This project examines the changing shape of femininity and masculinity for Marines from World War I to the Korean War, focusing on the ways that the body serves as a canvas for demonstrating the negotiation of gender roles and the Marine Corps image. Gender has been a constant issue for the military. However, few historical studies consider the ways that the Marine Corps’ status as a particularly elite, masculine institution impacted the desired image of femininity for its female recruits and how this image changed over time. The hyper-masculine nature of the military influenced the relationship between masculinity and femininity for both servicemen and women. My project looks at these changes in masculinity and femininity by placing gender identity within the context of the hyper-masculine military environment. R.W. Connell’s Masculinities, Anthony Rotundo’s American Manhood, and Aaron Belkin’s Bring Me Men assist in putting gender identity in the military into a more complex and nuanced context, especially focusing on masculinity’s centrality to the American military institution. Belkin, in particular, argues that military masculinity has never been entirely devoid of feminine elements. Aspects of femininity have long been a part of military life, from domestic responsibilities often associated with women to close same sex companionship between soldiers. While generally considered less masculine when taken as separate behaviors, they did not seem problematic in a military context. This leads to the conclusion that the incorporation of women into the military was not a radical introduction of femininity into a solely masculine environment, but rather a more complicated shift in the relationship between gender and occupation. This project’s conclusions support this kind of closer relationship between masculinity and femininity in the military context. Francine D’Amico and Laurie Weinstein’s Gender Camouflage, Melissa Ming Foynes, Jillian C. Shipherd, and Ellen F. Harrington’s “Race and Gender Discrimination in the Marines,” Melissa S. Herbert’s Camouflage Isn’t Only for Combat, Heather J. Höpfl’s “Becoming a (Virile) Member: Women and the Military Body,” Leisa D. Meyer’s Creating GI Jane, and Sara L. Zeigler and Gregory G. Gunderson’s Moving Beyond GI Jane address this shift in gender relations and the resulting tension between military men and women throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries I investigate changes in military gender identity by looking at legislation and regulations controlling gender and sexuality in the military, media depictions of Marines, and the ways that gendered military identity plays out on the body, especially through physical fitness, uniforms, and bodily maintenance. The Marine Corps documented their ideas of normative masculine and feminine Marine bodies through pictures, propaganda, and newsletters. Examination of these different characteristics of the ideal body allow for comparison through time of the ways that Marines presented themselves to society, as well as the methods the Corps utilized to encourage images advantageous to its purposes. Such comparisons show changes in the perception of gender identity through time, as well as new norms of appearance and behavior that developed. This evidence illustrates the complicated and often contradictory relationship between masculinity and femininity that all Marines, male and female, negotiate. This project illustrates the significance of these frequently gendered representations of Marine bodies through time. They show the negotiation of gender within the Corps and how assumptions of gender roles shifted from one war to the next. Understanding these changes helps explain the tensions and conflicts which developed between male and female Marines during different periods, as well as creating a framework for investigating these tensions into the contemporary era. The primary sources used for this project focus on the appearance of Marines, male and female, and include national legislation related to Marines and military regulations enforcing conformity in dress and appearance. Memoirs of Marines, publications intended for Marine readers, as well as publications depicting Marines aid in gaining a better idea of the function of gender for Marines, especially in relation to their interactions between male and female Marines. These documents show the changes occurring in expectations about femininity and masculinity in the Marine Corps over time. Public publications, such as general interest magazines, women’s magazines, and newspapers, showed public ideas of Marines’ gender and their relationship to civilian American gender ideals. This project explores the changing shape of normative Marine Corps bodies and the impact of ideas of masculinity and femininity in their deployment as methods of supporting the services’ goals. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2019. / February 8, 2019. / Gender, Korean War, Marine Corps, US Military, World War I, World War II / Includes bibliographical references. / Suzanne Sinke, Professor Directing Dissertation; Dennis Moore, University Representative; Kurt Piehler, Committee Member; Charles Upchurch, Committee Member; Jennifer Koslow, Committee Member.

This thesis examines the performance of affect in relation to gender identity across some of the major works of Willa Cather’s and John Steinbeck’s careers. Throughout this discussion, I contend that Steinbeck—an author not often thought of as projecting feminist concerns—indeed approximates the feminist themes of Cather in his creation of characters who embody nonnormative castes of gender identity, even if Cather does perhaps exceed Steinbeck’s feminist vision in her optimism for the potential of people of nonnormative gender identity to find peace, happiness, and acceptance in an often xenophobic early-twentieth-century America. Over the course of this thesis, I build on the work of affect theorists such as Sara Ahmed and Anu Koivunen by demonstrating the power of affect theory as a tool for understanding gender politics and gender identity.

No description available.

This thesis examines nationalism and colonialism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asks the questions: What is the relationship between these ideologies and "national narratives" constructed of collective historical memory? How do these ideologies produce recognizable, sexualized, national bodies? What are the defining characteristics of these national bodies and how do they perform roles from the national narratives? These questions are addressed through a discussion of the role of masculinity in modern Zionism and the state of Israel, in particular how it relates to the land of Palestine and the Palestinian "other". This thesis also addresses anti-colonial resistance movements in Palestine and argues that performative nationalism produces a fetishized commodity that can me labeled "militancy". This militancy is found institutionalized in the popular culture of everything from poetry to political posters. Finally, Palestinian female suicide bombers, like women nationalists before them, do little to challenge how specific nationalist acts of resistance are defined by patriarchal nationalists and sexualized within a "gendered space of militancy".

No description available.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis reports on a study undertaken within Theology and Development with a focus on health and gender. Health, in this thesis, was not merely understood from a biomedical perspective, but defined in terms of the holistic wellbeing of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer (LGBTIQ) persons with varying sexual orientations and gender identities. In the light of contextual phenomena such as the ‘corrective’ rape of gays and lesbians, the notion that homosexuality is considered to be ‘un-African’, and the churches’ response to homosexuality within South Africa, this study will attempt to utilise queer theory and queer theology ‘queery’ Gender and Development (GAD) scholars within Theology and Development. The current understanding of the GAD approach within Theology and Development discourse was argued to make use of the heterogendered binary and, as a result, is not inclusive of LGBTIQ identities as a discursive theme. Gender, in this thesis, is considered a socio-historical construct and it is argued that it expands across many cultures. This understanding of gender opens up a discussion on subjectivity and looks at how the subject is utilized within discursive practice. The thesis concurs with Feminist scholars who argue that language does not only communicate the link between one’s sex and one’s gender identity; but that it also constitutes that link. Michel Foucault’s framework of power and how it is used to regulate discourses together with Judith Butler’s work on performativity provide a valuable point of departure for queer theory and queer theology as the hermeneutical lenses utilised in this thesis. A brief literature survey is conducted concerning gendered subjectivities within development discourses within the social sciences. The historical movements of Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD) and Gender and Development (GAD) were explored within development discourse with the purpose of highlighting some of the reasons for the historical inclusion of certain subjects and the exclusion of others within the discursive practice in particular. The most recent movement, GAD, is shown to have been critiqued for mainly utilizing ‘gender’ as a code word for ‘women’. There is a discursive shift within development discourses within the social sciences that has gone on to queery development discourses and advocate for the inclusion of sexual minorities as a discursive theme. Through agencies such as SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), sexuality was highlighted to also have links within a multi perspectival understanding of poverty. Finally, a thematic networks analysis coupled with the lenses of queer theory and queer theology, were conducted on seven articles that could possibly be related to the emerging field of Theology and Development. The thesis argues that the current use of heterogendered binary as an “informant” of theologising on gender is indicative of the fact that some of the Theology and development articles that are analysed here have not yet made a discursive shift to include LGBTIQ persons as a discursive theme. Indecent theology is recommended for future research as a queer theological tool to incorporate epistemological considerations of those on the sexual margins and thereby confronting heterosexist theologising within Theology and Development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is 'n studie binne die vakgebied Teologie en Ontwikkeling met 'n fokus op gesondheid en gender. Gesondheid in hierdie tesis is nie slegs van 'n biomediese perspektief verstaan nie, maar word in hierdie geval gedefinieer in terme van die holistiese welstand van LGBTIQ persone met wisselende seksuele oriëntasies en gender identiteit. In die lig van kontekstuele verskynsels soos die "regstellende" verkragting van homoseksuele mans en vrouens, die idee dat homoseksualiteit beskou word as iets wat 'nie eie aan Afrika' is nie en die kerke se reaksie op homoseksualiteit in Suid-Afrika ,sal hierdie studie poog om queer teorie te benut en deur queer teologie Gender en Ontwikkeling (GAD) diskoers in Teologie en Ontwikkeling te 'queer'. Daar word aangevoer dat die huidige begrip van GAD binne die Teologie en Ontwikkeling diskoers gebruik maak van die heterogeslagtelike tweeledigheid en as 'n resultaat is dit nie inklusief van LGBTIQ identiteite as 'n diskursiewe tema nie. Gender word in hierdie tesis beskou as 'n sosio-historiese konstruk en daar word aangevoer dat dit oor baie kulture strek. Hierdie begrip van gender maak 'n bespreking oop oor subjektiwiteit en kyk na hoe die onderwerp binne diskursiewe praktyk gebruik word. Die tesis stem saam met feministiese vakkundiges, wat argumenteer dat taal nie net die skakel tussen 'n mens se geslag en 'n mens se gender identiteit kommunikeer nie; maar dat dit ook die skakel vorm. Michel Foucault se raamwerk van mag en hoe dit gebruik word om diskoerse te reguleer, saam met Judith Butler se werk op uitvoerbaarheid bied 'n waardevolle vertrekpunt vir queer teorie en queer teologie as die hermeneutiese lense wat gebruik word in hierdie tesis. 'n Kort literatuur opname word onderneem aangaande geslagtelike subjektiwiteite binne die ontwikkelingsdiskoerse binne die sosiale wetenskappe. Die historiese bewegings van Women in Development (WIN), Women and Development (WAD) en Gender and Development (GAD) is ondersoek binne die ontwikkelingsdiskoers met die doel om van die redes vir die insluiting van sekere identiteite en die uitsluiting van ander binne die diskursiewe praktyk in besonder uit te lig. Daar is aangedui hoe die mees onlangse beweging, GAD, gekritiseer is vir hoofsaaklike gebruikmaak van 'gender' as 'n kodewoord vir 'vroue'. Daar is 'n diskursiewe verskuiwing binne die ontwikkelingsdiskoerse binne die sosiale wetenskappe wat voortgegaan het om ontwikkeling diskoerse te queer en op te tree as kampvegter vir die insluiting van seksuele minderhede as 'n diskursiewe tema. Deur agentskappe soos SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), is seksualiteit ook uitgelig as een van die skakels binne 'n multiperspektivale begrip van armoede. Ten slotte is 'n tematiese netwerk analise, tesame met die lense van queer teorie en queer teologie, uitgevoer op sewe artikels wat moontlik verband kan hou met/binne binne die ontluikende veld van Teologie en Ontwikkeling. Hierdie tesis argumenteer dat die huidige gebruik van die heterogeslagtelike tweeledigheid as 'n "informant" van teologisering oorgender, daarop dui dat die Teologie en die ontwikkelingsdiskoerse nog nie 'n diskursiewe verskuiwing gemaak het om LGBTIQ persone as 'n diskursiewe tema in te sluit nie. Onbehoorlike teologie word aanbeveel vir toekomstige navorsing as 'n queer teologiese instrument om epistemologiese oorwegings van diegene op die seksuele kantlyne te inkorporeer en sodoende, heteroseksuele teologisering binne die Teologie en Ontwikkeling te konfronteer.

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Arts

Utilising a gender critical perspective augmented by statistical analysis, this thesis examines the binary approach customarily employed throughout archaeological narratives pertaining to the Danish Bronze Age. In respect to the recent development of feminist scholarship in archaeology regarding concepts of gender, identity and the body in prehistory, it is argued that a binary approach, which views prehistoric society as having been structured according to rigid male-female oppositions, places inappropriate restrictions upon evidence relevant to the study of gender in Bronze Age Denmark. To decipher the meaning encoded in any type of evidence related to gender ideology a perspective which emphasises contextual analysis rather than assumed heteronormativity is essential. In addition, statistical analyses of data from a representative sample of the mortuary record reveal that continuous implementation of the binary approach in the documentation of funerary remains has effectively corrupted the integrity of the evidence. The results of this investigation have significant consequences for the study of gender and societal organisation in the Danish Bronze Age. Gender categories valued by contemporary western ideology can no longer be grafted onto prehistoric society in archaeological investigations of the Bronze Age in Denmark. Moreover, traditional methods which use the objects in a grave to determine a burial’s sex can no longer be justifiably employed. Furthermore, analysis demonstrates that it is not possible to gain a comprehensive understanding of gender ideology from the mortuary data alone. Rather, through the application of current approaches to the study of gender in the past, osteological examination of the skeletal material must be revisited in conjunction with the analysis of evidence from elsewhere in the archaeological record. Thus, the potential variation concerning this period in Danish prehistory is greater than can be explained through the limitations of a binary approach, perhaps extending to evidence for the existence of an ambiguous gender identity in the society of Bronze Age Denmark.

No description available.

This thesis examines the intersection between masculinity and risk in educational settings. It draws on an intensive examination of the field of dance-education in Scotland and an extended period of research with YDance, Scotland’s only state-funded dance education company. Data was gleaned from a combination of qualitative and ethnographic methods including unstructured interviews, planned discussion groups and participant observation. The thesis synthesises the work of Ulrich Beck and with micro-level approaches popular in studies of gender and education through Bourdieu’s meso-level theories of society and social actors. It uses Bourdieu in new ways, both to reconcile these concerns of structure and action and to overcome key problems that have been identified with the work of authors like Butler and Connell. Substantively, the thesis draws attention to the risks which so-called ‘feminised’ activities like dance pose to young masculine identities and the role played by schools in reproducing and tacitly authorising inculcated assumptions about dance, gender and sexuality. The thesis also investigates the various ways in which dance educators attempt to challenge these reified associations and considers some of the unintended consequences of these practices. Despite ostensibly challenging gender stereotypes, many of the steps taken in order to engage boys in dance at school result in the reproduction of strong versions of masculinity and femininity. In attempting to recode dance as a ‘acceptable’ activity for young men, dance educators often disavow the contribution of gay and effeminate men to the art form, downplay the merits of genres like ballet which is perceived to carry particularly strong associations of femininity and homosexuality, and engage – albeit subtly – in misogyny and homophobia. Dance educators are often therefore unintentional agents of the reproduction of inculcated masculinities and gender inequality.