The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of approximately sixty medical treatises that were written by the Hippocratics during the Classical period of Greece. The Hippocratics were a group of practicing physicians and are today considered as one of the first Greek scientists. The treatises in the Corpus are unique and show us what the Hippocratics believed about the human body and how it functioned. This essay aims to investigate the Hippocratics’ knowledge of the female physiology, their reproductive organs and if there is a connection between the Hippocratics’ knowledge and the society’s view and attitude towards women during the Classical period. To do so I have chosen to mainly use ancient sources as my main material, which consist of selected parts of the Hippocratic Corpus as well as works from Hesiod, Xenophon and Plutarch. Since all the ancient texts are written by men we only get their male perspective and therefore I will be using a feministic perspective in order to weigh against the male-bias in their writings. In order to see if the Hippocratics were influenced by society’s attitude towards women, I need to try to understand the mindset of men during that time and look into how women’s lives were like (those that were born as free citizens) during the Classical period. By looking at the Hippocratics’ knowledge of the female body in parallel to the information about women’s lives during Classical Greece, there is a clear connection between the two. They are complementary and seem to have been used to continue to normalize and at the same time perpetuate the idea that women were second class citizens and were inherently weaker than men. It seems like the Hippocratics’ knowledge of the female body was used as an encouragement to women to pursue their destined roles; to get married as soon as possible and produce children. Also, in the Hippocratic Corpus, women and their bodies are depicted in a misogynistic way where the Hippocratics are, without a doubt, influenced by the society’s attitude towards women in their writings.

My thesis is a historical and cultural study of how the womb was visualized in Britain circa 1660-1775 as well as during the twenty-first century. Prior to the late seventeenth century, the womb was frequently explained as an occult phenomenon, which is to say, as an enigmatic object with inexplicable powers. Because of the social significance and personal investment involved with reproduction, the womb was continually the subject of speculation and conjecture. Additionally, the womb was considered as crucially influencing female well-being, psychology, and sexuality. Following the prerogative of late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century empiricism and human science, the womb was increasingly the subject of inquiry, especially as it had been long perceived an occluded phenomenon that had been rarely examined or described visually. The progression of the visualization of the womb during the late seventeenth and eighteenth century incorporated and instituted certain features in the visual illustrations that continue to act as precedents for medical scientific uterine imaging today.<p> Having traced the dissolution and influence of earlier occultist beliefs about the womb, I found that a regular set of metaphors were used in explaining the womb during the eighteenth century. These metaphors provided conceptual themes for the anatomical illustrations of the womb that were contemporaneously produced. One such metaphorical understanding was the brain-womb, wherein the brain and the womb were commonly analogized through both literary tropes and medical pathologies. An overarching concept that directed how the womb was understood was the perception that the womb was an autonomous entity within the female body. This precept allowed that the womb could perform various, often malignant, activities that vitally altered the female constitution. The visual images created for anatomical and medical treatises responded to these metaphors and conceptualizations, responses which markedly altered how the womb, reproduction, and the female body were understood. My final consideration relates these metaphorical and conceptual features of eighteenth-century visualizations of the womb to modern-day uterine imaging. Although optical technology has vastly changed between these two eras, many features and conceptualizations have carried forward, crucially informing how we now perceive the uterus.

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The mother-daughter relationship is dual, ambivalent, a hall of mirrors; it is at once the site of the womb and maternity, a veritable matrix of meaning. The mother-daughter pairing moves through the body, constantly calling attention to its origins and valorising a transmission au féminin even from within a patriarchal society. However, it can also prove catastrophic. Though the mother is the first person with whom the daughter identifies—her first link to life—the daughter not only reacts to her, but also pushes against her. It would appear that this confrontation is necessary, that it allows the child to detach herself from the mother even as she models herself on her. In order to avoid a destructive union, the daughter must become conscious of the maternal love from which she must take her distance if she is to become someone, and more precisely, a woman. In the novels analysed here, the daughter’s flight—her quest for independence from her mother—points to her need to create herself, to come into her own without destroying the mother-daughter bond. The notion of space is of the utmost importance in the discovery and (re-)establishment of this exclusive filial/maternal relationship. Space becomes the symbol of the mother and the antidote to filial solitude, a site of resistance, one to be conquered and understood, and thus an incentive to write the mother-daughter relationship. The symbolic matricide—depicted in these novels through the absence of the mother during the process of identification and the liberation of the daughter—ensures, a posteriori, the continuation rather than destruction of the filial/maternal relationship, as well as the affirmation of a female lineage. La relation mère-fille est duelle, ambivalente, jeu de miroirs. A la fois lieu de la matrice, lieu de maternage, et de matriçage. Le couple mère-fille en appelle en effet au corps, revenant à l’origine de cette relation qui valorise une transmission au féminin, et ce à l’intérieur-même d’une société patriarcale tendant à assujettir les femmes. Il peut toutefois aussi devenir désastre. La fille réagit face à sa mère, première personne à laquelle elle peut s’identifier, premier lien à la vie. La confrontation est, semble-t-il, nécessaire, elle permet à l’enfant de se détacher de la figure maternelle tout en s’en servant de modèle. Afin d’éviter une union destructrice, la fille doit prendre conscience d’un amour maternel envers lequel il faut qu’elle prenne ses distances de façon à être, à son tour, quelqu’un, et plus précisément une femme. La fuite des filles, ou du moins leur recherche d’indépendance face à leur mère dans les romans analysés indique cette nécessité de se construire soi-même sans pour autant détruire le lien à la mère. L’espace prend alors une place prépondérante dans la découverte et le rétablissement de cette relation maternelle exclusive. Il s’avère être symbole de la mère, antidote contre la solitude filiale, espace à conquérir et à comprendre, lieu de résistance, incitation à écrire cette relation mère-fille. Le meurtre symbolique de la mère, illustré ici par l’absence de celle-ci lors du processus d’identification et de libération de la fille assure a posteriori la persistance de la relation maternelle ainsi que l’affirmation d’une lignée féminine – et non leur anéantissement. / Thesis (Ph.D, French) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-18 17:21:29.738

A presente dissertação examina a atuação do senhoriato do Vale do Paraíba no contexto de elaboração e promulgação da Lei do Ventre Livre, entre os anos de 1865 a 1871. O corpus documental consiste em pareceres do Conselho de Estado, discursos parlamentares, publicações coevas na imprensa e em formato de livros, atas de reuniões de fazendeiros, representações contra o ventre livre e inventários de alguns dos subscritores das representações. Além da análise do discurso, os textos foram interpretados a partir da história social, política e demográfica (especificamente os inventários). O primeiro capítulo trata dos processos históricos que permitiram a gênese propositiva da liberdade do ventre no Império do Brasil. Os capítulos dois e três analisam, respectivamente, o início do movimento peticionário entre os fazendeiros do Vale do Paraíba e a sua expansão geográfica. Em ambos os casos, buscou-se compreender criticamente a estratégia argumentativa dos peticionantes que, apesar de residentes em localidades distintas, formularam uma plataforma uníssona. No último capítulo, foi analisada a disputa política travada no Parlamento em 1871 e as expectativas futuras concebidas a partir da emancipação do ventre escravo. / This work studies the agency of the Parahyba Valley\'s slaveholders in the context of the elaboration and promulgation of the Free Womb Law, from 1865 to 1871. The documentary corpus consists of rulings from the State Council, parliamentary speeches, publications on the press and on book format, minutes of farmers\' meetings, petitions against the emancipation of the womb, and inventories from some of the petitioners. Apart from the analysis of the discourse, the texts were interpreted from a Social, Political and Demographic History (specifically the inventories). The first chapter approaches the historical processes that enabled the propositional genesis of liberty from the womb in the Empire of Brazil. The second and third chapters analyze, respectively, the beginning of the petitionary movement among the Parahyba Valley\'s slaveholders and its geographic expansion. In both cases, it was sought to critically comprehend the argumentative strategies of the petitioners who, despite residing on distinct localities, formulated a unison platform. In the last chapter, it was examined the political dispute waged at the Parliament in 1871, and the future expectations conceived from the emancipation of the slave womb.

Análise dos dois primeiros capítulos que integram o livro de 1 Samuel da Bíblia Hebraica, com ênfase nos aspectos históricos, lingüísticos e literários. Neles encontra-se registrada a história de Ana, uma mulher que sofria muito por não ter filhos, uma vez que a outra esposa de seu marido os tinha. A esterilidade de Ana é revertida após ela orar a Deus, e prometer-lhe entregar o filho que viesse a ter ao serviço religioso. Uma comparação com outros personagens da Bíblia Hebraica é feita, para demonstrar quais atitudes de Ana fazem dela uma das personagens femininas mais notáveis do Antigo Israel. Ao final, verifica-se também como o poema inserido nessa narrativa influenciou a literatura cristã. / Analyses of two first chapters that integrate the 1 Samuel book of Hebrew Bible, with emphasis in historical, liguistics and literary aspects. In these chapters we find the history of Hannah, a woman that suffered very much because she hasn\'t childrens and because the other wife of her husband has got them. The Hannah\'s sterility changed after she prays to God, and promisses to give the son that wasborn to the religious service. A comparision with others Hebrew Bibles characters is done to demonstrate which actitudes of Hannah make of her one of the most notable females characters of Ancient Israel. At the end we notice too how the poetry inserted into this narrative has influenced the christian literature.

A presente dissertação examina a atuação do senhoriato do Vale do Paraíba no contexto de elaboração e promulgação da Lei do Ventre Livre, entre os anos de 1865 a 1871. O corpus documental consiste em pareceres do Conselho de Estado, discursos parlamentares, publicações coevas na imprensa e em formato de livros, atas de reuniões de fazendeiros, representações contra o ventre livre e inventários de alguns dos subscritores das representações. Além da análise do discurso, os textos foram interpretados a partir da história social, política e demográfica (especificamente os inventários). O primeiro capítulo trata dos processos históricos que permitiram a gênese propositiva da liberdade do ventre no Império do Brasil. Os capítulos dois e três analisam, respectivamente, o início do movimento peticionário entre os fazendeiros do Vale do Paraíba e a sua expansão geográfica. Em ambos os casos, buscou-se compreender criticamente a estratégia argumentativa dos peticionantes que, apesar de residentes em localidades distintas, formularam uma plataforma uníssona. No último capítulo, foi analisada a disputa política travada no Parlamento em 1871 e as expectativas futuras concebidas a partir da emancipação do ventre escravo. / This work studies the agency of the Parahyba Valley\'s slaveholders in the context of the elaboration and promulgation of the Free Womb Law, from 1865 to 1871. The documentary corpus consists of rulings from the State Council, parliamentary speeches, publications on the press and on book format, minutes of farmers\' meetings, petitions against the emancipation of the womb, and inventories from some of the petitioners. Apart from the analysis of the discourse, the texts were interpreted from a Social, Political and Demographic History (specifically the inventories). The first chapter approaches the historical processes that enabled the propositional genesis of liberty from the womb in the Empire of Brazil. The second and third chapters analyze, respectively, the beginning of the petitionary movement among the Parahyba Valley\'s slaveholders and its geographic expansion. In both cases, it was sought to critically comprehend the argumentative strategies of the petitioners who, despite residing on distinct localities, formulated a unison platform. In the last chapter, it was examined the political dispute waged at the Parliament in 1871, and the future expectations conceived from the emancipation of the slave womb.

This dissertation explores the British colonial government’s attempt to reconstruct women’s reproductive behaviors in colonial Ghana through the sites of maternal and infant welfare services and western midwifery education. In the early 1920s, the fear that the high maternal and infant mortality rates in the Gold Coast would have repercussive effects on economic productivity caused the colonial government to increasingly subject women’s reproduction to medical scrutiny and institutional care. I argue that female reproduction was selected as a site of intervention because the British colonial government conceived of it as a path of least resistance to social reconstruction, economic security, and political dominance. The five chapters have been designed to analyze colonial reproductive intervention as a socio-economic and political exigency of colonial rule. This dissertation speaks to the fact that cross-culturally, the female body has been politicized through narratives of power, culture, tradition, modernity, race, disempowerment, and empowerment. / text

Análise dos dois primeiros capítulos que integram o livro de 1 Samuel da Bíblia Hebraica, com ênfase nos aspectos históricos, lingüísticos e literários. Neles encontra-se registrada a história de Ana, uma mulher que sofria muito por não ter filhos, uma vez que a outra esposa de seu marido os tinha. A esterilidade de Ana é revertida após ela orar a Deus, e prometer-lhe entregar o filho que viesse a ter ao serviço religioso. Uma comparação com outros personagens da Bíblia Hebraica é feita, para demonstrar quais atitudes de Ana fazem dela uma das personagens femininas mais notáveis do Antigo Israel. Ao final, verifica-se também como o poema inserido nessa narrativa influenciou a literatura cristã. / Analyses of two first chapters that integrate the 1 Samuel book of Hebrew Bible, with emphasis in historical, liguistics and literary aspects. In these chapters we find the history of Hannah, a woman that suffered very much because she hasn\'t childrens and because the other wife of her husband has got them. The Hannah\'s sterility changed after she prays to God, and promisses to give the son that wasborn to the religious service. A comparision with others Hebrew Bibles characters is done to demonstrate which actitudes of Hannah make of her one of the most notable females characters of Ancient Israel. At the end we notice too how the poetry inserted into this narrative has influenced the christian literature.

La relation mère-fille est duelle, ambivalente, jeu de miroirs. A la fois lieu de la matrice, lieu de maternage, et de matriçage. Le couple mère-fille en appelle en effet au corps, revenant à l’origine de cette relation qui valorise une transmission au féminin, et ce à l’intérieur-même d’une société patriarcale tendant à assujettir les femmes. Il peut toutefois aussi devenir désastre. La fille réagit face à sa mère, première personne à laquelle elle peut s’identifier, premier lien à la vie. La confrontation est, semble-t-il, nécessaire, elle permet à l’enfant de se détacher de la figure maternelle tout en s’en servant de modèle. Afin d’éviter une union destructrice, la fille doit prendre conscience d’un amour maternel envers lequel il faut qu’elle prenne ses distances de façon à être, à son tour, quelqu’un, et plus précisément une femme. La fuite des filles, ou du moins leur recherche d’indépendance face à leur mère dans les romans analysés indique cette nécessité de se construire soi-même sans pour autant détruire le lien à la mère. L’espace prend alors une place prépondérante dans la découverte et le rétablissement de cette relation maternelle exclusive. Il s’avère être symbole de la mère, antidote contre la solitude filiale, espace à conquérir et à comprendre, lieu de résistance, incitation à écrire cette relation mère-fille. Le meurtre symbolique de la mère, illustré ici par l’absence de celle-ci lors du processus d’identification et de libération de la fille assure a posteriori la persistance de la relation maternelle ainsi que l’affirmation d’une lignée féminine – et non leur anéantissement. / The mother-daughter relationship is dual, ambivalent, a hall of mirrors; it is at once the site of the womb and maternity, a veritable matrix of meaning. The mother-daughter pairing moves through the body, constantly calling attention to its origins and valorising a transmission au féminin even from within a patriarchal society. However, it can also prove catastrophic. Though the mother is the first person with whom the daughter identifies—her first link to life—the daughter not only reacts to her, but also pushes against her. It would appear that this confrontation is necessary, that it allows the child to detach herself from the mother even as she models herself on her. In order to avoid a destructive union, the daughter must become conscious of the maternal love from which she must take her distance if she is to become someone, and more precisely, a woman. In the novels analysed here, the daughter’s flight—her quest for independence from her mother—points to her need to create herself, to come into her own without destroying the mother-daughter bond. The notion of space is of the utmost importance in the discovery and (re-)establishment of this exclusive filial/maternal relationship. Space becomes the symbol of the mother and the antidote to filial solitude, a site of resistance, one to be conquered and understood, and thus an incentive to write the mother-daughter relationship. The symbolic matricide—depicted in these novels through the absence of the mother during the process of identification and the liberation of the daughter—ensures, a posteriori, the continuation rather than destruction of the filial/maternal relationship, as well as the affirmation of a female lineage.