This thesis examines the Women in Peacebuilding Program (WIPNET) of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and the Raging Grannies, two current women’s movements at the frontlines of organizing for peace in their respective contexts. Based on fieldwork in West Africa and North America, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and content analysis of relevant documents, the thesis locates these groups within the wider politics of both the feminist movement and the peace movement. The thesis draws on three bodies of literature: feminist international relations, especially literature on women and war, feminist analyses of security and the relationship between militarism and patriarchy; peace studies, especially the concepts of the “positive” and “negative” peace, conflict transformation, and nonviolence; and social movement theory, especially in reference to collective identity and tactical repertoires of protest. The thesis investigates the relationship between “women”, “motherhood”, “feminism” and peace, concluding that, while women peace activists may organize around gendered identities, the relationship between women and peace is more complex than an essentialist position would propose. A detailed analysis of the tactical repertoires used by women peace activists examines activists’ gendered use of bodies and the manipulation and exploitation of gender and age stereotypes. This is followed by an analysis of the internal and external outcomes of activism, such as personal empowerment, collective identity formation, and policy impacts. The study concludes that women peace activists operate on understandings of “peace” and “security” that are distinct from those of mainstream actors; that they manipulate, challenge, and subvert gender stereotypes; and they use a range of protest and peacebuilding tactics, some of which attract reprisals from the state. Women’s peace activism also creates new political opportunities for women to express opposition to patriarchal militarism, thus challenging the marginalization of women within international and national politics on issues of peace and security. Following Cynthia Cockburn (2007), the thesis draws conclusions not about what women’s peace activism definitively is, but rather what it can look like and what it might achieve.

This thesis argues that although the anorexic patient is subjugated in the medical encounter, subjects find ways to resist and disrupt this subversion. The analysis is largely based on life history interviews with teenage girls with a medical diagnosis of anorexia. Other data sources include interview field-notes, my research journal and selected popular magazines. The data was analysed using a discourse analytic methodology to explore how girls constituted hospitalisation, anorexia, doctors and patients, among other issues. The analysis draws on insights from poststructuralist theory. In the earlier chapters, an analysis of the complex medical, psychological and feminist theories of anorexia nervosa; and a description of the hospitals where girls are treated is developed to situate the study in its socio-historical context. The analysis consists of three main arguments. The first is that clinical notions of food, eating and embodiment are in direct contrast to social discourses on these topics. Girls draw on this discrepancy in their resistance to hospital practices. The second argument is that girls are aware they are positioned as irrational because of their malnourished state and are also aware that if they blatantly resist treatment they will be subjected to further surveillance. Girls take up medical discourses in different ways and to different effects in constituting themselves as agenetic subjects. The third argument focuses on the shifting construction of the anorexia subject in the clinic. Although discourses of anorexia and psychiatry have a powerful impact on the girls; girls resist these positionings, finding other ways to constitute themselves. The contention of this thesis is that clinical constructions of anorexia work to form the subject and provide the possibilities for the creation of other subjectivities. On the basis of this research, some suggestions for how inpatient treatment regimes may work differently are provided. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

This thesis is an investigation of the journeys towards a sense of identity or selfhood, achieved through honest and accurate appreciation of the lives of others, made by several female characters in the fiction of A.S. Byatt and the late Iris Murdoch. I believe that because Byatt and Murdoch value literature as a serious business that teaches as well as entertains, their writing can play a significant role in illuminating the lives of women by means of its portrayal of the resolution of women’s struggles. Women’s lives, despite the rise of feminism, are still not equitable. While many women strive to attain a balance of independence and intimacy – what Thelma Shinn calls a “meronymic” relationship – and connection within community, many do not succeed in this endeavour. The numerous challenges they face are difficult and confronting, and the stories of their efforts resemble journeys through a labyrinth or maze. Byatt acknowledges Murdoch as her literary mother, frequently citing Murdoch’s belief in the ability of literature to improve human life. While Byatt and Murdoch are interested in what characters learn about their relations to others and the world, they make it clear that characters are constructs, not real people. Yet their fiction is an ongoing exploration of the nature of reality and the nature of selfhood, particularly that of women. According to feminist theories, women are more constrained than men, and are therefore the focus of this study, but their experience of constraint is a more complex matter than experience of mere undifferentiated oppression, and is better represented by the structure of the labyrinth than that of the simple, linear journey. I agree with Byatt’s and Murdoch’s view of the importance of fiction as a means of commenting on human relationships, particularly with the notion of the need for connection within community. The labyrinth, together with the Bildungsroman, provides a paradigm for the complex experiences of Byatt’s and Murdoch’s female characters. All the characters in this study struggle to flee from restraint, seek purpose and agency in the world through interaction with others, and escape a feminised Plato’s Cave by learning to see more accurately, and all but one emerge from the maze into an autonomous and independent existence in community with others.

The purpose of this degree project is to examine to what extent certain groups in society are represented in the teaching material in upper secondary schools in Sweden. Through the scrutinizing of a selected number of English textbooks, the intention is to analyse texts and images to see whether representation of individuals on the basis of ethnicity, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation occur in the material. Another aspect of the essay is to identify possible stereotypes regarding the mentioned categories. The analyses draw on a number of theories: postcolonial, feminist and gender, as well as queer theories, in order to relate possible non-representation in the teaching material to the key concept of otherness. Furthermore, the concepts of hegemony and heteronormativity serve an important role in the analyses of the material as they expose dominant structures in society which tend to give certain groups authority over others.

Eating Disorders from a gender perspective: disease, or part of life? Bc. Kristýna Kaválková ABSTRACT This dissertation deals with a problem of "eating disorders", which are defined in medical literature, media and magazines as psychological disease, which relates to pathological way of dealing with food, body and himself/herself. It shows that that this area is not neutral from the gender point of view; eating disorders are usually women's matter. Based on semi-structured interviews within the framework of qualitative research, this work analyses opinions of women, who have experience with this, especially their experience of their physicality and daily life. It is also focused on how women perceive the presentation of eating disorders, which concerns them, in media, medical publications and society and how they interpret their status as those who are recovering from this illness. Women's testimonies point at the fact that their surroundings look at them as persons defined through their illness, as persons, who are exclusively connected with pathology and stigma. This view of surroundings, media and specialists, however, omit the diversity of human identities. It shows that women alone can interpret their experiences in different way. They perceive their eating disorder in the context of dominant discourse...

Lindgren’s character Pippi Longstocking is well-known all around the world. Acclaimed by feminist movements, she has been considered as a proud role model, striving for equality, who has significantly influenced many young children. However, scholars agree that she has not had the same impact in every single country due to problems that stem from the translation work’s ethic. Thus, this study strives to investigate translation’s power on readership’s perception and decryption of Lindgren’s character by comparing narrative and lexical choices of two French translations of Pippi’s books. Based on the translator’s invisibility concept and feminist translation theories, the results show that Pippi Longstocking’s depiction can purposefully be altered by the translator to match French cultural standards. By impeding readers to get a full and unbiased picture of the character, the translator suppresses the subversiveness of Lindgren’s work. Thus, the forced domestication process causes the loss of key features that make Pippi iconic.

This project examines the relationship between gendered identities, virtual communities, and material bodies, with an emphasis on eating disorders and self-injury practices. The use of the internet to represent and foster particular categories of material bodies, such as the anorexic, the fitness buff, and the self-injurer, has gained substantial visibility due in part to the proliferation of visual imagery presented through social networks. I analyze written and visual texts within specific social networks to assess their function and potential impact on individuals and larger communities. Drawing from Donna Haraway's cyborg theory, N. Kathryn Hayles' posthuman, Judith Butler's performativity, feminist poststructural analysis, and the notion of augmented reality, this project explores how individuals rely on social networks, images, and technologies to provide supportive environments for, as well as modify and maintain, specific gendered bodies. Applying feminist interpretations of Foucault's concepts of discipline and "docile bodies," primarily the research and critiques of Susan Bordo, Anne Balsamo, and Armando Favazza (among others), I examine how image sharing and interactions via social networks and communities affect material bodies and function as forms of social control, normalizing and encouraging ultra-thin bodies and dangerous behaviors, including eating disorders, overexercise, and cutting. I also explore subversive strategies of resistance enacted both within and beyond pro-ana and self-injury communities to counter negative messages and promote positive body image in girls and women.

<p>This study explores the development of francophone women's movements In Quebec, 1960-1980, In the light of a theoretical framework derived from hegemony theory and feminist theory. In particular, It is concerned to discover how the ideologies of women and the politics of feminism are related to the consolidatlon of ruling and opposition blocs in three periods, which have been characterised as liberal-modernisatlon (1960- 1976), a crisis of hegemony (1970-1976) and progressive national (1976-1980). The thesis argues that women's movements are not merely constituted by the social and political conditions in which they develop, but are also constitutive of more general allilances on a political field structured by class, national and gender struggles. Liberal, social Catholic, revolutionary, radical and trade union women's movements are studied.</p> <p>The study argues that the development of feminist politics was not, as has been thought, simply backard. Instead, IiberaI feminist politicaI organizations developed In advance of similar organizations in the rest of Canada. They did so by appropriating elements of the legitimatlng Iiberal modernisation ideology and adapting them to support their programmes for improvement In women's status and for the representation of women in the state, through an advisory ConseiI du Statut de la femme. The study also argues that feminist and nationalist aspirations were not merely opposed to one another, as is commonly argued, but that in the long run, the mobilised political field which grew out of national and trade union struggles, permitted rapid and innovative reform in state policy. Finally, the study points to the ways in which a feminist gender politics, particularly as influenced by trade union feminism, was central to the consolidatlon of the progressive-nationalist bloc, led by the Partl québécols.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Cette thèse s’intéresse à un changement de paradigme dans l’imaginaire de la filiation tel qu’il est donné dans la littérature des femmes et les écrits du féminisme. L’hypothèse de travail est la suivante : à l’imaginaire d’une filiation déployée uniquement dans la latéralité des liens sororaux, se substitue au tournant des années 1990 un imaginaire mélancolique de la filiation, corollaire de la posture d’héritière désormais occupées par les auteures et penseures contemporaines. Parallèlement au développement d’une troisième vague du féminisme contemporain, la France et le Québec des années 1990 ont en effet vu naître ce qui est qualifié depuis peu de « nouvelle génération d’écrivaines ». « Premières », à l’échelle de l’histoire de la littérature des femmes, « à bénéficier d’un riche héritage littéraire féminin » (Rye et Worton, 2002 : 5), les auteures appartenant à ces « nouvelles voix » s’avèrent en effet doublement héritières, à la fois d’une tradition littéraire au féminin et de la pensée féministe contemporaine. Alors que la génération des années 1970 et du début des années 1980, se réclamant en un sens des discours d’émancipation des Lumières (liberté, égalité, fraternité), refusait l’héritage des générations antérieures, imaginant une communauté construite dans la sororité et fondée sur le meurtre des figures parentales, la génération actuelle n’est plus, quant à elle, dans la rupture. Située dans l’appropriation du passé et de l’histoire, elle réinvestit l’axe vertical de la généalogie. Or, c’est dans un récit familial mortifère ou encore lacunaire, morcelé, troué par le secret, ruiné par le passage du temps, toujours en partie perdu, qu’avancent les auteures, tout en questionnant le généalogique. Celui-ci ne s’entend pas ici en tant que vecteur d’ordre ou principe d’ordonnancement hiérarchique, mais se pose plutôt comme un mouvement de dislocation critique, « dérouteur des légitimités lorsqu’il retrace l’histoire des refoulements, des exclusions et des taxinomies » (Noudelmann, 2004 : 14) sur lesquels s’est construite l’histoire familiale. En d’autres termes, l’interrogation filiale à l’œuvre chez cette génération héritière participe d’une recherche de l’altérité, voire de l’étrangement, également présente dans les écrits théoriques et critiques du féminisme de la troisième vague. Cette thèse, en s’étayant sur l’analyse des récits de femmes et des écrits féministes publiés depuis les années 1970 – moment qui coïncide avec l’émergence de ce qu’il est désormais convenu d’appeler le féminisme de la deuxième vague –, a ainsi pour objectif de cerner les modifications que connaît l’imaginaire de la filiation à travers ce changement de paradigme. À l’aune de cette analyse menée dans la première partie, « De la sororité aux liens f(am)iliaux. Imaginaires de la filiation et représentations du corps », il s’agit, dans les deux parties suivantes intitulées « Des fantômes et des anges. La filiation en régime spectrale » et « Filles et mères, filles (a)mères. La filiation en régime de deuil » et consacrées plus précisément à l’étude des récits sélectionnés, de dégager les modalités filiales explorées par les auteures depuis le tournant des années 1990. / This thesis studies a change of paradigm in the way women’s literature and feminist writings imagine filiation. The analysis is based on the hypothesis that at the turn of the 1990s, the imagination of a lateral filiation, which takes the form of a sorority, is replaced by a melancholic filiation, corollary to the heiress’ posture of contemporary writers and thinkers. Parallel to the development of the Third Wave feminism, France and Quebec of the 1990s observe the emergence of a new generation of women’s writers. « [F]irst », in regards to the history of women’s literature, « to benefit from a visibly rich female literary heritage » (Rye and Worton, 2002: 5), the authors belonging to these “new voices” are doubly heiresses: of this female literary tradition and of the contemporary feminist thought. While the generation of the 1970s and early 1980s, in a sense reclaiming the discourse of the Enlightenment (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity), refused all the legacy from the former generation and imagined itself as a sorority founded upon the murder of the parental figures, the “new” generation is not breaking with the past anymore. On the contrary, it seeks to appropriate this past as well as history. Therefore these authors identified with this new generation investigate the vertical axe of genealogy. However, the family plot they explore through a genealogical gesture is whether baleful, whether partial, parceled out by secrets or by the passing of time and always appears, in any case, to be already lost. Yet, genealogy is not to be understood here as a mere vector of order or hierarchy but is rather related to a critical movement of dislocation that aims to “divert legitimacies by retracing the repressions, exclusions and taxonomies” (Noudelmann, 2004: 14) upon which any familial history is constructed. In other words, this generation of heiresses explores inheritance and filiations as a way to encounter otherness, not to say the uncanny. A similar search is also at stake in the critical and theoretical writings of the Third Wave feminism. Based on the analysis of women’s writings and feminist thinking published since the decade of 1970s – that sees the Second Wave feminism growing bigger and more influent – this thesis’ main objective is to circumscribe how the imagination of filiations is modified throughout the change of paradigm. By the light of this analysis lead is the first part of the thesis entitled “De la sororité aux liens f(am)iliaux”, it becomes possible in the two others parts, “Des fantômes et des anges. La filiation en régime spectral” and “Filles et mères, filles (a)mères. La filiation en régime de deuil”, both dedicated to the reading of the selected writings, to identify new forms of kinship explored by women’s writers since the 1990s.