This dissertation argues that the Japanese debate over prostitution regulation between the 1870s and the 1910s saw a fundamental shift in the construction of male sexuality as a political tool. Before the turn of the century the Protestant Christian “abolitionists” and the brothelkeeping “regulationists” who debated Japan’s system of licensed prostitution did not describe erotic desire as an inherent property of male bodies; rather, both camps asserted that men did not experience erotic desire unless they visited brothels. On that shared understanding, the two sides debated whether desire itself was desirable: while abolitionists argued that desire harmed society by training men to use women as tools for pleasure, their opponents argued that the experience of desire stabilized male psyches. After the turn of the century both camps reformulated their arguments based on the assumption that all male bodies harbored an instinctual desire for sex. Regulationists adopted the notion with gusto. And abolitionists proved no less willing, as they came to describe male sexual desire as the impetus for the romantic love that created stable families, and argued that commercial sex disrupted the natural courtship process. In the 1910s, secular feminists deployed the male sex drive to advocate for legislation to empower women within marriages. The political use of the sexual instinct put male sexuality at the heart of several forms of social policy and critique. Therefore the debate over prostitution regulation is emblematic of the larger discourse on male sexuality as a subject of government intervention and social-policy activism. / East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1239468 bytes, checksum: 8084abcbccc739b16255bcd4c0ca478c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study of "The bruniane cosmology as an assumption of moral reform" aims to analyze the relationship between the cosmological argument and the proposition of a moral reform on Giordano Bruno's thinking. This analysis was made from four works: Cena, De la causa, L infinito e Spaccio. The first three are fundamental to a cosmologic approach and the later address a reform of values. The structure of the cosmos held by Bruno has the following structure: the universe is infinite and populated by countless worlds. Such a statement in the sixteenth century was distant of the egocentric cosmology, in which the universe was considered to be finite and bounded by the sphere of the fixed stars and the Earth was motionless at the center of this structure. In works that deal with cosmology, Bruno elaborates a criticism of this model, having as his main interlocutor Aristotle. Copernicus, then, becomes the reference mark in which Bruno finds the support to elaborate his cosmology. However, the theme about the new structure of the cosmos is not limited to the sphere of philosophy of nature, it's also permeated by a theological dimension. Bruno accuses supporters of the finite universe of defending the existence of a fundamental infinite cause, God, which has as an effect the finite, the universe. The philosopher from Nola assumes that nature is a simulacrum of the divine and thus must also be infinite. He began his publications addressing the cosmological theme, but that wasn't an issue that was in crisis at the time, despite the astronomical evidences such as the emergence of a star called Nova in 1572 and the appearance of a comet in 1577. These events were not considered by astronomers of the period as evidence that contradicted the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmological thesis. They provided a reading of the eschatological end of time, both by religious and intellectuals, an interpretation that was ignored by Bruno, who conceived the astronomical phenomena the end of an era, not of the physical world. The religious crisis that pervaded this period was mainly focused on the division of Christians into catholics and reformers. This crisis was more apparent than the cosmological one. But Bruno started its publications addressing the issue of the structure of the cosmos. We believe that his choice of dealing with cosmological themes rather than religion is based on the idea that it was not possible to discuss the religious crisis without first analyzing the cosmic structure on which society was based. In the work Spaccio Bruno hints towards a heavenly moral reform. The divine world is described as being crossed by the changes, the vicissitudes. This model could only be possible in a world considered as homogeneous, in which there is no distinction between its elements, between the human world and the divine. / Este estudo sobre A cosmologia bruniana como pressuposto de uma reforma moral , tem como objetivo analisar uma possível relação entre a discussão cosmológica e o tema da moral no pensamento de Giordano Bruno. Essa analise foi realizada a partir de quatro obras: Cena, De la causa, L infinito e Spaccio. As três primeiras são fundamentais à abordagem cosmológica e a última trata de uma reforma dos valores. A estrutura do cosmo defendida por Bruno tem a seguinte estrutura: o universo é infinito e povoado de inumeráveis mundos. Essa posição no século XVI destoava da cosmologia geocêntrica, na qual o universo era considerado como sendo finito e delimitado pela esfera das estrelas fixas. E a Terra estava imóvel no centro dessa estrutura. Nas obras que tratam da cosmologia, Bruno elabora uma crítica a esse modelo, tendo como principal interlocutor Aristóteles. Copérnico, em seguida, é o referencial no qual Bruno se apoia para elaborar a sua cosmologia. Mas o tema sobre a nova estrutura do cosmo não está circunscrito apenas à esfera da filosofia da natureza. Ele é também permeado por uma dimensão teológica. Bruno acusa os partidários do universo finito de defenderem a existência de uma causa primeira infinita, Deus, que tem como efeito o finito, o universo. O filósofo nolano parte do pressuposto de que a natureza é um simulacro do divino e, dessa forma, deve ser também infinita. Ele iniciou as suas publicações abordando o tema cosmológico, mas esse não era uma temática que estava em crise, apesar dos indícios astronômicos como o surgimento de uma estrela denominada Nova em 1572 e o aparecimento de um cometa em 1577. Esses eventos não foram considerados pelos astrônomos da época como indícios que refutassem a tese cosmológica aristotélico-ptolomaica. Elas propiciaram uma leitura escatológica do fim dos tempos, tanto pelos religiosos como pelos intelectuais. Leitura ignorada por Bruno, que concebia nos fenômenos astronômicos o fim de uma era, não do mundo físico. A crise religiosa que permeava esse período tinha como principal foco a divisão dos cristãos em católicos e reformadores. Essa crise era mais evidente que a cosmológica. Mas Bruno iniciou as suas publicações abordando o tema da estrutura do cosmo. Consideramos que a sua opção pela temática cosmológica em detrimento da religiosa se assenta na ideia de que não era possível discutir a crise religiosa sem antes analisar a estrutura cósmica sobre a qual a sociedade se assentava. Na obra Spaccio Bruno trata de uma reforma moral celeste. O mundo divino é descrito como sendo atravessado pelas mudanças, pelas vicissitudes. Esse modelo só seria possível num mundo considerado como homogêneo, no qual não há distinção entre os seus elementos, entre mundo humano e divino.

In recent decades historians have 'discovered' agency in a wide range of geographical and temporal contexts, amongst many different types of actor. This dissertation employs the concept of agency to dissect the dynamics of power in early nineteenth-century London charities. Concurrently, it uses charity to test the potential applications of agency as a historical concept and as a tool for historical analysis. Through case studies of five different types of charity in early nineteenth-century London, this dissertation explores the varied ways in which plebeians exercised their agency. The case studies engage with current definitions of agency 'intentional action, resistance, the defence of rights and customs, exerting control over one's own life, autonomy, strategy, choice, and voice' and test the boundaries of the concept, proposing different ways in which scholars might characterise agency. This dissertation not only examines how the poor exerted their agency, but also how philanthropists conceptualised the agency of the poor. Although agency had a different set of meanings in the early nineteenth century than it does today, Georgian commentators nevertheless discussed the same phenomena that historians today label as agency. This dissertation considers how philanthropists attempted to mould the agency of their beneficiaries and how the agency of the poor shaped charitable organisations. For all its prevalence, agency is an under-theorised and problematic concept. There is no consensus about what agency is or how to locate it. As a result, agency is a slippery concept that seems to elude meaning. Historians are often so personally invested in the project of recovering the agency of subalterns that they underestimate the structural constraints acting on agency or they project modern conceptions of agency on to the subjects of their study. This dissertation subjects agency to critical examination that is long overdue. It argues that agency, as an 'essentially contested' concept, is a powerful tool for dissecting subtle and diverse dynamics of power. This dissertation proposes and demonstrates ways in which scholars can employ the concept usefully, mitigating its problematic aspects.

Despite what the title suggests, Saskatchewan had a booming sex trade in its early years. The area attracted hundreds of women sex workers before Saskatchewan had even become a province in 1905. They were drawn to the area by the demands of bachelors who dominated Canada's prairie west. According to Saskatchewan's moral reformers, however, the sex trade was a hindrance to the province's Christian potential. They called for its abolishment and headed white slavery campaigns that characterized prostitution as a form of slavery. Their approach stood in contrast with law enforcement's stance on the trade. The police took a tolerant approach, allowing its operation as long as sex workers and their clients remained circumspect. Law enforcement's approach reflected their own propensity to use the services of sex workers as well as community attitudes toward the trade. Some communities were more welcoming of sex workers, while others demanded that police suppress the trade. Saskatchewan's newspapers also reflected differing attitudes toward the trade. While Regina's Leader purveyed a no tolerance view of the sex trade, Saskatoon's Phoenix and Star held more tolerant views. Saskatchewan's newspapers reveal that as the province's population increased and notions of moral reform gained popularity, police were challenged to take a less tolerant approach. However, reformers' efforts to end the sex trade dwindled with the onset of the First World War and attitudes toward sex workers shifted drastically as responsibility for venereal disease was placed largely on women who sold sex. Using government and police records, moral reform and public health documents, and media sources such as newspapers, as well as intersectional analysis of gender, race, class, and ethnicity, this examination of Saskatchewan’s sex trade investigates the histories and social responses to the buying and selling of sex, revealing the complex and, at times, contradictory place of sex workers and the sex trade in Saskatchewan’s early history.