This project seeks to understand anxious and fearful responses to the Zika virus and microcephaly that began circulating widely in February, 2016. My project works to uncover racial histories embedded in the contemporary scientific and medical practice of measuring head circumference. By arguing that microcephaly is a racialized metric of civilizational and human development, I show that responses to Zika’s proliferation invoke state security because Global Northern states imagine microcephaly as a developmental, economic, and cultural lag. Dominant scientific and medical characterizations of microcephaly constitute modern, developed states as such by making political conceptions of normalcy and capacity seem natural: microcephaly is marked as “abnormal” in the scientific literature that instructs the measurement, surveillance, and diagnosis developmental and cognitive disabilities. Seemingly disparate contemporary moments and histories–among them the 2016 Rio Olympics, histories of racial purity and contamination, phrenology, and eighteenth-century racialized notions of sexuality—are inextricably linked to ideals and practices of white, bourgeois subjectivity. Like the diagnostic category of microcephaly, these ideals and practices are inherently unstable and insecure: they cannot exist nor materialize without the economic and social exploitation of racialized and disabled populations.

This study examines the literary depiction of the black surrogate mother as she is created according to the author’s race, gender, background, experience, biases and goals. Even though she is one of the most successful and popular characters of fiction, she is also controversial. Her reputation is iconic as well as dichotomous. For example, she is credited for the exemplary upbringing of her white charges, while simultaneously blamed for neglecting her own children. Particularly, this paper looks at three black surrogate mothers who conform to the prototypical, often stereotypical, image of the black surrogate mother: Mammy, Aunt Mammy Jane, and Dilsey. The critique substantiates that Mitchell and Faulkner, respectively, were invested in depicting Mammy and Dilsey as representatives of the real black surrogate mothers of their lives. Although, the character of Mammy Jane mirrors Mammy and Dilsey in her commitment and devotion to her white family, Chesnutt employs her as a cautionary warning to the blacks who refuse to accept change and progress after Emancipation. The other three black surrogate mothers, Sofia, Berenice, and Ondine, are antithetical to the stereotypical black surrogate mother. Sofia, an accidental maid, is representative of Walker’s intense efforts to deconstruct the image of the black surrogate mother that plagued her throughout her lifetime. Unlike most white authors, McCullers crafts Berenice as independent, strong, and autonomous, not just as a black surrogate mother of a white child. Morrison provides Ondine with a husband and daughter to be concerned with so that she cannot be cast as the stereotypically loving, nurturing black mother of white children. The conclusion of this study validates that the literary black surrogate mother is most often a creation based upon her author’s specific and personal biases and goals. In conjunction with the above assertion, the critique also contends that the real life black domestic has been and will continue to be significantly influenced by her fictional representative.

This study examines the pornographic images of black women from Sara Baartman, the “Venus Hottentot,” to the Middle Passage, the Auction Block, Plantation Life, Harlem Renaissance, Blaxpomploitation movies, mainstream contemporary cinema, and pornography. It is based on the premise that throughout history black women’s images have been pornographic. The researcher found that the pornographic images present in today’s visual media are outgrowths of the debilitating, racialized and sexualized images of black women historically. The conclusion drawn from the findings suggests that black women’s images in cinema continue to subjugate and objectify black women on and off screen.

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No description available.

No description available.

This study examined the participants' level of jealousy towards their significant other and how it affects the longevity and commitment of their respective relationships. Based on a review of the literature, the research filled the gap of explaining the factor that affects the level of jealousy in monogamous relationships, particularly gender, and sexual orientation. Attachment theory was the theoretical construct that informed the research that addressed the gap in the literature. The research employed a quantitative method that used Rubin's Love Scale, Hendrick's Relationship Assessment Scale and Pfeiffer and Wong's Multidimensional Jealousy Scale. Self-reporting questionnaires and surveys were used to measure the attachment process of all participants who are involved in a romantic, close relationship. Participants were assessed using 2 different methods to determine their level of relationship satisfaction and perceived jealousy they exhibit. The dependent variables were the level of relationship satisfaction and jealousy while the independent variables were gender and sexual orientation. It was hypothesized that gender and sexual orientation can be main determinants to understand the dynamics of jealousy and relationship satisfaction in monogamous relationships. The sample of the study was 132 individuals who were currently involved in a romantic, close monogamous and committed relationship in Colorado. The data from this study were analyzed using MANOVA, correlation analysis, and central tendencies. The results indicated that heterosexual samples had the highest level of relationship satisfaction, and the lowest levels of jealousy. In contrast, the bisexual samples had the highest level of jealousy. Homosexual samples had the lowest level of jealousy and had significantly greater levels of relationship satisfaction. These results and the limitations of the study are discussed.

This text examines the health-related experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming persons assigned female at birth within the criminal justice system. It moves through a transgender-centric approach to explore the ways gender nonconformity relates to experiences of violence and healthcare disparities for those interacting with law enforcement and incarcerated in women's prisons. The study utilized statistical analyses of nationally representative data in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey carried out by the National Center for Transgender Equality. Multivariate analyses suggested significant connections between race and education and experiences of harassment and assault within the criminal justice context. There were largely mixed results regarding the direct connections between gender conformity and transition status and experiences of violence. These findings provide initial exploratory quantitative data for the realities of transmasculine and nonbinary persons assigned female at birth within the criminal justice system and provide starting points for future research.

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, was an author, playwright, surrealist photographer and anti-fascist activist who spent most of their lives in France and the Isle of Jersey from their birth in 1894 to their early death in 1954. Throughout their career they went by various aliases and pennames, settling on Claude Cahun in 1917, a gender-ambiguous name in French. While they considered themselves a writer before a photographer it is their photography that they are probably best known for today, becoming popular for their "modern" content that explores gender identity and its presentation. These self-portraits, along with their personal writings, support the conclusion that Cahun was (or could be considered, as they did not have the language of gender and sexuality in their lifetime) a transgender, nonbinary individual, possibly gender fluid. For this reason, throughout this research I will be using the singular they/them pronouns in reference to Cahun as well as their partner Marcel Moore. This thesis will investigate and analyze the photographic work of Claude Cahun as their own personal exploration of their sexuality and gender identity. I will use both the context of their writings, and those of other contemporaries within a framework of early 20th cenrtury culture to better understand their content.

Cette thèse porte sur les représentations culturelles dans les romans produits par des écrivaines d'origine vietnamienne qui écrivent en français. Deux écrivaines seront étudiées en particulier: Kim Lefèvre et Anna Moï. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'analyser comment ces écrivaines se représentent en tant que produits des projets coloniaux, et ce que ces représentations nous indiquent au sujet des relations de puissance entre les colonisateurs et les colonisés. Nous voyons qu'en général, les Vietnamiens sont décrits comme des sous habitus, ce qui montre que les représentations fournies par la perspective des colonisateurs dans les textes colonialistes étaient décentrées et assez racistes. Cette thèse va également discuter du rôle des influences coloniales dans l'évolution de la langue et de la littérature vietnamiennes, et de la manière dont le roman vietnamien écrit en français était utilisé comme réponse à la colonisation. / Master of Arts (MA)