Arts and Humanities Commons^™

From Desegregation To Desexigration In Richmond, Virginia, 1954-1973, Leslee Key

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation explores the relationships and experiences in the urban community that connected black and white women to understand the complexities of Jim Crow, its breakdown, and the subsequent expansion of female activism in Richmond, Virginia. By examining the South’s famous department stores, Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads, this research attempts to focus on female-created and female-oriented spaces within downtown Richmond, from 1954 until 1973, and draws a line from the Thalhimer boycott staged by African-American women in 1961 to the sit-in performed by white women in the Thalhimers male-only soup bar in 1970. Historical context is developed to show …

For The Benefit Of Others: Harriet Martineau: Feminist, Abolitionist And Travel Writer, Laura J. Labovitz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

One of the distinctive and remarkable traits of Harriet Martineau was her need to publish information that she believed would benefit society. Her publications - Illustrations of Political Economy (1832), Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838) - have the distinct characteristic of being published with the intent to inform and educate the British public. Scholars have focused on her later 1848 publication, Eastern Life: Present and Past, as her most important publication. Yet I will argue that it was her earlier works which set the stage for this later, better known book. Her travel to the …

Sexualized Violence, Moral Disintegration And Ethical Advocacy, Melissa Mosko

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation develops and defends a conception of sexualized violence that is rooted in philosophical theories of violence, and at the same time helps us understand the way that violence is connected to various kinds of oppression, namely, the oppression of women. It argues that sexualized violence, which is typically theorized through related notions of physical violation and psychological trauma, is best understood in terms of its moral quality. Sexualized violence against women is fundamentally a moral problem insofar as it disrupts victims' ability to grow and develop in relationships with others, to conceive and meet responsibilities to and emerging …

"This Murder Done": Misogyny, Femicide, And Modernity In 19th-Century Appalachian Murder Ballads, Christina Ruth Hastie

Masters Theses

This thesis contextualizes Appalachian murder ballads of the 19^th- and early 20^th-centuries through a close reading of the lyric texts. Using a research frame that draws from the musicological and feminist concepts of Diana Russell, Susan McClary, Norm Cohen, and Christopher Small, I reveal 19^th-century Appalachia as a patriarchal, modern, and highly codified society despite its popularized image as a culturally isolated and “backward” place. I use the ballads to demonstrate how music serves the greater cultural purpose of preserving and perpetuating social ideologies. Specifically, the murder ballads reveal layers of meaning regarding hegemonic …

Féminisme Français : Fait, Fiction, Jennifer Granina

Honors Theses

What gives power to an idea? What makes it real in the hearts and minds of people who believe in it? What creates the desire to struggle for this idea, an ethereal and elusive conception? These are the questions that must be considered by philosophers, by those who believe enough in an idea to make it a reality. It was the mission of feminists in France since the beginning of the 19th century. For them, feminism was not a movement that had a beginning and an end, it was a force, present in the world since the creation of the …

To Be Alive - Is Power: Fullers Feminine Ideal Realized In Dickinsons Poems, Emma A. Krosschell

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between nineteenth-century American feminism, transcendentalism, and poetry through an analysis of Margaret Fuller’s essay Woman in the Nineteenth Century in tandem with Emily Dickinson’s collected poems. Fuller presents an original type of feminist optimism influenced by the precepts of the American transcendentalist movement. Her essay employs the transcendental belief in the possibility for human semi-divinity in order to proclaim that women, rather than men, possess unique potential for transcendence. As a result, Fuller theorizes that with women’s social, sexual, and intellectual liberation, a certain ideal woman will be able to transcend not only women’s limited …

Repetitive Acts Now, Leigh K. Peacock Ms.

Art and Design Theses

This paper explains at the intersection of Memory theory, Feminist Theory, Existential Psychology, Faith and Contemporary Art, I have found a way to embrace and integrate memories and experiences into my art and be a more fully integrated, emotionally healthy person living fully in the present moment. I articulate my exploration of the broad concept of memory and addressing unresolved negative memories in order to realize healthy change in forming my identity.

Through art and philosophical research I have found substantial corroboration, conceptually supporting my information supporting my Post Minimal art making process. I employ memory evoking materials through the …

The Seduction Of Feminist Theory, Erin Amann Holliday-Karre

Dissertations

My dissertation, "The Seduction of Feminist Theory," comes out of my research on South African fiction and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and focuses broadly on feminist theory and the question of female power. Traditionally feminist theory has sought to empower women by insisting on their equality to men and by allowing their voices to be heard. But in trying to understand why women did not speak about their personal victimization at the TRC hearings, and why so many women characters in South African fiction are unable or unwilling to speak, I have come to see that women do not …

A Solution To “The Woman Question”: Envisioning The Japanese Woman In The Bijin-Ga Of Japan's Modern Print Designers, Amanda Tobin

Honors Papers

My essay addresses the portrayal of women in early 20th-century Japanese prints. I examine the "bijin-ga," or "pictures of beautiful women," of Shin-hanga (New Prints) and Sosaku-hanga (Creative Prints) artists, focusing on the "after the bath" trope. These artists claimed to create woodblock prints that were both Japanese and modern, updating aesthetics and techniques. Their chosen subject matter, however, represents a psychological anchor against the widespread social changes of the Taisho Period (1912-1926) in Japan, during which time "new women" and "modern girls" were crafting public roles for women based on political activism and liberated sexuality.

Technologies Of Apprehension: The Family, Law, Security, And Geopolitics In Us Noncitizen Family Detention Policy And Practice, Lauren Leigh Martin

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how US immigrant family detention policy emerged from reinvigorated border security priorities, immigration policing practices, and international migration flows. Based on a qualitative mixed methods approach, the research traces how discourses of threat, vulnerability, and safety produce detainable child and parent subjects that displace “the family” as a legal entity. I show that immigration law relies on specific kinds of geographical knowledge, producing what I call the ‘geopolitics of vulnerability.’ More broadly, I analyze how current immigration enforcement practices work at local, national, and international scales, so that detention deters future migration as much as it penalizes …

Mirroring The Madness: Caribbean Female Development In The Works Of Elizabeth Nunez, Lauren Delli Santi

MA in English Theses

Elizabeth Nunez is a Trinidadian author, critic, and professor who explores the development of female identity within Trinidadian society through her fictional and critical writings. Nunez's article, "The Paradoxes of Belonging," questions the identity of the white creole woman in the Caribbean as she lives in exile due to rejection from her European heritage as well as Afro-Caribbean society. Nunez questions this shaping and questioning of identity through her own fictional works with the formation of her female characters. She uses her native country of Trinidad as the main setting to develop black and biracial female characters and utilizes the …

Nongovernmental Organizations And Sex Work In Cambodia: Development Perspectives And Feminist Agendas, Jessica Catherine Schmid

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This project focuses on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Cambodia that deal, either directly or indirectly, with sex work and sex workers. The NGOs outlined in this study have goals ranging from preventing Cambodian women from entering the commercial sex industry to empowering Cambodian sex workers through the formation of sex worker unions. Through the textual analysis of documents and web materials disseminated by these NGOs and from interviews with representatives from the NGOs, I seek to analyze how underlying assumptions about development and about the commercial sex industry shape the ways in which the personnel leading these NGOs think and …

Conversations From The Classroom: Reflections On Feminist Music Therapy Pedagogy In Teaching Music Therapy, Nicole Hahna

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Four music therapy educators participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews as part of a qualitative study. The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomena of feminist pedagogy as experienced by music therapy educators using phenomenological inquiry. The study examined the following research questions: (a) do music therapy educators use feminist music therapy pedagogy in teaching music therapy, (b) if so, how do they use feminist music therapy pedagogy, (c) what is their experience in using feminist music therapy pedagogy, and (d) how do feminist music therapy educators define their use of feminist pedagogy in undergraduate and graduate music therapy …

Seeking The Face Behind The Face: Rosenzweig And Nietzsche Opening To The Feminine Divine, Sharon Mar Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study begins with a reading of Franz Rosenzweig's Star of Redemption and Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra in a manner that offers evidence for what I call a feminine divine. In reading the Star against Zarathustra I explore how even as Rosenzweig appears to praise Nietzsche as being emblematic of Rosenzweig's "new thinking," Rosenzweig eventually finds Nietzsche falls short, (or, in other words, Rosenzweig critiques Nietzsche in suggesting his pagan roots prevent him from ever reaching Revelation). I suggest Nietzsche's texts do indicate a type of divine inspiration, but it is one coming not from the Father God of …

Teaching Activist Intelligence: Feminism, The Educational Experience And The Applied Women's Studies Department At Cgu, Tara Chaffee Robinson

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The need to teach students how to be community activists becomes increasingly relevant as women's studies continues to evolve from its activist roots. Living in a culture that discourages activist work, many women's studies students feel passionately about activist issues, but with frustrating paralysis. For this reason, many of them pursue graduate degrees to equip themselves for an activist-oriented life, since they are not sure how to do this themselves. Without the presence of a concrete social movement, women's studies students need activist behavior and community modeled for them through the institution of the university. Teaching feminist activism to women's …

The Intricacies Of M.F.K. Fisher: Discovering A Kaleidoscopic Hybridity, Elizabeth Lee Sleeper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to analyze M.F.K. Fisher's socio-historic role and the components of her texts as a means to interrogate the categorization of her writing, to identify her authorial voice, and to see how it all contributes to and proves that Fisher is a `kaleidoscopic' hybrid writer. I utilize theoretical positions such as New Historicism, Feminism, Genre Theory, and Everyday Theory to help me identify and explain the hybrid tendencies of Fisher's writing. It is not a comprehensive study of her texts in light of these theories, but rather, it is a broad overview in order to demonstrate alternative readings …

Women And Bodily Separation In Literature From The Victorian Era Until Today, Delisa Leonard

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The dualities that are often associated with female characters have taken many forms throughout the centuries. In the Victorian era, female characters were often presented as dual natured; oftentimes this division was represented through the use of a madwoman and a heroine. In the early 20th century, however, this motif was picked up by female poets, who used duality in order to express the disconnect women often feel from their family, their friends, and, especially, their bodies. In today‟s literature, these feelings of duality and separation are expressed through a literal separation, not between good and evil, but of body …

Sexually Explicit, Socially Empowered: Sexual Liberation And Feminist Discourse In 1960s Playboy And Cosmopolitan, Lina Salete Chaves

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I provide an analysis of 1960s American popular culture by examining Playboy, "The Playboy Philosophy," Cosmopolitan, and Sex and the Single Girl. These cultural artifacts furthered the feminist movement by challenging gender structures and sexuality. I discuss how these publications focused on the advancement of the individual through careerism, consumerism and sexuality. These publications assisted in challenging and breaking down various aspects of gender and sexual boundaries and assisted in reworking social limitations that kept women from advancing themselves outside of the pre-set gender roles of domesticity. Regardless of the traditional feminist critique of …

Identidad, Exilio Y Memoria En La Narrativa De Tres Autoras Argentinas (Luisa Futoransky, Tununa Mercado Y Luisa Valenzuela), Elsa Menendez Della Torre

Wayne State University Dissertations

Se investiga la narrativa de Luisa Futoransky, Tununa Mercado y Luisa Valenzuela y la influencia del alejamiento de Argentina, afectaron sus perspectivas e identidad. Sus narrativas se posicionan en el movimiento literario posmoderno por su rompiemiento con los cánones narrativos convencionales. La metodología utilizada para este proyecto incluye teorías de Phillipe Lejeune y Silvia Molloy (autobiografia), Serge Doubrovsky (autoficcion) y Julia Kristeva (exilio y feminismo) entre otros. Se consideran también los acercamientos de diversos críticos y psicólogos en lo que respecta al exilio y a la memoria. Posteriormente se analiza la obra narrativa de Luisa Futoransky y su aproximación a …

Yahweh As Father: The Image In Ancient Israelite Context And Modern Appropriation, Joshua Wayne Lovelace

MA in Religion Theses

The goal of this thesis was to appropriate the image of Yahweh as father for modern Christendom in light of feminist critiques of the image. The methods in accomplishing this task were as follows: defining feminism and feminist biblical interpretation, conveying the critiques of Rosemary Radford Ruether and Julia M. O'Brien who were scholarly dialogue partners, studying the social milieu of ancient Israel, using historical, literary, textual, and social criticism to exegete texts that mention Yahweh as father, comparing findings of exegesis with social milieu of ancient Israel, responding to critiques of Ruether and O'Brien, and lastly taking the findings …

Beating The Red Stick, Tracey Anne Duncan

LSU Master's Theses

My thesis explores the history of Roller Derby, its modern revival, and the way that it changes the lives of the women who play it. From October 2009 to March 2011, I conducted ethnographic research and interviews with the Red Stick Roller Derby in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My perspective is that of an observer turned player, and the piece centers around my own story of personal transformation. This work is part cultural history, part ethnography, and part memoir, written from an explicitly feminist perspective.

Unveiled Pandemonium, Christina Marie Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

Unveiled Pandemonium is a body of work that acknowledges my struggles, as a woman, with skewed self-perception and how frayed, decayed bits of self-love affect interaction with daily life: the public sphere versus the private. Using both large-scale graphite drawings and intimately sized, full-color digital narrative sequences, I portray movement, as a state of freedom, while capturing each character in a position of physical or emotional constraint. To increase the tension each figure interacts with another visually and in narrative; a war with the self begins. Within the engagement of internal and external tensions, each character’s body becomes a battlefield …