Nobility,women and historical narratives of the crusades and the latin east

Historical narratives of the crusades and Latin settlement in the Levant, like other medieval literature, provide slim details about women. In medieval society Latin literary education was dominated by a predominantly male and ecclesiastical hierarchy, which reflected the views of a patriarchal social system and marginalised the public role of women. Crusade narratives in particular have been criticised for their negative attitude towards women, mirroring a lack of ecclesiastical enthusiasm at their involvement in the crusade movement. Histories about crusading and events in the Latin East were often written for, and in some cases by, the lay nobility who took part in crusades and settled in the holy land. These texts were sometimes used as propaganda to encourage nobles to take the cross, and much of the imagery within them had didactic elements. In the case of women, they provided models for behaviour according to social and marital status. A consistently negative portrayal of women was doubtless impossible due to the number of important noblewomen who took the cross, and their value in cementing political alliances between western Europe and the Latin East through marriage. This article contends that it is the complex links between crusade narratives and the nobility, in terms of participation and patronage, audience, subject matter and values – crusade as a “noble” pursuit – which helps to explain the discrepancy between established ecclesiastical views and the portrayal of women in historical narratives about crusading and settlement in the East. In order to establish this idea effectively, several main themes must be addressed, including the role of crusade texts within the context of contemporary noble culture, and crusade narratives as source material for noble values concerning women. To begin, however, it is necessary to provide some background on attitudes towards women and crusade, as well as the concept of nobility and the noblewoman's place in medieval society.     

Imagining accidental fetal citizens: pregnant Mainland women and the cultural politics of birthright citizenship

This essay looks at the mobility of pregnant Mainland women in Hong Kong to expose the reverberations of the SAR government's immigration policies relating to cross-border birth tourism. Pregnant Mainland women and their children (fetuses), as emergent social subjects, embody conflict and the negotiation between population governance and economic benefits. The government denies pregnant Mainland women the right to give birth in Hong Kong based on their non-eligible status while admitting their children to be born in Hong Kong on the grounds that their children meet Hong Kong's future demand for population renewal, in this way boosting the development of childbirth tourism. However, the localism, which has had an extensive influence on Hong Kong local society in recent years, has rejected the SAR government's “population renewal” imaginary by suggesting its own “locust imaginary.” The government's acceptance and the local's exclusion of the population flow between China and Hong Kong imply distinct cross-border subject imaginations. Only by contextualizing and critically analyzing the various othering identities such as the non-eligible or locusts can we better understand the cultural politics of Hong Kong birthright citizenship over recent years.     

Women as androgynous managers : A conceptualization of the potential for American women in international management

Women in international management, where are they? While many female managers appear to have the qualities necessary for international management, they have been implicitly and explicitly excluded from overseas assignments.This paper will begin by describing some of the dimensions on which the international business environment is different from the domestic United States environment. Research on the attitudinal and behavioral skills found to be associated with success in the international environment will be presented. It will be suggested that this list of international management skills goes beyond those characteristics generally associated with either the male or the female role in North America. The Model of the Androgynous International Manager will be introduced as a way of conceptualizing an appropriate orientation for the role of the international manager. The need for future research is delineated.The scope of the discussion is limited to the role of American 1 women working in multinational business settings around the world.     

Contrasting roles: Eastern and Western European women

The article presents an overview of the status of women in Western and Eastern Europe during the last decade. Relevant research in English is reviewed. Four indicators of women's status are treated: (1) equality before the law, (2) educational opportunities for women, (3) position in the labor force, and (4) level of leadership in social institutions. Successes and shortcomings in each division are cited; problem areas with presently incomplete information are indicated. The paper makes several recommendations for further research and better dissemination of information.     

The red thread and the white kimono: Japanese women, omote and ura

A portrait of modern Japanese middle class urban woman is presented from a dual perspective: Omote, public outside self, and Ura, private inside self. An almost Stereotypic outward submissive presentation is correlated with a special inner strength commanded as the Japanese woman satisfactorily fulfills the role of home manager. This strength is understood to be a particular characteristic of Japanese women which supports the existence of the well known “psychology of dependence.” Data from interviews with 30–50 year old Japanese women, collected over a four year period, is placed within the historical context of women 's traditional role in Japan.     

Problems and strategies for sexual identity and cultural integration Mexican-American women on the move

Although Mexican-American women have played a major role in improving the general condition of their own people, they have traditionally been content to be passive. But even in a society which often has been viewed as sexist, Mexican-American women are becoming more assertive in communicating both their ethnic and their social identity. They are determined to enter mainstream American society on their own terms. They are convinced that the struggle for women's liberation is also their struggle. They believe that a strong independent Chicana movement, as part of the larger feminist movement in the United States, and as part of the movement of La Raza, can ensure success of their struggle.     

Muslim women wearing the niqab in Spain: Dialogues around discrimination,identity and freedom

The niqab provokes a heated debate in European societies and generates intolerance towards women who wear it. Some of the explanations used to criticize this Muslim garment refer to the idea that women wear the niqab as a form of patriarchal oppression. Furthermore—especially after the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremists—the niqab is seen as a symbol of religious radicalization. We carried out 10 communicative daily life stories with Muslim women wearing the niqab in Spain, to explore the adverse experiences that they face, as well as the ways to transform them. Our analysis, informed by a communicative approach, revealed different forms of discrimination, such as prejudice, personal attacks and social isolation. Furthermore, it revealed some opportunities to transform these experiences, through the equality of differences, the egalitarian dialogue, and the support of faith-based organizations. Ultimately, our findings illustrated participants’ persistent defense of their right to express their religious identity.     

Rural women in development: Veil of invisibility, world of work

Over the last decade, evidence has been accumulating that the process of development has resulted more frequently in greater economic marginalization than benefits for poor rural women in much of the Third World. Yet recent efforts aimed at incorporating these poor non-urban women into development have been hampered by the “veil of invisibility” hiding their past and present conditions and contributions. This article formulates some hypotheses concerning female invisibility as well as productivity, and then contrasts the extant view of rural Third World women as relatively unproductive with (1) evidence drawn from evolutionary history, and (2) data from new micro-level and UN studies. The former indicates that women were the primary producers in most pre-agrarian human groups. The latter indicate that women continue to produce approximately half the world's food, although there is dramatic regional variation. The article concludes with an analysis of the statistical biases and stereotypes that obscure these contributions and briefly indicates the cost of this invisibility to the countries involved as well as to the women themselves.     

Remembering the atrocities of their ancestral lands: reading Korean American “comfort women” novels in Japan

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the significance of reading two Korean American novels which address the issue of Japanese military sexual slavery (known as the “comfort women” system) in the context of Japan: Nora Okja Keller’s Comfort Woman and Chang-rae Lee’s A Gesture Life. I will explore how this act can facilitate the understanding of the militarized sexual violence in the present social and discursive context of Japan, where the issue suffers from a strong backlash. Lee’s A Gesture Life with its critique of multiple militarized imperialisms challenges the Japanese revisionists’ effort to deny the egregious wrongs of Japan’s military sexual slavery; it also responds to popular criticism in Japan that Korean/Americans disregard the practices of Western imperial and military violence and only condemn Japanese war crimes. The paper in turn also reads Keller’s Comfort Woman through the frame of Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, a Japanese Canadian novel which remembers the internment and U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki. My aim here is to examine both the risks and possibilities which this reading can generate. While it can help us see the comparable acts of remembering war sufferings from the standpoint of diasporas, it can also erase the non-equivalence between the two histories.     

A prison audience: women prisoners,Shakespeare and spectatorship

ABSTRACT

In 2017 the Donmar Warehouse presented The Tempest to women prisoners at HMP New Hall, UK. The production was part of a trilogy of Shakespeare plays directed by Phyllida Lloyd, each staged with an all-female cast and each set within a women’s prison. Over the five years of developing this trilogy the Donmar undertook extensive research and development into the prison context, including in collaboration with York St John University’s Prison Partnership Project. This paper explores the prison audiences’ experiences of The Tempest, examining how they responded to seeing their own lived experiences on stage, filtered through the prism of Shakespearian plot, characterisation and language. In particular, this paper focuses on moments of identification, where the women found direct resonance and self-recognition with the characters and experiences in The Tempest. At the same time it draws on discourses from dramatherapy and aesthetic theory to argue for the importance of various forms of emotional, empathetic and psychical distance. Using close analysis of the spectators’ responses, it describes how for the prison audience the result was an oscillation between identification and distance, a reading of “me but more than me” that produced a powerful affective and reflective impact.