by Kung Siu Bing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-121). / Abstract and appendix in English and Chinese. / by Kung Siu Bing. / Abstract --- p.iii / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Abbreviations used for the four literary works --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Femininity and Masculinity --- p.14 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Androgyny --- p.51 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Sex，Gender and Sexual Identity --- p.80 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Multiple Selves --- p.102 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.112 / Works Cited --- p.114 / Appendix I Chinese version of quotations of Shuang Shen --- p.122 / Appendix II Table of major characters of Shuang Shen and The Illusionist --- p.126

<p>This paper intends to examine how parents think and reflect on gender issues when they borrow books for their children at the library. The theory applied is Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of a gender system. A questionnaire was made available at the Children's department of Uppsala City Library in February, 2010. The material was compiled and analyzed with the intention to try to detect trends, patterns and themes, rather than statistics and hard data.</p><p>Parents in the study perceive themselves as gender-conscious. They are thinking about gender issues when they choose books for their children at the library. Parents’ main focus seems to be how children are portrayed in books and many are critical of what they consider to be stereotypes and simplistic interpretations. They express a need for children's books where children are depicted more nuanced, where girls can be strong and daring and the boys may be shy and crying. Pictures of parents/adults were not analyzed equally close by the parents in the study, although respondents indicated that they think it's important how adults are depicted, as they become a kind of template for how parents are expected to be and behave. In general they are experiencing today's children's books as largely stereotypical, but add that there seem to be a wide range of issues in contemporary children's book publishing, where even radical literature with clear gender problematization has its place.</p><p>Many parents choose to completely remove books that they believe has too gender-stereotyped content, others see this type of literature as a good opportunity to discuss gender issues with their children. In the case of older children's literature and fairy tales, the majority of parents in the study express the importance of mediating the cultural heritage to their children.</p><p>Parents express a need for children's literature where the act of breaking gender standards isn't too obvious or appears as the main purpose of the text, but is present as a natural background in the story. What parents want - besides great stories - are depictions of children where a wide range of emotions and personality traits are allowed regardless of the protagonist's biological gender.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-228). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

The novels examined in this study -- Manuel Puig’s El beso de la mujer araña (Argentina, 1976), Diamela Eltit’s El cuarto mundo (Chile, 1988), and Hugo Achugar’s Falsas memorias: Blanca Luz Brum (Uruguay, 2000) -- suggest the oppressive character of binary-based identity categories in the contexts of the Southern Cone dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s and of the neo-liberal regimes that followed them. This study’s queer theoretical perspective draws on performance theory as Sylvia Molloy adapts it in her idea of the pose, which she conceives of as the politically resistant, sustained representation of a culturally unclassifiable identity. Each chapter has a dual focus, involving analyses of political and religious discourses as well as close readings of the ways in which each novel counters the normative ideologies of the discourses that most inform its narrative through representations of forms of gender and sexuality that cannot be categorized in binary terms. The purpose of this study is to contribute a fresh theoretical perspective on El beso de la mujer araña and El cuarto mundo and to fill a gap in criticism through its analysis of the little-studied Falsas memorias: Blanca Luz Brum. The first chapter analyzes Molina, one of the novel’s two protagonists, as a representation of unnamable gender and sexual identities that undermines the ideologies of early Peronism and critiques oppression in the Argentina of the 1970s. Chapter II discusses how Eltit’s novel counters the naturalized gender opposition of political and religious discourses through its characters’ nonnormative identities as it points to the violence of the Pinochet dictatorship and the socio-economic inequities of later neo-liberal regimes. Chapter III analyzes Achugar’s protagonist, the historical figure Blanca Luz Brum, in terms of how she flouts the norms of femininity specific to early twentieth-century discourses in the Southern Cone. The Conclusion addresses the novels’ use of varying strategies to deconstruct normative identity categories, examines the different positions of politically resistant literature in dictatorship and neo-liberal contexts, and analyzes the implications of the texts’ relativism for political, social, and cultural change. / text

This paper intends to examine how parents think and reflect on gender issues when they borrow books for their children at the library. The theory applied is Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of a gender system. A questionnaire was made available at the Children's department of Uppsala City Library in February, 2010. The material was compiled and analyzed with the intention to try to detect trends, patterns and themes, rather than statistics and hard data. Parents in the study perceive themselves as gender-conscious. They are thinking about gender issues when they choose books for their children at the library. Parents’ main focus seems to be how children are portrayed in books and many are critical of what they consider to be stereotypes and simplistic interpretations. They express a need for children's books where children are depicted more nuanced, where girls can be strong and daring and the boys may be shy and crying. Pictures of parents/adults were not analyzed equally close by the parents in the study, although respondents indicated that they think it's important how adults are depicted, as they become a kind of template for how parents are expected to be and behave. In general they are experiencing today's children's books as largely stereotypical, but add that there seem to be a wide range of issues in contemporary children's book publishing, where even radical literature with clear gender problematization has its place. Many parents choose to completely remove books that they believe has too gender-stereotyped content, others see this type of literature as a good opportunity to discuss gender issues with their children. In the case of older children's literature and fairy tales, the majority of parents in the study express the importance of mediating the cultural heritage to their children. Parents express a need for children's literature where the act of breaking gender standards isn't too obvious or appears as the main purpose of the text, but is present as a natural background in the story. What parents want - besides great stories - are depictions of children where a wide range of emotions and personality traits are allowed regardless of the protagonist's biological gender.

Nation-building novels are novels which attempt to weave the experiences, values and richness of a variety of cultures, language groups and social contexts into a national heritage that creates a sense ofnational identity and identification for all people within a particular nation-state. This dissertation explores how Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, Keri Hulme's The Bone People and Margaret Laurence's The Diviners all use the particularly illuminating metaphor of family to explore nation-building in India, New Zealand and Canada respectively. In questioning traditional definitions of family through the image of the adopted child (or changeling in the case of Midnight's Children), the novels also explore new ways of understanding "belonging" and the "other". Since the meaning of these terms is rooted in the past, these novels also question the "truth" of the past by exposing the fallibility of memory. In chapter one a working definition of "nation" and "nation-building" is given and the vision, purpose and characteristic features of nation-building novels are discussed. Chapter two focuses on Rushdie's novel in which the metaphor of pickling is used to explore history not as a collection of hard facts but as a conglomeration of subjective, sensuous, manufactured and carefully created and preserved flavours. In chapter three Hulme's novel is discussed, particularly in relation to what is "other" and the importance of names. The narrator's idea of "commensalism" is explored as an ideal of syncrecity which does not deny individual identity. Chapter four looks at the development from consolation to contradiction to construction in the development of a hybrid national identity in Laurence's novel. Chapter five looks at the narrative techniques used in order to convey the prophetic nature of the novels' message and discusses the importance of the intertexts of each novel. Chapter six focuses on belonging as it looks at the return of each narrator to her/his symbolic or literal home. The chapter also discusses how the novels attack linearity by separating "time" and "space" (instances of social interaction) from "place" (specific geographical locations) in order to "disembed" their message to emphasise its universal applicability. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

This dissertation focuses on the textual analysis of the representation of female and male characters in the drama book Ishashalazi, based on the two drama stories: Kwakuhle kwethu! and Umninimuzi. Both of these stories depict male and female characters differently. The findings of this study suggest that the representation of male characters in the selected stories is generally in line with patriarchal attitudes and reflect women's suppression. Male characters are positively represented by most texts and reflect triumph, intelligence, and strength and these forms of representation affirm the traditionally held beliefs about men as rulers and heads of families. On the contrary, this study finds that the representation of women differs greatly from that in which males are represented. Women are given feminine roles represented negatively as failures or as being capricious and disrespectful of social norms. The division of labour into gender-hyper-specific roles widens the gap of differences in the representation of female and male characters. Situated in the imbalance representation is culture. Texts and Ishashalazi in particular, echo unequal representation of male and female characters by promoting the observation of cultural principles in the roles played by characters. African culture is the major phenomenon that promotes patriarchy and ensures that women remain suppressed by the rule of men. Such processes are perpetuated by texts that we read every day. Texts are powerful means of sending messages. It is through texts that social actions and processes are interpreted and acted. Thus textual meaning is both visible and invisible. Through analysis of the two drama plays the hidden meaning of text is disclosed and it is through this analysis that actions that promote the marginalization of women are challenged. Family is one of the institutions where women are oppressed on the pretext of culture (Cameron. 1990). The findings of this study allude to Cameron's observation that the roles assigned to female characters serve as a valuable clue to the constitution of women's silence. Roles represented by female characters in Ishashalazi do not gain the respect of the greater community instead, some (such as women who violate cultural principles) actually damage the reputation of women and tarnish their image. Thus culture oppresses women while giving opportunities to their male counterparts to dominate and exercise authority over women. It is with such social actions and processes that this study concerns itself. Sexist language and stereotypes used by society continue to pose problems that reflect negatively on women. In responding to such challenges this study analyses the representation of female and male characters from a feminist standpoint and calls for the emancipation of women and children. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2004. / År 2005 tilldelat nummer i serien Linköping studies in arts and science.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 359-369).