Feminist Philosophy Commons^™

The Power Of The Written Word: An Exploration Of Writing As Craft And Pedagogy, Kristen Charlesworth

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio is an exploration of writing, both as a crafted process and a subject of pedagogy. It includes three pieces of vastly different genres, which have one overlapping theoretical notion: autonomy is a key ingredient to successful writing at any level. Student success, creative writing, and scholarly research are all enhanced when the writer is given opportunities to guide their own process. The selected works of this portfolio serve as examples of how student autonomy is not only possible in the classroom, but of the overwhelmingly positive effect it has on the writing process, student engagement, and ultimately, academic …

Speculum Feminarum: Feminine Representation And Identity In Fifteenth-Century France, Karli R. Snyder

Art & Art History ETDs

Late medieval views of women in Western European culture, specifically in fifteenth-century France, were predicated on the ideologies of "other." According to normative sociocultural attitudes of this period, women were immoral, lascivious, and indulged in frivolity. Their culturally acceptable and, therefore, natural roles were delineated solely as that of wife and mother. Although the origin of these views is obscured by time, there are scores of textual and visual examples of this cultural labeling. This thesis focuses on how the ideologies of feminine sociocultural roles developed and matured during the late Middle Ages. By comparatively analyzing copies of the visual …

The Decoloniality Of Feeling: On Sandovalian Praxis, Ceremony, And Emancipatory Politics In The Classroom And Beyond, Kristian E. Vasquez

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

"The Decoloniality of Feeling: On Sandovalian Praxis, Ceremony, and Emancipatory Politics in the Classroom and Beyond" by Kristan E. Vásquez.

Beyond The Horizons Of Desire: Salme's Subjectivity In "Salman Und Morolf", Aysha M. Strachan

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Salme in the Middle High German epic poem Salman und Morolf (twelfth–fifteenth century) is conventionally read as a wild, dangerous, animalistic object waiting to be tamed by the men who fight for her hand. An in-depth analysis of her character is long overdue, and this article argues that Salme is a pertinent example of how female figures resist being “tamed” altogether. She is the movable object of multiple bridal quests for which she is ambiguously responsible. The unreachable, exoticized, and foreignized object of men’s desire, Salme embodies the drive of the western man to possess a fantasy of the Orient, …

Complicity, Eliana Luxemburg-Peck

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What does it mean to be complicit in diffuse collective wrongs like structural racism, gender-based oppression, or environmental damage, and what responsibilities are entailed by complicity? Moral philosophers have often understood complicity to consist in some degree of inherited culpability, arising from knowing or intentional contributions to the bad acts of a primary wrongdoer. But these theories fail to explain complicity in the foregoing contexts, and cannot justify needed efforts to hold individuals accountable for unwitting contributions to systemic wrongs and injustices. In response to this gap, my dissertation defends a novel reconceptualization of complicity as participation in collectively perpetrated …

Chinese Feminist Philosophy: Philosophizing Chinese Feminism In Transcultural Contexts, Yuanfang Dai

Comparative Philosophy

This paper aims to develop a Chinese feminist philosophy while positioning a transcultural approach as an alternative to transnational and national feminism. It focuses on Chinese feminist scholarship from the mid-1990s to the present. My main argument is that the intellectual development of Chinese feminist scholarship in the past three decades has been significantly influenced by U.S.-centric global feminism and international feminism, while at the same time being drawn from an existing history of feminism in China and reflections on the complicated relationship between global influences and local Chinese conditions. Transcultural feminism is something I see emerging out of the …

Praying To Tiktok, Seeking The Self: How Rhetoric Reveals And Conceals The World’S Most Powerful Guru Of The Postindustrial Age, Samantha L. Gillespie-Hoffman

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Imagine a world where the most powerful leader is a wellness guru that runs an elaborate church with millions of followers. The guru is so powerful that everyone believes they can read minds and make ordinary people rich and famous. The guru controls forms of communication, media channels, consumer tastes, and what people eat, drink, say, and even think. What if this guru was not human but actually an algorithm? Does this sound like the plot of a science fiction novel? I argue that this scenario is closer to reality than most will admit. In this project, readers encounter a …

Storywood: Collaborating With Opaque Unknowable Others Through Oil Painting, Tanya J. Behrisch

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper demonstrates the use of contemplation and arts-based research (ABR) to explore intersubjectivity between myself and other opaque beings. Through a walking meditation, I experience an affective encounter with a plywood board found lying on a beach. The board radiates agency and mysterious stories about its passage through the world. Drawing on philosopher Tim Lilburn’s concept of permeable attention and Bennett’s theory of vibrant matter, I discover the storied nature of the damaged board and resonances between its stories and my own. By practicing perceptual openness, I discern vitality shimmering beyond the visible surface of the board. During my …

Uses Of The Intuition: The Role Of Intuition In Birth Work (Towards An Intuitive Epistemology), Kayla R. Reece

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Intuitive knowledge ought to be esteemed, practiced, and integrated alongside traditional forms of knowledge. The coloniality of knowledge has structured our society’s ways of thinking to suppress knowledges which reside in non-hegemonic formations and sources, such as our bodies and intuitions. This paper assesses the uses of the intuition as potential sites of an intuitive epistemology through the author’s experience as an intuitive tarot card reader and through the experiences of six BIPOC birth workers living and working in the United States. I conceptualize the intuition as embodied, relational, and predictive, which offers a framework that privileges information one can …

The Realm That I Am: An Interdisciplinary Memoir On Identity And Healing, Maria Rowen Flores

University Honors Theses

This thesis is an interdisciplinary exploration into identity, self, and meaning-making. Engaging queer studies, Chicano/a Studies, narrative therapy, creative nonfiction, and visual arts, this project is both a collage and self-portrait in two parts. Part one uses the ideas of philosophers Gloria Anzaldúa, María Lugones, Jack Halberstam, and Judith Butler to explore identity formation in the author’s family and social contexts. Part two follows the experience of having C-PTSD and uses memoir and creative writing to explore the narrative therapeutic mode. Both sections explore themes of identity, social isolation, relationships, failure, mental illness, trauma, and addiction. The work is underscored …

Wuwei Praxis, Zachary L. Gelnaw-Rubin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The question of how to change the world is answered in the concept of praxis. For structural change to occur a “revolution in motivation or feeling,” - a paradigm shift - is needed. I argue that this requires the adoption of feminist liberation praxis, which involves a negativistic political stance, nonideal theorizing, and an openness to self-transformation. This entails a transformation of the concept of praxis itself within the Leftist idiom, a transformation which could be the linchpin of the needed paradigm shift in the larger culture.

The three parts of this thesis elaborate upon the different aspects of this …

Audre Lorde, Feminism, And Love, Emee Port

The Corinthian

This paper attempts to connect the topics of feminism and intersectionality in Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider to love. Feminists should look at race and class as well as gender in order to create a more accepting and inclusive movement. Lorde reasons that many women of color are wary of feminist movements because it pushes racial differences to the side only to focus on gendered oppression. It is important for feminists to recognize racial and class differences on top of gender so that more people feel welcomed to get involved. Love for one another is a driving force for inclusivity and …

An Existentialist Love, Garrett T. Harrison

The Corinthian

This paper seeks to establish an existentialist concept of virtuous Love by discussing the works of famous modern Existentialist thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus within the realm of Love as discussed by Bell Hooks and Skye Cleary. It also seeks to express the significance of this Love within modern society. Our notion of Existentialist Love is built upon Sartre’s concept of authenticity, and branches into the inter-personal through Beauvoir’s notion of reciprocal, virtuous love. It is then expounded into the greater collective through a discussion of fear as the breeder of inauthenticity and is …

Vrouwenwerk | Beyondtheglassceiling: Educate, Empower, Reimagine, Malou Lena Julia Desplenter

Master's Theses

In contemporary society, social media platforms have emerged as powerful tools for advocacy and activism. This thesis explores the potential of Instagram in raising awareness and fostering dialogue around workplace equity for women in Belgium. Inspired by influential women's advocacy accounts, I embarked on a journey to fill a noticeable gap in the digital landscape – the absence of Belgian-centric content addressing workplace empowerment for women. Grounded in the unique intersections of Belgian national policies, European Union directives, and global socio-economic dynamics, this capstone delves into the multifaceted challenges faced by Belgian women in the workplace.

Through critical historical analysis …

Teaching Margaret Cavendish’S Philosophy: Early Modern Women And The Question Of Biography, Peter West

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In my contribution to this Concise Collection on Margaret Cavendish, I focus on teaching Cavendish’s work in the context of philosophy (and, more specifically, Early Modern Philosophy). I have three aims. First, to explain why teaching women from philosophy’s history is crucially important to the discipline. Second, to outline my own reflections on teaching Cavendish’s philosophy. Third, to defend a specific claim about the benefits of teaching Cavendish to philosophy students; namely, that introducing biographical detail alongside philosophical ideas enriches the learning experience.

"Because They Recognized Us": Triangulated Perspectives Of Syrian Mothers' Resettlement Experiences In The Eastern United States., Kayte Thomas

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Research indicates that post-resettlement experiences can be particularly challenging for people with refugee status. Despite finding safety in and adjusting to their new home, former refugees have indicated that this time can be stressful and even traumatic. The current Syrian crisis has created the largest wave of refugees ever known, and Syrian women are amongst the most vulnerable. However, women’s needs and preferences are often not taken into consideration during the resettlement journey and when they are, there is no distinction between mothers and their childless counterparts. As social workers strive to empower the individual person within their environment, it …

Parodic Attunement: Contesting Gender Categories Through Kierkegaard’S Knight Of Faith And Butler’S Allegorical Usage Of Drag, Abraham James A. Mata

Undergraduate Honors Theses

What does it mean to appear under a gender identity that fails to convey who you really are? Is it possible to truly be free from prevailing identities even as one contests them? Søren Kierkegaard’s knight of faith and Judith Butler’s allegorical usage of drag may offer clues to re-thinking how our self-conceptions undergo crisis even as they get reproduced. Instead of being entrapped within a particular identity category, the knight of faith and the drag performer show us ways to negotiate established ethical or gender categories through a “parodic attunement”. Is Kierkegaard attempting to bring us into harmony with …

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

Container Film, Dena Kopolovich

Theses and Dissertations

Container Film is an experimental nonfiction short film that explores the theme of carrying. Drawing inspiration from a blend of anthropological, religious, and artistic sources, the film is guided by an unknown narrator who contemplates the origins of humanity. Unlike conventional storytelling, the narrator’s uncertainty and inner dialogue punctuate the narrative, challenging a traditional linear structure. Jumping between diverse thoughts, she resists depicting human history with a singular hero or linear trajectory. Visually, the film unfolds through vivid tableaux vivants, dance sequences, and curious object arrangements, illustrating the subtle relationship between human cognition and materiality. Through its nuanced, tactile approach, …

Powering Justice: Sketches For A New Ethos In Energy Policy, Erin Rizzato Devlin

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

Energy politics lie at the heart of human activity. In a time of ecological and energy crisis, it is fundamental to realise that our reality systems are always open to change and that, in order to respond to the challenges of a changing energy landscape, we must explore the full possibilities of technology in a radical way. This research aims to consider the ethical implications of energy and technology, presenting an urgent case for cosmotechnical pluralism, that is the diversification of world-views, knowledges, technologies in the pursuit of energy justice in global politics. To reconstruct the world and its politics …

Determinism & Free Will: An Exploration On Gender Identity As Evidence For Compatibilism, Daniel Mangandi-Escobar

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Determinism is a philosophical concept asserting that every event and action in the universe has been determined by previous causes, which has caused considerable debate within philosophy. Two critical issues within this discussion are the implications of determinism for human agency and moral responsibility. In this work, I argue that free ill is possible, rejecting hard determinism. Specifically, I will be arguing in favor of compatibilism, which is the view that free will can exist even within a deterministic world. From this perspective, free will is not opposed to determinism. Instead, our choices and actions can still be considered free …

Exploring The Experience Of Healthcare-Related Epistemic Injustice Among People With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Joanne Hunt, Jessica Runacres, Daniel Herron, David Sheffield

The Qualitative Report

Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic, disabling yet clinically “contested” condition, previously theorised through a lens of epistemic injustice. Phenomena conceptually close to epistemic injustice, including stigma, are known to have deleterious consequences on a person’s health and life-world. Yet, no known primary studies have explored how people with ME/CFS experience healthcare through a lens of epistemic injustice, whilst a dearth of research explicitly exploring healthcare-related injustice from a patient perspective has been noted. This qualitative study seeks to address this gap. Semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) were used to explore the experiences of …

Otherization And Healthcare: A Philosophical Analysis Of Gender-Based Discrimination In Medicine, Rachel M. Beare

Honors Thesis

Healthcare interactions are a core feature of medical practice and medicine cannot function without these relationships. Moreover, the physician-patient relationship within healthcare have revealed varying problems that arise within the interpersonal interactions. These problems were even more concerning when they showed gender discrimination occurring within medical interactions, such as workplace discrimination of female physicians, higher risk of misdiagnosing and mortality of female patients, and an overall medical culture that invalidated women. Understanding the extent of these problems was achieved through analyzing philosophical structures presented within the philosophical writings of G. W. F. Hegel and Simone de Beauvoir. Application of Hegel’s …

Racial-Sexual Normativity In/As Narratives Of “The Human”, Jeri Brand

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis synthesizes Sylvia Wynter’s and Judith Butler’s models of identity-formation to analyze discourses of racialization and sex/gender difference in normative scientific theories of “the human.” I argue that eugenicist white supremacism and sex/gender normativity form a single conceptual framework – what I call “the racial-sexual matrix” – throughout these scientific narratives. I then trace an epistemological consistency across 18^th- through 21^st-century scientific literature as evidence for the ongoing legacies of coloniality, white supremacy, and eugenics in current hegemonic sex/gender ontologies. Finally, I contend that the racial-sexual matrix functions as an index of proper humanness not …

Algorithmic Love: Twenty-First Century Organizations Of The Romantic, Sandra Moyano Ariza

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the highly computed and accelerated experiences of digital love as well as their cultural and artistic representations in order to shed light on the human and more-than-human entanglements producing the algorithmic love experience. The recent turn to love in critical theory and cultural studies examines how love circulates in neoliberal societies and in the subjective processes of the users, foregrounding the control of populations and the very much lamented “end of love” (Illouz 2019). My study of love supplements the neoliberalist critique of algorithmic love with a posthuman and media theory approach that attends to the material …

Spacious Theories Of Object Relativity & Objective Reality Book Review For "Seven Brief Lessons On Physics" By Carlo Rovelli, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An Arts-based Review of Carlo Rovelli’s 2016 book "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics" that incorporates original artworks by the book reviewer. This review concludes with the harvesting of an Expressive Arts Academic Consultation session that was informed by this work of Carlo Rovelli, among many other great creative thinkers in physics.

Tikkun Olam, Book Review For "Art-Care Practices For Restoring The Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, And Healing” By Barbara A. Bickel And R. Michael Fisher, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

A book review of Barbara A. Bickel’s and R. Michael Fisher’s "Art-Care Practices for Restoring the Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, and Healing" published in 2023 by Routledge.

The Yes Of Soul: Book Review For "Poetry In Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience Through Poetic Writing" By Margo Fuchs Knill & Sally S. Atkins, Katrina Plato, Lucien Zell

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Abstract

A book review of Margo Fuchs Knill’s and Sally S. Atkins’s “Poetry in Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience through Poetic Writing” published in 2021 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Like the authors of the book, this review is written in partnership. Author and creative writing teacher Lucien Zell reflects on the book’s theme of resilience. Expressive arts professional Katrina Plato follows with a couple of her own poems and then work by clients in response to the book’s prompts.

Harvesting A Blessing, Alba Torres Robinat, Katrina Plato, Alexandra Goodall, Valerie Oved Giovanini, Sinem Lanacı

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

The process of collectively writing the Artizein articles in this issue has come to an end. In this video you can see how we harvested the gifts of our writing collaboration. Each of us made a visual artwork that we shaped as a creative digestion of our work together. The group responded to each members’ art through written words and movement. Each member then gave a final message that gathered what emerged and touched her from the group, the blessing.

Teaching Philosophy As A Pedagogic Practice-Ing: Are You The Type Of Person That Says, “Everything Happens For A Reason”?, Valerie Oved Giovanini Ph.D.

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

In this paper, I discuss a classroom activity that was intended to create an environment attentive enough for students to scrutinize whether their touted beliefs matched their implicit assumptions. Drawing upon Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the face-to-face relation, Carol A. Taylor’s posthuman orientations for pedagogical practice-ings, and Bickel’s and Fisher’s emergent theory of art-care, I explore my pedagogical approach in teaching philosophy to explain how affective encounters in communitas between teacher and learners can expand personal understandings and imagine new meaningful possibilities together. These affective encounters serve an ethic of concern where each is capable of a unique response and …