Afterimages of the feminine: The emergence of modernist mass culture (James Weldon Johnson, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein)

Biers, Katherine Laura Cornell University 2002 해외박사(DDOD)

My dissertation, “Afterimages of the Feminine: The Emergence of Modernist Mass Culture,” traces a connection between the language of gender and the cultural impact of mass communication in texts by James Weldon Johnson, Djuna Barnes and Gertrude Stein. Chapters focus on the automaton-like ragtime talent of Johnson's dandified narrator in <italic> The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man</italic>, the violent women of Barnes's sensational journalism, and Stein's filmic image and personality before an American public. I argue that these very different authors share an interest in the way an attraction to mass communication—one historically seen, as archival materials reveal, to be both dangerous and feminine—can collapse the distinctions between public and private and erode the very foundations of the literary. The female and often racialized figures in their work exemplify or induce in others an involvement of the body in the viewing experience, an attraction to spectacles of public violence, a fascination with the epistemological indeterminacy of racial passing and racialized entertainment, and an inability to distinguish viewing and reading. I argue, therefore, that these figures stand for an impossible literary consumption, or a modernist mass culture, for their authors and for the textual objects in which they are embedded. Why “afterimages”? In the context of film, the afterimage is an impression left on the retina that tricks the spectator into experiencing a perceptual continuity between disparate images. I use it here as a metaphor for the way each of these authors negotiates the potentials and perils of early mass media. They turn to a thematics of troublesome femininity to bridge the gap between a feminized culture of mass-reproduced sounds, printed words and talking-images, and the traditionally masculine concern with belatedness, repetition, and attention to language that characterizes early twentieth-century literary experiments with narrative form. In turn, my dissertation bridges a frequent gap in modernist studies between textual and historical analyses of constructions of femininity by highlighting the mutual interdependence of two kinds of material signifier—of literary experiment and of mass cultural encroachment—in shaping the meaning of gender and gender difference in early twentieth-century literary history.

Gender and interlocutor effects in French

Biers, Kelly Douglas Indiana University 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

Research on the relationship between language and gender has grown significantly over the last few decades, focusing mostly on the question of to what extent, if any, men and women differ in their use of language. Currently, researchers tend to conclude that speaker sex is rarely the primary source of language variation, but that it can be shown to contribute to variation when considered in combination with other social factors, such as age or socioeconomic status. Despite these advances, there remain two considerable limitations to the literature. The first is that it is largely based on studies of English, and the second is that it tends to equate gender with speaker sex, whereas gender is something that is not biological but social. Gender, in fact, is typically considered as something that is performed, so in language and gender studies we ought to be concerned not only with the identity of the speaker, but also with that of the audience, or the interlocutor. This dissertation is thus an exploration of how language is used by men and women when speaking to men, and when speaking to women. It is based on recorded conversations of same- and mixed-sex pairs of native speakers of French (in France). In order to describe the relationship between gender and interlocutor effects, I conduct two studies at different levels of language. The first is a variationist study of vowel epithesis, and the second is a discursive analysis of conversational narratives. I show that in both cases, gender effects are detectable when taking into account both speaker and interlocutor sex. Furthermore, gender works in combination with other linguistic and social factors, thus supporting a dynamic view of the relationship between language and gender. Further studies will explore the complex role that gender plays in language variation.

Explanatory models of youth violence

Biering, Pall The University of Texas at Austin 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this interpretive ethnographic study was twofold: (1) to answer the question, “What are the explanatory models of youth violence among violent Icelandic adolescents, their parents, and their caregivers?”, and (2) to explore the personal and cultural meanings of these explanatory models. The concept of explanatory models of youth violence is defined as the notions about adolescents' violent conduct and its treatment that are employed by those engaged in the clinical process. It was assumed that the experiences and the views of violent adolescents, their parents, and their caregivers crystallize in this concept and that studying it would uncover clinically significant aspects of these views and experiences. Data consisted of transcripts from interviews with ten Icelandic adolescents who were institutionalized because of violent and self-destructive behavior, twelve of their parents and twelve of their caregivers. Additional data came from participant observations at the institution and focus groups held with the adolescents and their caregivers. Using hermeneutic methodology, the author described the participants' understanding and experience of youth violence and constructed four explanatory models that represented the adolescent girls', the adolescents boys', the caregivers', and the parents' understanding of youth violence. The study found clinically significant discrepancies between the caregivers' and the clients' explanatory models and between the models of the adolescent boys and the adolescents girls. Family factors and the adolescents' poor self-image were causal attributes in the caregivers' explanatory models. The parents did not recognize family factors as causal factors and the adolescents did not associate their poor self-images with their violent conduct. Anger is the main causal factor in the adolescents' models. The girls' anger originates from painful experiences, but the boys' anger is created when someone stands in their way or threatens them. These findings raise three questions of importance for treatment and further research: (1) What is the role of self-blame and subjectification of the self in the creation of the discrepancies between the caregivers' and the clients' models? (2) What is the significance of anger in the developmental path that leads to youth violence? (3) Would violent boys and girls benefit from different kinds of interventions?.

From mothers of the nation to daughters of the state: Gender and the politics of inclusion in Egypt, 1922--1967

Bier, Laura Elizabeth New York University 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation offers a new perspective on the attempts of the Nasser regime to create a new political order in Egypt by analyzing the politics surrounding the emergence of new gendered discourses and practices of citizenship after the 1952 revolution. These new discourses and practices, which I term collectively "state feminism," entailed the recognition of women as enfranchised citizens and the explicit commitment by the Nasser regime to "liberate" women in order to guarantee their inclusion and participation in the post-revolutionary nation on an equal footing with men. Through an analysis of political debates, state-building policies, press accounts and popular culture production I show how debates around the meanings and implications of state feminism were an integral part of discussions---about modernity, national subjectivity, the conditions of political and social inclusion and the nature of rights and duties---of how best to reform the Egyptian nation after centuries of colonial rule. Various understandings of state feminism were negotiated and contested through debates over the reform of the Personal Status Laws and the role of working mothers and came to be reflected in the state's attempts to create modern households (and modern housewives) through the establishment of a national program for family planning. I argue the politics of inclusion had far-reaching ramifications for the ways in which women were granted rights after the 1952 revolution. The process of making women into citizens was fraught with complications and contradictions. It constituted women both as active national subjects and objects of state reform. The (purportedly) gender neutral rights women held as citizens co-existed with new, gender specific responsibilities they were to fulfill within their own individual families and within the reconstructed Nasserist family. Women themselves, far from being the passive objects of such discussions, played an active role in shaping notions of citizenship, gender and the boundaries of inclusion during this period.

Professional learning communities: A "think tank" for negotiating critical literacy practices

Bier, Marisa Lynn University of Washington 2009 해외박사(DDOD)

This study was designed to investigate the effects of professional learning communities as a context for teacher learning, specifically as it applies to the negotiation of meaning and the application of trends in critical literacy instruction that span curriculum and broaden conceptions of instructional pedagogies. I sought to answer three questions: What do teachers learn about Critical Literacy in a professional learning community? How do teachers negotiate meaning within the professional learning community? How do the teachers interpret this experience and describe what they perceive as impact on student learning? I used qualitative methods of observation, audio-taped interviews and meetings, and collection of artifacts. From the data, four case studies were used to describe what teachers learned about critical literacy, how they learned within the professional learning community, and what impact my role as researcher seemed to have on this work. What I found was that a process of concept development took place in which teachers' understandings moved back and forth from abstract to concrete through opportunities to talk about both classroom practices and text. I also found that my role as a participant researcher and facilitator in the group was relevant to the experiences teachers had.