Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    HALF OF HUMANITY HAS SOMETHING TO SAY, ALSO: WORKS FOR VIOLIN BY WOMEN COMPOSERS
    (2018) Colgate, Laura; Salness, David; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The intent of this dissertation is to increase recognition of prominent and lesser-known women, living and deceased, composing high-quality violin literature. This performance dissertation consists of three recitals featuring works for violin solo or chamber works including violin by twenty-two women composers, living and deceased, and program notes containing pertinent biographical and compositional information. Many shorter compositions were included in an attempt to give further recognition to as many women as possible. Although women composers are still outnumbered by men, it is evident that more and more women are becoming successful in their careers as composers. More women are being recognized by established institutions, having their works recorded, performed by major orchestras, and receiving honors and commissions. However, it is clear that much work is still to be done before women composers are to be given the same recognition as their male counterparts. It is my intention to not only make these works more accessible but also to bring to everyone’s consciousness the marginalization of women composers in the classical music field and increase awareness of the lack of effort on the part of presenters, organizations, and musicians towards gender equity. It is my hope that this dissertation will energize and mobilize others to create a level playing field on which women composers are fairly represented.
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    Representations of "female" madness in German-language literature of the 20th and 21st centuries
    (2015) Volkhausen, Petra; Frederiksen, Elke P.; Germanic Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Using an interdisciplinary approach, my dissertation examines the intersection of “womanhood” and madness in German-language literature and culture. While scholars have studied the “madwoman” of the previous centuries extensively, my dissertation presents the first comprehensive study of representations of “female” madness from 1894 onward. Since the late 19th century, female authors from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have been appropriating discourses of madness in order to critique the contradictory ramifications of mandatory adherence to the construct of “femininity”. Employing theories of Judith Butler and Michel Foucault, I argue that the madness discourse represents a key site where writers negotiate the ongoing hegemony of societal ideologies defining the special status of the female psyche, body and sexuality as entities which need to be monitored, shaped or optimized. My research thus redeploys “female” madness as a research category. While previously applied almost exclusively to the realities of white middle-class women, I argue for an intersectional conception of critical madness studies which takes account of gender, race, and religion to offer culturally specific insights into the lives of German women from diverse backgrounds. My study addresses texts by well-known authors, such as Hedwig Dohm, Christa Wolf, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Elfriede Jelinek, as well as lesser known writers, such as May Ayim and Christine Lavant.
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    The Effects of Neonatal Oxytocin on Sexual Maturation and the Expression of Sociosexual Reproductive Behavior in Female Rats
    (2004-09-27) Withuhn, Thomas Frederick; Cushing, Bruce S; Biology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    While the role of OT in regulating adult behavior data is thoroughly documented, increasing evidence suggests that neonatal exposure to OT can have long-term effects on behavior and physiology. Based upon the role of OT in regulating adult behavior, I predicted that neonatal OT would affect the expression of adult female sociosexual behavior and sexual maturation. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated for the first 7 days of life with intraperitoneal injections of either OT (1 mg/g), an OT antagonist (0.1 mg/g), isotonic saline, or handled only. Parameters measured included age of vaginal opening, age of first estrus, a 10-hr paced sex test during first estrus, and body weight on postnatal days 70, 91 and 136. Treatment with OT significantly delayed the age of vaginal opening and first estrus. OTA significantly reduced mating frequency from an expected rate of 33%. There was no effect on weight at any age.