Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Changing identity of women'

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2007.
"September 2007."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-37).
The human voice is an important indicator of a person's gender. For male-to-female transgender individuals (or transsexuals) the voice is one of the most difficult parts of the gender transition. Males have larger and heavier vocal apparatuses (larynx and vocal folds), which generally produce a lower sound. Transgender women can have voice surgery, but it can sometimes cause a Minnie Mouse-like falsetto or the complete loss of the voice. As a result, many transgendered women turn to specially trained voice therapists to learn how to speak more convincingly like women. The voice's pitch, although important, is not the only factor in creating a more female sound. Intonation, resonance, volume, speech patterns and formant frequencies also play significant roles in making a realistic feminine sound. There continue to be many unanswered questions about how listeners perceive the voices of transgender women and how best to blend the voices of transwomen into a comfortable range. Transgender women have many hurdles to face as they transition from male to female, and possessing an authentic voice is a way to smooth out the bumpy path they face.
by Katharine Stoel Gammon.
S.M.in Science Writing

This thesis explores the lives and experiences of farm women through identifying and elaborating their changing subjectivities as 'farm wives': a career entered through marriage rather than by vocational preference. It does this through using auto/ethnographic and ethnographic approaches in a study that engaged nine informants principally, but many more through its conduct. Importantly, the thesis gives voice and legitimacy to the place and dreams of women on farms and it has exposed silences that have been 'a shelter for power'. This exposé has been a revelation to those farming women and men who have lived secluded, private lives furiously protecting a myth of the farm 'wife' as fulfilled and happy while living life vicariously, largely through her husband's achievements. Issues of power, gender, isolation and entrapment are revealed through advancing issues of subjective change within a zealous and often unforgiving culture where the myth and propaganda do not match the realities of these women's lives. Maintaining self and maintaining culture far from being manifested as times of stability, require some volatility as they both command transformative and, sometimes, contradictory change to sustain the woman's humanness while ensuring the sustainability of the New Zealand icon – the family farm. Central to the resolution of how farming women sustain and transform their 'selves', are their capacities for intentionality, agency and empowerment. An ability to negotiate or renegotiate a life for one's 'self' is entangled in the complex web of relations between farm, work, family and culture. While influenced by personal intent and agency, this sense of self is informed by one's personal history. Intentionality, then, is a critical concept to consider in attempting to isolate motivational drives; in seeking resolution for such dilemmas. Intention comprises individual agency exercised as personal choice, as opposed to social agency constrained in the form of pressure to conform and meet cultural expectations. However, many of these women have difficulty isolating personal intention due to social and cultural intent dominating their thinking and actions to a point where they sub-consciously take ownership of those objectives. It seems from the participating women, though, that a drive for self-knowledge is compelling. Advanced here is an elaboration of how these 'farm wives' negotiated, reconstructed and reshaped their sense of self, and, at times, also strongly resisted and dis-identified with the social world in which they found themselves unwittingly, and at times unwillingly embedded. Calls are made for challenging and changing cultural expectations while prioritising women's needs. Key contributions concern the salience of : (1) the central role of 'becoming' and 'belonging' as a function of managing geographical, psychosocial, financial, emotional, intellectual and genderised isolations, along with negotiating a culture of masculinisation; (2) maintenance of self existing as a function of a sense of belonging, without which maintenance is elusive and issues of entrapment often manifest as matriarchal power and control between competing generations of women; (3) maintenance and transformation of one's 'self' critically requiring strength of personal agency; and (4) the negotiations of women who continue to defy the norms, reasserting resistance while negotiating 'self' and in doing so transform both their 'self' and their culture. Needs for further enquiry are raised regarding: the cultural relationships between patriarchy and matriarchy and ensuing entrapments; the cultural lag of farming culture in regard to feminist change; and the sustainability of individuals struggling to 'belong' to a culture not of their choosing. Saliently, this research has resonated with New Zealand farming women of all ages and also with young farming men who are struggling with the resistance of young women to marry onto farms. The response, while challenging, indicates strong relevance and critical need.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Faculty of Education
Full Text

The Appalachian region is known for its beautiful mountains, close-knit communities, and health care disparities including higher rates of cancer and premature mortality. Being diagnosed with cancer in the region may present a unique experience for survivors in regards to family cancer communication and changing personal identities. In a multiphasic study, the stories of 29 female Appalachian cancer survivors were collected through either a day-long modified story circle event (n=26) or an in-depth interview (n=3). Qualitative content analysis was used to identify emergent themes in the data. The analysis revealed 5 types of family cancer communication and five barriers to family cancer communication. The analysis additionally revealed the identity struggle women experience between maintaining traditional Appalachian gender roles and surviving cancer. These findings suggest that female Appalachian cancer survivors appear to have additional challenges that may make the cancer experience in Appalachia unique.

Historically non-heterosexual individuals have faced prejudice and discrimination in daily life. Non-heterosexuals experience oppression and discrimination that affect personal development on all levels. An increased awareness of sexual identity development could create more inclusive sexual identity models, better understanding for counselor educators, and better training for counselors on issues of sexual identity. The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences that influence sexual identity in women who love women. This study required that subjects attach meaning to sexual identity formation. Qualitative research methodologies were used in the study. Participants were selected for this study in a thoughtful and purposeful manner and within specified parameters. Data were collected through two face-to-face interviews with the participants; member checking and peer debriefing offered consistency through the use of a semi-structured interview guide. Phenomenological approach and constant comparison was used for data analysis. From the data collected, four themes emerged: I was Just Different, Information Seeking, View of Self as a Woman Within the Context of Culture, and Contextual Relationships. Findings of this study did not support a stage model of sexual identity development. Instead, this study supported the view that sexual identity is fluid and strongly related to relationships with peer groups. All participants reported that sexual identity formation was a painful process.

Early menopause has been constructed by discourses of biological determinism as an untimely, but natural, failure of the female body. Medical discourses in particular have interpreted early menopause as a congenital irregularity and a rare anomaly of menopause at midlife. In this thesis I challenge the notion that early menopause is an innate imperfection related only to women’s age. I propose that early menopause is dependent upon the cultural interpretations of individual women and is constituted through the mercurial and multiple discourses of women who have this embodied experience. Moreover, I reveal that early menopause is a contemporary condition and that its location in history is inextricably bound to discourses of risk, naturalism and the self. Further I make the assumption that having an early menopause both affects and is an effect of women’s fertility, sexuality and subjectivity. I have drawn upon a broad range of sources to provide a sociological analysis of early menopause. Literature on early menopause is dominated by positivist discourses, yet many alternate discourses negotiate these influential constructions. I suggest here that the perception of early menopause as a natural fault is merely a construction by medical discourses and does not incorporate the dynamic discourses of early-menopausal women. Moreover, the restriction of early menopause to a genetic female failure excludes the majority of women who have an early menopause through iatrogenisis. This omission occurs through the failure of positivist discourses to accommodate diversity in discourses. Recent sociological and feminist studies have vindicated menopausal women. They have reconstructed menopause through notions of embodiment and have removed the veil of negativity used by the medical sciences to contain menopausal women (Komesaroff, Rothfield and Daly 1997). The visibility of menopausal women, however, remains connected to age. Menopause has been created as a predictable consequence of aging and as such has come to be synonymous with middle age. Nowadays, even men are said to experience menopause at midlife (Carruthers 1996). But early menopause is constituted within the discourses of women who have this experience. Medico-scientific discourses, based upon theories of genetic inevitability, disregard this perspective. Consequently early menopause is subsumed by naturalistic discourses that relate menopause to midlife. Such restraint reflects the unease created by menopause that does not coincide with prescribed life stages. Women's experiences of their changing bodies are largely unheard. Thus, women who have an early menopause are faced with a chasm of ‘cultural non-recognition’ (Fraser 1997). Conjointly with this discursive repression early-menopausal women face social imbalances that are transacted as both cause and consequence of early menopause. In particular the contemporary creation of early menopause is bound to the social and historical location of women as a group. Women are exploited by the institution of medicine, ‘exposure to environmental toxicity’ (Fraser 1997: 11) and commercialization as causes of early menopause. Yet the corporeal effects of practices of risk avoidance (Beck 1993), social practices (Shilling 1993) and Western consumerism (Lupton 1994) fail to be recognized. I address these problematics through a poststructural and feminist critique that assumes moments of commonality among women, while at the same time recognizes shifting and multiple differences (Nicholson 1999). I suggest here that early menopause falls into cultural misrecognition in Fraser's (1997) terms and argue that it is united concurrently with the gender injustice of androcentrism (Fraser 1997: 21). Fraser (1997: 16) suggests that it is only by relating these dual problematics that we are able to make sense of current dilemmas. Thus I have critiqued early menopause through a connection between individual embodied experiences of early menopause and early menopause as a modern phenomenon that is specific to women. I have attempted to unravel these arguments that simultaneously call to ‘... abolish gender differentiation and to valorize gender specificity’ (Fraser 1997: 21) while at the same time acknowledging their interconnectedness. An approach of merely combining women’s discourses with overarching social issues would be inadequate as not only do these problematics intersect but they also can be opposed. As Fraser (1997: 25) notes with her theory, redressing one aspect of cultural or social analysis can further imbalance another. For instance making visible the diversity and uniqueness of individual experiences of early menopause could detract from acknowledging the contemporary construction of early menopause through social inequality. Crucial to this understanding is a destabilizing of the binary construction of differences between the sexes that makes way for a reconstruction of early menopause through ‘sexual slippage’ (Matus 1995). In this thesis I look for a subtlety between the particular and the collective that views early menopause as concurrently a singular and changeable experience as well as imbedded in social practice. I suggest that these concepts are entwined as interactive effects of early menopause. Thus I have analyzed the bivalent problematics of the embodiment and social location of early menopause as imbricated, dynamic and unending discourses. From this perspective I reviewed the literature that was available on early menopause. In Chapter One I look to descriptions of early menopause and note that it has disappeared into a conglomeration of disparate, mostly medical, discourses that are contradictory. Nevertheless medical discourses offer ‘conclusive’ definitions of early menopause that are based on naturalistic views of the body (Shilling 1994). The determinants used are inconsistent and do not include women's discourses of early menopause. Thus, dominant medical discourses obscure women’s embodied experiences of early menopause and ignore the contemporary causes of early menopause. In Chapter Two I examine the causes of early menopause as a way of explaining the disparity between medical discourses and my anecdotal observations of early menopause as a fairly common contemporary occurrence. The relatively recent escalation in gynaecological surgery, especially hysterectomy, appears to account almost single-handedly for early menopause as a current phenomenon. Moreover, the extraordinary number of women who have their uterus removed at hysterectomy can be interpreted as a modern implementation of ancient anxieties. Women's sexuality has been constructed throughout history as problematic and this unease has been translated through women's bodies as dangerous and in need of control (Greer 1992). Thus social concerns which have evolved historically have emerged through the representation of a woman's uterus as an unseen, dark and mysterious risk (Beck 1993). Medical discourses define this risk and are able to negate the so-called dangers of women's sexuality through the surgical removal of their organs. Widespread negotiation of medical discourses is apparent, as hysterectomy in the modern Western world is the most common of all surgical operations (Hufnagel 1989). It is overwhelmingly the most common cause of early menopause as well. I examine also the historical condemnation of infertile women and how this anxiety has been transposed to the modern world through the commercialization of reproduction. Transactions of this social unease can cause early menopause. For instance the medical technology of in-vitro fertilization (I.V.F.) has been offered as a panacea for the infertility of early menopause but, paradoxically, can cause early menopause as well. Conception through technology has been normalized as a viable option for women who are unable to conceive and understandings of I.V.F. have moved into everyday discourse. Medical discourses have constructed fertility as a saleable item and infertile women expect that they can purchase this merchandise. Human eggs have become lucrative commodities that now are available in the market place. Egg ‘donation’ for I.V.F. programs can hasten the attrition rate of eggs and can cause early menopause in some pre-menopausal women (Rowland 1992: 24). Even the recycling of a woman’s uterus supposedly has become a possibility through the transferring of this ‘used’ organ at hysterectomy to a recipient woman who can use the other woman’s uterus as a ‘gestational garage’ (Rogers 1998). In this way women have been disembodied as mechanical systems with inter-changeable body parts and the potentially detrimental consequences of these commercial transactions are ignored. In addition I show how early menopause can be caused by the connection between the self and the social structure. Women's subjectivity is constituted through the cultural discourses available to them and these discourses affect social behaviour (Lupton 1995). For instance smoking and dieting have been identified as causes of early menopause. These activities have been related to the creation of women’s bodies as hetero-sexually desirable and are endemic to young women (Evans-Young 1995). This suggests that cultural causes of early menopause are transactions of sexual politics. Yet there is a paucity of literature that acknowledges the relationship between women’s subjectivity and early menopause. Thus the second chapter exposes a link between sexual politics and causes of early menopause through women's relationships with risk, naturalism and the self. In Chapter Three I deconstruct early menopause through theoretical considerations. I rely on an overarching poststructuralism that embraces the concept of fragmented plural discourses and the subjectivity of menopausal women as a continuous process (Komesaroff 1997: 61). I have woven these variables through broad feminist critiques (Leonard 1997). Through this eclectic approach I hoped to find some loose alignment between the corporeal, ontological and embodied dimensions of early menopause. The recurring themes of sexuality, fertility and subjectivity emerge through deconstructing discourses of sexual difference as immutable and non-negotiable; exposing ‘premature ovarian failure’ as a discursive construction that censures early-menopausal women; and acknowledging the discourses of individual women as unique, diverse and dynamic. I looked to a method of exposing some of these individual discourses and in Chapter Four I describe a critical research process aimed at understanding early menopause as a lived experience. In the remaining chapters I align these ontological arguments with an analysis of the discourses of women who had experienced or were experiencing an early menopause. This section partly relieves the ‘cultural non-recognition’ of the discourses of early-menopausal women. I recorded the narratives of fifty early-menopausal women through in-depth interviews and used this empirical data to direct the study. This data provides the opportunity to understand early menopause as an assortment of embodied experiences. For instance women’s experiences of age at commencement of menopause spanned over three and half decades. They did not reflect the age specifications prescribed by medical discourses. Rather women interpreted their experiences within their own discourses and determined their menopause as early based upon the expectations of their cultural context. Many of the women experienced changes attributed to menopause at midlife. It was not these changes that were significant to early-menopausal women it was how each woman translated these changes that provided meanings of early menopause. In Chapter Five I introduce the women through a table that connects the varying experiences of each woman. This profile shows that, in the main, the women’s experiences of early menopause were unexpected. I suggest that this is due to the disparity between early-menopausal women’s experiences and the current age and social norms of menopause. By bracketing the women into cohorts patterns emerged displaying differences between women who had menopause in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties. Adolescent women had intense feelings of abnormality and despair. Women who were in their twenties were less devastated by menopause than the younger women but described their sexuality and self-identity as changing. And although some women in their thirties were shocked or dismayed to have an early menopause others were ambivalent or happy. These women also described their sexuality and self-identity through changing discourses. A number of the women who were in their forties said that they were ‘too young for the menopause’ but were far less despondent than the younger women. It seemed that the greater the distance between age norms and social norms the more negatively women responded. Age norms that determine the social norms of women's lives through a ‘biological clock’ are constructed to reflect social values. But age is a social construction that changes over time. Thus it would appear that women’s changing bodies and changing discourses of early menopause are in the process of recreating age and social norms around menopause. In Chapter Six I draw upon women’s narratives that describe a connection between early menopause and sexuality. Yet the respondents were not unified in their constructions of sexuality. For instance a number of the women rejected the containment of their sexuality as absolute and defined in terms of bi-lateral hetero-sexual opposition. The discourses of these women constructed their sexuality as continuously flexible. Some early-menopausal women described this sexual mobility as an equivocal relationship between their sexuality, reproductive capacity and female organs. Other women articulated their sexuality as vacillating, ambiguous and unrepresentative of the so-called ‘true woman’. Several felt that they were not meant to have female reproductive organs at all. Nearly one third of the women had had their uterus removed at hysterectomy and the reproductive organs of two women were rudimentary. Women’s narratives showed that the social value of fertility influences constructions of early menopause. In Chapter Seven I record the contrast between the poignant responses of women who wished to have a baby of their own and other women who resisted discourses that entwine reproductivity with being a woman. For instance some women negotiated fertility through economic discourses of consumerism with the expectation that they could purchase conception as a commodity. Other women welcomed their early menopause as freedom from contraceptive concerns and others had no interest in reproduction at all. Thus discord arose through discourses that problematize early-menopausal women as non-reproductive and discourses that value variability. In addition many of the women’s accounts constructed their subjectivity as mobile, challenging the notion that discourses of the self are immutable. Chapter Eight presents narratives which suggest that the subjectivity of many women was altered continuously by early menopause. Yet some of the women rejected the construction of their subjectivity as unfluctuating. These contradictions reflect the uncertainties of the contemporary world. Nevertheless most respondents found that the tethering of menopause to constructions of midlife was incongruous with their own experiences. Many women refused to accept the label of social redundancy attached to middle-aged women. They moved their subjectivity beyond the reproductive body to a shifting and tractable identity of the self. This thesis demonstrates that the medical construction of early menopause as a rare and natural female flaw varies from women's experiences which suggest that early menopause is common and discursively constructed. This disparity has occurred through the privilege placed upon the construction of bodies as immutable and sexually static. This privileging has obscured the multi-dimensional causes of early menopause and given preference to a mono-causal theory. By exposing the variety of causes of early menopause the medical construction of women through a universal and unalterable body of reproduction is challenged. Moreover, women's discourses of early menopause demonstrate that the medical reduction of early menopause to a spontaneous bio-chemical malfunction has ignored the volatility of women’s embodied experiences. Women experience early menopause variously and through mercurial discourses. I suggest here that women's discourses of their experiences of early menopause reflect recurring and restructuring philosophical quandaries of fertility, sexuality and subjectivity. While there can be no representative claims made from this thesis it contributes to an understanding of the embodied experiences of early menopause. It provides an understanding of the creation of early menopause through social practices and goes part way to redressing the problematics of what Fraser terms ‘cultural non-recognition’. But, more importantly, it acknowledges early menopause as a variety of experiences where women interpret their changing bodies through changing discourses.

In the end of the 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s Europe and the world witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the mid-1990s the member states of the European Union decided to enlarge the Union towards the Eastern Europe. Thus European integration entered into an unprecedented phase. Integration of the Eastern Europeans with the Western Europe contributed to the debates on the notions of European identity and the idea of Europe. Adherence of the East Europeans to the ideals of the Western European civilization brought up some questions about the changing identities and shifting boundaries of Europe. Various theories deal with the problems of identity in general and European identity in particular. However to a great extent they are limited within a rigid description of self-other relationship. They do not intend to investigate the real motives or purposes behind these transformations of the prevailing identities and shifting of the boundaries of Europe. So, it will be argued that, in order to understand construction/reconstruction process of the new European identity, one should also take into consideration the more dynamic effects on changing European identity and shifting borders of Europe.

Japan is currently facing a demographic shift that will alter the nation’s social, cultural, and economic institutions significantly in the years to come. Due to a declining and aging population, foreigners have steadily comprised a greater portion of Japan’s population and workforce for the past three decades. Although foreigners currently comprise only 2% of Japan’s population, some experts predict an increase to between 8% and 27% by 2050. If even the most conservative of these estimates are true, this would raise serious questions about Japan’s future. Historically, Japan has relegated cultural and ethnic difference to the social margins, leaving little room for the integration of cultural Others. This has produced problematic relationships between Japan and its minority communities. Foreign and cultural Others have been denied rights and recognition within Japanese society and their presence has been largely overlooked. These recent demographic changes, however, are producing novel interactions between foreigners and Japanese in schools, restaurants, retail establishments, and other public spaces. Yet, the current research on Japan has not updated our knowledge of Japan with a critical look into the recent shift and its effects. This dissertation examines the parameters of Japan’s diversification and explores its broader social impacts. Specifically, it uses the novel contexts through which Japanese and non-Japanese people are coming into contact as a backdrop for examining questions about how Japanese-foreigner relations, Japan’s identity (internally and externally), and the ways foreigners are being positioned within contemporary Japanese society. In doing so, this thesis explores topics such as the newfound ways that Japanese and non-Japanese workers are coming into contact with one another, the role of language in facilitating multicultural encounters, and how biracial people destabilize conventional idea about Japanese identity and compel critical reconsiderations of it. This research incorporates data from over thirty formal interviews, and many more informal interviews from diverse voices, to expound upon the conceptual and material ramifications of Japan’s demographic changes and pose implications for the trajectory of Japan in the near future. In exploring these questions, this dissertation also draws upon theories of race, ethnicity, space, place, and communication to understand these demographic changes and their impacts. This work examines contemporary theories about the intersection of race and ethnicity, and how they relate to a non-Western and quickly changing sociocultural milieu. It also examines the ways that contemporary migration patterns destabilize and reconfigure notions of spatiality, which are closely linked to identity constructions. It further considers theories about intercultural communication and language learning to show how communicative and linguistic processes facilitate the novel encounters that are unfolding between Japanese and non-Japanese people. The primary finding from this research is that Japan’s demographic changes are compelling new forms of sociality and interpersonal dynamics between Japanese and foreigners that heretofore have not been observed. The novel characteristics of these encounters are creating a new social milieu within in which Japanese and foreigners are crossing paths more frequently in everyday life. This is leading to more critical inquiries about Japan’s future and the role of non-Japanese people within that future. This work gives voice to the actors on the ground who are living out these changes firsthand and presents their experiences, ideas, and aspirations of future Japan.

This research examines the expression and the construction of the ethnic identity of the Akeu, a minority people in northern Thailand and eastern Myanmar. The research data was gathered by interviews and observation during a fieldwork period in 2012. Ethnic identities are constructed as a process where external circumstances, ethnic group resources and active individuals interact. An important factor in this construction is social change, which forces people to rethink their identities and shape them to fit the new circumstances. The Akeu have experienced profound changes during the past decades. They have been affected by civil wars and conflicts, their subsistence swidden economy has been replaced by market economy, and increased contacts to other ethnic groups have brought in values of ethnic majorities. All this drives changes in their identity. The Akeu see their ethnicity as being based on a shared culture; on biological origin which is reflected in traditions that are perceived as heritage from ancestors; and most of all on social environment, which determines the possibilities to follow those cultural practices which are associated with Akeu identity. Losing contact to the Akeu community is seen as losing one’s identity. The Akeu crystallize their cultural differences from other groups mostly through four symbols: clothing, language, ancestors, and traditions. All these symbols are, however, changing. Traditional clothing is increasingly not used as everyday wear, the Akeu language is not always transmitted to children, the ancestor cult is changing because the young Akeu are often not interested in learning oral ritual knowledge, or because of conversion to Christianity or Buddhism, and traditions are losing their appeal among the young generation. In this situation the Akeu construct their ethnicity by actively making themselves visible among many other ethnic groups who live in the same area. They also modernize their identity and culture by selective traditionalism which underlines certain features of their culture as valuable traditions; by organizing new trans-village activities that reinforce common ethnicity; and by creating new ethnic symbols which are used in order to make Akeu identity seem positive and relevant. Especially literacy in the Akeu language is used to remove the previous stigma of illiteracy and poverty
Tämä tutkimus tarkastele tapaa, jolla Pohjois-Thaimaassa ja Itä-Myanmarissa elävä akeu-vähemmistökansa rakentaa ja ilmaisee etnistä identiteettiään. Tutkimus perustuu haastattelu- ja havaintoaineistoon, joka on kerätty kenttätyömatkalla 2012. Etniset identiteetit rakentuvat prosessina, jossa ulkoiset olosuhteet, ryhmän omat resurssit ja aktiiviset yksilöt ovat vuorovaikutuksessa. Sosiaalinen muutos on tärkeä etnisyyden rakentumiseen vaikuttava tekijä, koska se pakottaa ihmiset käsittelemään ja muotoilemaan identiteettejään muuttuneita olosuhteita vastaaviksi. Akeut ovat kokeneet huomattavia muutoksia viimeisten vuosikymmenten aikana, esimerkiksi sisällissotien ja muiden konfliktien vaikutuksia. Lisäksi aikaisempi omavarainen kaskitalous on muuttunut markkinataloudeksi, ja kontaktit toisiin etnisiin ryhmiin ovat lisääntyneet tuoden mukanaan valtakulttuurien vaikutteita. Nämä kaikki aiheuttavat muutoksia myös akeu-identiteetissä. Akeu-identiteetti perustuu heidän käsityksensä mukaan yhteiseen kulttuuriin; biologiseen alkuperään, jota heijastavat esi-isiltä perityiksi katsotut perinteet; sekä ennen kaikkea sosiaaliseen ympäristöön, joka tekee mahdolliseksi etniseen identiteettiin liitetyn kulttuurisen käyttäytymisen. Jos akeu menettää yhteyden akeu-yhteisöön, hänen katsotaan menettävän myös etnisen identiteettinsä. Akeut kiteyttävät erilaisuutensa muihin ryhmiin nähden yleisesti neljään kulttuuriseen symboliin: vaatteisiin, kieleen, esi-isiin ja perinteisiin. Kaikki nämä piirteet ovat muuttumassa. Perinteiset akeu-vaatteet ovat yhä harvemmin arkikäytössä, kieli ei aina välity lapsille, esi-isäkultti muuttuu joko kristinuskoon tai buddhalaisuuteen kääntymisen vuoksi tai siksi, että nuoret eivät opi siihen liittyvää suullista perinnettä, ja muut perinteet eivät suureksi osaksi kiinnosta nuorta sukupolvea. Tässä tilanteessa akeut rakentavat aktiivisesti etnistä identiteettiään: he tekevät sitä näkyväksi muiden samalla alueella elävien ryhmien keskuudessa sekä pyrkivät modernisoimaan identiteettiään ja kulttuuriaan korostamalla joitakin valikoituja kulttuuripiirteitä arvokkaina perinteinä, järjestämällä kylien välistä toimintaa joka vahvistaa etnistä yhteenkuuluvuutta, sekä luomalla uusia etnisiä symboleja ja käyttämällä niitä tekemään akeu-identiteetistä positiivisen ja merkityksellisen. Erityisesti akeu-kirjakieltä käytetään poistamaan aiemmin identiteettiin liittynyttä köyhyyden ja lukutaidottomuuden stigmaa

Place identity changes and transforms in relation with changing social conditions and physical environment. Social conditions change the place identity by changing people&rsquo
s perceptions and experiences in the space, while, at the same time, they are affected by these perceptions and experiences. Thus, place identity is in a state of flux in time with individuals, objects and societies. This thesis aims to study the evolving identity of public spaces by focusing on the case of Ankara, specifically the example of Gü
ven Park which was developed as a part of the public space strategy of creating a modern, westernized and secular capital city of newly-founded Turkish Republic. Therefore, as far as Ankara is concerned, beside &lsquo
place identity&rsquo
, the notion of &lsquo
national identity&rsquo
becomes prominent. This research examines the changes in the identity of Gü
ven Park in relation to the shifts in the identity of Ankara, and the analyses on the public space are carried out regarding three criteria -form or physical setting, activities and meanings attached to the public space- in different time periods.

Fishing as an occupation provides more than a way of earning a living. Its traditions, structures and dynamics influence all aspects of the lives of individuals and households, and provide the basis for individual and collective identities. This research focuses on northeast Scotland, where communities have developed along this stretch of coast because of their relationship with the fishing industry. However, the industry is undergoing extensive restructuring, driven by fisheries management and policy responses to ecological problems in key stocks. This restructuring is bringing about major changes for the industry, and although the policies driving reform recognise there are socio-cultural implications, understandings of these impacts are underdeveloped. This research draws on theories of identity to conceptualise the socio-cultural foundations of the fishing industry. In-depth interviews with fishermen, former fishermen and their wives provide a rich source of data to explore the construction and performance of identity. This research demonstrates how three domains of fishing, the sea, household and community, are central spaces for fishing identity. In these spaces traditional symbols of fishing are used to create and maintain a shared understanding of the industry and collective identity. The changes brought about by the restructuring of the industry present challenges to these traditional constructions of identity and are undermining key symbols, such as maintaining a close-knit crew. The past is used as a resource to understand these present challenges, and in many cases positive fishing identities are being maintained. However there is a sense that fishing no longer occupies its central position within northeast Scotland; instead it has become a community within a community.

This thesis examines the work of the Durham pitman and artist Norman Cornish whilst analysing the economic and cultural climate which has promoted and sustained his career as a regional artist for over seventy years. Cornish’s depiction of mining life remains widely acknowledged by regional patrons and the local media as an iconic representation of the distinctiveness of North East mining communities. The fact that his work continues to receive considerable media attention whilst maintaining a strong patronage within the region, promotes several issues relating to the understanding of regional culture and identity. Why has Cornish’s work remained so enduringly popular and what does this reveal about the dynamics of North East regional culture? This research considers the interpretation and patronage of Cornish’s work during key periods of the region’s development and in doing so provides the first sustained study of Cornish’s career in relation to regional cultural identity. Industrialisation, economic change, concepts of community and nostalgia are all recognised as fundamental factors which have shaped the region’s cultural identity during the twentieth century. Essentially, it is argued that a sense of ‘Northernness’ is crucial to Cornish’s regional popularity. Significantly, this thesis identifies a variation between Cornish’s regional and national popularity. The artist’s strong local appeal has not been replicated consistently on a broader national level. It is suggested that the varying national interest in Cornish’s career should be considered in relation to wider artistic trends as well as patronage from organisations such as the National Coal Board. On a regional level, a large proportion of Cornish’s continued appeal to local audiences can be attributed to the sympathetic response from the regional media. Whilst the study of regional identity within the scope of visual culture is by no means a new or impoverished field, this study adopts a thematic treatment of culture, identity and representation, in order to understand the contribution of visual culture to regional identity during the twentieth century. By dealing with visual culture in its broadest and most fluid sense, this study consults both social and cultural history sources alongside art historical perspectives.

The island of Gotland is associated with a distinctive nature, high biodiversity and a rich cultural history. However, these values have generated landscape management challenges due to shifting land use. The thesis proceeds from the peninsula of Östergarnslandet which has been recognized as one the most exposed areas to current changes. Simultaneously, Östergarnslandet has been acknowledged to sustain a traditional expression to a greater degree than other highly exposed places. By external recognition and ambition to preserve landscape values, this thesis suggests that there is a venture in altering the identity of the landscape when preserving the tangible. The purpose of this thesis was to show that safeguarding landscapes are far more than just biology but also about recognizing the people living within them. By using the methodology of the EU-horizon project RURITAGE the aim was to understand the area of research and find potential future approaches. By proceeding from Östergarnslandet, the main objective was to explore mental and factual landscapes with an aim to understand current landscape management of the area. Through this, the thesis has also aimed to answer how to safeguard landscape identity in changing landscapes. This was conducted by studying three different Nature 2000 and policy documents in relation to theoretical literature. The study suggests that there is an authorial division recognizing different values within the same landscape. At the same time, locality and the social impact is sometimes overlooked. To find sustainable approaches for safeguarding the landscape identity of Östergarnslandet, this thesis has looked at areas of recognized successful redevelopment. The areas are Southern Öland and Bråbygden. Gathered lessons were discussed in relation to the current landscape management of Östergarnslandet. In this part, two models were presented. The first model shows how transparency of the different sectors’ valuation of the landscape can be a tool to gain understanding and bridge different perception of value. The second model suggest how landscape identity can be sustained through external recognition generating pride and increased local participation.

Through open-ended interviews and oral history, this ethnographic project captures unique histories of cultivating critical race consciousness as a White subject in social contexts of continuing overt and covert racisms. The project studies the legacy of racist and prejudiced discourses in how White research participants embody, theorize, and perform White consciousness. I explore a spectrum of White consciousness that corresponds to shifting conceptualizations of racism (Jim Crow, Colorblind, and Critical Race Consciousness), unstable ideologies of activism and antiracism (reflecting whether or not and how subjects act against prejudice), and the changing politics of rhetorical practice in backstage settings (that is, how subjects represent and construct racialized realities in these discourse situations). The project concludes that storytelling can be strategically and effectively used in activist research and everyday conversation as a vehicle for positive social change to cultivate critical dialogue about and rearticulate lived histories of race, racialized identities, racial privileges, and racisms.

With a considerable focus to increase America’s degree completion rates amongst our diverse population, higher education policymakers and researchers have examined the college access, persistence, and completion rates of first-generation students. However, minimal research has addressed the heterogeneous student population through a gendered or intersectional lens. To provide nuance to first-generation scholarship and identity development, the dissertation employed a narrative inquiry approach to examine the meanings five first-generation women made as they understood their intersecting identities within unique institutional contexts. Findings from the study are the following: the women defined themselves as individuals with multiple identities and not solely on their first-generation status; the saliency with which individuals associated with a first-generation identity varied; an initial identity conflict regarding first-generation status catapulted the women’s understanding of other social dimensions and allowed them to transition from processing each identity in isolation to an intersectional conception of self; identity development was an evolving process with the saliency of social dimensions fluctuating based on temporal and situational contexts; and some women were not adequately challenged to reflect on their gender identity. The conclusions from the study will add to the knowledge base not only on first-generation students, but undergraduate women’s advantaged experiences, and identity intersectionality within higher education.

Establishing a sense of identity is a central task in human development. This research pursued questions about how adult, self-identified feminist women conceptualize their identity, the role of feminism in that conceptualization, and the interaction of feminism with race and sexual orientation.

Forty women in five geographic regions across the United States were interviewed. The participants were faculty, administrators, classified staff, and graduate students affiliated with a university in the region. The interviews were completed during a week-long visit to each location; each interview lasted from 45 to 75 minutes. Interviews followed a semi-structured format, using a standard protocol. Questions in the interviews asked about the importance of feminism, occupation, relationships, religion, politics, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation in the women's identities. The connection of feminism to each of the other identity areas was also asked of the participants.

The women in this study conceptualized identity as consisting of multiple elements, organized in one of two ways: (a) a whole with multiple parts and (b) a collection of multiple parts. The first is an integrated identity, where all elements are connected to each of the other elements, and the second is a contextual identity, where the connection of elements can depend on situational variables. The multiple identities include traditional categories of occupation, relationships, religion, politics, race, and sexual orientation, but also add other areas such as age, socioeconomic class, avocational interests, and feminism.

Women identify themselves as having multiple identities. The way participants in this study view feminism as an identity is organized in four categories: a set of values, a process to make meaning, a contextual identity, and an underlying construct. The categories of feminism vary in the degree to which feminism is connected with other identity elements. Women who view feminism as a set of values speak of it as a set of beliefs or an ideology that may or may not influence other identity areas. The participants who view feminism as a process to make meaning have either an interconnected or contextual view of feminism, with the added element of seeing feminism as a way to understand, interpret, and make decisions about experiences. Feminism as a contextual identity is connected with some parts of identity but not with all elements. For those whose view of feminism is as an underlying construct, feminism is interconnected and interactive with all of the other identity elements.

This study adds to the literature about feminism and feminist identity in three ways. First, it suggests that for women who identify themselves as feminists, feminism is not only an ideology but also an important element of their identity. Second, it asserts that a shared definition of feminism is not critical to determining its role in identity. Third, this study's findings challenge the Downing and Roush (1985) model of feminist identity as the principal model. The Downing and Roush model focuses on feminist consciousness rather than identity; it employs a singular, liberal definition of feminism; it ignores multiple identities and their interactions; and it hinges its highest achievement on activist participation. Each of these assumptions of the Downing and Roush model are contradicted by the findings of this research.

This study adds to the previous literature about identity in two ways. First, it expands the knowledge about adult women's identity by proposing a definition that takes into account the multiple identities that women have. Second, the findings challenge the limited areas by which identity has been traditionally defined. This study challenges the notion that identity is a singular, core construct based on traditional elements. Individuals must be allowed to identify the elements that make up their own identities. The results of this study also suggest that multiple identities, including race/ethnicity and sexual orientation, are mutually influencing and interconnected rather than independent or singular. Identity is constructed of multiple elements that must be examined together to understand the individual's own definition of self.
Ph. D.

The aim of this study was to examine the changing image of women in the oeuvre of Francis Imbuga. Focusing on seven stage plays and two novels published between 1976 and 2011, the study examines the depiction of female characters within the social, cultural and political contexts of post-independence African societies. The depiction of female characters in literature has attracted the attention of numerous scholars globally, particularly with regards to negative female stereotypes in male authored works. This study explores Imbuga’s attitude towards female stereotypes and gender inequalities in literary texts. Using an eclectic framework that includes feminist criticism, feminist stylistics, gender theory and the formal strategies of literature, the study examined gender relations in these texts through the analysis of language and discourse of characters. Further, the study uses the interpretive methods of textual analysis to categorize these works into three phases based on their portrayal of female characters. This method reveals a systematic transformation in the characterization of women from disadvantaged positions in the patriarchal society to more prominent positions in the contemporary society. The study demonstrates that Imbuga makes a positive response to feminism and devices a unique perspective on feminism that celebrates both the domestic and public roles of female characters. In this sense, the female characters contribute to the moral content and aesthetic values of Imbuga’s works. The study concludes that Imbuga views the transformation of female characters in literary texts as part of the broader social change that is desirable in the society. Ultimately, this vision involves shifting focus from the preoccupation with gender inequalities to concern for the welfare and dignity of the human person. Based on the conclusions, recommendations for further study include investigation into the educative and social role of the performing arts as a means of raising consciousness on issues such as HIV/Aids, use of indigenous knowledge in solving contemporary issues, incorporation of African morality and traditions in contemporary literature and a comparative study of Imbuga’s feministic vision with that of other writers.

Criticism of Michael Ondaatje's prose emphasizes the author's deconstruction of familiar binary oppositions as he challenges history and authority. The criticism, however, neglects the opposition between men and women. This omission is surprising, considering the remarkable transition in the representation of women throughout Ondaatje's prose. Women in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970) and Coming Through Slaughter (1976) are objectified: lacking the tools for self-representation, the women are framed as sites of sexuality, negativity, and darkness. In Running in the Family (1982), however, the narrator finds community with female family members, recognizing in himself the penchant for storytelling of his female relatives. Running bridges the earlier texts with the later In the Skin of a Lion (1987), where the narrator grants a more complex subjectivity to the women, empowering them with ability equal to that of men to take "responsibility for the story"(Skin 157).

Significant change in the positioning of motherhood in women's lives is starkly revealed by comparing the 1970s and 1990s. Though barely a generation apart, these two decades afforded socio-cultural settings of distinctive contrast. In the 1970s, for example, mothers felt constrained to put their working lives on hold and focus their energies on raising children. In the intervening years, however, feminist discourse, in parallel with economic and demographic change, served to strengthen the value of paid work above unpaid endeavour. By the 1990s, an increasing number of women would fit motherhood into the interstices of their working lives. These several considerations led to a broad theoretical enquiry, including the issues of gender, work, and the needs of mothers and their infant children. The focus has been on researching perceptions of motherhood among women representative of occupational groups 1, 2 and 3 only (SOC, 2000). High functioning women experience a particular tension between motherhood and other life roles, as the literature testifies. The aim of uncovering the essence of personal experience suggested a qualitative approach to data collection, within a feminist framework.

The central aim of this thesis is to examine the extent to which the growing pressures for equal opportunity between the sexes has forced Japanese companies to adapt and modify their employment and personnel management practices in recent years. It analyses the major social and economic factors prompting Japanese companies to adopt more open employment policies towards women since the mid-1970s and the change programmes introduced by management. The thesis especially looks at how companies have reacted to the 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law and in the light of this considers how far the present legislation will bring about fundamental changes in the Japanese employment system towards more egalitarian treatment of women workers. A detailed case study was conducted at Seibu Department Stores Ltd., both before and after the introduction of the EEO Law, as a critical test of the possibility of introducing equal opportunities for women in a large Japanese company. Seibu was chosen because it is a big employer of women and is a company operating in an industry which has strong economic and- commercial incentives to offer women better career opportunities. All the more important, Seibu is regarded as a 'leading edge' company in personnel management reforms. The study reveals that despite many economic and social reasons that were in favour of change towards greater sexual equality in Seibu, and especially after the introduction of the EEO Law, change towards more egalitarian treatment of women has been very limited. This study illustrates the depth of the resistance to change in the core employment practices in large Japanese companies. The present EEO Law has little potential for undermining the structural mechanisms which perpetúate sexual job segregation in the employment system. The final part of the thesis speculates on the future prospects of introducing equal opportunities for women in Japanese companies. In the light of the present socio-legal constraints, the author puts forward a number of practical policy suggestions for engendering more pervasive long-term changes towards equal employment for Japanese women.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2006.
Title from document title page (viewed on January 24, 2007). Document formatted into pages; contains: vii, 237 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-232).

Our everyday lives can be complex and fast paced. Places, people, sounds and memories all make lasting impressions. "Identity" is the title and basis for my creative project. My identity has been created though a series of memories or impressions. Songs, stories, the media, location and other people have had a great impact on my personal development.I have taken all these influences into account while creating my thesis works. I questioned myself in different ways. "Whom do I relate to? What songs describe me? Through these question, I found icons and images that formed my personal identity. The difference between what is and what appears to be.Is identity created or do we create identity? The question may seem philosophical, but I do not consider myself a philosopher. My series "Identity", documents my investigation of self, a deconstruction of society that has and has not formed my artistic identity.
Department of Art

The politicization of ethnic diversity has long been regarded as perilous to ethnic peace and national unity, its detrimental impact memorably illustrated in Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia or Rwanda. The process of indigenous mobilization followed by regional mobilizations in Bolivia over the past decade has hence been seen with some concern by observers in policy and academia alike. Yet these assessments are based on assumptions as to the nature of the causal mechanisms between politicization and ethnic tensions; few studies have examined them directly. This thesis systematically analyzes the impact of ethnic mobilizations in Bolivia: to what extent did they affect ethnic identification, ethnic relations, and national unity? I answer this question through a time-series analysis of indigenous and regional identification in political discourse and citizens’ attitudes in Bolivia and its department of Santa Cruz from 2000 to 2010. Bringing together literature on ethnicity from across the social sciences, my thesis first develops a framework for the analysis of ethnic change, arguing that changes in the attributes, meanings, and actions associated with an ethnic category need to be analyzed separately, as do changes in dynamics within an in-group and towards an out-group and supra-group, the nation. Based on this framework, it examines the development of the two discourses through a qualitative analysis of anthropological accounts, news reports, and expert interviews. In both discourses, the unity of the respective in-group is increasingly stressed, before diverging conceptions become ever more prominent. Finally, my thesis quantitatively examines changes in in-group identification, out-group perception, and national unity, using survey data collected by the Latin American Public Opinion Project over the decade. It finds changes in identification that can be clearly linked to political mobilization. More citizens identify as indigenous and Cruceño, respectively, and do so more strongly than before. Yet identification then decreases again, concomitant with the growing divisions in discourse. Moreover, the rise in identification is not associated with a rise in out-group antagonism or a drop in national unity. On the contrary, the latter has increased steadily among all Bolivians. Besides shedding light on ethnic relations in Bolivia, this analysis thus also contributes to the wider debate on the effects of ethnic politics. It shows that identifications do indeed change in response to mobilizations, that they do so more quickly than expected and not necessarily in the manner as expected, demonstrating that it is necessary to carefully distinguish different elements of ethnicity.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Mississippi, 2007.
Typescript. Vita. Committee Chair: Dr. Joe Urgo. "December 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 638-665). Also available online via ProQuest to authorized users.

This study explores the role of the contemporary ward manager in the NHS. Using a grounded theory methodology, 9 ward managers and 32 other clinical staff participated in semi-structured interviews. In addition, ward managers were observed in practice on eight occasions. A pragmatist philosophical tradition informing symbolic interaction guided the interpretive analytical framework to generate a substantive theory of the role of a modern day ward manager through the analysis of their narratives and by observing them at work. The simultaneous collection, coding, memoing and analysis of the data, together with the body of existing literature, enabled a process of theoretical sampling to build an emerging theory of identity and agency.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2009.
Title from title page (Digital Archive@GSU, viewed June 24, 2010) Kathryn McClymond, committee chair; Timothy Renick, Gary Laderman, committee members. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-76).

This study examines the lives of fifteen women from five families of Muncie, Indiana, women.. Each participating family has represented (in maternal decension), a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. With one exception, all were born, raised, and are still living in Muncie, the "Middletown" of 1929, Robert S. and Helen M. Lynd's seminal study.The data determined what the persistent challenges were in the lives of these three generations of women, and what approaches they used to respond to them. Family relationships, attitudes toward women in the workplace, relationships between men and women, and an understanding and comparison of the attitudes of each generation are included in the study. Data were largely obtained by means of the ethnographic interview technique.Data indicated similar approaches to meeting challenges were used within a family, and approaches varied from family to family.A variety of approaches were used situationallyby all the women of all generations.The study supported prior research showing that religiosity strongly transfers from generation to generation.
Department of Educational Leadership