This study attempts to re-contextualize the works and career of James Lane Allen (1849-1925), a now neglected Southern writer from Lexington, Kentucky, whose career, from the late 1880s until his death in 1925, overlapped a transitional period in American literature. Today, Allen is universally equated with the Southern genteel writer Thomas Nelson Page, known in particular for sentimentally idealizing the Old South's plantation way of life in his fiction, which, in turn, appealed to the mainstream Victorian audience. This study will focus on the "other" James Lane Allen, the anti-Victorian writer who wrote against the political grain of his time, and whose unconventional novels do not invite comparison with works by Page or other genteel writers, since these novels by Allen exude an exotic mixture of pagan sensuality and Darwinian principles foreign to "moonlight and magnolias" fare being served at the time. / Specifically, this study focuses on a particular historical moment in Allen's career and in literary history: the textual history of Allen's first unconventional novel, Summer in Arcady (1896), one of the first "serious" American novels to positively picture sexual desire in Darwinian terms, and particularly bold for its depiction of a female character who exhibits sexual urges. Along with a number of before-now unprinted letters by Allen, the data concerning this work's original and revised states challenges popular twentieth century interpretations of the novel, which--oddly enough--often dismiss the work as a heavy-handed moral treatise on the necessity of chastity before marriage. Far from being the sentimental moralist in this work, Allen is shown to have been strongly influenced by principles of evolution, especially as they related to sexual desire and sexual function, and to have envisioned a work which positively pictured sexual desire as natural. Thus, this "other" Allen, not known as a literary Naturalist, is shown on a number of occasions to have participated in that artistic mindset, and consequently to have produced radically unconventional works within the context of the Victorian cultural milieu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-02, Section: A, page: 0681. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The objectives of this research were (a) to identify three new criteria to measure the assertive verbal behavior of low income Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian women; (b) to contrast the assertiveness ratings obtained using these new culturally appropriate criteria with those obtained using traditional criteria (i.e. those typically used in the measurement of assertiveness--developed predominantly on White, middle class samples). A sample of 115 low income women completed the Simple Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and items pertaining to rights to act assertively. Additionally, they participated in six videotaped role-plays; within the role-plays the gender and familiarity of the other person and the difficulty of the situation were varied. A panel of key informants reviewed these videotapes and selected a representative sample of interviews for content analysis. The results of the content analysis formed the basis of the new criteria to assess assertive verbal content. Additionally, voice tone ratings were re-calibrated. / The new criteria differ from the mainstream criteria in that they detail specific courses of action to specific situations that are in themselves passive, assertive, and aggressive strategies. The groups agreed the most in terms of what constituted appropriate action when dealing with a child and disagreed the most when dealing with an aggressive male friend. Overall, the non-Hispanic groups were more likely to regard references to consequences and obligations as appropriate. The Caucasian group had the largest range of responses including more aggressive tactics. The Black group had fewer types of aggressive acts, however their range of assertive acts included behaviors that the other groups defined as aggressive. The Hispanic group took a more deferential approach, placing more emphasis on correctly addressing the other individual and adopting good manners when speaking. / Generally, the culturally appropriate criteria produced either the same or higher assertion ratings in contrast to the mainstream criteria. Through the development of the new criteria and an examination of their content, lessons for the development of culturally competent practice are noted. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-03, Section: A, page: 1129. / Major Professor: Dianne Harrison Montgomery. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The present exploratory study examined the applicability of personality constructs derived from the theory of Transactional Analysis (TA) to the understanding of women's career preferences and vocational identity. More specifically, it investigated the differences among groups of occupationally traditional and nontraditional women with high or low levels of vocational identity and their scores on seven TA personality characteristics. The study further explored whether a constellation of the TA variables formed a discriminating dimension that distinguished between the four occupational groups. / A nonrandom sample of 124 undergraduate college women was employed in the study. An equal number of subjects were recruited from classes in the Colleges of Education and Engineering to represent women's traditional and nontraditional career choice respectively. Volunteers completed the Vocational Identity Scale of the My Vocational Situation (Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980), Adjective Check List: TA Scales (Gough & Heilburn, 1983), TA Life Position Survey (Kramer & Strade, 1976), and a demographic data form. / Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance procedures were employed to examine group differences on measures of the TA personality characteristics. The MANOVA procedure yielded a significant (p $<$.01) overall multivariate main effect due to group differences of vocational identity on a weighted linear combination of the TA variables. Subsequent univariate ANOVA procedures on each of the TA variables clarified the significance of the MANOVA result. Findings of the ANOVA procedure revealed significant (p $<$.01) differences in group means on three of the seven TA variables. Significant main effects were obtained in this analysis on the Adult ego state, Adapted Child ego state, and I'm OK life position variables. / Further analysis was conducted with the discriminant function technique. It was found that the I'm OK life position and Adapted Child ego state variables made the greatest contribution to the discriminating dimension. Results indicated that the discriminant function formed by these two TA personality characteristics had moderate to high utility as a mechanism to correctly classify subjects in their respective occupational group. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-03, Section: B, page: 1145. / Major Professor: F. Donald Kelly. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

Despite widespread promotion of the benefits of regular activity, uptake by obese adults, particularly women, remains low. There is limited research on the physical barriers to exercise in younger obese adults, yet studies in elderly women suggested a relationship between obesity, fear of falling (FOF) and activity participation. It is feasible that FOF might be a problem in younger obese women and a subsequent barrier to activity participation. The aim of this thesis was to explore the phenomenon of FOF in obese women under 50 years of age and to develop a conceptual framework to explain its relationship to activity participation. An exploratory mixed methods approach was used. An initial study of 12 obese women used semi-structured interviews to elicit original knowledge of concerns they had about falling when active, which was analysed using a thematic approach. Eight participants reported FOF and there were suggestions that FOF led to activity avoidance. Younger participants and those more active were less likely to report problems. The results were used to develop a conceptual framework of FOF which informed the design of a larger study to measure the relationship between FOF and activity level in obese women. A review of FOF instruments to identify those appropriate for use in a further study of obese women was completed. Sixty-three participants completed self-reported questionnaires that measured different constructs of FOF, notably, falls-efficacy, feared consequences of falling and activity avoidance. Statistical analysis confirmed FOF to be an independent predictor of current low activity, irrespective of age, BMI or depression. These findings shed light on an important issue which could be used to inform the design of interventions to promote activity in overweight women. The development of such interventions that target FOF in obesity warrants further investigation.

<p> Conversations about racism and sexism have a history of volatility, and within America&rsquo;s current social and political climate it is no different. Both of these institutions are part of the social makeup of American culture and are based on the premise of one group holding a superior position over another. White individuals may not purposefully set out to behave in racist or sexist ways, but the fact is, white values, manners, and habits take precedence and priority in American culture. Evidence abounds. One example is the commercials that run in the media. The products, actors, and messages are focused on white priorities. Another is in the history of our country, which was written by Anglo-American men and therefore contains a preponderance of detail on the nation&rsquo;s incredible growth through their viewpoints. It is also seen in literature and conversation. If a male or female is referenced, it is assumed they are white; if not, the speaker will place a descriptor of color before the gendered term. Within the institutions of race and sex, the ranking of superiority begins with white men and ends with Black women. The Black male and white female change places depending on the agenda of the white male. For example, if his attention is on male issues, the Black male will rank higher than the white female; the reverse is true if race is the focus. This patriarchal culture began with predominately Anglo-Saxon men making themselves at home in a country that was new to them. For centuries, they were able to keep their position as the dominant presence by force and will. The point is not to create a hatefest on white patriarchy but rather to recognize and understand it for what it has been and how it has formed our culture. </p><p>

<p> There comes a time in any culture where the introduction of new technologies affect the role of known traditional systems of making or producing. The act of producing cloth is among one of many traditions affected by new technologies. </p><p> It is apparent that since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, technologies have gone through many changes. All traditional methods of manufacturing goods and objects have been mechanized and become mass-produced. This has had a profound impact not only on American culture, but global culture and economies. As an artist who has discovered a passion for the process of making itself, and esteems the value of the handmade object, I have become increasingly aware that the handmade tradition is quickly being eliminated from our lives. Therefore, in my work I address these issues. I depict the impact of technology on tradition and consider the role of craft by combining digitally produced and manufactured cloth pieces with handmade elements. This is done using the tools and materials for the production of cloth as the subject matter of this body of work to discuss the loss of the tradition of the handmade in our culture.</p><p> In this body of work I bring to the forefront of our attention the fact that the tradition of the handmade, in this instance the hand-woven object, is disappearing through the technical advances seen in digitally designed and manufactured cloth.</p><p>

Although Moroccan female-initiated migration to Europe has captured the attention of scholars in various fields of study, the majority of these studies have focused on macro-level analysis of resettlement and integration patterns. These studies, however, have bypassed the subtle impact of the socio-cultural junction between Islamic ideals and Western values. The interchange of the socio-cultural values resulting from Moroccan female immigration to Spain have complicated the Moroccan system of honor and marriage, which has played a crucial part in defining gender roles, space, production and reproduction. Using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, oral histories, and focus groups, this study aims to examine the effects immigration to Spain have on honor and marriage for Moroccan immigrant women.

Gender inequality is a pervasive global phenomenon, particularly in parliamentary representation and the political realm as a whole. Previous scholarship looked for explanations in the countries' national development levels, political regimes and electoral systems. Some scholars searched for answers at the domestic level within societies' religious and cultural value systems. This dissertation departs from prior research by looking beyond the national domestic level into individual party-level explanations for women's political leadership, broadly defined to include their station within parties' decision-making inner structures. A core assumption in this thesis is that political institutions, mainly political parties, are the main vehicles - forklifts -- for women's ascendance to political leadership. This dissertation attempts to identify what party-level characteristics enhance or impede women's leadership in political parties, and how these characteristics vary across different parties. The theory advanced in this dissertation is that party-level characteristics, especially their religiosities and secularisms, influence women's chances in assuming leadership positions within parties' inner structures. I argue that the root of the problematic of women's leadership lies in party variation in religiosity, which can explain variation in women's shares in parties' executive and legislative bodies. This is premised on a multivocal understanding of religions implying that there is a continuum of multiple religiosities and secularisms. Religiosity of political parties refers to the religious components on their political platforms or the extent to which religion penetrates their political agendas. The core argument in this dissertation is that as religiosity in party platforms increases women's leadership is more likely to fall. This implies that in parties with more extensive religious goals women's leadership is likely to prove stunted. It is my contention that parties with extremist religiosity are less accommodating to women's demands for leadership than parties with more secular and civil platforms. The theory of party variation in religiosity and women's leadership is explored in-depth and tested in Lebanon as a single country case-study. Political parties are the unit of analysis and women's leadership in political parties is the main dependent variable. Female nominations for national parliamentary and local municipal councils are other dependent variables. Other party-level characteristics are explored as explanatory variables besides religiosity, notably, institutionalization as indicated by democratic procedures in leadership transitions and decentralized decision-making, pluralism in religious affiliation of members, and the size of female membership.

This thesis explores the uncharted territory of relational subjectivity in modern Chinese literature. As a model of identity that positions the self in a web of social interaction, emotional connectivity, relational subjectivity suggests that the self is continually partial, open, and constantly "under construction." Lacking an autonomous "closed system," subjects remain open to exchange and to becoming agents of co-created meaning. Through readings of the fiction, essays, and poetry of Lu Xun, Ye Shaojun, Shen Congwen, Bing Xin, Xiao Hong, and Eileen Chang, I investigate the ways these writers manipulated narrative structure, texture and voice to present a discourse of openness, receptivity, and tolerance for difference. My investigation uncovers a wider range of subjectivities and relational yearning than was previously recognized for this era. Chinese writers also linked the discourse of relational subjectivity with a more generalized epistemological openness characterized by neutral visual attentiveness and acts of listening. This study reflects a growing interest in locating forms of sociality in the modern Chinese context. As such, my work furthers the theoretical discourse for examining self-other relationships, especially those shaped by multiple-perspectivism, non-hierarchy and horizontal ways of seeing. Finally, this research offers possibilities for locating an alternative beginning for modern Chinese conceptualizations of self in community.

This study investigates the relationship between Palestinian Women's Movement(s) (PWMs) and the Palestinian Nationalist Movement (PNM). A closer look at the descriptive research about (PWMs) indicates that both movements have generally been perceived as one entity by some Palestinian activists as well as scholars who have explored Palestinian nationalism. Here, we address questions about the nature of women's activism in Palestine and seek to assess to what extent this organizing and mobilization form a social movement, particularly questions that focus on important factors such as faction dynamics, funding dynamics, perceptions and relationships issues, leadership features and religion dynamics. Taking into consideration the specificity of women's movements in a nation that has survived military occupation for over five decades under military occupation, this research draws on a number of theories, including resource mobilization and resource dependence as well as political opportunity theories. The research is rooted in extensive interviews with former and current women activists, in addition to chief executive officers (CEOs) of Palestinian women's movement organizations located in the West Bank, Palestine. Moreover, the researcher utilizes thematic analysis. This study is among very few that seek to shed light on women's activism in Palestine "West Bank and East Jerusalem" through the eyes of a Palestinian-born man who was raised therein and is an integral part of the cultural and academic fabric of that land.