This research interrogates South Korean women’s gender, ethnic and national identity construction revealed through sport spectacle. Two phases of the interviews were conducted for the research: focus group interviews during the 2004 Athens Olympics and individual interviews between March and April 2005, the period of the final qualifying stage for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Newspaper extracts on the Olympics and the football matches were presented in the interviews. The analysis of the women’s identity construction was contextualized in relation to South Korea’s socio-cultural, historical and political networks. Globalisation provides the overall framework for the research. Globalisation has dramatically transformed the way people construct their relations to themselves, others and their nation. The research explored how the interviewed women produced and reproduced the meanings and values of the sport events and sport games in search for a sense of security and certainty in the ever-shifting global context. Their struggles to ‘live’ in the new social milieu, a process of reterritorialisation, were also analysed. Moreover, the women’s relationships with North Korea were examined based on the concepts of the ethnic identity and also of the nation as a historical community with shared culture, tradition and history. Although infamously labeled internationally as part of the ‘axis of evil’, North Korea provided a source of ambiguous identity to the interviewees. The women’s perceptions of Japan, South Korea’s old enemy, were also investigated around the themes of postcolonial identities. In addition, the research demonstrated the women’s gendered perceptions of sportswomen and sportsmen and an idea of nationhood represented by them.

In this thesis I consider Karl Friedrich Schinkel's The Hall of Stars in the Palace of the Queen of the Night (1813), a set design of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), in relation to female audiences during a time of Germanic nationalism. Although Schinkel is customarily known as the great modern architect of Germany, his work as a set designer is exceedingly telling of his feelings toward the political and geographical unification of the Germanic regions. Through his set designs, Schinkel successfully used the influential space of the theatre to articulate not only nationalism, but positive female empowerment in his allegorical depiction of woman. However, the popularity of the theatre as an educational tool for women during the early nineteenth-century has remained largely overlooked. Additionally, the evil nature of the Queen of the Night in Emanuel Schikaneder's libretto has made the differentiation of Schinkel's positive figural interpretation essentially unnoticed. Though scholars have addressed Schinkel's aesthetic in terms of nationalism, the incorporation of allegorical women into his work and their responsibilities within this movement remains understudied. This thesis discusses the vision of nationalism as not necessarily an ideology of politics, but rather an ideology of religion and a unified culture. Through the German Romantic notion of the Eternal Feminine and the expanding study of maternal feminism, this thesis discusses the acknowledgement of the encouraging roles of women morally, spiritually, and nationalistically during a significant political time in Germany's history. Additionally, discussion of the theatre as a popular nationalistic institution for education allowed Schinkel's design for Die Zauberflöte to specifically engage and connect female viewers with nationalism. I attempt to show how all of these contextual ideologies were expressed through the allegorical female. Furthermore, in recognition of female viewers through allegory, Schinkel's The Hall of Stars expressed an empowerment of the feminine role within the drive for national unification.

In this thesis I consider Henry Scheffer's Entrée de Jeanne d’Arc à Orléans, le 8 mai 1429 (1843) in relation to female audiences of the July Monarchy. As a part of the larger Galerie des Batailles in the Musée Historique instituted in 1837 by Louis-Philippe, Entrée de Jeanne d'Arc has been addressed relative to the political objectives of the monarchy. Limited scholarship surrounding the Galerie des Batailles has focused on its evolution from royal apartments in the château de Versailles to public museum. However, the broadening of audiences during the July Monarchy and potential points of engagement between viewer and artwork have remained largely overlooked, especially in relation to Scheffer's Entrée de Jeanne d'Arc. Though feminist scholars have addressed the formation of the female spectator in post-revolutionary France, women in the art world during the July Monarchy remain understudied. This thesis discusses the expanding of audiences to whom Salon artists and Louis-Philippe were trying to appeal. The emergence of books and periodicals directed towards women during the July Monarchy, as well as the renewed interest in historicism affected female viewers' interaction with Scheffer's Entrée de Jeanne d'Arc. Additionally, the unrecognized fervor surrounding women of the July Monarchy who sought to emulate noble women of the past reflects these opportunities for women viewers. The emergence of contemporary women who were associated with the historical heroine, including Marie d'Orléans, expanded women's understanding of their place in history and their engagement in political, religious, and literary change within the public sphere. I attempt to show how all of these overlooked contextual circumstances empowered the viewing position of the female viewer in relation to Scheffer's Entrée de Jeanne d'Arc.