Thesis (M.A.)--Central Connecticut State University, 1999. / Thesis advisor: Antonio García-Lozada, Ph. D. "...in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Spanish." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-168).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2005. / Thesis directed by Sandra M. Gustafson for the Department of English. "June 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-194).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The term “emotional labor” has gained considerable recognition as a means to articulate a complex series of responsibilities that women assume both within and outside the marketplace. Despite increasing attention from scholars and activists, there has yet to be an examination of how emotional labor is represented in literature. My dissertation seeks to address this gap in the scholarship by exploring what I contend is a profound concern with emotional labor in works written by Black American women. While early conceptions of the term are tied to gender-based inequalities, I shift focus to consider the overlooked racial dimensions of the phenomenon. Through close readings of notable texts from the tradition, I demonstrate that Black American women writers have specifically focused on emotional labor in the context of formal and informal racial justice efforts. This labor predominantly takes the form of instruction and storytelling that is carefully curated for white Americans. I argue that the Black American women’s literature cited in this doctoral study continually expresses a duty to engage in these two tasks, in the service of greater racial equality in the United States. Adopting an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, I analyze a range of memoirs, essays, fiction, and poetry to showcase how Black American women writers utilize diverse literary forms to interrogate the emotional labor they undertake. Ultimately, I assert that an examination of this rich literary tradition may reveal that the writings of Black American women offer valuable insights into the racialization of emotional labor, as well as deepen our understanding of their unique historical role in the enduring struggle for racial equalityin the United States. / English

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-199). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1989. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [215]-221).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in English. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 299-325). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29517

Thesis--Université Paris III. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis--Université Paris III. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 223-239). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.