The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

This dissertation is a critical examination of selected Tsonga novels by male and female writers. Positive and negative images of women by these authors are analysed, compared and evaluated from a feminist perspective. Emphasis is laid on the manner in which Tsonga writers portray female characters in a changing society and the extent to which the images of women in this literature represent the present day woman. Adherence to ideological, cultural and traditional values as well as the differences in portrayal of women by male and female writers is also investigated. Through a comparison of novels written by male and female writers it is established that because of patriarchy these writers differ markedly in their portrayal of female characters. In all the novels analysed, the sociol-cultural context influences the way in which these writers portray female characters. Male writers promote traditional values which female writers strive to discard by portraying female characters who predominantly undermine stereotypical cultural sex-roles. / African languages / M.A. (African languages)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1990. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this investigation was to provide a theoretical overview of the predominant feminist literary movements and their theoretical theses. I concentrated specifically on providing an historical overview of the major theories and by doing so accumulating them into one theoretical model. Concommitantly theories coined by post-structuralist thinkers such as Derrida and deconstruction are also employed in furnishing the reading model with a deconstructivi i-.>"": base. It proved appropriate to analyse postmodernist poetry ~<ch as that of Joan Hambidge by means of this strategy. In the second chapter I focused specifically on the poetry of Antj ie Krog until her latest volume of poetry, Lady Anne. From the latter texts dealing especially with the husband and wife relationship within the traditional marriage were selected and analysed. I focused on the three main female figures in the text, viz. Lady Anne Barnard, Mrs. Van Reenen, and Antjie Krog herself. I indicated what the implications of the marital relationship were on the lives of the characters. Often there is also a prevalent sexual rivalry within the realms of the patriarchal marriage. In the case of Lady Anne Barnard the relationship reveals the tension inherent to their situation at large. Andrew Barnard is regarded as a weak man who is subj ected to his powerful wife. This is evident from their marital relationship too. The man as instigator and head of the household within the patriarchy wishes to establish himself as bearer of that power and by doing so comes in conflict with his wife. In the third chapter I analysed the Lesbianfeminist poems of Joan Hambidge and especially those in her third volume of poetry. The codes of a Lesbian relationship are subversive in that it questions the morality of society at large. Lesbian love affairs are regarded as "strange" and immoral by the rUling patriarchal hegemony. This is the result of its undermining attitude towards sexism in society at large. In my conclusion I indicated that a feminist reading model is feasible for the reading of literary texts in that it aims to deconstruct the predominant sexist binary oppositions in our society. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om in die inleidende teoretiese gedeelte In oorsig te gee van die belangrikste feministiese teoretici se bevindings. Daar is veral gekonsentreer op In historiese oorsig van die feministiese teoriee en hieruit is probeer om een teoretiese model daar te stel, waarvolgens literere tekste in die besonder gelees kon word. In aansluiting by die post-strukturalistiese teoriee van Jacques Derrida is aan die feministiese leesmodel In dekonstruktivistiese basis gegee. Dit het veral geblyk van pas te wees, by die lees van die postmodernistiese poesie soos in die geval van Joan Hambidge. In die tweede hoofstuk is veral gefokus op die poes1e van Antjie Krog en is die eiesoortige kenmerke van haar poesie eers uitgelig. Daarna is veral gekonsentreer op haar mees onlangse digbundel Lady Anne. Uit die bundel is veral tekste geselekteer wat pertinent fokus op uitbeelding van die man-vrou-verhouding binne die huwelik. Daar word veral gekonsentreer op die drie bel~ngrikste vrouefigure in die bundel, naamlik Lady Anne Barnard, Mev. Van Reenen en die digteres Antjie Krog self. Daar is veral aangetoon wat hulle verhoudings met hulle mans was en die huweliksrelasie is met behulp van In feministiese leesmodel beskou en gedekonstrueer. Dikwels is daar sprake van In seksuele magstryd in die huwelik aan die gang. In die geval van Lady Anne Barnard weerspieel die huweliksverhouding tussen man en vrou die spanning wat inherent aanwesig is, veral omdat Barnard so In swakkeling is en hy onderdanig aan sy vrou staan. Hierdie magsbalans wat versteur word, kern ook voor in die verse oor Antjie Krog en haar man. Die man as verteenwoordiger van die patriargale waardesisteem, sien dit as sy plig om oor die vrou te heers. In die derde hoofstuk word veral gekonsentreer op Joan Hambidge se Lesbiesfeministiese verse en wel uit haar derde digbundel, Die anatomie van melancholie. Die kodes van die Lesbiese verhouding tussen twee vroue is ondermynend van aard en dit gee aanleiding tot kontroversiele bevraagtekening van die heersende ideologie binne die same1ewing. Die heersende seksistiese ins1ag van die patriargie het tot gevolg dat Lesbiese liefde as IIvreemd" bestempel word en gevolglik strydig is met die wese van die ideologiese apparatuur in so 'n staat. Ten slotte word aangetoon, dat In feministiese leesmodel weI sinvol is vir die lees van tekste en dat dit veral daarop gemik is am die seksistiese binere opposisies binne ' n seksistiese denksistee~ te ondermyn.

Historically, women have not been "speaking subjects" but "spoken objects" in Western culture--the ground on which male-dominated constructions have been erected. In literature, women have been conventionally held as the silent and silenced other. Lyric poetry especially has idealized not only the entrenched figures of masculine subject/feminine object, but poetry itself as the site of prophecy, vision, Truth. Most dramatically in lyric poetry then, the issue of women as subjects has been collapsed into Woman as object, that figure who has been the sacrifice necessary for the production of lyric "song" and the consolidation of the unified masculine voice. It has thus been difficult for women poets to take up the position of speaking subject, most particularly because of women's problematic relationship to Woman. Recent feminist theorists have explored female subjectivity, how women put into hegemonic discourse "a possible operation of the feminine." This dissertation analyzes that possibility in poetry as exemplified in the works of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and H.D. I contend that these paradigmatic American poets constitute speaking subjects in their poetry that both figure Woman conventionally and reconfigure it, i.e. subvert the stability of those representations, thereby disturbing our view. I argue that this double identification produces, in effect, a divided or split subjectivity that is enabling for the female speaker. As an alternative to the traditionally specularized figure of Woman then, such a position opens up distinctly counter-hegemonic spaces in which to constitute the female subject, rendering problematic readerly consumption of the image of Woman as a totality. I explore the attempts to represent women's difference differently--the tenuous accession to, rejection of, or play with the lyric "I" in these poets' works. Dickinson, Moore, and H.D. reconfigure Woman and inscribe female speakers as grammatically and rhetorically, but not necessarily visually, present, thereby frustrating patriarchal economies of mastery and possession.

A combination of cross-cultural and symbolic methodologies suggests that women warriors occur in societies where there is both an emphasis on the sacred feminine that allows women greater access to positions of power and authority (as per Peggy Sanday) and where marital residency rules permit female fighters (following David B. Adams´s theory on women warriors). While neither theory can stand alone in explaining the existence of women warriors, when combined both theories give a solid picture of societies that allow for female combatants. In this paper I propose that by combining Sanday’s work on female power and Adams’s work on women warriors we can come to a better understanding about just what makes the cultures that allow for women’s participation in warfare unique, and perhaps what characteristics must be in place in order for a culture to have women warriors. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

「革命加戀愛」小說在一九二零年代末中國的大量出現，反映了當時知識份子藉書寫對革命與性別之間的關係所展開的思考。而這些思考往往集中表現在文本中的革命女性身上。論文選擇以茅盾（1896 - 1981）及蔣光慈（1901 - 1931）這兩人創作的「革命加戀愛」小說為例，嘗試說明這些文本中的革命女性，蘊藏著一種未被充份理解的革命性。這一革命性，是以當時一套經翻譯進入中國的社會主義女性主義柯倫泰（1872 - 1952）的論述為參照而顯現出來。以此為基礎，我們重新發現通過《虹》這個文本中的革命女性，茅盾敘述了一個女性如何成為「革命的性別」的故事。而在《衝出雲圍的月亮》這本小說中，蔣光慈則在革命女性的思考、行動上，展示了革命如何可以是一場「性別的革命」。「革命的性別」及「性別的革命」說明了當時中國左翼知識份子對革命的思考及想像中，性別解放的可能的面向。 / With the mushrooming of Revolution and Love stories in China during late 1920s, intellectuals at the time have begun their reflection on the relation between “revolution and “gender through their writings, and addressed specifically on female characters that are engaged in revolutions. The following thesis sheds light on the Revolution and Love stories of Mao Dun（1896 - 1981）and Jiang Guangci（1901 - 1931）, and tries to illuminate the revolutionary spirit of those female characters. By comparing these fictions with Alexandra Kollontai（1872 - 1952）’s gender theories, my thesis aims at revealing the revolutionary traits when Kollontai’s socialist feminism theories were introduced into China through translation. From this point of departure, the underlying meaning of how Mao Dun transformed a female narrative into a “revolutionary oriented gender one would be underscored in his book Rainbow. While in another story written by Jiang, The moon that breaks free from the clouds, he demonstrated how a revolution could be perceived as a “gender oriented revolution through the reasoning and accomplishment of revolutionary females. By highlighting both the “revolutionary oriented gender and “gender oriented revolution, it allows us to rethink how leftist Chinese intellectuals at that time have comprehended the possibilities of gender emancipation through their understandings and imaginations towards revolution. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 高俊傑. / "2013年2月". / "2013 nian 2 yue". / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-123). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in Chinese and English. / Gao Junjie. / Chapter 第一章 --- 序 --- p.頁1 / Chapter 一、 --- 緒論：「革命加戀愛」小說的爭議 --- p.頁1 / Chapter 二、 --- 研究對象：茅盾的《虹》及蔣光慈的《衝出雲圍的月亮》中的革命女性 --- p.頁6 / Chapter 三、 --- 研究方法：引入柯倫泰的思想脈絡重讀《虹》及《衝出雲圍的月亮》中的革命女性 --- p.頁12 / Chapter 四、 --- 研究內容 --- p.頁19 / Chapter 第二章 --- 柯倫泰的性別論述 --- p.頁22 / Chapter 一、 --- 柯倫泰在現代中國 --- p.頁23 / Chapter 二、 --- 柯倫泰性別論述的背景 --- p.頁29 / Chapter 三、 --- 資本主義下家庭與婚姻對女性的剝削 --- p.頁31 / Chapter 四、 --- 社會主義下新型的家庭與婚姻 --- p.頁33 / Chapter 五、 --- 獨身女性 --- p.頁37 / Chapter 六、 --- 新性道德：戀愛遊戲 --- p.頁39 / Chapter 七、 --- 小結 --- p.頁44 / Chapter 第三章 --- 革命的性別--從柯倫泰到茅盾的《虹》 --- p.頁46 / Chapter 一、 --- 翻譯作為起點：柯倫泰與茅盾在女性解放議題的連結 --- p.頁49 / Chapter 二、 --- 柯倫泰進入茅盾小說創作的視野：從《蝕》到《虹》的轉變 --- p.頁52 / Chapter 三、 --- 性別意識：梅行素作為克服傳統女性特質的「新婦人」 --- p.頁59 / Chapter 四、 --- 性別身份：新女性的獨身主義 --- p.頁63 / Chapter 五、 --- 性別身體：女性與女性的戀愛遊戲 --- p.頁69 / Chapter 六、 --- 小結 --- p.頁76 / Chapter 第四章 --- 性別的革命--從柯倫泰到蔣光慈的《衝出雲圍的月亮》 --- p.頁79 / Chapter 一、 --- 茅盾與蔣光慈的可比性 --- p.頁82 / Chapter 二、 --- 為甚麼是《追求》？逆寫《追求》的意義 --- p.頁84 / Chapter 三、 --- 逆寫《追求》 --- p.頁89 / Chapter （1）. --- 女性的自我意識 --- p.頁89 / Chapter （2）. --- 女性與其他女性的關係 --- p.頁94 / Chapter 四、 --- 柯倫泰與蔣光慈 --- p.頁97 / Chapter 五、 --- 新性道德：革命女性的戰場 --- p.頁102 / Chapter 六、 --- 新家庭：新的倫理關係，與繼續革命 --- p.頁109 / Chapter 七、 --- 小結 --- p.頁114 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結語 --- p.頁116 / 參考書目 --- p.頁120

The myth of the West is still very much alive in contemporary America. Lately, there has been a resurgence of new Western movies, TV series, and fiction. Until recently the West has been the exclusive domain of the quintessential masculine man. Women characters have featured only in the margins of the Western hero's tale. Contemporary Western fiction by women, however, offers new perspectives. Women's writing about the Old and New West introduces strong female protagonists and gives voice to characters that are muted or ignored by traditional Western literature and history. Western scholarship has largely been polarized by two approaches. First, the myth and symbol school of Turner, Smith, and followers celebrated American exceptionalism and rugged male individualism on the Western frontier. Second, the reaction against these theories draws attention to the West's legacy of racism, sexism and violence. The purpose of the present study is to collapse these theoretical fences and open a dialogue between conflicting theoretical positions and contemporay Western fiction. Molly Gloss's 1989 The Jump-Off Creek and Karen Joy Fowler's 1991 Sarah Canary selfcritically re-write the Old West. This study has attempted to explore the following questions: How can one re-write history in the context of a postmodern culture? How can "woman," the quintessential "Other" escape a modernist history (and thus avoid charges of essentialism) when she has not been in this history to begin with? In this study I analyze how these two contemporary feminist authors, Molly Gloss, and Karen Joy Fowler, face the dual challenge of writing themselves into a history that has traditionally excluded them, while at the same time deconstructing this very historical concept of the West. Fowler's and Gloss's use of diverse narrative strategies to upset a monolithic concept of history-- emphasizing the importance of multiple stories of the Old West-- is discussed in detail.

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The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)