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- Title
- EXISTENTIALIST FEMINISM IN SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR.
- Creator
- ADNOT, GINETTE J., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
De Beauvoir's Existentialist works , primarily Pour une morale de l'ambiguite and Existentialisme et la sagesse des nations, and her feminist work Le Deuxieme sexe, affirm that women are fully as capable of attaining Existentialist authenticity and liberty as men. The novels, however, portray women who often fail the Existentialist ideal, and always fail the feminist ideal. Indeed the major novels, including L'Invitee, Le Sang des autres, Les Mandarins, suggest an almost inverse relationship...
Show moreDe Beauvoir's Existentialist works , primarily Pour une morale de l'ambiguite and Existentialisme et la sagesse des nations, and her feminist work Le Deuxieme sexe, affirm that women are fully as capable of attaining Existentialist authenticity and liberty as men. The novels, however, portray women who often fail the Existentialist ideal, and always fail the feminist ideal. Indeed the major novels, including L'Invitee, Le Sang des autres, Les Mandarins, suggest an almost inverse relationship between feminist convictions and personal success. Having chosen not to depict female characters as social activists or revolutionaries but as women in love, de Beauvoir presents unhappy lovers unable to achieve independence from the dominant male. In accord with Existentialist precepts of realism, De Beauvoir's fiction illustrates not her feminist ideal hut her view of women's contemporary condition.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1982
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14113
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Romance
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- THE NOVEL IN THE THEATER: FABRE'S STAGING OF BALZAC'S "LA RABOUILLEUSE.".
- Creator
- AVERY, FRANCES ANN, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
In 1903 Emile Fabre, consummate theater technician, presented his adaption of Balzac's La Rabouilleuse at the Odeon Theater in Paris. The novel appealed to Fabre's naturalist interest in the worlds of family and finance, and Fabre based the action on the intense conflict among three characters for the inheritance of a dim-witted old man. Fabre amplified Balzac's theme of of the debilitating effects of money on families, and on society at large. This vying for inheritance becomes not only a...
Show moreIn 1903 Emile Fabre, consummate theater technician, presented his adaption of Balzac's La Rabouilleuse at the Odeon Theater in Paris. The novel appealed to Fabre's naturalist interest in the worlds of family and finance, and Fabre based the action on the intense conflict among three characters for the inheritance of a dim-witted old man. Fabre amplified Balzac's theme of of the debilitating effects of money on families, and on society at large. This vying for inheritance becomes not only a game played for high stakes, but also a life-and-death struggle among beasts of prey. many of the alterations that Fabre made in adapting the novel into a play were necessitated by the change of literary genre, as in eliminating characters or creating composite figures. Many of the additions were made for purely theatrical reasons, enabling Fabre to present his money theme while, at the same time, holding his audience's interest until the final curtain. Other changes stemmed from Fabre's almost exclusive attention to finance, and his desire to stress its moral and political implications.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1979
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13972
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Romance
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- BLACK ENGLISH FEATURES IN THE ENGLISH OF U.S. HISPANIC PRESCHOOL CHILDREN.
- Creator
- BELLI, GREGORY CHARLES, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
This study attempts to discover and quantify the extent to which selected Black English features are present in the English of a group of United States Hispanic Children in south Florida. The five features are /r,l/ simplification, consonant cluster simplification, past tense verb marker reduction, copula deletion, and inverted embedded questions. The best indicators of Black English influence in the young Hispanic children's English are found to be regular past tense verb endings, third...
Show moreThis study attempts to discover and quantify the extent to which selected Black English features are present in the English of a group of United States Hispanic Children in south Florida. The five features are /r,l/ simplification, consonant cluster simplification, past tense verb marker reduction, copula deletion, and inverted embedded questions. The best indicators of Black English influence in the young Hispanic children's English are found to be regular past tense verb endings, third person singular present tense forms of be, words containing a preconsonantal l, present tense plural forms of be, and an words containing voiced consonant clusters, respectively. A hierarchy of factors contributing to the overall Black English influence is constructed. Relevant literature is reviewed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1979
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13966
- Subject Headings
- Language, Linguistics
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- SURREALISTIC TRENDS IN NIKOLAUS LENAU'S POETRY (AUSTRIA).
- Creator
- Alker, Marietta Alice, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
The nineteenth century Austrian poet Nikolaus Lenau used strange associations of words and ideas which are reminiscent of the bizarre combinations of realism and fantasy the surrealists used at the beginning of the twentieth century. Categories of surrealistic devices are set up, and surrealistic paintings and the poetry of Lenau are discussed using these guidelines.
- Date Issued
- 1974
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13641
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Germanic
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A DESCRIPTIVE PHONOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE SPANISH SPOKEN IN THE PROVINCE OF HAVANA, CUBA.
- Creator
- BERTOT, LILLIAN, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
The present study offers a series of observations based on extensive research into the phonology of the Spanish spoken in the province of Havana, Cuba. The phonemes for the province are determined, and special attention is given to allophonic variants peculiar to and/or characteristic of Havana. The allophonic variants are described in detail on articulatory and distributional criteria. There is a great deal of emphasis placed on the description of consonants. The vowels are also discussed....
Show moreThe present study offers a series of observations based on extensive research into the phonology of the Spanish spoken in the province of Havana, Cuba. The phonemes for the province are determined, and special attention is given to allophonic variants peculiar to and/or characteristic of Havana. The allophonic variants are described in detail on articulatory and distributional criteria. There is a great deal of emphasis placed on the description of consonants. The vowels are also discussed. There is no reference to suprasegmental phonological data. After the phonological studied is completed, the differences in the speech of socioeconomic groups are explained.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1969
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13440
- Subject Headings
- Language, Linguistics
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- LISTENING COMPREHENSION AND ORAL PRODUCTION PROBLEMS OF SECOND-YEAR AUDIO-LINGUAL FRENCH STUDENTS.
- Creator
- ADAMS, JUDITH MARCEC, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Date Issued
- 1971
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13417
- Subject Headings
- Education, Language and Literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Guided interpretations and the importance of signs: Text, reader, and author in Carlos Fuentes and Jorge Luis Borges.
- Creator
- Biasetti, Giada, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
The purpose of the following thesis is to apply Umberto Eco's concepts included in his essay Intentio Lectoris, the Peircean notions of the relationship between the object, the sign, and the interpretant, and other essays that deal with the relationship between the reader, the text, and the author to two Latin American works of literature: one Mexican, Carlos Fuentes's "Chac Mool" and one Argentinean, Jorge Luis Borges's "Las ruinas circulares." The objective is to discuss the structural...
Show moreThe purpose of the following thesis is to apply Umberto Eco's concepts included in his essay Intentio Lectoris, the Peircean notions of the relationship between the object, the sign, and the interpretant, and other essays that deal with the relationship between the reader, the text, and the author to two Latin American works of literature: one Mexican, Carlos Fuentes's "Chac Mool" and one Argentinean, Jorge Luis Borges's "Las ruinas circulares." The objective is to discuss the structural devices that guide the reader through particular interpretations, analyze the sociohistorical agents that influence the author as well as the reader, and pinpoint the difference between two possible types of interpretation, political and symbolic, based on two concepts pertaining respectively to "Chac Mool" and "Las ruinas circulares:" the statue of Chac Mool as the symbol of the Pre-Colombian traditional values and the dream as a symbol of the process of writing.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13248
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Comparative, Literature, Latin American
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- La identidad racial y cultural en la obra de Alicia Yanez Cossio.
- Creator
- Baez, Marcela A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
Alicia Yanez Cossio, an established novelist and short story writer from Ecuador, reflects on the most serious social problems in her country. She is especially concerned with the Ecuadorian people's identity. In her works she describes how the Church and State, which promote and maintain a patriarchal social structure, have perpetuated the devaluation of women that began with the conquest. This study analyzes how women confront and define their gender as well as their race in two novels:...
Show moreAlicia Yanez Cossio, an established novelist and short story writer from Ecuador, reflects on the most serious social problems in her country. She is especially concerned with the Ecuadorian people's identity. In her works she describes how the Church and State, which promote and maintain a patriarchal social structure, have perpetuated the devaluation of women that began with the conquest. This study analyzes how women confront and define their gender as well as their race in two novels: Bruna, soroche y los tios (1972) and La cofradia del mullo del vestido de la Virgen Pipona (2002). As she traces Ecuadorian history, Yanez Cossio draws paralellisms between the loss of identity and gender, and focuses on the repercussions this has had in the lives of Ecuadorian women. Through the characters she offers possible solutions. This thesis analyzes the writer's perspective of the identity problem in this South American country and the fight of its people, most specifically women, to recover their identity by recognizing their indigenous roots and their gender, in a social environment that denies either are significant or relevant.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13200
- Subject Headings
- Literature, Latin American, Anthropology, Cultural, Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Imagination at work: Improving adult literacy with the "Harry Potter" novels.
- Creator
- Bamdas, Jo Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Burks, Valerie C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
Global illiteracy remains rampant partly due to confusing definitions, inadequate data gathering, hidden agendas, and improper tools of stimulation. Adult literacy is a problem despite efforts and resources. Using children's and adolescents' literature can improve literacy but it is not being used enough due to false concepts. The problems and an adult non-reader profile are outlined. Current literature on literacy, children's literature theory, and critical plus public intellectual media in...
Show moreGlobal illiteracy remains rampant partly due to confusing definitions, inadequate data gathering, hidden agendas, and improper tools of stimulation. Adult literacy is a problem despite efforts and resources. Using children's and adolescents' literature can improve literacy but it is not being used enough due to false concepts. The problems and an adult non-reader profile are outlined. Current literature on literacy, children's literature theory, and critical plus public intellectual media in academia and popular culture is reviewed. I borrow Martha Nussbaum's idea of the narrative imagination to explore J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. I analyze and then provide a program sketch showing how adults can learn to read while building self-esteem because of innate familiarity with the storytelling tradition, with language, and with ordinary life issues. The literature fosters narrative imagination and encourages discussion. Each new adult reader then adds to the cultivation of humanity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2002
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12902
- Subject Headings
- Rowling, J K--Criticism and interpretation, Functional literacy, Criticism, Children's literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida.
- Creator
- Seiden, Carolina M., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
The purpose of this study is to understand culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers of Spanish to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida. 59 participants divided into three groups of heritage speakers of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton participated in a questionnaire survey, for a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Subjects were grouped according to the degree of involvement in Spanish-related activities at the college...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to understand culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers of Spanish to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida. 59 participants divided into three groups of heritage speakers of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton participated in a questionnaire survey, for a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Subjects were grouped according to the degree of involvement in Spanish-related activities at the college-level. The instrument was a combination of Likert-scale questions as well as open-ended questions aimed at clarifying or expanding on topics presented during the Likert-scale part of the questionnaire. The findings of this study indicate that most heritage speakers understood culture as a part of their identity. Students who were enrolled in Spanish classes were not just looking to expand their Spanish knowledge, but to re-connect and re-establish links with their cultural heritage. Finally, those who chose not to study Spanish cite as their most important reason a dislike for the Spanish language. The results revealed the following implications for the heritage speaker curriculum: the need to address the unique demographic make-up of Spanish heritage speakers in South Florida; the necessity for a consistent and reliable methodology for the identification of heritage speakers, and; the importance of instructors' sensitivity to regional and social dialect variation.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77651
- Subject Headings
- Cognition and culture, Spanish language, Study and teaching (Higher), Spanish speakers, Language and languages, Study and teaching (Higher), Social aspects, Language and culture, Study and teaching (Higher), Social aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Building a character: a somaesthetics approach to Comedias and women of the stage.
- Creator
- Cruz Peterson, Elizabeth Marie., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
This dissertation focuses on the elements of performance that contribute to the actress's development of somatic practices. By mastering the art of articulation and vocalization, by transforming their bodies and their environment, these actors created their own agency. The female actors lived the life of the characters they portrayed, which were full of multicultural models from various social and economic classes. Somaesthetics, as a focus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation and somatic...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the elements of performance that contribute to the actress's development of somatic practices. By mastering the art of articulation and vocalization, by transforming their bodies and their environment, these actors created their own agency. The female actors lived the life of the characters they portrayed, which were full of multicultural models from various social and economic classes. Somaesthetics, as a focus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation and somatic awareness, provides a pragmatic approach to understanding the unique way in which the woman of the early modern Spanish stage, while dedicating herself to the art of acting, challenged the negative cultural and social constructs imposed on her. Drawing from early modern plays and treatises on the precepts and practices of the acting process, I use somaesthetics to shed light on how the actor might have prepared for a role in a comedia, selfconsciously cultivating her body in order to meet the challenges of the stage.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360968
- Subject Headings
- Women in the performing arts, Criticism and interpretation, Comic, The, Criticism and interpretation, European drama, Criticism and interpretation, Feminist drama, Criticism and interpretation, Spanish drama, Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Physiological aspects, Body, Human (Philosophy), Mind and body
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Bar splendor: Francesco Meriano e la (ri)illuminizaione delle parole in libertáa.
- Creator
- Patel, Erin., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis focuses on the translation of parole in libertáa, an early twentieth century poetic styling that combines a visual and written code proposed by F.T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, the Italian avant-garde literary and artistic movement. A translation of 5 "tavole parolibere" from the collection Equatore Notturno, parole in libertáa (1916) by the relatively unknown poet Francesco Meriano will lay the groundwork for the analysis of the obstacles a translator faces in regards to...
Show moreThis thesis focuses on the translation of parole in libertáa, an early twentieth century poetic styling that combines a visual and written code proposed by F.T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, the Italian avant-garde literary and artistic movement. A translation of 5 "tavole parolibere" from the collection Equatore Notturno, parole in libertáa (1916) by the relatively unknown poet Francesco Meriano will lay the groundwork for the analysis of the obstacles a translator faces in regards to maintaining the faithfulness to the original while keeping in mind the rules Marinetti set forth in his manifestos on literature and poetry between 1909 and 1914. Meriano adhered to many of these Futurist literary conditions, and thus the translartor's task becomes more challengind as the rules dictate the style, content and form so uniquely interwoven within these pages. The aim of this thesis in not only to shine a new light upon Meriano through the English translation of some of his poems, but also to readdress translation theories with regards to parole in libertáa.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358752
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Futurism (Art), Futurism (Literary movement), Graphic design (Typography)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Migrant collectives as new twenty-first century transnational movements: the case of the Jamaican Diaspora.
- Creator
- Johnson, Nadja., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
In the past two decades the tendency to view migrant communities as victimized, without agency, or oppressed has been challenged by the new rhetoric of "Diaspora". The recent formation of Diaspora movements globally suggests that these groups of migrants are not just financial remitters but are organized, visible collectives that influence the geo-political status quo in many ways. ... Utilizing qualitative methodology in conjunction with the analytical lenses of social movement theory and...
Show moreIn the past two decades the tendency to view migrant communities as victimized, without agency, or oppressed has been challenged by the new rhetoric of "Diaspora". The recent formation of Diaspora movements globally suggests that these groups of migrants are not just financial remitters but are organized, visible collectives that influence the geo-political status quo in many ways. ... Utilizing qualitative methodology in conjunction with the analytical lenses of social movement theory and the rhetoric of movements, the study addresses the gaps in the literature on Diasporas by exploring the factors that contributed to the formation of the Jamaican Diaspora during the years 1962 to 2011. ... Moving even beyond our conceptualization of movements, this study also connects Diasporas to the notion of publics. Migrant communities, like the Jamaican Diaspora, negotiate global and local terrains, operate as self-organized publics and form new public spaces in which a common identity goal and imagination connects and motivates strangers.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358595
- Subject Headings
- Emigration and immigration, Social aspects, Globalization, Political aspects, Transnationalism, Emigration and immigration, Political aspects, Emigration and immigration, Social aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Speech inflection in American musical theatre compositions.
- Creator
- Zuim, Ana Flavia., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
This dissertation examines the role of speech inflection in the composition of melodies of American musical theatre and investigates how composers approached speech inflection in their work throughout this genre's history. Through analysis of songs and interviews with composers, this dissertation investigates the relevance of speech inflection in the various styles of composition existing on Broadway. The main focus of musical theatre compositions, especially post Rodgers and Hammerstein's...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the role of speech inflection in the composition of melodies of American musical theatre and investigates how composers approached speech inflection in their work throughout this genre's history. Through analysis of songs and interviews with composers, this dissertation investigates the relevance of speech inflection in the various styles of composition existing on Broadway. The main focus of musical theatre compositions, especially post Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma, is to move the plot along through songs. Therefore, the delivery of the text must be of ultimate consideration in the writing of modern musicals. A well-written speech-melody facilitates the process of a speech-melody-interpretation, which will result in the delivery of lyrics with an understandable, natural sounding quality. This investigation happens through a chronologic evaluation of the relevance of speech inflection during each of the distinct phases on Broadway, as well as an examination of the approach to writing with a speech-melody focus of each individual composer throughout history. This study explores the importance of speech inflection in American musical theatre songwriting focusing on a speech-melody approach to composition.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3352883
- Subject Headings
- Music and semiotics, Music and language, Musicals, Writing and publishing, Musical theater, History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A novel on Albanian emigration to Italy: "They Were Seeking Happiness" a translation of Ata Kerkonin Lumturine by Viktor Canosinaj.
- Creator
- Lubonja, Edna, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337188
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, History, Politics and government, Emigration and immigration
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Cross-cultural stories of race and change: a re-languaging of the public discourse on race and ethnicity.
- Creator
- Oliver, Eloise D. (Kitty), Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
A progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls....
Show moreA progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls. This study proposed the Race and Change Dialogue Model to facilitate the exploration of how race operates in society on an interpersonal level in everyday lives of people across cultures and how changes in racial attitudes occur over time. Theories of race and ethnicity, language, effective communication strategies, and social change provided a starting point, but a "re-languaging" approach was used to advance the innovative nature of this work. In audiorecorded oral histories for public dissemination and interviews in a documentary series on public television, cross-cultural narrators were provided with a safe rhetorical space to tell their stories and to be heard, and a framework of "racenicity" allowed for the discussion of the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, and culture as fused aspects of the same issue. An environment was created that enhanced effective communication of a difficult subject. Despite the challenges that arose in the patterns of talk about racial change, the door has been opened to bring change into the dialogue in a more prominent way that moves the discourse on differences in more productive directions. An alternate model for public discussions on race as "racenicity" was created that has the potential to build coalition in the U.S. and has implications for other societies as well.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337184
- Subject Headings
- Pluralism (Social sciences), Discourse analysis, Psychological aspects, Language and culture, Social change, Ethnic relations, Psychological aspects, Race relations, Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Interrogating social conceptualizations of childbirth and gender: an ecofeminist analysis.
- Creator
- Nall, Jeff., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
This dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to...
Show moreThis dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to identify prominent characteristics and themes related to childbirth in both popular culture, such as Hollywood films (Knocked Up, The Backup Plan), documentaries (The Business of Being Born), birth guides, magazines, news articles, websites, and scholarly, medical and alternative healthcare discourse. This work seeks to consider how various conceptualizations of childbirth are used to legitimate, or, alternately, to undermine, patriarchal gender norms such as emphasized femininity and patriarchal (hegemonic) masculinity and, more generally, what ecofeminist philosopher Val Plumwood calls "master consciousness" (Val Plumwood 1993), a way of understanding the world that is reliant on an unjustifiably dualistic thinking and that is responsible for fostering social practices of domination. In particular, this work seeks to determine to what extent is our conceptualization of childbirth, and subsequent practice, based on potentially erroneous presumptions about the hierarchical division between the realms of culture and nature and masculinity and femininity? Perhaps most importantly, this dissertation sets out to consider the implications of alternative conceptualizations of childbirth emerging in the context of the natural birth movement. Specifically, I aim to determine whether or not these alternatives interpretations of childbirth counteract patriarchal gender categories and the culture/nature dualism.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3333055
- Subject Headings
- Childbirth, Cross-cultural studies, Childbirth, Social aspects, Feminist theory, Human body, Social aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Studied girlhoods: consciousness, context, and negotiation of identity in the memoirs of Dorothy Allison, Mary Karr, and Barbara Robinette Moss.
- Creator
- Dilgen, Regina., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
-
Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her....
Show moreDorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her. An application of the foundational work on girlhood in developmental psychology provides for an analysis of each memoirist's depiction of girlhood as a time of authentic insight and developing agency. Referencing feminist literary criticism allows for an interpretation of how the girls at the center of these works develop agency through growing awareness of the circumstances of their marginalization. And a semiotic literary interpretation adds to the analysis of these works as creative autobiogra phical writing in affording a close reading of how the memoirists portray younger selves learning to read the signs and texts of a culture and becoming aware of their status as girls in working-class families. Each memoirist uses a dual vocal presentation as both the adult memoirist and a younger self give shape to the narrative. Each memoirist represents a distinct southern space intersecting with specifics of the era to form a cultural moment. Social Construction Theory makes available a basis for considering how the memoirists narrate their increasing understanding of race and gender within these specific contexts as well as their resistive voicing of these insights., Through a Cultural Studies focus this dissertation examines how each memoirist represents a younger self's negotiations with cultural products of the era that work to construct girlhood. Adding to this unpacking of how the memoirists study their own girlhoods, the tools of Postco for an analysis of how the memoirists theorize their own girlhoods in ways that parallel these approaches. This dissertation adds to the evolving field of Girls' Studies in using contemporary theoretical frameworks to interpret how girlhood is constructed, represented, and negotiated with in these memoirs.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332175
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Self in literature, Popular culture, Working class women
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Prepare, process, package: the consumption of Haiti in Hispanic Caribbean literature.
- Creator
- Tucker, Walteria C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
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Since Alejo Carpentier's 1944 encounter with the "real maravilloso" in the ruins of the Citadelle La Ferriáere, Haiti has been linked with the notion of Latin American identity, in particular, and American identity, in general. Interesting to me are the ways and the means by which Haiti resurfaces in Cuban and Puerto Rican narratives and what allusions to Haiti in these texts imply about its relationship to the Hispanic Caribbean. I will combine the ideas of John Beverley, Sybille Fischer,...
Show moreSince Alejo Carpentier's 1944 encounter with the "real maravilloso" in the ruins of the Citadelle La Ferriáere, Haiti has been linked with the notion of Latin American identity, in particular, and American identity, in general. Interesting to me are the ways and the means by which Haiti resurfaces in Cuban and Puerto Rican narratives and what allusions to Haiti in these texts imply about its relationship to the Hispanic Caribbean. I will combine the ideas of John Beverley, Sybille Fischer, and Mimi Sheller to discuss how representations of Haiti work to perpetuate its disavowal and render it a consumable product for the rest of the Caribbean as a whole, and for the Hispanic Caribbean specifically. I will focus on works by Cuban and Puerto Rican authors who have prepared, processed, and packaged Haiti in such a way that its culture, language, and even sexuality are able to satisfy long-held cravings for that which is local and exotic. Thus, I hope to explain how it has been and will continue to be possible for the Hispanic Caribbean to consume Haiti positively as a symbol of its marvelous reality and negatively as an Afro-Caribbean personification of racial, cultural, and political decadence in literature.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322521
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Identity (Psychology) in literature, Latin American literature, Criticism and interpretation, Caribbean fiction (French), Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The intersection of gender and Italian/Americaness: hegemony in The Sopranos.
- Creator
- Wilson, Niki Caputo., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
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This dissertation uses a multiperspectival approach that analyzes production, text, and audience consumption to explore representations of gender and ethnicity in The Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) original program The Sopranos. I first present the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the continued critical and commercial success of the show. The hybrid genre of the show - an intermingling of the gangster and soap opera genres - proves particularly significant in its...
Show moreThis dissertation uses a multiperspectival approach that analyzes production, text, and audience consumption to explore representations of gender and ethnicity in The Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) original program The Sopranos. I first present the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the continued critical and commercial success of the show. The hybrid genre of the show - an intermingling of the gangster and soap opera genres - proves particularly significant in its representation of gender and ethnicity. Both textual and audience analyses allow me to respond to the question central to this dissertation: Does The Sopranos reinforce or challenge hegemonic notions of masculinity, femininity, and ethnicity? My textual and paratextual analysis identifies the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity in the male characters, including the ways in which that hegemonic behavior leads to male violence, as depicted in the narrative, and reveals the performances of emphasized femininity and pariah femininities, class, and Italian/Americaness at play amongst the female characters in The Sopranos. Audience analysis reveals that The Sopranos broadly appeals to many Italian/Americans and self-proclaimed feminists, yet the vast majority of fans, particularly those who create fan fiction and frequent chat rooms, are drawn to the show for its violence, sexist imagery, and macho male characters. Thus, the multiperspectival approach of this dissertation proved particularly useful in determining that The Sopranos, in its entirety, ultimately repackages, but yet still reinforces hegemonic notions of gender and Italian/Americaness.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2979374
- Subject Headings
- Sopranos (Television program), Mass media and culture, Group identity, Television viewers, Ethnicity
- Format
- Document (PDF)