Women's History Commons^™

Beginning With The Body: Fleshy Politics In The Performance Art Of Rebecca Belmore And Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Samantha Balzer

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article examines what I term the "fleshy" politics of Rebecca Belmore's 2002 Vigil and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's contributions to the 2009 version of the performance project Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility. Focusing on the embodied performances of both Belmore and Piepzna-Samarasinha, I read the skin of the artist as a site where complex politics develop. This analysis is broken into three sections: the first considers the relationship between the performing body and the performance space; the second attends to specific movements each artist makes; the third focuses on garments worn in each …

Finding The Witch’S Mark: Female Participation In The Judicial System During The Hopkins Trials 1645-47, Shannon M. Lundquist

Departmental Honors Projects

Between the years of 1645 and 1647 in East Anglia, a series of witch trials known as the Hopkins Trials took place. In all, 250 witches were accused and 100 hanged. The ability to convict a person of the crime of witchcraft relied heavily on evidence which was hard to come by given the nature of the crime of witchcraft. Tangible proof of an intangible crime was needed; this came in the form of witch’s marks. To the learned population, marks were a symbol of the witch’s covenant with the devil. To the lay person, they were called ‘teats’ and …

Feminist Interruptions: Creating Care-Ful And Collaborative Community-Based Research With Students, Kelly Concannon, Laura Finley, Nadine Grifoni, Stephanie Wong

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article describes a feminist community-based research project involving faculty and student collaboration to evaluate a dating and domestic violence awareness initiative. Using a critical ethics of care that emphasizes relationships and allows for constant reflection about power dynamics, role, positionality, and emotions, the authors reflect on what was learned during the research process. Faculty and student researchers share their perspectives and offer suggestions for future feminist collaborative research projects. Significant lessons learned include ensuring that all are invested from the outset of the project, guaranteeing that student researchers understand why their role is so critical in community-based research, and …

Teaching Against Hierarchies: An Anarchist Approach, Stephanie Spoto

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The state of California spends more on prisons than on colleges and universities, and the fact that these two budgetary figures are often compared shows the relationship between the two state institutions. Our classrooms, starting from a very early stage, not only prepare children to be productive members of the consumer economy but educate them for complacency in the face of state violence and mass incarceration. In attempting to move away from hierarchical models of education, this article looks at the feminist pedagogical theory of bell hooks and antiauthoritarian and anarchist theorists such as Jacques Rancière and Derrick Jensen in …

Mother Of A New World? Stereotypical Representations Of Black Women In Three Postapocalyptic Films, Karima K. Jeffrey

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This essay explores three cinematic representations of Black matriarchs who play prophetic roles in redeeming humanity in the midst of apocalyptic change: Ika (Quest for Fire), Kee (Children of Men), and The Oracle (The Matrix trilogy). Not only do these courageous women resist the politics of domination, rebelling against a dying status quo, but they "give birth" to the leaders needed to rebuild a world in chaos and decay. One film ends with a pregnant woman rubbing her belly as she stands on the precipice of evolutionary change; another positions a mother and newborn adrift, waiting to be found by …

From The Editors, Anna M. Klobucka, Jeannette E. Riley, Catherine Villanueva Gardner

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

"Remembrance Will Cling To Us Through Life": Kate Bushman's Memoir Of The Battle Of Gettysburg, Brian Matthew Jordan

Adams County History

Kate Bushman never expected that the Civil War would visit her tiny town. Nor could she have predicted the life altering impact of Gettysburg’s grisly scenes, indelibly etched into the folds of her memory. The best evidence of that transformation is the remarkable memoir of the battle and its aftermath that she obediently entered into her leather-bound scrapbook sometime in the early 1870s. Leaving no room for pretense, she recognized that the events she witnessed were significant, and that hers was important historical testimony. No longer just another devoted wife, mother, and Unionist, she was “an eye witness.” [excerpt …

Ua1c11/64 Anna & Betty Cook Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs of Anna & Betty Cook removed from scrapbook.

"Feminist Lawyers And Political Change In Modern France, 1900-1940." In Eva Schandevyl Ed., Women In Law And Law-Making In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Europe, Chapter 2. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2014: 45-73., Sara L. Kimble

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty and Staff Works

This research considers how French female lawyers participated in legal reform during the period from 1900 to 1940. Frenchwomen were admitted to the legal profession in 1900 by an act of parliament and this reform brought political implications in its wake. My research on the first cadres of female lawyers illustrates that that they were unusually political active. As unequal members of the profession and unequal citizens in the society many of these new professionals engaged in a vigorous defense of equality and justice.

"Playthings Of A Historical Process": Prostitution In Spanish Society From The Restoration To The Civil War (1874-1939), Ann Kirkpatrick

Scripps Senior Theses

Spain underwent a series of tumultuous social and political changes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Prostitute women directly experienced these changes as fluctuations in their social and legal status within Spanish society. The years spanning from 1874 to 1931 are known as the Restoration, when the Bourbon monarchy was reinstalled under King Alfonso XII (1857-1885) after the crumbling of the First Spanish Republic (1873-1874). During this time, Spain experienced a period of growing nationalism and urbanization, and prostitution began to be interpreted as a threat to the nation in terms of public health and decency. Between 1923 …

Unpacking The Suitcase: The Real Last Chapter Of Alice Paul And Peg Edwards’S Activism, And Why These Stories Matter, Clark Edwards 14

Honor Scholar Theses

I was fortunate enough to find a thesis topic within my own family. My paternal grandmother was guardian ad litem for Alice Paul in the later 1970s. Paul was instrumental in securing the passage of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and author of the Equal Rights Amendment among other contributions for women’s rights. Fortunately my grandmother saved court records, letters, her notes, and more for her period of activism with Paul and as part of the Ridgefield Connecticut National Women’s Political Caucus. I knew nothing of my grandmother’s work until last year. My thesis seeks …

Social Childbirth And Communities Of Women In Early America, Jocelyn Jessop 14

Honor Scholar Theses

None

Atatürk's Balancing Act: The Role Of Secularism In Turkey, Patrick G. Rear

Global Tides

The intersection of religion and politics in the form of a civil religion has been present since time immemorial. This paper looks specifically to the relationship between Turkey’s development of a secular civil religion after gaining independence and the advancing of women’s rights and democratic values. In examining the intersections of state and religion in a secular Islamic society, it draws parallels to the French civil religion as it came to be following the French Revolution. Though Atatürk and other secularists were strong forces in developing the civil religion, the paper also examines liberal democratic and conservative Islamic groups in …

Professor Xavier Is A Gay Traitor! An Antiassimilationist Framework For Interpreting Ideology, Power And Statecraft, Michael Loadenthal

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Ideology is an integral component in the reproduction of power. Integral to this central tenet of statecraft is the regulation of identity and proscribed methods of social engagement—positive portrayals of "good citizenry" and delegitimized representations of those challenging hegemony. Through an Althusserian and linguistic analysis, positioning the X-Men movie franchise as an Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), one can examine the lives of mutants portrayed in the text as indicative of preferred methods of state-legitimized sociopolitical interaction. This metaphorical and textual analysis is used to discuss the lived realities of queer persons resisting hegemony, and is located in the bodies and …

Portrait Of The Feminist As A Publisher: A Conversation With Urvashi Butalia, Anupama Arora, Sandrine Sanos

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Education, Intersectionality And Social Change, Lena Wånggren, Maja Milatovic

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Queer Desires And Critical Pedagogies In Higher Education: Reflections On The Transformative Potential Of Non-Normative Learning Desires In The Classroom, Jennifer Fraser, Sarah Lamble

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article considers what a queer approach might offer in addressing some of the challenges of higher education in the contemporary neoliberal landscape. Despite a rich literature on queer issues in the classroom, most of the existing scholarship has focused on engaging queer students, being a queer teacher, or teaching queer content in the curriculum. Very little work has focused on what it means to take a queer approach to pedagogic techniques or how such an approach might impact educational practices more broadly. We ask: What does it mean in theory and practice to “queer” our teaching methods? What role …

Teaching Postcolonial Literature In An Elite University: An Edinburgh Lecturer’S Perspective, Michelle Keown

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This reflective essay explores some of the pedagogical challenges I have faced in teaching postcolonial literature and theory at the University of Edinburgh. There are particular social dynamics at work at Edinburgh that make engaging with intersectionality, particularly in the context of colonialism and racism, a rather complex endeavor. Edinburgh is a Russell Group university, and our undergraduate constituency is overwhelmingly white, middle class and British, with a high proportion of students coming from British public-school backgrounds. Many of these students approach postcolonial writing with well-meaning liberal intentions, but often adopt what Graham Huggan (2001) would term an exoticizing perspective …

Call To Duty: Women And World War I, Jennifer D. Keene

History Faculty Articles and Research

"Watching loved ones depart, uncertain if they would return—this was an experience that women around the world shared during the Great War. The continual scene of women sending men off to fight was troubling; paradoxically, it was also a familiar, traditional ritual that reinforced gender roles within western societies. "

Girl Power: The Episcopate And Female Agency In The Central Middle Ages, Jackie Brooks

Anthós

In 1076, Henry IV, King of Germany (1056-1106), convened a synod of bishops with the intention of denouncing and deposing Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) in response to the latter’s actions after the Lenten Synod of 1075. A majority of the German bishops present, allied with Henry, produced a letter to Gregory in which they renounced the method of his ascension to the papacy, as well as the methods he employed to achieve the reform he sought. In one passage, they particularly renounced Gregory’s well-known close relationships with several powerful women. The complaints of the bishops revolve around the belief that …

Battles On The Harbor: Inter-Labor Conflict, Anti-Communism, Women's Auxiliaries, And The Murder Of Laura Law, Todd Andrew Goings

All Master's Theses

This thesis examines the volatile political and social contexts surrounding the January 1940 murder of labor activist Laura Law on Grays Harbor, Washington. Through an analysis of conflicts within the organized labor movement, anti-labor and anti-communist groups, and the expanding spheres of activity of women's auxiliaries in the community, this study argues that each of these factors played a significant part in the creation of an extremely dangerous atmosphere for militant unionists in the community. This thesis further argues that Laura Law and her husband, Dick Law, occupied the center of Grays Harbor's radical labor community, and thus were targeted …

Women And Evangelical Individualism, Danielle C. Kuehn

All Master's Theses

By comparing the way male ministers presented their faith in gendered terms during the First Great Awakening to the responses of women who embraced their doctrine, the study examines whether women gained autonomy from the evangelical emphasis on individual choice and responsibility. Primary sources were the foundation for the research and included sermons from the most prominent ministers of the era, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. Journals of women evangelicals were invaluable resources providing first hand accounts of the implications of gender roles and religious ideology in evangelicals' lives during and following the Great Awakening. The primary documents studied here …

Whores And The Law: A Case Study Of The Sexual Double Standard And The Contagious Diseases Acts In Mid-Nineteenth Century England, Alexandra Wallis

Theses : Honours

This thesis examines how the sexual double standard in mid-nineteenth century England disempowered women and female prostitutes through the Contagious Diseases Acts of the 1860s. The Acts were created in an attempt to lower venereal disease among the soldiers in the British army. The method for this was to target prostituted women suspected of being infected and have them examined after which they could be interned in a lock hospital for three to nine months. Radical feminism has done much to highlight the harm experienced by women in prostitution. Thus using radical feminism, in particular the theoretical perspective of Catharine …

Exhume Cedaw From Its Grave: An Analysis Of The Actors Who Helped To Bury The Convention On The Elimination Of Discrimination Against Women In The United States, Kasie Durkit

Honors Projects

In November of 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed what was one of the most comprehensive women’s rights treaties of its kind: the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Authored by United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, “CEDAW” was designed to galvanize states to take all appropriate measures to modify existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against women. As of April of 2014, 187 world countries have signed and ratified CEDAW, thereby adopting many of its principles. Yet, the United States is one of only seven countries (including Iran and Sudan no less) not …

Review Essay: Engaging Feminist Histories, Elizabeth Groeneveld

Women's & Gender Studies Faculty Publications

This review essay considers three recently published texts that centrally engage with the question of how one writes about feminisms and feminist histories in ways that do justice to their complexity and dynamism.

“Like Husband And Wife”: The Role Of Susan B. Anthony And Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Friendship In Advancing Their Personal And Professional Successes, Maritza Mestre 14

Honor Scholar Theses

None

Reexamining The 1950s American Housewife: How Ladies Home Journal Challenged Domestic Expectations During The Postwar Period, Margaret Bonaparte

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis examines the role that Ladies Home Journal played in challenging the ideals of domesticity that emerged in the postwar period in the United States. Originally founded in 1883, Ladies Home Journal emerged from World War II as the most popular and highly circulated women’s magazine. Husband and wife duo Bruce and Beatrice Gould served as co-editors-in-chief from 1935 to 1962, and populated the magazine with numerous ambitious and talented female writers and editors. Many of these female staff members also married and had children, while maintaining their careers. During an era where employees discriminated against women in the …

Could The Girls Be Counseled?, Christy L. Spurlock

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Females attending Western Kentucky University in the late 1950s and 1960s had a much different dress code and residence hall rules than their male counterparts.

Holes In The Historical Record: The Politics Of Torture In Great Britain, The United States, And Argentina, 1869-1977, Lynsey Chediak

CMC Senior Theses

While many politicians gain national or international acclaim, domestic political activists are rarely remembered for their dedication and, similarly, their sufferings. More specifically, the acts of female political activists, and the harsh punishments they endure following government pushback, are not appreciated or acknowledged by popular histories.

Across Great Britain, the United States, and Argentina, three women played crucial roles in advancing reform against unjust government policies. Josephine Butler (1828-1906) was a pivotal character in repealing laws allowing for the government regulation of prostitution, the Contagious Diseases Acts, in Great Britain. Similarly, Alice Paul (1885-1997) was essential in achieving the ratification …

Keeping House On The Comstock: Irish Immigrant Women In Nevada, 1850-1880, Christina M. Thompson

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The lives of Irish immigrant women in Nevada during the mid-nineteenth century have not been studied at great length to date. This project attempts to explore the relationship that these women had with their communities, their families, and themselves while comparing their experiences to the lives of Irish immigrant women living in the larger Irish communities located on the east coast of the United States.