Grand Valley Journal of History

Insurrectionary Heroines: The Possibilities and Limits of Women’s Radical Action During the French Revolution

Sean M. Wright — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:16:34 PDT

The article titled, Insurrectionary Heroines: The Possibilities and Limits of Women’s Radical Action During the French Revolution, gathers research materials from multiple primary and secondary sources to generate an analysis of women’s participation in the French Revolution. The focus of this analysis draws on how these women confronted the Early Modern European female status quo through the use of radical action during the Revolution, which ultimately led to the creation of new possibilities for women's participation in society and revealed the limitations of this new found participation. Radical action is defined by four major events in the article: the female March on Versailles in 1789, the manifestation of bread riots in 1795, the formation of the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women in 1793, and the writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman by Olympe de Gouges in 1791. By analyzing these four events, women's involvement in the French Revolution becomes a large-scale and dynamic process that requires the reader to rethink how they originally viewed women during this time period and how they view the development of revolution. These women formulated massive populous bodies that confronted the French monarchy and asserted themselves as politically significant, rioted ferociously in the face of military oppression, formulated an extremely radical organization that called for the total engagement of women in politics and wrote a document that directly challenged the status quo of patriarchal society. While engaging is such behavior, these women also experienced certain limitations that affected the outcome of their radical actions such as, being dependent upon external factors to ensure political success. Ultimately, despite the raising of limitations, these women risked their lives in their radical efforts during the French Revolution, and in doing so raised new possibilities for women throughout history and new possibilities in revolution.

Education and Legislation: Affluent Women's Political Engagement in the Consumers' Leagues of the Progressive Era

Scott R. St. Louis — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:15:31 PDT

This paper examines the extent to which the National Consumers’ League and similar localized leagues provided middle- and upper-class women with new opportunities for involvement in American politics during the early Progressive Era, or roughly the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. These organizations undertook various efforts – including “list” and “label” campaigns – to educate the consuming public about the poor working conditions suffered by retail employees and especially factory workers in the garment industry, with a focus on employed women and child laborers. Later on, the leagues provided their female members with important opportunities for extensive political involvement as a more direct means of achieving their goals, including lobbying state legislators and preparing amicus curiae briefs for state courts and even the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case known as Muller v. Oregon (1908). Through these efforts, the leagues earned a significant amount of attention from other Progressive reform-minded organizations, including the Russell Sage Foundation.

Feeble to Effeminacy: Race and Gender in the British Imperial Consciousness 1837-1901

Brett Linsley — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:15:29 PDT

Scholars of British imperialism have given ample attention to European concepts of race and gender during the Victorian era. Much of the literature has vaguely suggested a symbiotic relationship between the concepts, but failed to assert any definitive theories. The following attempts to fill this gap by putting forward a critical interpretation of the roles that race and gender played in the imperial consciousness during this epoch. The paper demonstrates that the perceptions of race that were rampant on the imperial periphery were the unique synthesis of evolving gender identities in the Victorian metropole.

Bess of Hardwick: Second Most Powerful Woman of the Elizabethan Age and a Symbol of Modern Thought

Hollie McDonald — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:10:26 PST

While not a very elegant representation of Bess of Hardwick, this quatrain nevertheless introduces a striking and unique character of an Elizabethan woman. Many studies on Elizabethan women focus on the subjugated place of females in that society. However, women, such as Bess of Hardwick, existed, and did not fit within these stereotypes, much like the poem by one of Bess’ contemporaries indicates. Often, since these women are minorities in sixteenth century England, they are overlooked entirely and not given proper credit for their accomplishments and services to crown and country. This is an ungracious disservice to the women who influenced Elizabethan society, becoming strong leaders. Despite the socio-legal factors working against women in Tudor England, Bess of Hardwick, noblewoman and leader in her own right, defied the odds and held authority often only assigned to men. Not only did she attain considerable wealth, and influence in sixteenth century society, even in the royal succession, but she also broke through the barriers that generally obstructed women of the Elizabethan age, namely inferior position in marriage and society, and confinement to gender stereotypic roles.

Popular Culture’s Ambivalence toward Female Autonomy: The Great Depression

Ian M. Post — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:10:26 PST

The Great Depression forced many Americans to accept new and alternate methods of income when faced with low unemployment and a harsh economic environment. This crisis spawned the autonomous women of the Great Depression's popular culture that signified the acceptance of the newly discovered role. This essay argues that although the creators of popular culture maintained ambivalence in supporting this lifestyle, they nonetheless portrayed women as finally satisfied when she became dependent on a man.

Why Chinese Neo-Confucian Women Made a Fetish of Small Feet

Aubrey L. McMahan — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:10:24 PST

Abstract for “Why Chinese Neo-Confucian Women Made a Fetish of Small Feet”

This paper explores the source of the traditional practice of Chinese footbinding which first gained popularity at the end of the Tang dynasty and continued to flourish until the last half of the twentieth century.[1] Derived initially from court concubines whose feet were formed to represent an attractive “deer lady” from an Indian tale, footbinding became a wide-spread symbol among the Chinese of obedience, pecuniary reputability, and Confucianism, among other things.[2]^,[3] Drawing on the analyses of such scholars as Beverly Jackson, Valerie Steele and John S. Major as well as historical personal accounts, the article concludes that the underlying goal in engaging in the footbinding practice was to raise a girl’s chances of being married into a family of the highest social class possible.

[1] Valerie Steele and John S. Major, China Chic: East Meets West (Singapore: Yale University Press, 1999), 37.

[2] Wang Ping, Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), 12.

[3] Harold Koda, Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2001), 152.

Unity, Freedom and Socialism: The Assads, the Ba’ath and the Making of Modern Syria

Judson C. Moiles — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:10:22 PST

To many Westerners, the Middle East is thought of as a region torn apart from the inside by ethnic and religious strife. One incongruous case to this perception, however, is the longevity of the Assad family’s rule in Syria. Many scholars have tried to answer the question of how the Assads, members of the minority ‘Alawi community, which was, and is, considered by many Muslims to be heretical, could so wholly dominate the state and military infrastructure of Syria. This study aims to show how deep the roots of ‘Alawi military rule run, and how it can be found in Syria’s time as a League of Nations Mandate under the French, the effect this had on Syria’s military post-independence and the subsequent importance of the military in Syrian politics.

Supporting Caste: The Origins of Racism in Colonial Virginia

Patrick D. Anderson — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:10:19 PST

In 17th century Virginia, lower class whites and blacks coordinated on multiple occasions to resist the power of the ruling class elites. By the late 19th century, white laborers viewed the newly freed slaves through racist precepts and the two groups clashed on a regular basis. The aim of this essay is to explain how the shift from racial solidarity to racial antagonism occurred. Racist ideology originated in the minds of the elites and they attempted to separate the restless lower class along racial lines, first, by legal reforms, second, by creating a separate class of enslaved blacks. Anti-black racism was not accepted by lower class whites until after the latter took effect. This means we must rethink traditional interpretations that argue racism made slavery possible. While this is true for the elite class, it was slavery that made racism possible for the working class in colonial Virginia.

Krypteia: A Form of Ancient Guerrilla Warfare

Brandon D. Ross — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:45:09 PDT

Within ancient Sparta, a group of young men scoured the countryside, killing serfs known as helots. The nature of this ancient Spartan institution – the krypteia – has long been debated by scholars. Some have seen it as a bloody culmination of the Spartan educational system, others as a form of suppression against the helot population. This essay, however, challenges the traditional notions surrounding the krypteia by finding a connection between its unconventional mode of fighting to a model of modern guerrilla warfare techniques. By examining this historic institution, the historian can gain insight into the evolution of warfare.

The Successful Integration of Buddhism with Chinese Culture: A Summary

Xinyi Ou — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:45:08 PDT

Buddhism has commonly been credited as the sole foreign religion to truly gain access to the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were likewise spread along the Silk Roads to China, yet these religions did not take root. What culminating factors played a role in the acceptance of Buddhism into Chinese culture? Is it possible that Buddhism should not be regarded as a foreign religion, but as a seed of thought that was nurtured by the missionary monks and the Chinese into a form almost unrecognizable from it's initial origins? Through a survey of primary sources and existing research on this interesting topic, I seek to pose a brief explanation on the forces that led to the success of Buddhism in China during it's original insemination. This article should not be regarded as an answer to the problem, but as an introduction and rough sketch of some of the fundamental links that exist in the puzzle of Buddhism and China's complex relationship.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum: What’s In A Building?

Nicholas A. Claus — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:45:06 PDT

“The Grand Rapids Public Museum has provided educational and community opportunities to the local area before and after 1937, however, a split was made from amateurism to professionalism with the procurement of a permanent building in 1937.”

Capitalism and the Science of History: Appleby, Marx, and Postmodernism

Patrick D. Anderson — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:45:04 PDT

Joyce Appleby has written an extensive amount on the origins and development of capitalism, but her work is influenced by her belief that history is a science with at least some objectivity. She rejects Marxism as a relic of past historians with naïve beliefs about finding the laws of nature, but she also rejects postmodern criticisms of history because they undermine any chance for objectivity. Appleby believes the historian can be objective even if politics necessarily colors his or her work. For Appleby, her support of capitalism leads her to make policy recommendations with her historiography, recommendations that change with the problems capitalism faces.

Christian Mysticism as a Threat to Papal Traditions

Hayley E. Pangle — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:30:46 PST

A human universal found across many of the world's cultures is the mystical aspect of a religion that serves, in many ways, as a reaction against the dogmatic, ritualistic tradition of the same religion. Christian mystics of medieval Europe presented a direct confrontation to papal traditions in that they challenged the church through their theological interpretations of scripture, their graphic visions, and their threat to established gender roles.

Korean Perceptions of Chastity, Gender Roles, and Libido; From Kisaengs to the Twenty First Century

Katrina Maynes — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:30:43 PST

The kisaengs were highly educated performing artists that contradicted the historical view that Korean women should be chaste, quiet, and inconspicuous. Beginning in the twentieth century, kisaengs declined in popularity as sexual services became widely available, and despite the abiding insistence on chastity, millions of Koreans became involved in the prostitution industry. Although the traditional kisaengs have disappeared, the sexual and social oppression that has pervaded throughout Korean history has resulted in the enduring dominance of the prostitution industry. This paper accordingly traces the historical foundation of Korean kisaengs, analyzing the contradictions they posed to traditional values and accounting for the dominance of contemporary Korean prostitution and sexuality.

“No Man’s Land”: Fairy Tales, Gender, Socialization, Satire, and Trauma During the First and Second World Wars

Dawn Heerspink — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:30:40 PST