Women and Gender Studies

The Power of Feminist Rituals by Grace Kao

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion project

March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside... more
March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside table. It’s a book I read several years ago with a small group of feminist Christians when I was living in Blacksburg, Virginia. The following passage from one of her essays got me to thinking back to the 2012 PANAAWTM conference (Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry) I had attended just two weeks ago:

“Rituals are part of everyday lives: reading the newspaper, checking the weather, waiting for the mail to come, or talking with a family member at the end of the day. Rituals can also mark the extraordinary events in our lives: the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a birthday, marriage, anniversary, or divorce” (Stokes, 2002, p. 37).

We PANAAWTM attendees participated in two rituals that, while neither “everyday” nor “extraordinary,” were nevertheless symbolically very rich, meaningful, and unifying.

Feminism In Theology By Andrew Tripp

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

At the outset, I need to name and own my identities as a large white male. I have privilege and voice that makes me... more At the outset, I need to name and own my identities as a large white male. I have privilege and voice that makes me hesitant to even write to the audience of this blog. While I consider myself a feminist, I have met some who have told me that as a man I cannot be a feminist. Such folks have told me that I lack the existential knowledge of the systemic pressure put on women, and at best I can be an ally.  With that said, if it was not for feminism in theology, I do not know if I could be a theologian.

Feminism In Theology By Andrew Tripp

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

At the outset, I need to name and own my identities as a large white male. I have privilege and voice that makes me... more At the outset, I need to name and own my identities as a large white male. I have privilege and voice that makes me hesitant to even write to the audience of this blog. While I consider myself a feminist, I have met some who have told me that as a man I cannot be a feminist. Such folks have told me that I lack the existential knowledge of the systemic pressure put on women, and at best I can be an ally.  With that said, if it was not for feminism in theology, I do not know if I could be a theologian.

On Being in the Moment By Ivy Helman

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Time.  We mark years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. We mark seasons.  We mark life events. ... more Time.  We mark years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. We mark seasons.  We mark life events.  We live our lives in time: both circular and linear.  Time began before we did and time will continue after we cannot experience it any further.  Some say we repeat time with rebirth.  Others suggest that we only have one lifetime of which we should make the most.  Still others suggest there is existence outside of time with concepts like infinity and eternal life. 

My First Experience at a Women-Only Conference by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

“This ain’t your daddy’s conference!”

I knew that I was going to be attending a totally different type of... more “This ain’t your daddy’s conference!”

I knew that I was going to be attending a totally different type of conference than I had ever been to before when I received the following instructions on additional items to pack: (1) my own mug with which to drink coffee or tea (“we will go green in this conference as much as possible”), (2) 3 oz. of water “from a source of nature near your home” to be offered during “opening worship,” and (3) a small, modest, pre-owned, homemade, or inexpensive “earth-honoring gift for exchange.”

Advancing International Criminal Law. The Special Court for Sierra Leone Recognizes Forced Marriage as a ‘New’ Crime against Humanity

by Micaela Frulli

published in Journal of International Criminal Justice 6 (2008), 1033-1042

The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in Brima, Kamara and Kanu recognized that forced... more The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in Brima, Kamara and Kanu recognized that forced marriages may amount to crimes against humanity, falling under the sub-heading of ‘other inhumane acts’. This decision is to
be welcomed because the practice of forced marriage is not adequately described by existing categories of sexual crimes. As forced conjugality results in particular psychological and moral suffering for the victims, it is argued that this heinous
practice may be more appropriately pursued as a separate crime, under a definition that describes the entirety and complexity of the criminal conduct. The SCSL decision
may also be important for its impact on the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The widespread practice of forced marriage presently features in all the situations being investigated by the ICC and the inclusion in the ICC
Statute of the offence of forced marriage as a separate crime against humanity could be discussed during the Review Conference in 2009.

The “Curse of Eve”—Is Pain Our Punishment? Part I by Stacia Guzzo

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

I have been involved in several interesting discussions lately involving  friends asking me what I thought of the... more I have been involved in several interesting discussions lately involving  friends asking me what I thought of the so-called “Curse of Eve.” This “curse,” which is generally used in reference to the pain of childbirth, is assumed from the text of Genesis 3:16a. On one side, I have had friends and colleagues argue that the pains of labor are a direct result of Eve’s sin, and thus all women who bear children will suffer them as a reminder of their inherent sinful nature. On the other hand, I have had friends question this interpretation: Why, they ask, would God use such an incredible event to punish us? And what about women who don’t experience any pain in childbirth at all? Or who do not have children? Is God’s punishment reserved for those who procreate? This doesn’t seem to make much sense in a larger spiritual framework.

Some additional questions have arisen from these discussions. I had a friend recently ask me, “If a woman is supposed to feel pain in childbirth, is she going against God’s will if she uses medication to ease her discomfort?” Another friend brought up the fact that God’s actions are seldom (if ever) random; therefore, what is the transformation that God is expecting from such a punishment?  What does Eve’s “punishment” have to say about how we interact with, communicate with, and love God (and likewise)?

Perspectives on Evidence-Based Healthcare for Women

by Maya Goldenberg

Anatomía de la violencia intrafamiliar

by Alma Elena Gutierrez Leyton

'We'll Wear Out Great Ones': Maria Pickersgill, Letitia Landon and the Power of the 'Improvisatrice'

by David Moberly

Romantic Textualities, 20 (Winter 2011): 7-23.

Maria Pickersgill, whose largest work, Tales of the Harem, was published in 1827, was the wife of Henry William... more Maria Pickersgill, whose largest work, Tales of the Harem, was published in 1827, was the wife of Henry William Pickergill, the most prominent London portrait artist of his day. Maria's well-connected husband and their London home provided her with several contacts who aided her in her desire to publish. Her first poetic work, “The Oriental Nosegay,” was printed in 1825 as part of a collection of poems in Letitia Landon's The Troubadours. Maria's husband had completed Landon's portrait after several long sittings in 1822 or 1823, at which time Maria likely met Landon and showed her some of her work, which Landon later published. Thereafter, Landon seems to have heavily influenced her work. Landon's poetry, in fact, is Maria's works'closest analogue. Maria embraces Landon’s depiction of the woman poetess’ role as that of an “improvisatrice,” whose poetry flows spontaneously out of emotion in something more like performance than poetry (if one strictly follows Wordsworth’s definition of the term). Maria uses the performances of harem women in Tales of the Harem as a metaphor for the way in which women’s poetry can subvert and “wear out” the patriarchal powers that be. As such, this interdisciplinary paper offers a detailed view of the way in which one London woman negotiated her poetry into publication, and what that negotiation reveals about her poetic style and the place she carved for herself in the London art world.

"sancta mulier nomine Mechtildis". Mechthild (von Magdeburg) und ihre Wahrnehmung als Religiose im Laufe der Jahrhunderte, in: Beginen. Eine religiöse Lebensform von Frauen in Geschichte und Gegenwart, hg. von Marco A. Sorace und Jörg Voigt (erscheint in der Reihe: Studien zur christlichen Religions- und Kulturgeschichte) (in Vorbereitung)

by Balázs J. Nemes

These:
Mechthild von Magdeburg macht Karriere - als Nonne (und Begine?) in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, als... more These:
Mechthild von Magdeburg macht Karriere - als Nonne (und Begine?) in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, als Begine (und Nonne!) in der Moderne

Der involvierte Leser. Immersive Lektürepraktiken in der spätmittelalterlichen Mystik-Rezeption, in: Immersion im Mittelalter, hg. von Hartmut Bleumer (Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 167, 2012) (in Druckvorbereitung)

by Balázs J. Nemes

The article approaches the immersive potential of Mechthild von Magdeburg's “Fließendes Licht“, dispensing the reader... more The article approaches the immersive potential of Mechthild von Magdeburg's “Fließendes Licht“, dispensing the reader from his role as a spectator and turning him into a participant, something which has frequently been claimed by the new German medieval studies. This particular kind of recipient is, certainly, an ideal-typical reader, a literary construct with the function to display the strategies of persuasion in “Fließendes Licht“ and the special literacy or the functional inclusion of the text. It should be all the more interesting to have a look at a specific historical recipient as this allows making the text's calculated aesthetic impacts plausible or outlining them with regard to the history of receptions. The instructions by Heinrich von Nördlingen from the first half of the 14th century, addressed to Margareta Ebner and the Dominican nuns of Maria Medingen near Dillingen, which told them how to incorporate and read „Fließendes Licht“ will be the centre of my analysis. This particular example and the recourse to circulating thoughts about the phenomenology of immersion shall show which requirements have to be fulfilled in a special religious context of reception to obtain the effect of immersion. Heinrich's directives are perfectly suitable for this line of questioning as they create the model of an involved reader, amounting to the requirement to get into the diegesis of the text and to identify with the literary figure.

Im Beitrag geht es um das in der neueren germanistisch-mediävistischen Forschung vielfach behauptete immersive Potential des „Fließenden Lichts“ Mechthilds von Magdeburg, den Leser seiner Rolle als Beobachter (spectator) zu entbinden und ihn zu einem Teilnehmer (participant) der textuell entworfenen virtuellen Realität zu machen. Freilich handelt es sich bei diesem Typ vom Rezipienten um einen idealtypischen Leser, ein literaturwissenschaftliches Figurenkonstrukt also, dessen Funktion darin besteht, die im „Fließenden Licht“ verfolgten Persuasionsstrategien und damit die besondere Literarizität bzw. funktionale Einbindung des Textes sichtbar zu machen. Umso interessanter dürfte es sein, den Blick auf einen konkreten historischen Rezipienten zu lenken, ermöglicht er doch, die von der Forschung beobachteten kalkuliert wirkungsästhetischen Effekte des Textes zu plausibilisieren bzw. rezeptionsgeschichtlich zu perspektivieren. Im Mittelpunkt meiner Untersuchung stehen die an Margareta Ebner und die Dominikanerinnen von Maria Medingen bei Dillingen gerichteten Anweisungen von Heinrich von Nördlingen aus der Mitte des 14. Jahrhunderts, wie sie das „Fließende Licht“ aufnehmen und lesen sollen. An diesem Fallbeispiel und im Rückgriff auf die kursierenden Überlegungen zur Phänomenologie der Immersion gilt es zu zeigen, welche Voraussetzungen speziell in einem religiösen Rezeptionskontext erfüllt werden müssen, damit es überhaupt zum Effekt der Immersion kommt. Heinrichs Direktiven eignen sich für diese Fragestellung insofern bestens, als sie das Modell des involvierten Lesers entwerfen, laufen sie doch auf die Forderung hinaus, sich in die Diegese des Textes zu begeben und sich mit der Textfigur zu identifizieren

Not Confined to the Village Clearings: Indian Women in the Fur Trade in Colonial New York, 1695-1732 (2008)

by Kees-Jan Waterman

Hats, Heels, and High Ideals: The Student Dean Program at Syracuse University, 1931-1960

by Thalia Mulvihill

"We Couldn't Just Throw Her in the Street": Gendered Violence and Women's Shelters in Turkey

by Kim Shively

Published as a chapter in Anthropology at the Front Lines of Gendered-Based Violence, Jennifer R. Wies and Hillary J. Haldane, eds. pp. 71-90.  Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

This chapter discusses the success and limitations of the Turkish state shelter system for victims of domestic... more This chapter discusses the success and limitations of the Turkish state shelter system for victims of domestic violence.  The chapter aims to demonstrate how these shelters are explicitly and implicitly based on a notion of domestic/gendered violence that is broader than in Western conceptions.  In Turkey, the new laws and institutions established to deal with domestic violence have largely been borrowed from European precedents in a process of “transplantation” – a strategy Sally Engel Merry has outlined in her book Human Rights and Gender Violence.  Due to pressure from the European Union accession process that has required Turkey to match its legal system to European standards, the importation of domestic violence/gender violence laws into Turkish Civil and Penal Codes has been relatively successful – that is, follows the European models closely.  The chapter traces the rewriting of the Civil and Penal codes in recent Turkish history to show how the legal standards have changed in favor of women who are victims of domestic violence.  Unlike the legal code amendment process, though, the chapter argues that the transplantation of the institutional models, in particular the state women’s shelters, has been a much more complicated procedure.  Based on research conducted in state women’s shelters in Izmir Province, Turkey, in 2004, 2006 and 2007, I discuss the fact that most residents of the state shelters have not fled forms of intimate partner violence.  Thus, the shelters do not function primarily as “battered women’s” shelters, as are the European institutions they are modeled on.  Rather, the shelters most often deal with women who are suffering from more generalized, structural forms of gendered violence, such as exclusion from education and the means of economic independence,  and from a shortage of institutions that serve the needs of poor women.  In sum, while the Turkish shelters may fall short of Western expectations in that only 10% of the residents are victims of intimate partner violence, they serve the needs of women who suffer from gendered violence in its broadest sense. 

On Their Dress They Wore a Body: Fashion and Identity in Late Qing Shanghai

by Paola Zamperini

UNTAMED HEARTS: EROS AND SUICIDE IN LATE IMPERIAL CHINESE FICTION

by Paola Zamperini

But i nEver Learned To Waltz: the "Real" and Imagined Education of a Courtesan in the Late Qing

by Paola Zamperini

In Pursuit of Toyen: Feminist Biography in an Art-historical Context

by Karla Huebner

forthcoming in Journal of Women's HIstory

Madness, Literature, and Culture

by Michelle Peele