This book crosses multiple world cultures as the chapters highlight both women as creators (by) and women as subjects (about). Chapter topics address widely varying socio-cultural facets of multi-cultures from various historical, sociological, artistic and literary perspectives. The title, Women as Creators and Subjects, in that order, summarizes the content of the book, which begins with commentary on women as creators and moves to elucidating about women to establish a framework. Themes range from power and politics in regards to Aztec women’s bodies, roles of historical indigenous, Spanish, Latin America, and Latinx women, and female participation in development efforts in the Global South of studio art, i.e., visual representations of women by women, as well as of female muses for male artists—and critical articles about all manner of works and genres literally by a litany of women artists and writers, both in literature and film, as well as women as represented in works by males, all from across the Middle East, Global South, Europe and the Americas.
A comprehensive overview of feminist scholarship edited by an internationally recognized and leading figure in the field Companion to Feminist Studies provides a broad overview of the rich history and the multitude of approaches, theories, concepts, and debates central to this dynamic interdisciplinary field. Comprehensive yet accessible, this edited volume offers expert insights from contributors of diverse academic, national, and activist backgrounds—discussing contemporary research and themes while offering international, postcolonial, and intersectional perspectives on social, political, cultural, and economic institutions, social media, social justice movements, everyday discourse, and more. Organized around three different dimensions of Feminist Studies, the Companion begins by exploring ten theoretical frameworks, including feminist epistemologies examining Marxist and Socialist Feminism, the activism of radical feminists, the contributions of Black feminist thought, and interrelated approaches to the fluidity of gender and sexuality. The second section focuses on methodologies and analytical frameworks developed by feminist scholars, including empiricists, economists, ethnographers, cultural analysts, and historiographers. The volume concludes with detailed discussion of the many ways in which pedagogy, political ecology, social justice, globalization, and other areas within Feminist Studies are shaped by feminism in practice. A major contribution to scholarship on both the theoretical foundations and contemporary debates in the field, this volume: Provides an international and interdisciplinary range of the essays of high relevance to scholars, students, and practitioners alike Examines various historical and modern approaches to the analysis of gender and sexual differences Addresses timely issues such as the difference between radical and cultural feminism, the lack of women working as scientists in academia and other research positions, and how activism continues to reformulate feminist approaches Draws insight from the positionality of postcolonial, comparative and transnational feminists Explores how gender, class, and race intersect to shape women’s experiences and inform their perspectives Companion to Feminist Studies is an essential resource for students and faculty in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Feminist Studies programs, and related disciplines including anthropology, psychology, history, political science, and sociology, and for researchers, scholars, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and advocates working on issues related to gender, sexuality, and social justice.
Current studies in disciplinarity range widely across philosophical and literary contexts, producing heated debate and entrenched divergences. Yet, despite their manifest significance for us today seldom have those studies engaged with the Victorian origins of modern disciplinarity. Victorian Culture and the Origin of Disciplines adds a crucial missing link in that history by asking and answering a series of deceptively simple questions: how did Victorians define a discipline; what factors impinged upon that definition; and how did they respond to disciplinary understanding? Structured around sections on professionalization, university curriculums, society journals, literary genres and interdisciplinarity, Victorian Culture and the Origin of Disciplines addresses the tangled bank of disciplinarity in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences including musicology, dance, literature, and art history; classics, history, archaeology, and theology; anthropology, psychology; and biology, mathematics and physics. Chapters examine the generative forces driving disciplinary formation, and gauge its success or failure against social, cultural, political, and economic environmental pressures. No other volume has focused specifically on the origin of Victorian disciplines in order to track the birth, death, and growth of the units into which knowledge was divided in this period, and no other volume has placed such a wide array of Victorian disciplines in their cultural context.
The status of women in the creative and cultural industries remains precarious. This comparative analysis provides insights from seven key economies to help understand progress towards gender equality in culture and the arts and the broader cultural economy. With empirical and policy analysis spanning Europe and the US, the authors investigate the extent to which gender equality has entered the mainstream along dimensions of leadership, access and awards, pay and pension gaps, work-life balance, and the monitoring of gender equality. While many of the structural barriers have been erased, countries differ significantly in how much gender equality has been achieved in the creative economy and how much female talent is lost and unrecognized. This book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners across the human and social sciences, especially those involved with arts management and the creative or cultural economy more broadly.
This book brings together the fields of theatre, gender studies, and psychology/sociology in order to explore the relationships between what happens when women engage in violence, how the events and their reception intercept with cultural understandings of gender, how plays thoughtfully depict this topic, and how their productions impact audiences. Truthful portrayals force consideration of both the startling reality of women's violence — not how it's been sensationalized or demonized or sexualized, but how it is — and what parameters, what possibilities, should exist for its enactment in life and live theatre. These women appear in a wide array of contexts: they are mothers, daughters, lovers, streetfighters, boxers, soldiers, and dominatrixes. Who they are and why they choose to use violence varies dramatically. They stage resistance and challenge normative expectations for women. This fascinating and balanced study will appeal to anyone interested in gender/feminism issues and theatre.
At the heart of this anthology lies the world of fashion: a concept that pervades the realm of clothes and dress; appearances and fashionable manners; interior design; ideas and attitudes. Here sixteen papers focus on the Nordic world (Denmark, Norway, Sweden Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Isles and Greenland) within the time frame AD 1500Ð1850. This was a period of rapid and far-reaching social, political and economic change, from feudal Europe through political revolution, industrialisation, development of international trade, religious upheaval and technological innovation; changes impacting on every aspect of life and reflected in equally rapid and widespread changes in fashion at all levels of society. These papers present a broad image of the theme of fashion as a concept and as an empirical manifestation in the Nordic countries in early modernity, exploring a variety of ways in which that world encountered fashionable impressions in clothing and related aspects of material culture from Europe, the Russian Empire, and far beyond. The chapters range from object-based studies to theory-driven analysis. Elite and sophisticated fashions, the importation of luxuries and fashion garments, christening and bridal wear, silk knitted waistcoats, woollen sweaters and the influence of the whaling trade on womenÕs clothing are some of the diverse topics considered, as well as religious influences on perceptions of luxury and aspects of the garment trade and merchant inventories.
This collection brings together scholars from various disciplines to ask fundamental questions concerning how women handle the manifold impediments placed before them as they simply attempt to live full human lives. The collection explores narratives of women – real and fictional – who fight against these barriers, who succumb to them, who remain unaware of them, or choose to ignore them. It explores the ways we read women in cultural production, and how women are read in society. We assert the obstacles constructed into the very fabric of societies against fifty percent of the population are unfair, be they hindrances for women to attain their goals, encumbrances that limit women’s speech and societal participation – communal and artistic – or hindrances that prohibit specific behaviors and images of women.
This volume addresses one aspect of a challenging topic: what does it mean for women to create within particular literary and cultural contexts? How is the female body written on textuality? In short, how is the female body analogous to the geographical space of land? How have women inhabited their bodies as people have lived in nation-states?
Female scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians worldwide are making historic contributions to their fields. The modern workforce is closer to gender-equal than it has ever been, and many efforts are in place to support further progress. The Internet of Women provides an exciting look at personal narratives and case studies of female leaders and cultural shifts around the globe that illustrate this promising trend. From the United Nations' emphasis on girls and technology education in the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) to the increased female labor force in Zambia, a policy change that was inspired by the MDGs (UN Millennial Development Goals), The Internet of Women captures stunning examples of progress from around the world and men working hand in hand with women advocating for cultural change. Scholars and practitioners lament the lack of women leading and working in leading organizations in the technology industry. Gender equality and female participation in the tech field is critical to both developing and developed economies; nevertheless, this gap remains a global phenomenon. The lack of female leadership is particularly extreme at the highest echelons of leading technology organizations. Few publicly traded tech companies have female CEOs - in fact, most nations have zero female leadership in the tech industry. This gap does indicate a slow pace of progress for gender equality in tech employment. Women's pay still lags nearly a decade behind, according to the World Economic Forum, meaning that women's on average pay today is the equivalent to that of similarly qualified and similarly employed men in 2006. Without significant progress, the current rate of change will not lead to parity for 118 years, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). However there's significant work being done to shift this tide. Take for instance Michelle Lee, the first female Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), reflects on her childhood Girl Scout badge in sewing and cooking and how that memory inspired to create an IP badge that exposes young women to the process of invention. Social entrepreneur, investor, and Malala Fund co-founder Shiza Shahid shares her efforts beginning from mentoring young women in Pakistan to her current work directing more investment to women innovators around the globe. And Elizabeth Isele, a senior fellow in Social Innovation at Babson College, shares her research on women and ageism saying we need to retire the word retirement. The book is divided into six parts, each with unique areas of focus:• Millennials Leading: Exploring Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Next Generation of Women in Technology• Men and Women Empowering One Another• Bold Leadership: Women Changing the Culture of Investment and Entrepreneurship• Educating for the 21st Century• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: A Generation of Women Forging into Technology Leadership• Emerging Fields of TechnologyThe Internet of Women gathers examples about the increasingly inclusive and progressive gender culture in technology from over 30 countries. Stories range from an entrepreneur in Dubai partnering with private and public sector entities to accelerate blockchain technology to a young British woman moving to Silicon Valley to launch an artificial intelligence platform and incubator. The book is intended for corporations, academic institutions, the private sector, government agencies, gender experts, and the general public, and its key benefit is to let the reader understand a path towards implementing diversity overall globally. It also showcases the strategies, tools, and tactical execution on how create cultural change in all parts of the world.
Introduction to Contemporary Print Culture examines the role of the book in the modern world. It considers the book’s deeply intertwined relationships with other media through ownership structures, copyright and adaptation, the constantly shifting roles of authors, publishers and readers in the digital ecosystem and the merging of print and digital technologies in contemporary understandings of the book object. Divided into three parts, the book first introduces students to various theories and methods for understanding print culture, demonstrating how the study of the book has grown out of longstanding academic disciplines. The second part surveys key sectors of the contemporary book world – from independent and alternative publishers to editors, booksellers, readers and libraries – focusing on topical debates. In the final part, digital technologies take centre stage as eBook regimes and mass-digitisation projects are examined for what they reveal about information power and access in the twenty-first century. This book provides a fascinating and informative introduction for students of all levels in publishing studies, book history, literature and English, media, communication and cultural studies, cultural sociology, librarianship and archival studies and digital humanities.
