Towards the end of the fifteenth century in Italy an upwardly mobile, morally questionable, and highly erudite woman appeared on the social and literary circuit: the courtesan. Technically a prostitute, she rose above her often dubious beginnings to bask in the prestige accorded to society's elite. Although revered by some, her blatant transgression of traditional gender roles and class hierarchies offended many others. The writings of her detractors attempted to lower the courtesan's status to that of a common prostitute, by ridiculing her intellectual achievements and by depicting her as unclean and diseased. This thesis, which focuses on sixteenth-century Venice, will examine six works criticizing courtesans, and demonstrate what each work reveals about the dynamics of power in sixteenth-century gender and power relations, as they manifested themselves in the sexual arena.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 334-363).

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Written in the form of an historical fiction, this thesis explores the multiple influences that were active in the lives of temple dancers in Southern India from 1861 to 1947. It addresses the question of whether or not the devadasis were prostitutes, placing this debate in the context of conflicting colonial, Hindu and reform movement pressures, influences directing the decline and disappearance of the temple dancing tradition. In gathering information about this period, I have drawn from three main sources: colonial literature of the time, modern feminist research, and dance scholarship on the nature and history of the technical aspects of temple dancing. My aim has been to reconstruct, as accurately as possible, a close approximation of a devadasi's life, and to compare how it differs from those lived by previous generations of temple dancers.

Written in the form of an historical fiction, this thesis explores the multiple influences that were active in the lives of temple dancers in Southern India from 1861 to 1947. It addresses the question of whether or not the devadasis were prostitutes, placing this debate in the context of conflicting colonial, Hindu and reform movement pressures, influences directing the decline and disappearance of the temple dancing tradition. In gathering information about this period, I have drawn from three main sources: colonial literature of the time, modern feminist research, and dance scholarship on the nature and history of the technical aspects of temple dancing. My aim has been to reconstruct, as accurately as possible, a close approximation of a devadasi's life, and to compare how it differs from those lived by previous generations of temple dancers. / Arts, Faculty of / Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, Institute for / Graduate

Thesis--Hamburg. / "Literaturverzeichnis": p. 205-218.

Thesis--Hamburg. / "Literaturverzeichnis": p. 205-218.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Art History, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale University, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-257). Also issued in print.