Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / Play / 2999-01-01

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When a family member is incarcerated, the task of emotionally and financially supporting the remaining family members and the incarcerated loved one often falls upon women, who are likely to be under-resourced and overwhelmed. Women whose husbands are incarcerated in India are likely to possess multiple marginalized identities, increasing their vulnerability to intersecting forms of oppression. Empirical research is lacking on wives of incarcerated men in India, contributing to their invisibility in policy-making and programmatic interventions. Guided by intersectional feminism and symbolic interactionism, the purpose of this study was to document the stories of women who had experienced spousal incarceration in the Indian context. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 wives of prison inmates who resided in or around the National Capital Territory of Delhi, all of whom either held a lower caste identity or a Muslim religious identity. Transcribed interviews were analyzed following the steps of narrative analysis. Results illustrate the diversity of storied experiences of wives of incarcerated husbands in India. First, by grouping narratives that conveyed the same overall storyline into the same cluster, I identified three story clusters: Ambivalent but Hanging On, Unconditionally Devoted, and Independent and Disillusioned. Second, by attending to how women's day-to-day lives are shaped by intersecting systems of privilege and oppression, particularly those tied to gender and class, I identified three overarching themes that spanned women's narratives: (a) a complicated relationship with patriarchy, (b) the weight of socioeconomic disenfranchisement, and (c) when resilience is not a choice. The results of this study emphasize the need to distinguish between feminist agency and welfare agency, to recognize women's experiences of ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief, and to critique the systemic injustices that forced women to be resilient. Documenting their stories is instrumental in bringing attention to the needs, challenges, and triumphs of this underserved and overlooked population. / Doctor of Philosophy / When a family member is incarcerated, the task of emotionally and financially supporting the remaining family members and the incarcerated loved one often falls upon women, who are likely to be under-resourced and overwhelmed. Women whose husbands are incarcerated in India are likely to possess multiple marginalized identities, increasing their vulnerability to intersecting forms of oppression. Empirical research is lacking on wives of incarcerated men in India, contributing to their invisibility in policy-making and programmatic interventions. The purpose of this study was to document the stories of women who had experienced spousal incarceration in the Indian context. Interviews were conducted with 14 wives of prison inmates who resided in or around the National Capital Territory of Delhi, all of whom either held a lower caste identity or a Muslim religious identity. Results illustrate the diversity of women's stories and experiences with spousal incarceration. First, by grouping narratives that conveyed the same overall storyline into the same cluster, I identified three story clusters: Ambivalent but Hanging On, Unconditionally Devoted, and Independent and Disillusioned. Second, by attending to how women's day-to-day lives are shaped by intersecting systems of privilege and oppression, particularly those tied to gender and class, I identified three overarching themes that characterized women's narratives: (a) a complicated relationship with patriarchy, (b) the weight of socioeconomic disenfranchisement, and (c) when resilience is not a choice. The results of this study emphasize the need to distinguish between feminist agency and welfare agency, to recognize women's experiences of ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief, and to critique the systemic injustices that forced women to be resilient. Documenting their stories is instrumental in bringing attention to the needs, challenges, and triumphs of this underserved and overlooked population.

This study draws on social problems literature about rhetoric in claims-making and social movement literature about credibility in framing to understand the construction of YouTube abuse and relationships between member role in the community and their frames/the reception of those frames. I also draw on feminist, non-feminist, and postfeminist literature to understand how YouTubers incorporate feminism into their claims about why YouTube abuse is wrong. Here feminism refers to understandings of sexual harassment as stemming from gender inequality, and non-feminist understandings of sexual harassment refer to individualized and degendered violations of rights and power imbalances. Postfeminist literature informs this study in understanding how a feminist issue has been disassociated with gender inequality and individualized. Drawing on this literature, I conducted a content analysis of YouTube videos and the comment sections on these YouTube video webpages to address how the community members responded to the sexual harassment problem. First, how do the YouTubers describe the problem? Second, what explanations for why the behavior is wrong, do the YouTubers use? Options include portraying the issue using a more feminist frame of "gender equality," a post-feminist frame of gender-neutral "consent," or a gender-neutral frame of "power imbalance." Lastly, are there relationships between the YouTubers' position in the community and/or gender, their responses, and positive and negative comments left on the videos? Analysis supports that YouTubers did not connect the issue to feminism and that YouTubers' positions in the community relate to how they politicized the abuse and how much commentator support they received. / Master of Science

This study examines short stories from various Zimbabwe women writers and explores how these stories depict the socioeconomic and political status of women in postcolonial Zimbabwe. I argue that storytelling is truth-telling, as shown by the analysis of the stories. Through political consciousness and African feminism, the women writers use various shifting narrators as a strategy of presenting the ongoing struggles of corruption, domestic violence, mental health issues, HIV/ AIDS, rape, bad governance, and other ongoing struggles in Zimbabwe. Petina Gappah’s An Elegy of Easterly is a story collection that helps the reader to understand the social context in which women are oppressed and exploited in postcolonial Zimbabwe. Similarly, Irene Stauton’s Women Writing Zimbabwe, Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya’s The Fifty Rand Note and Other Short Stories, and Samantha Rumbidzai Vhazure’s Turquoise Dreams Anthology of Short Stories focus on fighting for women’s rights and human rights through writing. Political activists are silenced through persecutions and abductions, so to avoid such consequences, fiction is used for political activism. The sociocentric notion that women are only fighting against their oppression and exploitation is now outdated as 21st century women writers are also political analysts who are fighting bad governance and corruption, which means they are advocating for the society at large.

Syftet med studien är att analysera tre av Camilla Brincks böcker från Musse och Helium-serien ur ett ekokritiskt och ett feministiskt perspektiv med stöd i det ekofeministiska teoretiska perspektivet. I studien används två interdisciplinära teorier från ekokritik och feministiska perspektiv. Resultatet visar att kvinnliga karaktärer ofta beskrivs ha stereotypiskt kvinnliga och moderliga egenskaper, vilket enligt ekofeminismen är en parallell till jordens moderliga natur. Förutom att kvinnliga karaktärer oftare beskrivs vara närmare naturen så finner studien inte någon skillnad i hur manliga och kvinnliga karaktärer använder naturen i de tre böckerna. Analysen visar även en antropocentrisk hierarki i Djurriket, som majoriteten av böckerna utspelar sig i, där Musse och Helium står högst upp med sin kungliga rang.

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Discussions about sexuality often entail examinations of ethics and acceptable behaviors. It is difficult to create an environment in which honest conversations about sexual mores are supported and discussed without judgment My aim in this thesis work is to explore such taboo sexual practices as dominant/submissive relationships without attempting to define its ethics or psychological indications, as well as document the progress of my artwork as I examine both my sexuality and that of the women of my generation. I have created a series of drawings and photo-collage constructions entitled Willing Participant, which visually explores sexual practices that have traditionally been deemed deviant or unacceptable. The research for this thesis includes an examination of my visual work preceding this series, a survey of the sexual attitudes of my peers and research in established Feminist theory. The result of this work is a springboard from which my artwork can progress? alongside my generations emergent and evolving sexuality.

Thesis advisor: C. Shawn McGuffey / This study examines the conversations female college students have surrounding women’s health and how these interactions may be perceived as a form of feminist solidarity. Previous research has provided many definitions to the term “feminist solidarity” and has shown the effectiveness of friendships in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare. For this study, 17 undergraduate students at a Jesuit university were interviewed and asked questions relating to feminist solidarity, peer interactions, and experiences surrounding conversations about birth control, abortion, and menstruation. To allow for the analysis of how feminist discourse differs between women of different races, the women were separated into focus groups by race (White, Black, and Asian). The findings supported literature about a feminist solidarity which is rooted in collective action and literature which has shown how friendships are important sources of reproductive and sexual health advice. Moreover, the identity of Asian and Black women were found to be key factors in how they engaged with and perceived feminism. In particular, the experiences of Asian women in this study have contributed to filling the information gap regarding the navigation of feminism and women’s health by women of Asian descent. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Morrissey School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology. / Discipline: Departmental Honors.

Denna uppsats handlar om hur några av de redan etablerade partierna har bemött Feministiskt Initiativ och dess inträde i politiken och partiernas syn på jämställdhet och feminism.Vi har använt oss av kvalitativa metoder i form av intervjuer och datainsamling. Vi har intervjuat partier angående deras ideologi och bemötande samt vilka strategier de har antagit för att bemöta nischpartiet Feministiskt Initiativ. Vi har tittat närmare på Position, salience and ownership theory, PSO-teorin, för att se om partier har använt sig utav de strategier som nämns i teorin. Vi har även studerat hur tillkomsten av Feministiskt Initiativ har påverkat de etablerade partiernas prioriteringar och profilering i frågor om jämställdhet och feminism. Vi fokuserar också på tidigare forskning gällande feminismen.Partier ser annorlunda på feminism och på jämställdheten. Efter att ha intervjuat de utvalda partierna så syns det tydliga kopplingar till PSO-teorin. Vi har också studerat om partierna har satt feminism och jämställdhet högre upp på den politiska agendan sedan Feministiskt Initiativs intåg i politiken. / This essay is about how some of the already established parties have responded to the Feminist Initiative and it’s entry into politics and the parties' views on gender equality and feminism.We have used qualitative methods in the form of interviews and data collection. We interviewed the parties regarding their ideology and attitude as well as the strategies they have adopted to address niche party Feminist Initiative. We have looked at Position, salience and ownership, PSO-theory to see if the parties have used out the strategies significantly in theory. We also studied how the advent of the Feminist Initiative has affected the established parties' priorities and profiling the issues of gender equality and feminism. We also focus on earlier research on feminism.Parties look different on feminism and gender equality. After interviewing the desired parties it will show clear links with PSO-theory. We also studied whether the parties have put feminism and gender equality higher up on the political agenda since the Feminist Initiative's entry into politics.The original text is in Swedish.