<p> This study examines the conditions contributing to Black women becoming firsts and thriving in positions of leadership and authority. This qualitative phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of six Black women leaders, representative of different fields and geographies across the United States. In 2018, there remains a conspicuous absence of Black women in top leadership positions. The availability of models and mentors to inspire young Black girls and women to achieve key positions of authority remains a challenge. The literature of Black women that concentrates on the challenges, barriers, and stereotypes as manifestations of racism, sexism and classism diminishes how Black women are viewed. The phenomenological research method provides an opportunity for these leaders to reflect on their journeys, and to use their own voices to share their stories, their insights and collective wisdom. We learn by virtue of their experiences that the daily struggles of gendered racism never truly end. </p><p> The conceptual framework for this study addresses self-efficacy, professional development and organizational culture. In spite of their organizational accomplishments, success is a relative condition, one that may be fleeting. Since the challenges have not ceased these leaders have learned to operate in the face of the struggles that persist. For this reason, this study focuses on the phenomenon <i> to thrive</i>, a dynamic state of contributing and influencing change. </p><p> The findings reveal six emergent themes: 1) strong supportive family, 2) strong sense of self/self-confidence, 3) resilience/ adaptability, 4) the desire to make an impact/help others, 5) collaborative/connector of people, and 6) use their voice. The six themes that work together dynamically for the leaders to thrive, do not provide a roadmap paved with guarantees. At best, they offer us a pathway lined with uncertainty. And yet, given the option to give up or keep going, we can learn from their experiences and look to the illustrations presented here of resilience and resolve, as a model to emulate. </p><p> This study gleans poignant advice to young Black women embarking on their careers and recommendations to organizational leaders committed to the advancement of Black women as leaders.</p><p>

The development and current state of the historical perspective of American Deaf women is outlined in the report. Initially this paper reviews the historical study of people with disabilities and for the American Deaf. This paper concludes with a review of the small but significant selections of historical scholarship related directly to American Deaf women along with recommendations to preserve the rich and colorful Deaf-oriented heritage; especially of the women. / text

This dissertation examined the annual Women’s Week events hosted by Ball State’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program. It served to paint a historical picture of how the local Muncie community has been linked with the academic community at Ball State through events about women’s issues. The program began when a group of people wanting to broaden the educational offerings and evolved into an academic program that brings community education related to women’s issues to the Ball State campus. This research used qualitative research interview with four key informants to examine the community links and history of Women’s Week at Ball State University by answering two specific research questions. The participants described their roles in the Women’s Week events from organizing the program to presenting about their lifelong passions. Many of the discussions were fond recollections, but challenges were also brought to light. Presenting relevant topics and maintaining student involvement were two subjects mentioned by the informants. Improvising and long term planning were also emphasized. / Department of Educational Studies

While there are many women (and others of non-male genders) as well as people of color who compose for concert bands, they are often not given equitable recognition or representation. Over the past several decades, pushes for diversity within the classical music realm and higher education have sparked numerous discussions surrounding current practices (Bond 2017, 154; Bowman 2020, 10; Cumberledge and Williams 2022, 4; Peters 2016, 22): who are we inviting into our programs, whose music are we playing, and who are we representing? Despite these concerns, there has been very little research to provide answers to these questions within collegiate wind bands. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap in knowledge and discover whether college and university bands are in fact increasing the diversity of programmed composers in their repertoire. This study also identifies trends in the frequency of programming certain demographics of composers and examines whether particular institutional factors have any effect on this diversity. To identify these trends, I gathered concert programs from colleges and universities across the United States for the 2000-2001 through 2020-2021 academic years. This information was catalogued into spreadsheets, along with demographic information about each composer, and were later statistically analyzed to determine (a) the level of diversity in collegiate band concert programming, (b) whether programming has become more diverse over the last two decades, (c) if the institution’s region, size, or affiliation affected how diverse the programmed repertoire was, and (d) the diversity of the composer base from which we draw our repertoire. This study provides a lens into the level of diversity in programmed collegiate wind band concert literature and where that level should be moving forward.

This dissertation reveals that the various, often conflicting media representations of cheerleaders are responsible for the many ways gender and power are refracted through the lens of American popular culture and on the bodies of American youth. Beginning in the circumscribed nineteenth century world of elite male privilege, the history of cheerleading is intimately connected to the discourse of masculinity in America. It is not until almost one hundred years after the activity’s birth that its primary narrative changes from one of masculinity to one of power. This project calls attention to the ways in which sociohistoric context impacts representations of cheerleaders. My interdisciplinary project draws on sources from the popular press; children’s, adult, and mainstream literature, film, and television; material culture; and interviews with cheerleaders themselves; and engages with existing cheerleading scholarship as well as literary criticism and feminist scholarship. Each chapter interrogates a different, related trend in the cultural representation of cheerleaders, including: competing narratives of victimization, im/perfection, and popularity; a third wave feminist vision of gendered superpower; prescriptions of beauty and behavior; pornography and its connection to the professionalization of cheer; and the performance of representation by actual cheerleaders. Taken together, these chapters trace patterns of representation, fraught with nuance and complexity, to provide a picture of a shifting cultural icon whose relationship to larger social movements is often reciprocal and who challenges societal expectations of gender and generation over three centuries. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Women's and Gender Studies." Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-247).

ix, 226 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This dissertation argues that American women writers have revised sacred texts to challenge patriarchy, racism, and colonialism and rewritten American history to reveal how biblical scripture has been implicated in these processes. I focus on the literary strategies of Toni Morrison, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Lucille Clifton to rewrite sacred texts and create myths for a new society. In different ways, these writers redefine Christianity, often by countering the erasures of women in biblical scripture, recovering suppressed texts such as those from the gnostic tradition, and creating new sacred texts. Chapter I traces the history of feminist scriptural revision from the early feminist movement to its resurgence in the late-twentieth century. In this period, a number of authors rewrote religious scripture from a pre-Christian tradition; Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels played a critical role in the attention given to scripture suppressed by Christianity and the potential it holds for writers interested in recovering alternative epistemologies. Chapter II focuses on Morrison's Beloved and Jazz , which are concerned with the way biblical theology is proliferated through apocalyptic narrative strategies and omniscient narration. This chapter investigates the shift Morrison makes between biblical and gnostic concerns in the first two books of her trilogy. Chapter III analyzes the final book in Morrison's trilogy, Paradise , and compares it to Silko's Gardens in the Dunes . Here, Morrison relies on gnostic sources to scrutinize the effects of biblical notions of utopia on literature and its implications for social relations. Gardens uses the same sources but puts them to different uses, subverting their authority in a rewriting that supports Native survival through a program of cultural syncretism. Chapter IV examines the poetry of Lucille Clifton, who, although initially revising Christianity through her refiguring of the Lucifer character, rejects that tradition following the events of 9/11. Clifton's work in Mercy marks a juncture in women's revisions of sacred texts in its departure from Christianity and its introduction of a new sacred text and moral code not predicated upon hierarchy. In conclusion, I consider how these writers extend feminist and anti-racist traditions of scriptural revision explored in the introduction. / Adviser: Shari Huhndorf

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<p> </p> <p>Throughout the long 1970s, country music actively sought to cultivate a more traditional, “authentic,” and conservative image and sound. By examining the country music industry, during the long 1970s, this dissertation highlights how authenticity, Southern heritage, and traditionalism within country music overlapped with the South’s broader resistance to social change. Past studies of country music have primarily been concerned with how the music and its traditional format represent the working-class culture of its audience. However, very little attention has been paid to how this adherence to authenticity and traditionalism impacted its artists, particularly the female ones. In turn, the scholarship that does pertain solely to female artists is often dismissive of the impact that the country music industry and its restrictive culture had on female artists and instead opts to foster a retroactively feminist portrayal of the them and their music.</p> <p>In examining the careers of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, and Tammy Wynette, this dissertation argues that country music held its female artists to a far stricter standard than its male artists throughout the long 1970s and actively encouraged them to foster lyrics and personas that were in line with the genre’s conception of traditional femininity. Over time, artists like Lynn and Wynette became so intrinsically connected to these traditional personas that they could not escape it, which negatively impacted not only their careers but personal lives as well. Likewise, when Parton and Tucker attempted to challenge the gendered restriction that they encountered within country music, they were punished and shunned by the broader country music community to the point that they left it altogether. </p> <p>By exploring these highly calculated measures that the industry used to maintain each of these elements and its broader effects on the genre, its artists, and audience base, this dissertation also highlights how the authenticity label evolved into a gatekeeping term, employed at various times throughout the industry’s history to prevent unsatisfactory or controversial ideologies, images, people, and musical elements from gaining access to or the ability to change and diversify the genre. </p>