This thesis examines the complex and multi-dimensional narratives presented in the work of mainstream female country artist Carrie Underwood, and how her blending of musical genres (pop, rock, and country) affects the narratives pertaining to gender and sexuality that are told through her musical texts. I interrogate the relationships between and among the domains of music, lyrics, images, and staging in Underwood’s live performances (Blown Away Tour: Live DVD) and related music videos in order to identify how these gendered narratives relate to genre, and more specifically, where these performances and videos adhere to, expand on, or break from country music tropes and traditions. Adopting an interlocking theoretical approach grounded in genre theory, gender theory, narrative theory in the context of popular music, and happiness theory, I examine how, as a female artist in the country music industry, Underwood uses genre-blending to construct complex gendered narratives in her musical texts. Ultimately, I find that in her Blown Away Tour: Live DVD, Underwood uses diverse narrative strategies, sometimes drawing on country tropes, to engage techniques and stylistic influences of several pop and rock styles, and in doing so explores the gender norms of those genres.

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Denna studie har undersökt hur den kvinnliga huvudkaraktären Carrie White framställs i två versioner av skräckfilmen Carrie (1976 och 2013). Med bakgrund i att skräckgenren har kritiserats för sin framställning av kvinnliga karaktärer, har syftet varit att ur ett genusperspektiv jämföra hur Carrie skildras i den äldre respektive nyare filmversionen. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av semiotisk analys och den teoretiska ramen har utgjorts av olika varianter av feministisk psykoanalys. Analysen har framför allt fokuserat på tre aspekter av karaktärens framställning; Carries utseende, hennes relation till sin mamma och hur hon relaterar till sin övernaturliga förmåga. När det gäller karaktärens utseende har analysen visat att hennes kropp skildras som mer objektifierad och sexualiserad i den äldre versionen, vilket har kopplats till Mulveys teori kring den kontrollerande, manliga blicken. Vidare har analysen visat att Carrie framställs som mer aktiv och självsäker i den nya versionen, vilket yttrar sig dels i att hon är mer bestämd gentemot sin kontrollerande mamma och dels i att hon använder sin övernaturliga förmåga på ett kraftfullare sätt jämfört med den äldre versionen. Detta har relaterats till Smeliks teori kring att det i dagens visuella kultur är betydligt vanligare än tidigare att kvinnor får spela aktiva roller. Analysen har även visat att Carries styrka i båda filmerna är direkt kopplad till hennes kvinnlighet samtidigt som just denna kvinnliga kraft framställs som något hotfullt. Dessutom blir hon i båda versionerna vid flera tillfällen straffad och förnedrad på grund av sin kvinnlighet, vilket bland annat har kopplats till Mulveys teori kring hur kvinnan signalerar ett kastrationshot som därigenom kan avvärjas.

Prostitutes have played a significant role in society and literature for many centuries, both as subjects of irresistible desire and repentant shame. Although prostitution plays a role in patriarchy, female prostitutes have often defied the conventions of patriarchal society by supporting themselves outside marriage, outside the reign of religious conviction and, more recently, by seeking to continue their professional work with legal sanction. Other groups of women, such as those active in civic reform interests, have yearned for the reformation of prostitute behaviors, powerfully countering the cry from those who support prostitution and call for their legal right to pursue their profession. As a literary theme, prostitution makes a remarkably consistent showing throughout time, but it was not until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that the prostitute as a character was portrayed in such a way as to allow prevailing assumptions to disperse. This study discusses the representations of prostitutes in two novels by American authors, Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser, as read through the lens of social science literature existing during the authors' lives. The social science literature noted here spans most of the nineteenth century and was known to maintain a high degree of influence over social scientists of the time. The novels cover a period stretching from 1893 (with the first publication of Maggie) to 1907 (with the second publication of Sister Carrie). This study explores how each author's portrayal of the prostitute character corresponds with the stereotypical assumptions of the day and how the representations differ from those stereotypes. The study also examines portraits taken of the Storyville Prostitutes by a commercial photographer in New Orleans, E. J. Bellocq, in order to exemplify the visual aspects and constructions of prostitution. Due in part to the principles of scientific determinism that influenced writers like Crane and Dreiser, the prostitute was observed and portrayed through a lens presumed to filter out subjective convictions which had so long colored the prostitute in a reddish light. By analyzing three forms of representation--the photograph, the sociological report, and the novel--my thesis shows that accepted ideologies were beginning to change with respect to the ways people viewed prostitutes.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on November 6, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Den här uppsatsen analyserar humor i texter skrivna av kvinnor, samt humors funktion och framställning genom några utvalda kvinnliga humordrag i förhållande till tragiska, svåra ämnen. Uppsatsen utgår från två verk – Ett år av vila och avkoppling av Ottessa Moshfegh och Carrie Fishers Vykort från drömfabriken. Humorn analyseras genom en textnära och komparativ läsning som lyfter upp likheter och skillnader mellan humorns funktioner i de två olika verken. Uppsatsen tar en teoretisk utgångspunkt i John Morrealls tankar och teorier om universell humor, samt en teoribildning av kvinnliga humordrag i tre texter av Gail Finney och Regina Barreca. Med hjälp av Finney och Barreca har jag konstruerat en lista på sju punkter som visar den kvinnliga komikens mönster och hur den skiljer sig från den manliga. Analysen är indelad i tre delar som diskuterar hur humor nyttjas som självförsvar, själskadebeteende och självförstärkning i verken.

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In this thesis I explore the global circulation and cross-cultural encounters of women advocacy travelers in the early twentieth century. I focus on Carrie Chapman Catt, Margaret Hodge, Mildred McFaden, and Madeleine Z. Doty, who journeyed around the world in order to advocate for women’s rights and peace. Catt traveled on behalf of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) to South Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in 1911-12, Hodge promoted women’s suffrage around the British dominions, and McFaden and other members of the American Woman’s Republic brought a resolution linking peace and women’s suffrage to the IWSA congress in Budapest in 1913. Doty made several journeys from the U.S. to Germany and Russia, as a dissident antiwar journalist during the First World War. Using their travel writings, I explore these women travelers, their encounters with women from other countries and cultures, and their ideas about internationalism and inclusion in the worldwide movement for women’s rights.

abstract: The North Park Middle School Band, in Pico Rivera, California, is an exemplary model of a band program grounded in the principles of social justice. Three facets guide the program: Social Outreach, Cultural Outreach, and Kids Helping Kids. This qualitative study explores what led the director to create this program, its current structure as well as its historical development, and the impact the program is having on the students involved and the community to which they reach. Between the months of September and December 2012, I spent a total of three weeks with the students, parents, and the director of the North Park Band, Ron Wakefield. In that time, the students were observed during band rehearsals on typical school days. Additionally, I traveled with the band to three separate outreach concerts at the Los Angeles Veterans Healthcare Facility, nursing homes and assisted living centers, as well as the Isaiah House, a homeless shelter for women and children. I observed the students and their interactions with the residents of those facilities, and took detailed observation notes. In addition, a survey was distributed to students in the top two bands, interviews were conducted with current students and a former student, a parent and a former parent, and the director. The North Park Band program structure leads students to develop an unusually high level of responsibility. Students gain an understanding of current issues in society and demonstrate compassion towards other human beings. In many cases, the students discover a sense of life purpose through the program and feel that they have a responsibility to help their community. While a central focus of the program is on humanistic values, it is evident that the students also receive a quality music education. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2013