Thesis (M.A.(Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-241). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

The Bund deutscher Madel (BdM), a Nazi youth organization for girls, was sponsored, organized, and promoted by Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party. The BdM instilled values and beliefs of National Socialism in German girls, and encouraged attitudes and behavior in them that harmonized with Party views on womanhood. Political indoctrination for girls often came through music---especially song. Musical repertoire of the BdM strongly interconnects with the organization's development, internal structure and political philosophies. / My thesis analyses the relations between music, the BdM, National Socialism, and gender. Historical perspectives are documented to clarify the function and intention of the BdM, including its politics and philosophy, its activities designed to foster 'natural' gender roles, and its emerging supremacy over other right-wing youth movements in Nazi Germany. My thesis then examines conceptions of 'natural' gender roles for girls and women in Nazi society and how these role expectations are covertly and overtly embedded in the official music book of the BdM, entitled Wir Madel singen! To illustrate this relationship between music, politics, and gender expectations, ten songs from Wir Madel singen! are analyzed in detail.

Gender identity disorder is a disorder that challenges the predominant cultural understanding of gender and sex. A transgender person believes that s/he is of the opposite sex and gender than her/his natal sex. This study aimed to explore and describe transgender people’s experience of the development of their transgender identity, and the critical turning points that they experienced during the development of this transgender identity. Furthermore, the study explored the influence of religion and spirituality on the development of the transgender person’s identity and how their transgender identity in turn influenced their spirituality and spiritual identity. Feminist and queer theories were utilized in this study. A phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experience of five transgender individuals. The findings suggest that these five transgender people find themselves between the sex categories of male and female and the gender categories of the feminine and the masculine. This finding challenges the Western dichotomous view of gender and sex. It further emerged that religion/spirituality does influence the development of a transgender identity as well as the process of gender reassignment. Key terms: Transgender, gender identity disorder, sex change, transsexual, G/god/dess, self-identity, phenomenology, queer identity, gender queer, queer theology, binary discourse, fluid gender, trans man, trans woman. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The present study is centered on understanding the gender concepts teachers have, and the form in which their gender perspective is related to the way teachers of a Mexican Montessori elementary school interact with their students according to the child's gender in the early elementary school years. The type of messages teachers are sending to children when they are in the classroom in relation to the concepts of masculinity and feminity are discussed. The analysis is rooted in qualitative research methodology and the gender category. Gender is seen as a social phenomenon. / The paper deals with the work that has been done in gender and schools, especially related to the role teachers have when dealing with gender in the classroom. It discusses how a different method of education, in this case the Montessori method, differs from the traditional system of education when dealing with gender issues. / The way teachers deal with gender issues at school is deeply connected to the viewpoint of gender they have. The narratives of the teachers help us understand this relation. It is hoped that by examining their own practice toward gender issues teachers will take a first step towards a non-sexist education. It is true that the Montessori system breaks from many of the conventional gender-biased practices of traditional schools; even so, a total change cannot be seen until our own perspectives on gender evolve.

The issue of sexual and racial identity unfolds in a paradoxical light in Genet's works. Identity as a fixed essence is both deconstructed and maintained. His enigmatic portrayal of identity is addressed from a theoretical perspective which combines seemingly contradictory positions, namely essentialism and deconstruction. Such a theoretical stand claims that although identity categories are not fixed essences and consequently can be deconstructed, they must be maintained as political categories in order to deal with oppressive systems which construct essentialist-based identities. Through Genet's presentation of identity as a body performance, race and sex are deconstructed. At the same time, he illustrates how male dominance and racism maintain identities as fixed categories.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.