A Mirror of Society: Feminist Advocacy in Emilia Pardo Bazán's Short Stories

<p>This thesis is concerned with the manner in which the fin de siècle Spanish writer Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921) disseminated her feminist views through her short stories published in popular newspapers and journals. As a female writer, she incurred the ire of many of her male contemporaries, challenging them both personally with her feminist views, and professionally, with her erudition and immense literary output. In this thesis I offer firstly an overview of Spanish society during Pardo Bazán’s lifetime with particular reference to the situation of women and go on to outline her life and most significant achievements, literary and otherwise, with a view to contextualising the narrative analysis which follows. Twelve of Pardo Bazán’s selected short stories are analysed in the light of the feminist topics which she addressed in several of her essays and, where possible, I correlate these stories with the relevant essays. In particular, I examine issues of female literacy, legal rights and prostitution, as well as the gendered double standards of the time in the area of religious observance and, in particular, the double moral standard. I also examine stories where women did exercise a degree of agency and act in ways that went against patriarchal standards of behaviour, making life-changing decisions. I argue that in these twelve stories, it is evident that not only is each one able to be read as seemingly conforming with the mores of the patriarchal society, but that each one also has a veiled subtext where the injustices suffered by the female protagonists are made evident. Thus, I show that these stories align with Pardo Bazán’s essays and promote her broader feminist views to the reader willing to consider them.</p>

A Mirror of Society: Feminist Advocacy in Emilia Pardo Bazán's Short Stories

<p>This thesis is concerned with the manner in which the fin de siècle Spanish writer Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921) disseminated her feminist views through her short stories published in popular newspapers and journals. As a female writer, she incurred the ire of many of her male contemporaries, challenging them both personally with her feminist views, and professionally, with her erudition and immense literary output. In this thesis I offer firstly an overview of Spanish society during Pardo Bazán’s lifetime with particular reference to the situation of women and go on to outline her life and most significant achievements, literary and otherwise, with a view to contextualising the narrative analysis which follows. Twelve of Pardo Bazán’s selected short stories are analysed in the light of the feminist topics which she addressed in several of her essays and, where possible, I correlate these stories with the relevant essays. In particular, I examine issues of female literacy, legal rights and prostitution, as well as the gendered double standards of the time in the area of religious observance and, in particular, the double moral standard. I also examine stories where women did exercise a degree of agency and act in ways that went against patriarchal standards of behaviour, making life-changing decisions. I argue that in these twelve stories, it is evident that not only is each one able to be read as seemingly conforming with the mores of the patriarchal society, but that each one also has a veiled subtext where the injustices suffered by the female protagonists are made evident. Thus, I show that these stories align with Pardo Bazán’s essays and promote her broader feminist views to the reader willing to consider them.</p>

religious agency in Latin America’s hinterland

Does religiosity help or hinder the exercise of agency? This article brings new evidence to bear on this long-standing debate, examining the life and work of the indigenous activist and follower of liberation theology, Rigoberta Menchú, in Guatemala, and the experiences of a millenarian community in Brazil, particularly one of its leaders, Dona Dodô. The two cases elucidate the dynamics of agency and piety, challenging the idea that pious individuals lack agency. In particular, the article interrogates the construction of pious women as doubly oppressed by the forces of religion and patriarchy, and argues that, on the contrary, it was in the course of religious observance that Menchú and members of the millenarian community mounted challenges to ecclesiastical as well as political orders. Thus, the article underscores the possibilities for resistance and contention through piety rather than at odds with it. In studying these historical figures, the article looks beyond the Global North, which has inspired much of the theorising on religion and agency, to women and men marginalised by their ethnicity, poverty and rurality. In doing so, it demonstrates how religion can enable action among those far from traditional centres of power.

Marriage and Religion: Dynamics of Religious Conversion in Marriage and The Advancement of Community Religious Life Perspective of Religious Psychology and Sociology (Study in Lumajang Regency)

This study analyzes how and why interfaith couples tend to return to their religions after marriage. The results showed that the choice of interfaith couples to embrace their partner’s religion at the time of marriage is necessary, because they saw that their new religion provides attractive rewards (marriage). The discovery of the converters who later reverted to their original religion indicated that the religious conversion was carried out for the purpose of marrying their partners only. There were three reasons for the conversion: a) A strong belief in the original religion so that it is difficult to completely convert to a new religion when getting married. b) Freedom of religious observance given by the spouses and the families becomes social support which makes the converters remain calm and confident about their actions. c) The surrounding environment is also the reason as to why conversion occurs; the religion of the majority of the surrounding community can also influence conversion to the original religion. Penelitian ini akan menganalisis bagaimana dan apa alasan pasangan beda agama melakukan konversi agama kembali pasca perkawinan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan pilihan pasangan beda agama untuk memeluk agama pasangannya ketika menikah adalah sebuah keniscayaan, sebab mereka melihat agama baru yang dianut memberikan reward yang menarik (menikah). Ditemukannya pelaku konversi yang kemudian kembali menganut agama asal menandakan konversi agama yang dilakukan tidak sungguhan, hanya sebatas untuk dapat mengawini pasangannya. Ada tiga alasan tindakan konversi yang dilakukan informan penelitian: a) Kuatnya keimanan pada agama asal sehingga sulit untuk harus secara total melakukan konversi agama ketika melangsungkan perkawinan. b) Kebebasan dalam menganut agama yang diberikan oleh pasangan dan keluarga menjadi dukungan sosial yang menjadikan pelaku konversi tetap tenang dan percaya diri atas tindakannya. c) Lingkungan sekitar juga menjadi alasan pelaku konversi, agama mayoritas masyarakat sekitar juga dapat mempengaruhi tindakan konversi pada agama semula.

The Legitimacy of Intersections. Exploring Identity and Personal Truths in Letty Cottin-Pogrebin’s "Deborah, Golda, and Me. Being Female and Jewish in America"

Letty Cottin-Pogrebin’s autobiography, Deborah, Golda, and Me. Being Female and Jewish in America, immerses the reader into the intersectional world of feminist writing. Pogrebin allows for different genres to cohabitate and create a deeply personal account. At times almost journalistic, at others taking the guise of persuasive activist essays, the work itself mirrors in its shape the theme at its very center: the exploration of identity, done outside of prescribed lines, in the three-dimensionality conferred by multi-faceted sides of the self. As such, Pogrebin brings under one roof former opposites, allowing them to meld together: feminism and religious observance; the personal and the political; motherhood and fatherhood. Identity is not an either/or endeavor, and Pogrebin makes the case for embracing hyphenation and the liberating force of self-definition.

Religiosity as a moderator of ADHD-related antisocial behaviour and emotional distress among secular, religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel

Background: ADHD predicts higher levels of antisocial behaviour and distress while religiosity is related to lower levels of both. This raises the hitherto unexplored question of how these variables interact. Aims: The objective of this study was to explore how religious individuals with ADHD fare in terms of these psychosocial outcomes. Method: 806 secular, religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish adults in Israel completed measures of ADHD symptoms and treatment, emotional strengths and difficulties, religious belonging, religious behaviour and antisocial behaviour. Results: Findings supported an additive-interactive model in which religiosity (a) correlates with lower levels of ADHD symptoms and diagnosis, (b) directly relates to less antisocial behaviour and less distress and (c) moderates the negative effects of ADHD on antisocial behaviour and distress. Findings further suggest that religious observance rather than religious belonging drives most of the moderating effect of religiosity, while religious belonging rather than religious observance drives negative attitudes towards ADHD. Conclusions: Implications include the importance of treating religious individuals with ADHD in a more nuanced manner and of providing more information on ADHD to religious communities.

THE ROLE OF SPIRITUAL POWER IN HUMAN HEALTH

पMedicine, and healthcare have been related in one way or another in all population groups since the beginning of recorded history. Only in recent times have these systems of healing been separated. One of the challenges physicians face is to help people find meaning and acceptance in the midst of suffering and chronic illness. Spirituality is the person’s inner truth or blissful experience. For many, spirituality takes the form of religious observance, prayer, meditation or a belief in a higher power. For others, it can be found in nature, music, art or a secular community. Spirituality is different for everyone. Through spiritual pursuit, a person tries to connect with a supreme divine or what most people call almighty God. Such people resort to techniques like silence, prayer, meditation and yoga mostly as individual or collective practice, usually under the directions of a spiritual Guru. Others believe in the self-less service to the mankind as a major pathway for seeking god. They adore ‘goodness’ to see God.

Ritual Lamentation in the Irish Penitentials

Some of the earliest references to ritual lamentation or keening in the early Irish sources are found in the penitential handbooks dated to around the seventh and eighth centuries. In previous scholarship, these passages have commonly been interpreted as evidence of the continuous attempts of the Church to curb pagan practices among the ‘nominally Christian’ populace, thus assuming that such regulations were primarily used as a means of social control. This article examines the wider theological and intellectual context of these texts, by focusing in particular on the influence of the Old Testament on early Irish ecclesiastical writing. It will be argued that the demonstrable preoccupation of these sources with issues such as ritual purity and proper religious observance suggests that the stipulations pertaining to lamentation were not solely intended to regulate lay behavior.

KAJIAN EKSPRESIF TERHADAP NOVEL KEMARAU KARYA A.A. NAVIS

The Drought Novel by A.A. Navis is the object of this research. Tells the life of a middle-aged man who lives in a village. His desire to change the way people around him think about work and make sense of life is hampered by their nature and personal past. Explicitly this novel is like discussing the life of the main character. The reality behind it, culture, innuendo, and religious observance neatly packaged in it. Therefore from that novel that is able to load content in the form of reality and expression of the author, the researcher chooses Dynamic Structuralism as the study theory. Will be achieved in this article the approach used only from the perspective of the expressive approach. The method used is reading, recording, watching, recording data on film sources, and processing data. The results of this study resulted in the study of extrasic (expressive) Sasra works, criticism of the authors of the work on human behavior, the introduction of several Minangkabau cultures, and personal experiences of A.A. Navis