The rise in popularity of women's history and the history of letter writing has ensured much debate on these subjects in recent years. However, little research has been conducted on the letter writing of unmarried women and networks shown in their letter writing. From courtship to widowhood, the relationships created and sustained through the medium of letter writing are manifested, and the detail of their lives makes for compelling reading. Through largely case based studies, I have sought to show the types of support systems women had in place, not only from men, but from friends and relatives. Their lives are documented through analysis of both manner and content, examining style, rhetoric and expression. I have sought to include not only examples of women who have already been examined, such as Dorothy Osborne, and Anne Newdigate, but lesser known sources, such as Isabella Strutt and the correspondents of Jane Stringer. This adds a new depth to the work already conducted on the lives of early modern women. Single women were able to create agenda and autonomy through their letter writing, employing a variety of rhetorical devices and personas subject to their stage in the life cycle. Through their letters, they were able to maintain bonds with men and women, cutting across gender and class barrier, broadening their experiences and enriching their lives.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Texas Christian University, 2008. / Title from dissertation title page (viewed Mar. 10, 2009). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-08-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:20:37Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 surian_t_me_rcla.pdf: 1749840 bytes, checksum: 0618bf7bb835d8350d62a6a0a52b0d77 (MD5) / A pesquisa desenvolvida visa aprofundar reflexões sobre as práticas da escrita de mulheres e o que estas mulheres dizem sobre a própria condição, de mulher. São práticas de escrita, também de leitura, que desafiam para outros olhares e outras questões, especialmente quando se tratam de mulheres escritoras com escolaridade incompleta. Para pensar essas práticas da escrita de mulheres comuns tomamos como obra referência Quarto de despejo de Carolina Maria de Jesus (2001). Elegemos como material teórico, autores que analisam a escrita no âmbito das práticas culturais (Chartier, Certeau), e autoras que vêm contribuindo intensamente para as reflexões no campo da história das mulheres (Perrot, Scott, Beauvoir). A pesquisa estabelece como materiais de análise o que dizem, sobre as próprias praticas da escrita, mulheres que possuem uma escrita efetiva e que não completaram o processo de escolarização, inseridas em classes de Educação de Jovens e Adultos, e os escritos (cadernos, textos) disponibilizados. O material foi coletado por questionários (levantamento das práticas) e entrevistas gravadas e transcritas. Como procedimentos de análise, norteamo-nos pelos eixos temáticos levantados nos textos teóricos, na obra Quarto de Despejo, acima referida, e nas fontes materiais coletadas. Entendemos que levantar e analisar essas práticas, buscar compreender o que move esta escrita, o que estas mulheres escrevem enquanto mulheres e sujeitos de um meio social e em que condições (materiais, culturais, históricas) se dá a produção de suas práticas, pode apontar elementos que contribuam para ampliar a visão sobre as práticas da escrita, especialmente por pessoas adultas, contribuindo para outros / novos olhares para a educação de jovens e adultos. / This research aims at deepening reflexions about the writing practices of women and what these women say about their own condition, the condition of being a woman. These are writing and reading practices that challenge to new views and other matters, specially when it comes to female “writers” with low level of scholarship. To study these writing practices by “ordinary” women we used the work Quarto de Despejo by Carolina Maria de Jesus (2001) as a reference. For theorical material we choose writers that analyse the writing in the scope of cultural practices (Chartier, Certeau) and female writers who have been intensely contributing to the reflexions in the field of women’s history (Perrot, Scott, Beauvoir). The research material on which this work was based was what women who have effective writing practice say about their own writing practices. These women have low level of scholarship and attend Youngsters and Adult Education classes. The material was collected through surveys (practices survey) and recorded and transcripted interviews were used as well. As analysis procedures, we were oriented by the thematic axis raised by the theoric texts and by the work Quarto de Despejo, mentioned above. We understand that, by surveying and analysing these practices, trying to understand what motivates this writing, what these women write as women and subjects of a social environment and in which conditions (material, cultural and historical) the production of these writing practices takes place, we are able to point out elements which will contribute to broaden the understanding about writing practices, especially by adult people, contributing to other / new ways of looking at education of youngsters and adults.

Orientador: Maria Rosa Rodrigues Martins de Camargo / Banca: Débora Mazza / Banca: Marilena Aparecida Jorge Guedes de Camargo / Resumo: A pesquisa desenvolvida visa aprofundar reflexões sobre as práticas da escrita de mulheres e o que estas mulheres dizem sobre a própria condição, de mulher. São práticas de escrita, também de leitura, que desafiam para outros olhares e outras questões, especialmente quando se tratam de mulheres "escritoras" com escolaridade incompleta. Para pensar essas práticas da escrita de mulheres "comuns" tomamos como obra referência Quarto de despejo de Carolina Maria de Jesus (2001). Elegemos como material teórico, autores que analisam a escrita no âmbito das práticas culturais (Chartier, Certeau), e autoras que vêm contribuindo intensamente para as reflexões no campo da história das mulheres (Perrot, Scott, Beauvoir). A pesquisa estabelece como materiais de análise o que dizem, sobre as próprias praticas da escrita, mulheres que possuem uma escrita efetiva e que não completaram o processo de escolarização, inseridas em classes de Educação de Jovens e Adultos, e os escritos (cadernos, textos) disponibilizados. O material foi coletado por questionários (levantamento das práticas) e entrevistas gravadas e transcritas. Como procedimentos de análise, norteamo-nos pelos eixos temáticos levantados nos textos teóricos, na obra Quarto de Despejo, acima referida, e nas fontes materiais coletadas. Entendemos que levantar e analisar essas práticas, buscar compreender o que move esta escrita, o que estas mulheres escrevem enquanto mulheres e sujeitos de um meio social e em que condições (materiais, culturais, históricas) se dá a produção de suas práticas, pode apontar elementos que contribuam para ampliar a visão sobre as práticas da escrita, especialmente por pessoas adultas, contribuindo para outros / novos olhares para a educação de jovens e adultos. / Abstract: This research aims at deepening reflexions about the writing practices of women and what these women say about their own condition, the condition of being a woman. These are writing and reading practices that challenge to new views and other matters, specially when it comes to female "writers" with low level of scholarship. To study these writing practices by "ordinary" women we used the work Quarto de Despejo by Carolina Maria de Jesus (2001) as a reference. For theorical material we choose writers that analyse the writing in the scope of cultural practices (Chartier, Certeau) and female writers who have been intensely contributing to the reflexions in the field of women's history (Perrot, Scott, Beauvoir). The research material on which this work was based was what women who have effective writing practice say about their own writing practices. These women have low level of scholarship and attend Youngsters and Adult Education classes. The material was collected through surveys (practices survey) and recorded and transcripted interviews were used as well. As analysis procedures, we were oriented by the thematic axis raised by the theoric texts and by the work Quarto de Despejo, mentioned above. We understand that, by surveying and analysing these practices, trying to understand what motivates this writing, what these women write as women and subjects of a social environment and in which conditions (material, cultural and historical) the production of these writing practices takes place, we are able to point out elements which will contribute to broaden the understanding about writing practices, especially by adult people, contributing to other / new ways of looking at education of youngsters and adults. / Mestre

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From the adventures of Odysseus to those of the male Grand Tourist, travel has often been regarded as an important rite of masculine self-fashioning. However, as this thesis argues, travel and travel writing also provided a valuable opportunity for women's self-fashioning: journeys offered women a means of altering themselves, enabling them to assume a novel identity abroad and in text, whether it be a subversive or idealised version of themselves. Drawing upon Judith Butler's and Sidonie Smith's theories of performativity, this thesis investigates Victorian women travel writers' impulse to self-fashioning, and argues for travel writing as a performative act of identity-formation. Drawing on Butler's notion of subversive repetition, this thesis also demonstrates the ways in which the instability of women authors' narrative identities gives them a potential for agency, enabling authors to unsettle prescribed gender boundaries and challenge cultural constructions of femininity. In particular, I examine the constructed textual travel identities of the following nineteenth-century British women: Anna Jameson, Susan Horner, Emily Lowe, and Frances Minto Elliot. I highlight the discursive strategies that these four authors use in order to create certain images of themselves for their readers in their travelogues about Italy, all published (or, in the case of Horner, written) between the years 1826 and 1881. Jameson, Horner, Lowe, and Elliot also reconfigure traditional notions of travel and gender in their travelogues to articulate and perform definitions of selves that are not necessarily exemplary – at least not at first glance. I examine the ways in which these nineteenth-century authors adopt apparently undesirable selfhoods ('ill', 'intellectual', 'unprotected', and 'idle') and turn supposed weaknesses into strengths. This thesis also analyses the significance of Italy for the travel narrators and their self-representation in relation to the peninsula. Italy signalled a meaningful difference from Britain, and these authors represent it as a positive space for healing, intellectual growth, pleasure, fulfilment, and self-determination. The constructed identities of these four authors result in 'travel performances' that aim to persuade readers of the narrators' aptitude for travel and of their especially meaningful attachment to, experience of, and understanding of Italy. This thesis does not only provide a space for voices which have until now been little recognised in contemporary scholarship. It also sheds light on an important form of Victorian women’s writing that was a valuable route towards cultural and intellectual authority and self-empowerment, as well as a means of personal and professional self-fashioning.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Grace and The Townships Housewife, two black women’s magazines published in South Africa between 1964 and 1969, have slipped into obscurity. This thesis aims to write them back into the history of the black press, black journalism and literature in South Africa. The study is significant in that no research has as yet been conducted on these two magazines. The first chapter excavates Grace and The Townships Housewife from obscurity by providing information on the magazines’ publication, staff, editors, content, target audience and writers. A salient characteristic of both magazines’ content that the study discusses is the ambiguous attitude of readers and writers towards modernity and tradition (and the negotiation of new identities) as they move from the country to the city. Some readers’ embrace and others’ rejection of early signs of feminism and womanism in the magazines also display this ambiguous attitude. The chapter foregrounds the various ambiguities and often colliding voices that infuse much of the magazines’ content. The absence of explicit reference to apartheid in Grace’s and The Townships Housewife’s content provides another focal point of this chapter and is discussed in relation to the concepts of ‘minstrelsy’ and ‘mimicry’. Considering specifically the position of the black woman in apartheid South Africa, the second chapter compares the representation of white women in South African white women’s magazines Die Huisgenoot, Sarie Marais and Fair Lady to the way in which black women are represented in Grace and The Townships Housewife in the 1960s. The role of the latter two magazines in positively representing black women during apartheid South Africa, and thus standing in direct opposition to the identities ascribed to black people in colonial and apartheid ideology, is a primary focus of this chapter. The representation of black women in the 1960s is elaborated on in the next chapter which explores the shift in the representation of black women from Drum magazine (during its heyday in the 1950s), with its predominantly male staff, to the representation of black women in Grace and The Townships Housewife (in the 1960s), with their predominantly female staff. I hypothesise on the possible agencies at work within this shift in women’s representation. Despite the magazines’ adherence at times to white standards of beauty (an aspect which the thesis engages with throughout), the ‘creation’ of black women within the pages of Grace and The Townships Housewife (as the previous two chapters articulate), often resonates with Black Consciousness’s philosophy of black pride. This last chapter explores the possible connection between Grace and The Townships Housewife, on the one hand, and the early beginnings of an emergent black consciousness in South Africa in the late 1960s, on the other hand. It also discusses the sexism associated with black consciousness philosophy in relation to these two magazines, but the focus falls on how black female readers of Grace and The Townships Housewife negotiate imposed ‘female identities’ (for example, mother, housewife and supporter) towards greater agency. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Grace en The Townships Housewife, twee tydskrifte gemik op swart vroue en wat in Suid-Afrika gepubliseer is tussen 1964 en 1969, is vandag onbekend. Die doel van dié tesis is om hierdie twee tydskrifte terug te skryf in die geskiedenis van swart joernalistiek en literatuur in Suid-Afrika. Dit is ’n waardevolle studie aangesien geen navorsing oor hierdie twee tydskrifte nog gedoen is nie. Dit is ook ’n ingewikkelde proses wat gepaard gaan met baie spekulasie, aangesien dit alreeds te lank gevat het vir hierdie tydskrifte om ontdek te word – dit is nie meer moontlik om die meeste van die bydraers tot hierdie twee tydskrifte op te spoor nie. Die eerste hoofstuk ‘grawe’ Grace en The Townships Housewife as t’ ware weer ‘op’ deur inligting te voorsien oor hierdie tydskrifte se uitgewers, personeel, redaktrises, inhoud, teikengroepe en skrywers. Die dubbelsinnige houdings wat lesers in die tydskrifte toon teenoor tradisie en moderniteit soos wat hulle beweeg van plattelandse gebiede na stedelike gebiede, is kenmerkend van hierdie tydskrifte en word in hierdie hoofstuk bespreek. Hierdie dubbelsinnigheid word ook weerspieël in lesers en skrywers se ambivalente houdinge teenoor die bemagtiging van vroue. Die verskeie dubbelsinnighede en dikwels botsende stemme in meeste van die twee tydskrifte se inhoud is ’n belangrike punt wat hierdie tesis uitlig. Die afwesigheid van direkte verwysings na apartheid in beide tydskrifte is nog ’n kenmerkende eienskap van die tydskrifte wat in hierdie hoofstuk ondersoek word. Met die fokus op die posisie van die swart vrou in apartheid Suid-Afrika, vergelyk die tweede hoofstuk die voorstelling van wit vroue in Suid-Afrikaanse wit vrouetydskrifte (Die Huisgenoot, Sarie Marais en Fair Lady) met dié van swart vroue in Grace en The Townships Housewife in die 1960s. ’n Primêre fokus van hierdie hoofstuk is die rol wat Grace en The Townships Housewife speel in die positiewe voorstelling van swart vroue tydens apartheid, in direkte kontras tot die voorstellinge van swart vroue in apartheid ideologie. Die volgende hoofstuk brei verder uit op die voorstelling van die swart vrou in die 1960s: hier word gekyk na die skuif wat plaasvind in die voorstelling van swart vroue van die Drum-tydskrif in die 1950s met sy hoofsaaklik manlike personeel, na die voorstelling van swart vroue in 1960s Grace en The Townships Housewife, met hoofsaaklik vroulike personeel. Die moontlike faktore verantwoordelik vir so ’n verandering in voorstelling word oorweeg. Alhoewel die inhoud van Grace en The Townships Housewife gereeld ‘wit’ standaarde van skoonheid ondersteun, toon die voorstelling van swart vroue in hierdie twee tydskrifte ook dikwels ooreenkomste met swart bewustheid filosofie se fokus op swart trots. Hierdie laaste hoofstuk ondersoek die moontlike verbintenis tussen Grace en The Townships Housewife, aan die een kant, en die vroeë begin van swart bewustheid in Suid-Afrika in die laat sestigerjare. Die dikwels seksistiese houdinge wat met swart bewustheid filosofie geassosieer word, word in hierdie hoofstuk bespreek aan die hand van voorbeelde uit Grace en The Townships Housewife. Dit is egter nie die fokus van hierdie studie nie: die fokus val op hoe swart vroue lesers van Grace en The Townships Housewife opgelegde rolle van moederskap, huisvrou en ondersteuners stuur tot posisies van groter mag.