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What is known about the lives, and especially the private lives, of English women in the early modern era is not at all satisfactory in terms of sources, scope, or understanding. Because the act of writing and reading was already exclusive to the upper classes, what sources do survive are not representative of the majority of the female population, leading to more speculation on behalf of historians. The sources which do survive, by and large focus on the role of religion and spirituality in a woman's life, since it was the most acceptable reason for an early modern woman to be writing about. However, I hoped to prove how women were interested in more than just self-improvement through religious devotion, thereby demonstrating that early modern English women were as complex and rich in personality and interests as a modern woman might consider herself to be. After a brief introduction and explanation of the research process, this project then begins to individually analyze the three women who were chosen for study based on their mutual practice of keeping a diary during their lives in early modern England. These women were Elizabeth Freke, Lady Sarah Cowper, and Mary, Countess Cowper, all of whom operated within the feminine social hierarchy during this period, but each of whom demonstrated a particular interest beyond that of marriage and family, including economics, religion, and politics. I believe that each woman analyzed proved how unique and varied the lives of early modern English women were through their writings.
ContributorsVetterl, Victoria Lee (Author) / Warnicke, Retha (Thesis director) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This paper explores how marginalist economics defines and inevitably constrains Victorian sensation fiction's content and composition. I argue that economic intuition implies that sensationalist heroes and antagonists, writers and readers all pursued a fundamental, "rational" aim: the attainment of pleasure. So although "sensationalism" took on connotations of moral impropriety in the Victorian age, sensation fiction primarily involves experiences of pain on the page that excite the reader's pleasure. As such, sensationalism as a whole can be seen as a conformist product, one which mirrors the effects of all commodities on the market, rather than as a rebellious one. Indeed, contrary to modern and contemporary critics' assumptions, sensation fiction may not be as scandalous as it seems.
ContributorsFischer, Brett Andrew (Author) / Bivona, Daniel (Thesis director) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The Roller Derby Club at Arizona State University became a student organization in the fall of 2013. They became a practicing team known as the Derby Devils in the spring of 2014. This project documents the creation and development a collegiate roller derby team as they go from a student organization to an athletic team. Collegiate roller derby is still in its infant stages and therefore the purpose of this project is to provide a guide for future collegiate roller derby teams as well as other athletic teams.
ContributorsLee, Alisa Yulim (Author) / Looser, Devoney (Thesis director) / Hultsman, Wendy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
I am AZ is the beginning of a personal book project which explores six small town museums around the state of Arizona. They include: Cave Creek Museum (Cave Creek), Rim Country Museum (Payson), Navajo Country Historical Society (Holbrook), Superstition County Museum (Apache Junction), Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum (Bisbee), and The Powell Museum (Page). The document highlights these institutions as valuable assets to the community and state as they preserve the stories and artifacts pertaining to both state and local history. This document includes photos of the institutions, local history stories, and interviews with the directors from each of these museums. There are also descriptions of products that came as a result of this project including: postcards as a mode of relaying information about these places, a digital Arizona museum map to highlight the museums I did visit and keep a list of those I have yet to visit, and the accompanying pop-up exhibition that summarizes each place through photos and stories.
ContributorsSimpson, Jessica Mary (Author) / Sweeney, Gray (Thesis director) / Freeman, Stacey (Committee member) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Two scandals, The Diamond Necklace Affair of 1784-1786 and the Westminster Elections of 1784, offer significant perspectives of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, noble women who violated the expectations of their positions as members of the French and English aristocracy. During the Diamond Necklace Affair, a countess attempted to steal a valuable necklace and used Marie as a tool, effectively ruining her reputation through association and allowing the public to criticize Marie for her past actions. Georgiana's reputation was similarly besmirched during the Westminster Elections of 1784 after she engaged openly in politics through canvassing the streets and was accused of bribing voters with kisses. Both beautiful, fashionable, vibrant women who married young, had some degree of difficulty conceiving heirs, and were accused of adultery, Marie and Georgiana are excellent examples of French and English noble women who can be analyzed side-by-side. This project focuses on perceptions of these similar women (how those close to them perceived them, how they wanted to be perceived, and finally how the public perceived them) during these controversies in order to examine the roles women were expected to play in French and English high society in the late eighteenth-century. Through memoirs, letters, verses, portraits, and political cartoons, the sources discussed become gradually more public. Within each stage of analysis, it becomes clear that these women had conflicting private and public self interests, they sought to self-fashion more socially acceptable public images, and their nobility made them subject to public criticism that reached into the private sphere. This research thus argues that noble women were exposed to exceptional notoriety which blurred the lines between the private and public spheres. Additionally, it discusses the high price noble women paid for transgressing social norms and offers an equation between noble women and immorality as a possible reason for the rise of domesticity in the nineteenth-century.
ContributorsSirk, Samantha Tyler (Author) / Thompson, Victoria (Thesis director) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis project focuses on the rhetoric of dress reform in The Sibyl, the official journal of the National Dress Reform Association from 1856 to 1864. The American Dress Reform Movement grew out of the women’s rights and health reform movements during the Second Great Awakening. Dress reformers viewed women’s fashionable dress as both a symbol of and reason for their political and economic oppression. They believed that by modifying women’s everyday dress, women’s health (and in turn, the health of their descendants) would improve and they would have more opportunities outside of the home. Close reading of The Sibyl reveals that dress reformers gravitated towards the rhetoric of slavery, comparisons to non-Christian nations, and the characterization of women as weak to advocate for their cause. I argue that this rhetoric disempowers women and promotes racist and xenophobic ideas, which ultimately undermines the movement’s goals.
ContributorsWise, Catherine (Author) / Soares, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Looser, Devoney (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This project uses photography and a written portion to show how women's sports, specifically roller derby, impact identity and self perception. Roller derby is known for the tongue-in-cheek names that skates choose for themselves. This creates an alter-ego that, over time, merges into the true self.
The photo gallery can be viewed here:
https://kmlewi18.wixsite.com/alterego
The photo gallery can be viewed here:
https://kmlewi18.wixsite.com/alterego
ContributorsLewis, Katrina Marie (Author) / Looser, Devoney (Thesis director) / Jackson, Victoria (Committee member) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12