Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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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
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Item PLATONIC CO-PARENTING: A NEW LENS INTO THE UNFINISHED GENDER REVOLUTION(2024) Reddy, Shilpa; Chuang, Julia; Madhavan, Sangeetha; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the extent to which platonic co-parenting (PCP), an alternative family form in which parenting is separated from romantic relationships and often also from coresidence, is creating and sustaining gender egalitarian parenting relationships. In other words, how gender egalitarian are these parenting partnerships? Using 32 in-depth semi-structured interviews with men, women, non-binary and trans people, who were at different stages of the PCP journey, I investigated the practice of platonic co-parenting by focusing on the motivations for people to choose the PCP path to parenting; and how they navigated gendered patriarchal norms in the process of becoming PCPs including division of household labor. I found two broad categories of people who were drawn to PCP: those who attempted to subvert hegemonic, heteronormative ideals of family and parenting; and those who attempted to reproduce these ideals. The subverters aspired to form gender egalitarian and equal partnerships whereas the reproducers desired/imagined the mother as the primary parent and the father’s role being closer to a sperm donor’s—a father figure as opposed to an involved father. Among the subverters, the realities of the division of labor once they had a child turned out to be far less gender egalitarian than they had intended as the pull of traditional gender norms was quite strong for both men and women. PCPs engaged in gendered boundary work to separate aspects of their family that fell in the transactional realm and those that fell in the intimate/sacred realm free of monetary or other exchanges. Framing certain activities (childbearing, breastfeeding, relocation, and parental leave) as intimate had the unintended consequence of creating inequality between the male and female co-parents. By using the language of altruism to naturalize their arrangements, PCPs intend to be seen as “real” families while leaving in place traditional cleavages of the gendered division of labor.Item Speculative Survival: An Ecofeminist Analysis of Canadian Women's Science Fiction(2014) Bedford, Anna Louise; Donawerth, Jane L; Comparative Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores the central Canadian theme of survival in recent science fiction by women, taking up the questions of nature, community, and ecological disaster. I argue that while midcentury science fiction coalesced around fears of nuclear fallout, contemporary Canadian women science fiction writers, such as Atwood, Gotlieb, Vonarburg, and Hopkinson, imagine survival amid the specter of environmental apocalypse. My dissertation focuses upon survival not from the perspective of conventional masculine adventurers, but from that of women and non-human nature, oft figured as feminine, who have conventionally been the objects of colonization and experimentation by the scientists and explorers. Within the work of Canadian women science fiction writers I identify maternalist politics, ecofeminist ethics of care, and post-colonial female protagonists. In addition, I argue that these authors posit the possibility of ecofeminist science, derived from Indigenous scientific literacies, and re-embedded in apocalyptic future landscapes. This study extends an analysis of the central Canadian theme of survival to include science fiction. Despite substantial analysis of U.S. and British science fiction, little scholarly attention has been paid to the deployment of the genre by Canadian writers. Such attention is overdue because, as Douglas Iverson asserted in 2002, "the rapid development of Canadian SF over the past few decades is one of the most exciting developments within Canadian literature" (xxvii). I would also argue that Canadian texts, in turn, contribute some of the most exciting developments within the genre of science fiction. The works analyzed in this dissertation span the 1980s to the 2000s, the earliest being Élisabeth Vonarburg's Le Silence de la Cité (1981) and the most recent Phyllis Gotlieb's Birthstones (2007).Item An Examination of the Narratives of Men in Power-Sharing Marital Relationships: A Feminist Perspective(2008-12-04) Ades, Alisa Joy; Fassinger, Ruth E; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)One of the distinguishing characteristics of the late 20th and early 21st century is the dramatic change in the work and family roles of mothers in the United States. Despite evidence indicating that managing the multiple roles of work and family is healthy for both men and women, and that couples in equitable marriages report higher levels of relationship satisfaction and stability, marital partnerships often fall prey to traditional roles. In the vast majority of heterosexual marriages, men continue to hold the power. For true equality to exist, men and women need to share roles and, ultimately, power. The present study examined the lives of men in power-sharing marriages. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for understanding what motivates men to pursue a non-traditional path and engage in power sharing marital relationships, where partners hold mutual status, actively negotiate roles, share decision-making and provide mutual attention to family and household tasks. This research was a qualitative study of 13 men in this type of power-sharing marital relationship. These men self-identified as power-sharing and eligibility was confirmed by the primary researcher. Data were gathered through semi-structured in-person interviews. The emerging theoretical framework suggests that the participants followed a complex path that led them to a power-sharing marital relationship. The path was composed of contextual spheres of influence (the sociopolitical context, the family of origin, the community and the academic environment) which worked together to foster the development of societal (justice, gender equality, equity) and interpersonal (mutual respect, reciprocity, family-first, complex connection with partner) values. In turn, the theory proposes that these values inspired the men to embrace a power-sharing orientation. The path did not end for these men with the initiation of the power-sharing marriage because the men in this study constantly confront challenges and rely on facilitators in order to maintain their power-sharing status.Item Understanding Bulimia: A Qualitative Exploration of the Roles of Race, Culture, and Family(2008-07-21) Southard, Ashley Larsen; Leslie, Leigh A.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, is a serious physical and mental illness destroying the lives of millions of men, women, and their families. It is characterized by recurrent binge eating and compensatory behaviors (e.g., self-induced vomiting), and afflicts 1-5% of the general U.S. population. Unlike other eating disorders that appear to affect specific racial groups, bulimia more equally affects people of all races. Yet, very little attention has been given to learning about the ways in which women from diverse racial/cultural backgrounds experience bulimia. Thus, the present qualitative study explored the question: How do young African American, Latina, and Caucasian women describe their experiences with bulimia within their racial, cultural, and familial contexts? Open-ended, in-person interviews were conducted with 33 young adult women (ages 18-30) who self-identified as African American, Latina, or Caucasian and who experienced bulimia while living with a parent. Questions were based on sensitizing concepts taken from feminist and family systems theories, and encouraged women to explore their perceptions of how their racial, cultural, and familial contexts influenced their experiences with bulimia. A modified grounded theory approach was used to interpret the data, and findings were organized at sociocultural, familial, and individual levels. Common experiences for many of the women, regardless of race, included sociocultural pressure to be thin; unhealthy family environments that included poor communication, strained relationships, and emphasis on members' appearances; and individual management of comorbid psychological disorders and emotions. Unique processes related to African American women's and Latinas' experiences with bulimia included living in a bicultural context with cultural and familial stigmas surrounding mental health. Additionally, African American women reported overall healthier family environments, in which they had supportive relationships and more open communication. Based on these findings, the theoretical framework was enhanced with race- and culture-specific models. Implications for research related to diverse families' experiences with eating disorders, policies designed to help people of all backgrounds affected by eating disorders, as well as the development of culturally sensitive therapy interventions for families affected by bulimia are discussed.Item De Fidelis(2008-04-29) Enszer, Julie R.; Plumly, Stanley; English Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)DE FIDELIS is a collection of poems that examines domestic life and the ways that domestic life comes undone by the challenges of contemporary culture. The content of the poems is drawn from a wide range of personal experiences--a kind of travel in which the customs and ideology of "home" are explored and challenged, the home where domesticity is embedded with fidelity and the specter of infidelity, death, and the world that remains when the dead continue to engage with the living. What unites the poems are the close observations of relevant objects and memory.