In the novellas Quicksand and Passing, Nella Larsen uses the often maligned detail to explore issues of gender, race, and sexuality. Female body parts, women's clothing, and skin color are particularly reiterated and fetishized. These evocative descriptions function symbolically and at times act as a counternarrative. Larsen's attempts to create a personal aesthetic are sometimes undercut by the text's alliance with hegemonic standards of beauty and commodification.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Applied Health Science, 2005. / Adviser: William L. Yarber.

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1978. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-10, Section: A, page: 6369.

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1983. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-08, Section: A, page: 2607.

Thesis (Educat.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1984. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: A, page: 1551.

No description available.

Abstract Not Available.

The purpose of the current study was to describe how eight female national athletes of one team sport experienced the activity of a six-week centralized training camp. Specifically, the following research questions guided the study: (a) what was the process of the experience for each of these athletes and what strategies do they use to progress through the centralized camp; (b) how did the athletes experience the various contexts of their lives during the centralized camp and what strategies did they use to progress through them; and (c) how did athletes come to understand and take into account their experience? What did athletes learn from the experience? This inquiry was guided by a social constructivist perspective informed by feminist theory in sport. The eight participants were interviewed using an in-depth phenomenological approach. Each participant was taken through a series of three in-depth 90-minute interviews and asked to describe her experience at the six week centralized training camp. Analysis occurred on two levels---individual profiles and shared experiences. The findings are discussed in terms of the research questions. With respect to process of the experience and the strategies employed to progress through the camp, social and organizational factors played a fundamental role in the experience of the participants. Moreover, the coping strategies selected by the participants' were related to their cognitive appraisal of the person-environment relationship. With respect to the various contexts of their lives and the strategies employed, the participants approached the centralized training camp by taking steps to minimize the distractions from their outside world before attending the camp. Further, during the camp, participants had limited contact with individuals outside the camp environment, followed routines and activities, and sought social support from teammates to maintain and achieve their desired focus while in camp. Finally, with respect to the meaning of the experience and the lessons arising, the participants highlighted numerous issues of both a positive and negative nature. The camp meant opportunities for personal growth; mastery experiences; feelings of anger, disappointment, and failure; and questions of continued involvement in the sport. In addition, participants stressed the meaning of the centralized training camp experience with respect to the opportunities to interact and share experiences with others and develop positive friendships and memories. The findings are also discussed in terms of initiatives for educating national team athletes, coaches and organizations on preparation for, and implementation of, centralized training camps. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Le trafic des femmes pour les fins de leur exploitation sexuelle est un problème complexe et difficile à résoudre qui ne cesse de croître, malgré les instruments internationaux anti-trafic déjà en place. Sans pouvoir voir que le fondement du système international privilégie la masculinité par rapport à la féminité, les efforts onusiens pour mettre fin à ce problème de violence sexuée sont inadéquats. Deux ONG féministes luttent pour éradiquer le trafic des femmes mais adoptent des discours opposés; une, le GAATW, est pro-prostitution tandis que pour l'autre, le CATW, anti-trafic veut dire anti-prostitution. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'examiner le discours hégémonique onusien et l'effet des deux discours anti-trafic féministes sur celui-ci. Nous étudierons quel groupe aura le plus d'influence sur l'ONU et la possibilité de l'émergence d'un discours contre-hégémonique féministe.

In this qualitative study, five stories of work meaning are explored. Grounded in phenomenology and guided by a constructivist, feminist perspective, its purpose was to describe how mid-life women subjectively understood, interpreted and defined work meaning, after a voluntary transition to work---in either paid or non-paid arenas---which held more personal significance. Following Seidman's (1998) tenets for in-depth phenomenological interviewing, the sessions enabled the women to expand upon the conversational narrative (Kvale, 1984, 1996; Ochs, 1997). The existential dimensions of lived time, lived space, lived body and lived relation provided a systematic structure for developing a thematic textual understanding. Descriptions and interpretations of the women's mosaic and metaphoric accounts were woven together with the researcher's own experience in a narrative structure, revealing everyday, ordinary aspects of work meaning. The analysis uncovered several themes concerning metamorphosis, re-discovery and reclaimed purpose. The results indicated perspectives which coincide with some aspects of both traditional theories of adult development and relational theories of female development. Where they denote a difference is in the centrality of work as a construct that has greater continuing meaning for women's individual psychological development and identity than traditional concepts of mid-life maintenance and decline have allowed. The women in the study did not separate work and enjoyment, and pursued personal meaning and emotional, artistic and intellectual self-fulfillment through work as a way of integrating categories of identity. They were living consciously, activated by an appropriate use of self. By giving voice to this under-represented group, the study makes the work meanings of mid-life women intelligible to educators, career development practitioners and policy makers.