The early Georgian period illustrates how the familial dynamic at court affected women’s opportunity to exert political influence. The court represented an important venue that allowed women to declare a political affiliation and to participate in political issues that suited their interests. Appearances often at variance with reality allowed women to manipulate and test their political abilities in order to have the capability to exercise any possible power. Moreover, some women developed political alliances and relationships that supported their own interests. The family structure of the royal household affected how much influence women had. The perception of holding power permitted certain women to behave politically. This thesis will demonstrate that the distinction between appearances and reality becomes vital in assessing women at the early Georgian court by examining some women’s experiences at court during the reigns of the first two Georges. In some cases, the perceived power of a courtier had a real basis, and in other instances, it gave them an opportunity to assess the extent of their political power. Women’s political participation has been underestimated during the early Georgian period, while well-documented post-1760.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the fall of 1917, between 30,000 and 40,000 Indianapolis women registered to vote. The passage of the Maston-McKinley partial suffrage bill earlier that year gave women a significantly amplified voice in the public realm. This victory was achieved by a conservative group of Hoosier suffragists and reformers. However, the women lost their right to vote in the fall of 1917 due to two Indiana Supreme Court rulings.

Many accounts, both ancient and modern, have maintained that the Julio- Claudian women had unprecedented influence in their spheres. This dissertation attempts to determine the degree of autonomy and influence that the Julio-Claudian women had and to examine the factors that may have contributed to their exceptional influence. In trying to establish the extent and nature of the influence of the Julio- Claudian women, the ancient sources (literary, documentary and iconographic), in conjunction with modern scholarly views, were critically examined throughout. In attempting to determine the factors that influenced such weight and autonomy as these women had, the dissertation looks at the influences on women of earlier times, in particular the late Roman Republic, from a legal and a socio-historical angle. Whether the Julio-Claudian women could be considered, for example, to have been part of a “super-elite” in comparison with aristocratic women of earlier, and even later, times, was discussed and evaluated. On the surface the Julio-Claudian women did seem to enjoy a wider range of freedoms, power and influence than their counterparts, or the Roman women before or after them. Yet it is clear from the sources that these women also had restrictions laid upon them and that the patriarchal framework still curtailed their influence. When they over-stepped the accepted bounds, they were invariably vilified by the ancient historians, and often came to be negatively portrayed by subsequent generations. Whether these women truly deserved their vilification, or whether it can simply be ascribed to the bias of the ancient writers, was also explored throughout. / Classics & World Languages / M.A. (Classical Studies)

Many accounts, both ancient and modern, have maintained that the Julio- Claudian women had unprecedented influence in their spheres. This dissertation attempts to determine the degree of autonomy and influence that the Julio-Claudian women had and to examine the factors that may have contributed to their exceptional influence. In trying to establish the extent and nature of the influence of the Julio- Claudian women, the ancient sources (literary, documentary and iconographic), in conjunction with modern scholarly views, were critically examined throughout. In attempting to determine the factors that influenced such weight and autonomy as these women had, the dissertation looks at the influences on women of earlier times, in particular the late Roman Republic, from a legal and a socio-historical angle. Whether the Julio-Claudian women could be considered, for example, to have been part of a “super-elite” in comparison with aristocratic women of earlier, and even later, times, was discussed and evaluated. On the surface the Julio-Claudian women did seem to enjoy a wider range of freedoms, power and influence than their counterparts, or the Roman women before or after them. Yet it is clear from the sources that these women also had restrictions laid upon them and that the patriarchal framework still curtailed their influence. When they over-stepped the accepted bounds, they were invariably vilified by the ancient historians, and often came to be negatively portrayed by subsequent generations. Whether these women truly deserved their vilification, or whether it can simply be ascribed to the bias of the ancient writers, was also explored throughout. / Classics and World Languages / M.A. (Classical Studies)

Grounded in the geographies of Chiapas, Mexico, the dissertation maps a cartography of Zapatista indigenous resistance practices and charts the production of decolonial political subjectivities in an era of neoliberal governance and low intensity conflict. It analyzes the relationship between local cultural political expressions of indigenous autonomy, global capitalist interests and neoliberal rationalities of government after more than decade of Zapatista struggle. Since 1996, Zapatista indigenous Mayan communities have engaged in the creation of alternative education, health, agricultural production, justice, and governing bodies as part of the daily practices of autonomy. The dissertation demonstrates that the practices of Zapatista indigenous autonomy reflect current shifts in neoliberal state governing logics, yet it is in this very terrain where key ruptures and destabilizing practices emerge. The dissertation focuses on the recolonization aspects of neoliberal rationalities of government in their particular Latin American post Cold War, post populist manifestations. I argue that in Mexico's indigenous regions, the shift towards the privatization of state social services, the decentralization of state governing techniques and the transformation of state social programs towards an emphasis on greater self-management occurs in a complex relationship to mechanisms of low intensity conflict. Their multiple articulations effect the reproduction of social and biological life in sites, which are themselves terrains of bio-political contention: racialized women's bodies and feminized domestic reproductive and care taking roles; the relationship between governing bodies and that governed; land reform as linked to governability and democracy; and the production of the indigenous subject in a multicultural era. In each of these arenas, the dissertation charts a decolonial cartography drawn by the following cultural political practices: the construction of genealogies of social memories of struggle, a governing relationship established through mandar obedeciendo, land redistribution through zapatista agrarian reform, pedagogical collective selfreflection in women’s collective work, and the formation of political identities of transformation. Finally, the dissertation discusses the possibilities and challenges for engaging in feminist decolonizing dialogic research, specifically by analyzing how Zapatista members critiqued the politics of fieldwork and adopted the genres of the testimony and the popular education inspired workshop as potential decolonizing methodologies. / text

Cette recherche doctorale propose de discuter le concept de représentation politique afin de pouvoir le mobiliser dans l’examen empirique de la dynamique d’institutionnalisation du féminisme au Chili. La thèse défendue est que les organisations féministes institutionnalisées « font » de la représentation politique bien qu’elles n’appartiennent pas à l’espace politique formel défini par les élections et qu’elles ne sont pas impliquées dans une relation d’autorisation et de reddition des comptes avec les personnes qu’elles entendent représenter. Il s’agira donc de combler l’approche conventionnelle de la représentation politique, ancrée dans l’histoire du gouvernement démocratique libéral, et qui ne permet pas de rendre compte d’un pan de la représentation politique :celle qui ne s’articule pas autour des élections et qui est le fait d’acteurs évoluant en dehors de l’espace politique formel. L’étude du cas chilien, selon une démarche de sociologie historique du politique, permettra de tester cette hypothèse. / Doctorat en sciences politiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social transformation of their conditions and status. This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual, economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)

Although Swazi women's contribution to national development has been phenomenal, they like any other women in patriarchal societies confront an overbearing situation in which they have been regarded and treated as minors, both in the family and most spheres of public life. This has largely been due to the social construction of gender. Traditional gender-based attitudes, deeply ingrained in the people's mind set, not infrequently, have limited women's access to and control of various aspects of public life, and impinge on their rights, most especially the rights to selfdetermination and equal participation in the decision making process. Coupled with religion which influences "the deepest level of what it means to be human" (King, 1994:4) and zealous cultural conservatism, the Swazi women, with a few notable exceptions, experience an asymmetry of power due to the pervasive nature of gender. Nonetheless, the history of Swaziland bears testimony, however muted, to a legacy ofwomen's struggles to overcome gendered conditions imposed upon them either by taking full advantage of their spiritual endowment and charisma to overcome attitudinal barriers or by organising themselves into groups to work for the social transformation of their conditions and status. This study examines the Swazi women's search for gender equality. It discusses the social and cultural context of gender in Swaziland, the various moments in the Swazi women's quest for equality and its manifestations, and the push and pull effect of religion and culture. Particular attention is given to four organisations, namely Lutsango lwakaNgwane (loosely referred to as women's regiments), the Council of Swaziland Churches, the Women's Resource Centre (Umtapo waBomake) and Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). The study shows that Swazi women have, across a passage of time, adopted different strategies, including ritual, economic empowerment and creation of new knowledge through promotion of gender awareness and social advocacy either in a womanist approach that accepts women's embeddedness in Swazi culture or in the liberal feminist tradition that espouses women's individual rights. However, the study shows that the women's movement has yet to reach the critical mass level so as to influence public policy and come to terms with the deconstruction of the dominant gender ideology. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies)