Anglo-Saxon culture. Chatelaines are artifacts used to suspend multiple items to be employed for such purposes as grooming, tools, or keys and have been used widely from the Roman occupation of England during which it was used by all genders, to the Ninth Century when it was primarily used by women. As such, it is asserted that a single artifact should not to be solely relied upon to assign a gender identity to a burial, that these should be …

Down The Deer Path: Reflections On The Future Of Hunting In America, Jackie A. Bussjaeger

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This collection of chapters delves into the dramatically shifting landscape of hunting sports from a personal perspective of a young hunter. As older hunters age out of the sport, hunter-funded conservation initiatives are in danger of losing support. This work examines the nature of relationships between hunters, their prey, and their worldview, as well as the elements of hunting that appeal to new hunters, and the challenges they may face as they become the hunters of the future.

Social Climatology: An Age Comparison Of Women's Sustained Commitment To Collective Action Against Climate Change, Sara A. Humphers-Ginther

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate activists urgently emphasize action to prevent catastrophic and apocalyptic-like damage from climate change. The foundation of the institutional change needed to combat climate change is collective action, which I study here through a collective action frame. These frames can gain traction for policy agendas: they are solution- and action-oriented. I interviewed women climate activists to understand how they frame the problems from, causes of, and solutions to climate change, as well as how they urge others to act against climate change. I compared my informants based on age because beliefs, values, and lived experiences are important in how activists …

Gendered Melancholy In Lolita: Reading Into Humbert Humbert’S Dolorous Haze, Joseph D. Brookbank

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper argues that in Lolita, the narrator Humbert Humbert uses the subject-position of the great male melancholic in order to, at the discursive level, (re)perform violent acts of appropriation against Dolly’s body, subjectivity and representation. Humbert attempts to translate the loss and waste which he brings about into perverse sorts of gain; these gains relate to processes such as catharsis, compensation, redemption, regeneration, a sense of exceptionality, and aesthetic/erotic/artistic enjoyment. The project has an introduction and two sections. The introduction demonstrates how Humbert enters into the male melancholic subject-position in order to perform his sorrow in a way that …

Wonder Woman: A Case Study For Critical Media Literacy, Adriana N. Fehrs

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

To better grasp the messages Wonder Woman is sending to its audience, a Critical Media Literacy (CML), ideological, and feminist framework is used to examine whether, and if so how, Wonder Woman succumbs to stereotypes that are often portrayed in the media. These theories will be used in the ensuing project to build a curriculum aimed at high school students.The curriculum positions students to examine the hegemonic ideologies that are represented in pop culture, specifically Wonder Woman.

Curated Chaos: A Rhetorical Study Of Axmen, Rebekah A. Mcdonald

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this study, the author uses mixed methods to analyze a three-dimensional place as a rhetorical artifact. The artifact, Axmen, is a family owned, for-profit retail store and a non-profit museum outside of Missoula, Montana. Using examples of the tangible and semiotic features found within the place, the author demonstrates and translates the rhetorical messages communicated there. These messages are then contrasted with the messages the owners and curators of Axmen want to communicate. The author argues that the current curation of museum artifacts and retail products is exclusive to white males, romanticizing blue collar work. This single-lens narrative of …

The Power In Dice And Foam Swords: Gendered Resistance In Dungeons And Dragons And Live-Action Roleplay, Rachel M. Just

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Much of the existing research on gaming suggests that women are often excluded from or discriminated against in gaming communities. However, few scholars focus on women’s positive experiences within those communities, and even fewer examine tabletop and live-action roleplaying games. In this thesis, I utilized Jurgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action, Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, and James C. Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts to analyze how in-game and out-of-game comradery among players created a space in which passive resistance against normative gender expectations was possible. Specifically, the question I wanted to answer was how do women communicatively enact …

Fertility And Reproduction's Niche: Human Sexual Diversity, Samuel W. Austin

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract: Biologically exploring the origins and forms of human sexuality is of paramount importance. Scientific research has indicated that homosexuality was linked to reproduction, fertility, and adaptive child caring strategies, traits that seem to display cross-cultural similarities. This suggests that sexual diversity may be one of human’s earliest adaptations. While most of the previous research has been on individuals of European descent, little research on Native American populations has been completed to test whether these patterns continue in their population.

The research presented here tests the Sexually Antagonistic Hypothesis for Male Homosexuality, Fraternal Birth Order Effect, and childhood atypical gender …

Better Talking Heads: Concerning Fuller "Experience" In Environmental Philosophy, Christina Bovinette

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Through this project, I demonstrate how professional environmental ethics is constrained by, what I call, a rationalist bias and I offer a different approach to environmental questions in the face of this observation. Intellectual life depends on material conditions and our necessary physical ties to Earth. I suggest that an emphasis on our physical connections with the planet can benefit professional environmental ethics. I draw from some feminist understandings to discuss the advantages of a professional environmental ethics that respects and integrates experiences outside of rational deliberation. I attempt to bring my discussion of experience, environmental ethics, and some feminist …

What Do You Think I Am?: On Perceiving Unintelligibility In The Nonbinary Gender Experience, James Warwood

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

What does it mean to be “retired from gender,” and what role does such an identity play in daily life? Engaging with the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Judith Butler, this project attempts to elucidate the experience of nonbinary – that is, external to the male/female gender binary – gendered individuals, and the ultimate unintelligibility of that experience. Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological approach to perception allows for an exploration of the social norms and regulations that determine how gender is defined in Western culture; combined with Butler’s significant work on gender and its performativity, phenomenology proves a useful tool for revealing the …

Privilege And Marginalization In Drag Communities In The United States, Dustin Satterfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Within the gay and lesbian community, there is a smaller community of drag performers. These entertainers make a performance of gender stereotypes. Non-male performers have observed that male privilege is reproduced in this community despite a hyper awareness of oppressions and gender status. Using an online questionnaire I examined male privilege and non-male marginalization in United States drag communities. I asked drag performers about their perceptions of themselves and their perceptions of other performers within their local drag communities. I find that self-perceptions of privilege are highest for male performers and self-perceptions of marginalization are higher for non-male performers. I …

Engendering The Past: An Archaeological Examination Of The Precontact Lifeways Of Women At Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Cathy J. Beecher

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines three lines of evidence within the precontact archaeological record around Yellowstone Lake, focusing on elucidating female-specific lifeways. This work is undertaken as a means to explore concepts of gender within precontact archaeological contexts. This aim is accomplished using statistical analysis of lithic tool distribution patterns, ethnohistoric information on plants found through archaeobotanical assays and the microspatial examination of cultural fire features.

Variation in the use of obsidian and chert for unifacial tool manufacture indicates potential restrictions on the manufacture of gender specific tools as these stone resources become less available. In addition, a frame-of-reference is built by …

'This Disc Is Not For A Bird Bath, It's For My Tractor': Exploring Gender, Sustainable Agriculture, And Networks In Western Montana, Eva Kathryn Rocke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Women’s presence in agriculture as farmers, consumers, advocates, and activists has become ever more apparent over the last two decades as census data, popular media, and academic literature increasingly reflect their work. Many of the farmers in western Montana practicing sustainable agriculture are women and have built relationships with other women farmers in the region through existing agriculture-focused organizations like Homegrown and the Western Montana Growers’ Cooperative. Even with the strong presence of these organizations, some women farmers feel there is potential for the formalization of a women farmer network in western Montana that would increase the opportunities for socialization …

The Comet Mine: An Engendered Study Of Victorian Consumption Practices And Material Culture On A Small Mining Landscape, Ryan E. Wendel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Comet mine is an early 20th-century, largely undocumented mining

community that existed along the periphery of the Coloma Mining District in the Garnet Range of western Montana. During the summer of 2010, archaeological excavations occurred at multiple features at the site. Through an analysis of cultural material found in deposits at the Comet, this study interprets the way in which patterns of refuse can reveal information about consumption behavior and evolving gender roles in mining communities in Montana, during late Victorian era.

Public Power, Private Matters: The American Social Hygiene Association And The Policing Of Sexual Health In The Progressive Era, Kayla Blackman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In 1914, a group of professionals chartered the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA), a private reform agency dedicated to the eradication of venereal disease. Over the next several years, the ASHA formed partnerships with other reform organizations and championed education and legal reform. In 1917, during World War I, the ASHA partnered with the federal government to set standards of sexual health for all American citizens. Chapter One explores the origins of the ASHA, focusing on the organization’s attention to international issues surrounding prostitution as well as its organizational partnerships with like-minded domestic reform agencies. By placing itself in dialogue …

The Effectiveness Of The Missoula Active 6 Afterschool Program On Participation And Health Outcomes, Carly Michelle Holman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The afterschool environment has arisen as one of the main settings for physical activity programs that aim to prevent childhood obesity and increase physical activity (Beets et al., 2009). The YMCA Active 6 program in was created in 2010 in reaction to the obesity and physical activity trends in Montana’s youth. The program aims to increase physical activity in sixth grade participants and to educate them on different components that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. The purpose of the study was to assess the Active 6 program’s impact on sixth grade students in Missoula, MT. by increasing physical activity, decreasing …

Gender, Body, And Wilderness: Searching For Refuge, Connection, And Ecological Belonging, Angela Marie Meyer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to explore, describe, and explain how people (gbtlq identified persons in particular) experience gender and body in wilderness settings. The motivations for this research include: the current context of gender and gender oppression in American society; the potential of wilderness experiences to offer different ways of being and escape from social constrictions; and gaps in the literature on gender and wilderness. A qualitative/interpretive approach was employed for this research which encompasses aspects of phenomenology, feminist methodology, and grounded theory. The results and analysis for this study yielded an analytical story about ecological belonging which …

Masculine Domesticity In The Mining West: An Archaeological Investigation At Coloma Ghost Town, Margaret Anne Thurlo

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The recovery of a scorifier, or roasting dish, at Feature 131 in Coloma, Montana led to the theory that the feature represented an assayer’s household. Historical documentation, in the form of a personal diary, revealed that the assayer at Coloma, Chester Pray, shared a cabin with another man. This revelation led to a particular question: what would the material record of an all-male household look like? The majority of previous engendered investigations into 19th century households focused on the role of women. Gender is often equated with women in historical and archaeological studies, and it became necessary to integrate literature …

Home Swede Home: The Archaeology Of Swedish Cultural Identity At A Western Homestead, Amanda Clare Haught

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the summer of 2003, the University of Idaho conducted an archaeological field school at the Nora Creek site under the direction of Dr. Mark Warner at a Swedish homestead just east of Troy, Idaho. The field school unearthed a plethora of historical artifacts including metal, glass, ceramic, and faunal items left behind by the inhabitants of the Johanson homestead in Nora, Idaho. Historical documentation indicates that the Johansons immigrated to America from Sweden in 1882 and they arrived in Nora in 1891. The research goal of this thesis is to determine whether and how a signature of Swedish identity …

"The Coming Man From Canton": Chinese Experience In Montana (1862-1943), Christopher William Merritt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Chinese immigrants who came to Montana during the 19th and 20th centuries forged a new community. The goals of this dissertation were to create a historical and archaeological context for Chinese Experience in Montana, and to frame the interpretation of these results within a social organization framework that highlights the role of Overseas Chinese voluntary organizations such as secret societies. Archaeologists and historians have studied the Chinese in Montana for a little over two decades, though nothing comprehensive has ever been attempted to sew together the various investigations. In addition, there has been no attempt to inventory all the …

Math Ability And Gendered Self-Perceptions, Lorianne Deleen Burhop

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Gender stereotypes continue to be prevalent in American society and have the potential to influence the self-perceptions of both males and females. One stereotype that has been particularly persistent is the belief that mathematics is a masculine subject and that males are inherently better at math than females. Despite increasing evidence showing males and females to be equally competent in the subject, previous studies have indicated that females frequently underestimate their abilities to succeed in mathematics. This study uses data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88) and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002). Both …

A Test Of General Strain Theory: Exploring Gender Specific Emotional And Behavioral Variation, Sarah Rae Puckett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Traditional sociological theories examining delinquency typically were formulated to explain male behavior. With the universal recognition of the crime-gender gap, it is important to determine the applicability of these theories to female delinquency. This research uses the National Survey of Children (1981) to test propositions from general strain theory, specifically those outlined by Broidy and Agnew (1997). The data set allows for an expansion of the types of strain and delinquency typically examined in strain tests. Ordinary least squares regression, path analysis and a series of t-tests were used to determine variations in male and female emotional and behavioral responses …