College of Arts & Humanities
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1611
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Formative Figures: Elderly Women in The Art of Rembrandt and His Leiden Circle(2024) Hughes, Alyssa Marie; Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K.; Colantuono, Anthony; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the roles of personal connections as well as social and cultural influences in the paintings, etchings, and drawings of elderly women that Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) and his circle made in Leiden. Together, as part of the creative exchange they developed during the 1620s and early 1630s, Rembrandt and his early comrade Jan Lievens (1607–1674) created many images of aged women that are exceptional in their compassionate character. Rembrandt also shared his fascination with these subjects with his first student, Gerrit Dou (1613–1675), whose later genre scenes that feature older women, from the 1650s and 1660s, are similarly humane. Through an examination of their portrayals of these subjects in their tronies, history paintings, and scenes based on everyday life, and the interactions they had in Leiden, this dissertation seeks to provide a greater understanding of the body of influences that shaped these artists’ distinctly sympathetic approach to elderly women in their art.Item “But Hold Me Fast and Fear Me Not” Comparing Gender Roles in the Ballad Tam Lin and Medieval and Renaissance Scotland.(2023) Conant, Charlotte; Bianchini, \Janna; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Tam Lin, a medieval Scottish Ballad tells the story of an unusually forceful young Lady Janet. Janet does many of the feats of strength in her story, defies her father, refuses to behave as a ‘good Christian woman’ might and suffers no consequences for her actions. She ends her story successfully married to a noble Christian man, having saved him from the evil pagan Fairy Queen. This ballad has been popular for centuries, and has been cited as a ballad unique to Scotland that represents Scottish culture. The ballad contains ideas that one might think contradictory to the ideas of a medieval Christian society, yet the ballad was so popular it had a ballet (now lost) and has survived for at least four hundred years. This dissertation examines the differences and similarities between the lack of consequences Janet suffers and what real women in Scotland from the Medieval Ages to the Early Modern period would have experienced. It also will delve into the various cultural groups that contributed to the ‘Scottish Nature’ of the ballad. Stories are told by humans all across the world, a ballad, likely sung in a group, in order to continue being told, must not go against the inherent social rules of the people performing it, or else act as a cautionary tale. However, since Janet does not end her story suffering, Tam Lin is not meant to be a cautionary tale. Why then, was this ballad, that might appear to be so contradictory to the society that was telling it, have managed to survive (and be so popular) to the current day and age.Item Quiet Country(2021) Hensley, Alannah; Arnold, Elizabeth; Creative Writing; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Quiet Country is a collection of poetry exploring love, violence, and grief. These poems examine the way poverty, addiction, and inter-generational cycles of abuse shape the landscape of rural Arkansas, and address patterns of violence toward children, animals, and women. The collection also includes a six-poem, Queer reimagining of the myth of Cassandra of Troy.Item ENGENDERED EXPERIENCES OF FREEDOM: LIBERATED AFRICAN WOMEN IN RIO DE JANEIRO, 1834-1864(2020) Nadalini Mendes, Ana Paula; Williams, Daryle; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Engendered Experiences of Freedom: Liberated African Women in Rio de Janeiro (1834-1864)” investigates how gender differences in daily lives of liberated African women in Brazil shaped the way they experienced freedom. This research argues that gendered-based differences influenced their experiences of freedom in its various contexts, including their relationship to labor, their struggles for emancipation, and their approach to legal system. Moreover, this thesis follows the lives of particular liberated African women through their process of petitioning for emancipation twenty years after they got to Brazil. Although the first half of the nineteenth century was marked by legal efforts to bar importation of slaves from Africa to Brazil, many slave ships entered Brazilian ports successfully. The Rio da Prata, however, was an exception. In November 1834, the British marine intercepted the vessel, that was halfway between Africa and South America. The Anglo-Brazilian Mixed Commission judged the case as a transgression of the Treaty of 1826, that forbade Brazil to participate in the slave trade, condemned the vessel to be a good-prize and liberated more than two hundred Africans. These Africans worked for private houses and public works in a probation system for at least 20 years when the decree 1303 of 1853 allowed them to access the legal system and request their final emancipation. This process lasted for ten years, when in 1864 the Brazilian government declared emancipated all liberated Africans This thesis intervenes in debates about bondage and resistance by considering liberated Africans women inside the context of slavery in Brazil. It argues that these women had a particular way of fighting for freedom, due, first, to their own capacity of resistance, second to their conditions of labor, and, third, to specificities of the Brazilian set of laws. From legal petitions of emancipation, police records, guardians’ declarations, and newspapers advertisements the chapters follow lives of liberated African women from the Rio da Prata to show how they experienced freedom.Item “LIQUEURS WITH THE LADIES AFTER DINNER”: PUNCH RITUALS IN DOMESTIC PUBLICS DURING THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY(2018) Daniels, Catherine Denise; Brewer, Holly; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Throughout the eighteenth-century, punch drinking was incredibly popular among groups of men. Sharing a bowl of punch with one’s associates created a bond of fraternity. In fact the punch bowl itself, with its wide brim and elaborate decoration, symbolized conviviality. But while men were enjoying this drink in public, they also imbibed in the home where women partook in the ritual. Because of the communal and genial nature of the flowing bowl, these gatherings created domestic publics, a space which defied the traditional public and private spheres. There are several artifacts which may provide examples of domestic punch consumption in the eighteenth-century. Cookbooks, illustrations and prints, and punch bowls and punch pots can provide some insight into the ritual in the home. After examining these artifacts, one can clearly see that women participated in the punch ritual in the home. Martha Washington, for example, often served punch to guests at Mount Vernon. Punch had the ability to temporarily blur the traditional public and private spheres of men and women and create a space in which both groups were briefly bound by the convivial spirit of the drink.Item 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.Item SEX AND SOLIDARITY: CLASS AND GENDER IN THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD(2017) McVey, Julie; Greene, Julie M; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This work examines women’s involvement in the Knights of Labor in the late nineteenth century and the Industrial Workers of the World in the early twentieth century. Through analyzing each organization’s perspective on working-class women, the lives and writings of their most prominent female leaders, and the interactions female leaders had with the rank and file women, this thesis aims to show that the KOL and IWW respectively held conflicting ideas about women members based on their class ideologies and shifting gender structures during a time of great change in American society.Item Queen of Diamonds: Edith Houghton and the Rise and Fall of Women's Baseball(2016) Green, Richard Lawrence; Giovacchini, Saverio; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the 1920s, women’s semi-professional baseball teams known as Bloomer Girls were a popular form of entertainment throughout the United States. One of the best female players of this era was Edith Houghton. Houghton had a successful baseball career and even travelled to Japan in 1925 to play baseball on a female team known as the Philadelphia Bobbies. By the 1930s, however, women were largely expected to play softball. Despite a brief revival of women’s baseball during the 1940s, the idea that women play softball and men play baseball has largely persisted. An analysis of Houghton’s career reveals the sociological factors that allowed women to play baseball in the 1920s and forced women into softball during the 1930s. The presence and rejection of female baseball players parallels broader changes in American gender relations, and illustrates the socially constructed nature of sportItem "Let Us Sing as We Go": The Role of Music in the United States Suffrage Movement(2016) Brandes, Roslyn Leigh; Warfield, Patrick R; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Music played a prominent role in the United States women’s suffrage movement (1848–1920). Suffragists left behind hundreds of compositions supporting their cause and historical accounts indicate that musical performances were common at suffrage events. With only a few exceptions, scholars have disregarded the music used in this movement, and have underemphasized its significance. This study examines the use of music in the suffrage movement from three perspectives: music with lyrics, titles, and images that espouse women’s enfranchisement; music performed at national suffrage conventions held by the National American Woman Suffrage Association; and music accompanying suffrage parades. Though the music used varies in each case, it is clear that music played an important role in unifying suffragists and underscoring the ideals and goals of the movement.Item Negotiating the Place of Assyrians in Modern Iraq, 1960–1988(2015) Benjamen, Alda; Wien, Peter; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation deals with the social, intellectual, cultural, and political history of the Assyrians under changing regimes from the 1960s to the 1980s. It examines the place of Assyrians in relation to a state that was increasing in strength and influence, and locates their interactions within socio-political movements that were generally associated with the Iraqi opposition. It analyzes the ways in which Assyrians contextualized themselves in their society and negotiated for social, cultural, and political rights both from the state and from the movements with which they were affiliated. Assyrians began migrating to urban Iraqi centers in the second half of the twentieth century, and in the process became more integrated into their societies. But their native towns and villages in northern Iraq continued to occupy an important place in their communal identity, while interactions between rural and urban Assyrians were ongoing. Although substantially integrated in Iraqi society, Assyrians continued to retain aspects of the transnational character of their community. Transnational interactions between Iraqi Assyrians and Assyrians in neighboring countries and the diaspora are therefore another important phenomenon examined in this dissertation. Finally, the role of Assyrian women in these movements, and their portrayal by intellectuals, will be evaluated using a gendered perspective.
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