<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In Julie Taymor’s film version of Shakespeare’s <italic>The Tempest</italic> (2010), Prospero is changed into a female, Prospera. As almost all the original lines and plots are retained, the film would appear to be a ‘straight’ film version of Shakespeare. However, changing the sex of the main character sheds a new light on the original play and proves the film to be an inspiring adaptation. By examining the relationship between the female characters (Prospera, Miranda) and the non-humans (Caliban, Ariel) in the film, this paper will show how deeply sexuality is related to the power struggle and the final reconciliation.</abstract>

The Females and the Non-Humans in Julie Taymor’s <italic>The Tempest</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The Romantic poet Novalis once rhetorically asked: “Where are we really going?” “Always home.” For a Shakespearean scholar like Borges’ Sörgel in “Shakespeare’s Memory”, the path towards “home” turns out to be the exploration of a most unusual gift, the very memory of the great Elizabethan. The process is similar although not identical in scope to Hamlet’s attempt to realign time through keeping alive the memory of his murdered father. My aim in this paper is to explore the process of preserving memory and its relation to identity, mourning and dread in “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” and Borges’ “Shakespeare’s Memory”. The theoretical framework is defined by the concept of “eternal return”, as examined by Nietzsche and Mircea Eliade.</abstract>

The Unbearable Lightness of Memory: From <italic>Hamlet, Prince of Denmark</italic> to Jorge Luis Borges’ Shakespeare’s Memory

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Memory plays an important role in most of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare delves into the dark realms of human consciousness to reflect the disturbed minds and gnawing consciences of his characters with a profound psychological insight into the human psyche. Time, memory, madness and death seem to be the basic issues dealt with in his canon. My paper will address the uncontrollable mnemonic fragments within the human consciousness which reflect past traumas, fears and disturbances and will examine the cases of Ophelia and Lady Macbeth from a feminist reading of women.</abstract>

The Uncontrollable Mnemonic Fragments within Consciousness Reflecting Ophelia’s and Lady Macbeth’s Disturbed Minds

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The paper explores the limiting and detrimental effects of biographical criticism and exceptionalism in the efforts of reinstating women authors into the Renaissance canon, by looking into the literary merits of Elizabeth Cary’s <italic>The Tragedy of Mariam, The Fair Queen of Jewry</italic> and <italic>The History of The Life, Reign and Death of Edward II</italic>. Whereas the conflation of biography and fiction is a successful recipe for canonization and for the production of feminist icons, it renders the text impotent because of its resulting inability to compete with or to be seen in correlation and interplay with other contemporary texts.</abstract>

‘Dancing through the Minefield’: Canon Reinstatement Strategies for Women Authors

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The paper identifies the types of female figures present in the works of three well-known fantasy writers, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, discussing the ways in which these characters are presented, their relationship with other characters, and their role in the economy of the novel, which is more important than may appear from a first reading. It also tries to explain the reasons that prompted the above-mentioned authors to choose these female hypostases.</abstract>

Feminine Hypostases in Epic Fantasy: Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The aim of this paper is to make a comparison between two female figures from two different religions. Vashti is one of the unsung heroines in the <italic>Book of Esther</italic> in the Hebrew Bible, while Sita in the <italic>Book of Ramayana</italic> is a revered female figure among Hindus. The tales of these women seem to display similarities in the ideals they embody and hence we endeavour to read them together. We wish to explore the extent to which Vashti and Sita’s tales of female courage and daring could inspire women today who continue to suffocate under oppressive patriarchal contexts. This is relevant to the context of Botswana, where despite global efforts to bend gender-based inequality, women continue to be victimised.</abstract>

University of Botswana, Boitshoko Extension 10, Gaborone, Botswana

Vashti and Sita: The Daring Sisters We Could Trust

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article focuses on the complexity of the encounter between two Western male writers and the East as represented by the metropolis of Calcutta and Kali, its patron goddess. The novels under discussion are Dan Simmons’ <italic>Song of Kali</italic> and Paul Theroux’s <italic>A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta</italic>. The theoretical framework of the comparative analysis argues for the conceptual blurring of boundaries between ‘flâneur’ and ‘badaud’, elusive hypostases of the male writer protagonists in the Eastern urban context.</abstract>

Interrogating Urban Spaces: Kali and the Intellectual in two Contemporary Novels

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The intersection of postfeminist arguments with popular culture and popular cultural forms is of great significance for investigating representational politics and issues of identity. These elements are central for capturing the concept of feminist heterogeneity in its engagement with cultural theory, particularly postmodernism. This study considers postfeminism’s redefinition and reevaluation of popular culture, as an area of political and emblematic contestation.</abstract>

Postfeminist Fiction in Chick Lit Novels

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The present paper aims at familiarizing readers with Ana Castillo’s reshaping of traditional female archetypes in her novel <underline>So Far from God</underline>. Not only does she remodel and enrich them, she also incorporates them into modern, contemporary life. In addition, all the female characters in the novel are drawn together towards Sofia, the all-encompassing self, the multiple Other.</abstract>

The Multiple other in Ana Castillo’s <italic>So Far from God</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The above-mentioned authors offer a challenging and revealing study of the enjoyments and drawbacks of female sex tourism. I examine the interactions between white female tourists and local black men from the context of post-colonialism, asking whether these encounters can be considered a “fair trade” or whether they are the neo-colonising of people in this ex-slave society.</abstract>

Female Sex Tourism in the Caribbean – A “Fair Trade” or a New Kind of Colonial Exploitation? – Tanika Gupta’s <italic>Sugar Mummies</italic> and Debbie Tucker Green’s <italic>Trade</italic>

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In 2013, Mark Cuban, the team owner of Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced that he would consider selecting female basketball player Brittney Griner to play for his professional men’s team. Within 24 hours after ESPN posted an online article reporting Mark Cuban’s statement, 921 online comments were posted in response. This study analyzes these comments to investigate the pervasive sexism and gender discrimination found in online sporting news arenas. It investigates how Brittney Griner’s sex, gender, and athletic ability became subjects of scrutiny and debate in these online comments and how discriminatory comments about Griner were routinely extended to all female athletes and to women even outside of sport. By examining the online backlash against Mark Cuban’s proposal, this paper investigates the maintenance of sex segregation in professional sport and the systemic devaluing of female athletes and privileging of male athletes that upholds it.</abstract>

Lakehead University Orillia, 1 Colborne St W, Orillia, ON L3V 5J2, Ontario, Canada

Trent University, 1600 W Bank Dr, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Ontario, Canada

Cyber Backlash and the Maintenance of Sex Segregation in Professional Sport

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In this pilot study we explore the mutual conditionality of bargaining power between spouses in the processes of intra-household allocation of resources (care work) and the assignment of their roles in family businesses (paid work) in Vojvodina, Serbia. Our intention is to explain the changes in gender relations in family businesses run by spouses under different socio-economic and institutional conditions, and especially in the context of enforced postsocialist neoliberal transformation after 2009. We formulate a theoretical and methodological framework based on the case of ten firms and check its validity for deeper and wider research into the key causes, forms and characteristics of gender bias in this area.</abstract>

Novi Sad Business School, 4, V. Perica Valtera 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovic 4, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia,

University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6

Spouses in the Household and the Family Business – Who (does) the Care and Who (does) the Work

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">this paper sets out to discuss the situation of Romanian migrant women as represented in their stories. A major issue the paper broaches is the degree of agency and choice migrant women enjoy and the strategies they seek to expand them. Other topics discussed refer to the dominant migration ideology in the source country as well as the restrictions writers have in dealing with more problematic aspects.</abstract>

“The Only Role Available to you is to Conform”: Women’s Migration Stories

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The purpose of this study is to see whether gender plays a role in the apology strategies employed by native speakers of Arabic, i.e., how Arab males and females express apologies in different situations. Data necessary for this study were collected via a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) questionnaire, incorporating 10 real-life scenarios in the form of short descriptive statements. In accordance with the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realisation Patterns, participants’ responses(n = 20) were analysed and further classified into five distinct apology strategies: (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device (IFID), Responsibility (RESP), Explanation (EXPL), Repair (REPR), and Forbearance (FORB)). The researcher initially hypothesised that apology strategies employed by participants would exhibit more differences than similarities among native speakers of Arabic. Contrary to previously conducted research on this subject (i.e., attesting more differences), the data analysed (n = 350 apology exchanges) revealed more similarities than differences regardless of gender. In fact, no statistically significant differences were found. In addition to contributing to the current theoretical debate on gender and gender-related topics, the results of this study may entail pedagogical implications for those in direct contact with Arab learners of English as a Second Language or with speakers of Arabic in general terms.</abstract>

On Gender and Apology Strategies: The Case of Arabic

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 22 (2023): Issue 1 (December 2023)

Volume 21 (2022): Issue 1 (December 2022)

Volume 20 (2021): Issue 1 (December 2021)

Volume 19 (2020): Issue 1 (December 2020)

Volume 18 (2019): Issue 1 (December 2019)

Volume 17 (2018): Issue 1 (December 2018)

Volume 16 (2017): Issue 1 (December 2017)

Volume 15 (2016): Issue 1 (December 2016)

Volume 14 (2015): Issue 1 (December 2015)

Volume 13 (2014): Issue 1 (December 2014)

Volume 12 (2013): Issue 1 (December 2013)

Volume 11 (2012): Issue Supplement (December 2012)

Volume 11 (2012): Issue 1 (November 2012)

Gender Studies

For our 2024 issue, in addition to manuscripts on various gender related topics, we invite contributions to a special section titled “Barbie in the Age of Gender Reconsiderations:Meaningful Critique or Media Industry Coup?”  Call for papers HERE.  Gender Studies (GS) is a journal addressing academics and a general readership at the same time. Its main goals are to explore literature, language, culture and society from the perspective of gender practices and relations, and also to highlight attempts of educationalists and gender studies experts in various parts of the world to institutionalize Gender Studies in the academe.  The GS journal welcomes original research employing primarily qualitative methods of analysis in the following areas: literature, linguistics, discourse studies, media and film studies, popular culture, cultural studies, history and education for the field of humanities.  Why subscribe and read   The GS journal publishes high-quality peer-reviewed articles from various humanities and social sciences areas (as listed above).  The GS journal is interdisciplinary, gender proving an excellent analytical category that enables new perspectives at the intersection of a range disciplines.  The GS publishes state-of-the-art research.   Why submit   The journal has international circulation.  The contributors include scholars from many countries all over the world.  The contributors can count on constructive peer-review by experts.  The GS is highly assessed by the Romanian Ministry of Education and has a good reputation among scholars and students alike.   Acceptance Rate   35%   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 

Gender Studies

Volume 14 (2015): Issue 1 (December 2015)

The Females and the Non-Humans in Julie Taymor’s The Tempest

The Unbearable Lightness of Memory: From Hamlet, Prince of Denmark to Jorge Luis Borges’ Shakespeare’s Memory