Gendered Voices Issue Four: Emotions and Identity

About Us

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About the Gender and Sexuality Research Cluster

he Gender and Sexuality research cluster of the SWW DTP has been very active this academic year.

We organised two reading groups, in Bristol and in Cardiff, and were joined by participants on Skype across Europe. The first reading group took place in November and we discussed Silvia Federici’s famous book Caliban and the Witch (1998). In March 2019, the second reading group discussed the impact of the feminist poet Adrienne Rich’s book Of Woman Born (1976) on motherhood studies through a discussion of Lynn O’Brien Hallstein’s article, ‘The intriguing history and silences of Of Woman Born: Rereading Adrienne Rich rhetorically to better understand the contemporary context’.

The annual conference of the Gender and Sexuality cluster took place on Thursday the 27th of June 2019 at the University of Southampton. This year’s theme was ‘Marginalised Networks: Locating Queer and Gendered (Trans)national Connections’. The day consisted of three panels, covering a wide-range of themes and disciplines, and a keynote by Dr Maria Tomlinson on ‘Queer(y)ing the Norm: Menstruating and Menopausal bodies in transnational perspective’. Please find the programme for this event on page 34.

We will organise new reading groups in the following months, and we will possibly take advantage of people travelling for a reading group to organise a one-day writer’s retreat.

Roundtable Discussion at last year’s Gender at a Crossroads conference (pictured from left to right: Charlotte Walmsley, Dr. Katharina Karcher, Dr. Alix Beeston, Nick Havergal, and Sina Stuhlert)

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Contents

Contents About Gendered Voices Contributors p. 3 Editorial p. 4 Editor’s Picks p. 5

Our Voices A Report from our most recent reading group p.

Women Under Fire: Using Diaries to Understand Women’s Emotional Experience of the Blitz p.

Marginalised Identity in the Writings of Marlene Nourbese Phillip p.

Emotions and Anger in the Hebrew Bible p.

Reconciling Arab Homosexuality: The Internet as a Conduit for Fracturing Identity in The Bride of Ammam

p.

The Socioemotional Labour Performed by Women in the Medieval Byzantine Oikos (1000 - 1118) p.

The Gendered Experience of Precarity p.

Stage and Screened: How Mary Ann Canning’s Reputation Influenced George Canning’s Identity p.

Constructions of Intimacy in Mary Coleridge’s The Shadow on the Wall (1904) p.

Our Book Reccomendations p.

Recovering Épinay: A Woman’s Reputation in a Man’s World p.

7 8 11 13 15 18 22 24 26 28 31

Events Our Cluster Conference Programme: Marginalised Networks: Locating Queer and Gendered (Trans)national Connections p.

Report from last year’s Cluster Conference p.

Calls for Papers p.

Question p.

34 36 37 45

Gendered Voices Meet the Gendered Voices Team p. 46 Contact Us p. 47

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Contributors

Editorial Team Rebecca James Editor in Chief Rebecca James is a third-year SWW DTP PhD student at the University of Southampton and co-supervised at the University of Cardiff. Her research focuses on the image of the pirate in the General History of the Pyrates, using book history methodology and comparative analysis to explore how the figure of the pirate is imagined, as well as examining the figure in relation to contemporaries like the highwayman and the privateer.

Beth Rebisz Copy Editor Beth Rebisz is a second-year SWW DTP PhD student at the Universities of Reading and Exeter. Her research focuses on humanitarian involvement in the Mau Mau conflict, fought in Kenya during the 1950s. Beth’s work is particularly interested in the experiences of African women forcibly resettled due to the conflict alongside the role played by female European welfare workers in this process.

Carla Wiggs Copy Editor Carla Wiggs is a third-year PhD philosophy candidate, working on the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard. The title of her project is ‘Kierkegaard’s Portrayal of the Three Existence Spheres: A Challenge to the Tiered Interpretations’ – a project which is funded by the SWW DTP. Rachel Smith Copy Editor Rachel Smith is a first-year SWW DTP Student at Bath Spa University and Cardiff University.

Her research examines emotions,

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gender and familial relationships through the interlinked letter writing network of the Canning Family Circle, between 17691827.

Ewan Short Readability Editor Ewan Short is an AHRC-funded Ph.D. student co-supervised by Cardiff University and Reading University. His project investigates the gendered organisation of elite society in the eleventh- and twelfth-century Byzantine Empire. In addition to his work with Gendered Voices, Ewan is a committee member of the Assuming Gender research group at Cardiff University.

Alastair Dawson Communications Alastair Dawson is a secondyear SWW DTP PhD student co-supervised at the University of Southampton and Cardiff University.

His research focuses on cross-Channel representations of British and French women’s education c.1750-1820, and attempts to establish a parallel historical narrative that privileges networks and conversations by and between women.

Nerida Brand Communications Nerida Brand is a first-year SWW DTP PhD student in English at the University of Exeter and Cardiff University.

Her research examines gender fluidity and female aestheticism in fin-de-siècle literary culture, centring on the work of Victorian novelist and poet Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907).

Our Contributors Emily Peirson-Webber Writer

Emily Peirson-Webber is a PhD candidate at the University of Reading and the University of Exeter, researching masculinity and the miners’ strike of 1984-5.

She was previously the Research Manager for the Imperial War Museums, a position she held for four years.

Jared Mustafa-Holzapfel Writer Jared Mustafa-Holzapfel is a part-time PhD Literature student at the University of Southampton.

He is working towards his thesis on LGBTQ+ representation in literature by Arab authors publish in the 21st Century. Currently his research is focused upon the effects of 9/11 and the War on Terror on such identity conflicts.

Sarah Jane Callender Writer Sarah Jane Callender is a Global Literature Master’s Student at the University of York and a writer in her spare time.

Her research interests include political fictions, postcolonialism, Middle Eastern literature and Caribbean women’s writers. She is currently researching cyborgs in Middle Eastern literature and its relation to Arab socio-cultural identities.

Kate Tinson Writer Kate Tinson is an AHRC PhD Student at Cardiff University in Religious Studies and Theology.

Her main focus is comparing the character of Moese in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an.

She is also inteeerested more widely in Comparitive Religion, Qur’anic, Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies.

Contributors

Dear readers

Editorial

Welcome to the fourth issue of Gendered Voices!

It has been a wonderful few months for the magazine and the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership’s Gender and Sexuality Cluster. Our co-founder and general editor, Dr Maria Tomlinson, has graduated with her PhD (congratulations to her!) and has moved on to pastures new.

Happily, Rebecca James stepped into the mantle of Editor-in-Chief as we welcomed several new members to the editorial team in November 2018, many of whom have contributed articles to this issue, Emotion and Identity.

This topic resonated with many of the papers from the Gender and Sexuality cluster’s successful conference on 16th May 2018, ‘Gender at a Crossroads’. Papers included ‘Gender and Political Violence’, ‘Selfies: a portrait of female oppression’, ‘Non-binary Gender and the reproduction of heterosexuality in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando’, and ‘Reclaiming our time: Black Queer Art and reclaiming the narrative’. These papers all look at aspects of gender, sexuality and identity. There are also a lot of personal and collective emotions displayed throughout the research conducted in these papers, and many research topics of gender and sexuality, suggesting a strong connection between identity and emotion. Therefore, this made Emotion and Identity the perfect fit for our fourth issue.

Hot on the heels of last year’s successful conference, the Gender and Sexuality cluster returned with their 2019 conference ‘Marginalised Networks: Locating Queer and Gendered (Trans)national Connections’. This year it was located at the University of Southampton on Thursday 27th June 2019, and had a brilliant selection of papers. Topics examined included Culture and Leisure, Women and

Nick Hevergal, Sina Stulhert, and Charlotte Walmsley on the way home from last year’s ‘Gender at a Crossroad’s Conference’

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Editorial

Editorial

Social Change, Writing in the Margins, and an exciting keynote speech on Transnational Menstruating and Menopausal Bodies by our very own Maria! We enjoyed hearing all the exciting research that is going on from current PhD students.

The range of topics in this issue shows how diverse the theme of Emotions and Identity is and we are so thrilled to share these articles, reviews and pieces with you. We have everything from marginalised identities which explores identity through gender, racial identity and language to women’s emotional experience of the Blitz. Topics range from an 18th century mother’s impact on the personal identity of her Prime Minister son, to emotional labour performed by medieval Byzantine women, and from Arab Homosexuality in 21st century Jordan to Anger in the Hebrew Bible. This issue truly covers a range of societies and identities from across history. Alongside these, our editorial team have written book and film reviews which tackle issues of gender and sexuality. It features films such as the female cast led The Favourite, the inspirational The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and book reviews including the ‘darkly funny and rather sinister’ My Sister the Serial Killer and the Queer Eye star Karamo’s memoir Karamo: My Story of Embracing purpose, healing, and hope. With such a selection, we hope that there is something for everyone. As ever, if you have any suggestions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us through the details on the back page. We would love to hear your thoughts on our latest issue!

The Gendered Voices Editorial Team

Editor’s Picks Beth Rebitz: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a 2019 drama based on the memoir written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The film follows the story of 13-year-old William who has a keen interest in fixing old radios for his friends and neighbours using spare parts found in the local junkyard. It’s based in Kasungu, Malawi therefore the film applies a mixture of Chichewa and English in its dialogue. In the context of the mid2000s, where drought and subsequent famine is devastating William’s village, William devises an ambitious plan to construct a windmill to power an electric water pump. The story follows William’s trials and tribulations merging broader themes of coming-of-age, masculinity and male responsibility in a rural Malawi family. Although set with the backdrop of a despairing situation, it’s hard to end this film without feeling inspired and in awe.

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Rachel Smith: The Favourite (2018) Taking the awards season by storm, early eighteenth-century film The Favourite depicts a delicate Queen Anne and the political competition between Sarah, the Duchess of Marlborough, and Abigail Masham to become her court favourite.

This is a wonderful story of female power and control, set in a period of history which is underutilised in film and is showcased magnificently here.

Yes, it is over the top, flamboyant and not 100% historically accurate but this is purposefully done to emphasise metaphors of character, situation and power to a general audience. An example of this are the lesbian sexual relationships between Queen Anne and the Duchess of Marlborough and then Queen Anne and Abigail. These are implied historically but are used here to demonstrate female political influence and showcase the power of the current ‘favourite’. Another example

Editor’s Pick are the seventeen rabbits, each referencing one of Queen Anne’s dead children. This also echoes the contemporary story of Mary Toft, who claimed to give birth to live rabbits in 1726.

I would recommend this film for both its political manoeuvring and three female leads in a film that celebrates female empowerment.

Ewan Short: A Star is Born (2018) Central to the narrative of A Star is Born is the experience of the protagonist, Jackson Maine, played by director, Bradley Cooper. Maine’s loss of power within his relationship with Ally, played by Lady Gaga, is depicted as central to his decline.

Cooper gives a sensitive performance of Maine’s suffering as he struggles to accept Ally’s higher social and economic status. Therefore, amongst, the varying themes explored in this excellent production, A Star is Born encourages audiences to reflect upon masculinities, gender, power and relationships. This film is now available on DVD and blue-ray and I do recommend a first or second viewing, to reflect upon the production’s gendered themes.

Rebecca James: Mary, Queen of Scots (2018) Focusing on Scotland’s best known Queen, Mary, Queen of Scots is a thrilling and engaging picture of her life and relationship with her ‘Sister Queen’, Elizabeth I. Part of what makes this such a compelling film is undoubtedly the impressive performances by the two female leads. Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie each imbue their characters with strength and vulnerability in equal measure. Robbie exudes a fierce intensity, while Ronan’s Mary is equally impressive, as each explores what it meant to be a Queen in a world dominated by men. With fantastic supporting turns from David Tennant, Guy Pearce, and Gemma Chan, this historical drama is well worth a watch.

truly immersive experience with a unique staging in its new home. Boxes are part of the set – quite literally on the stage – with actors using their edges as seats, leaning posts, as well as entrances and exits from the stage, which itself extends out into the stalls. An impressive, even slightly daunting, 100 min first act refuses to dispel the mounting tensions as Tevye clings to his traditions in the face of rebellious daughters.

Heart-warming and heart breaking in equal measure, Trevor Nunn’s direction forces us to confront the uncomfortable modern relevance of this story of love and persecution.

Ewan Short: I am Mother (2019) I am Mother is a post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller film directed by Grant Sputore, from a screenplay by Michael Lloyd Green. It was released on UK Netflix in June 2019. Featuring an all-woman cast, the film is set in an isolated bunker in the aftermath of a mass extinction event.

It depicts the upbringing of a girl named Daughter

by Mother, who is an android supposed to aid in the repopulation of the earth. The relationship between Daughter and Mother is challenged by the unexpected appearance of a wounded woman in the bunker. I am Mother raises some ethical questions concerned with maternal and filial relationships, and provides interesting representations of mother and daughter roles.

However, the film is let down by the third act, when the narrative fails to sustain this fruitful exploration of motherhood and daughterhood. Readers of this issue of Gendered Voices may still wish to watch this film for a distinctive representation of women’s emotional experiences.

Alastair Dawson: Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre, London (2019) Boasting a rich performance history spanning across the Atlantic, Joseph Stein’s adaptation of Sholem Aleichem’s turn of the nineteenth century story brings Fiddler on the Roof to the stage at the Playhouse Theatre. Transferring from the Menier Chocolate Factory, the musical offers a

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Our Voices

Our Recent Reading Group: A discussion of Lynn O’Brien Hallstein’s article, ‘The intriguing history and silences of Of Woman Born: Rereading Adrienne Rich rhetorically to better understand the contemporary context’.

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hy did we choose this article? A member of the cluster discovered the specific area of ‘motherhood studies’ (as opposed to ‘gender studies’) during her early PhD research and it coincided with her pregnancy. She read Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born because it was foundational for this discipline and found herself relating to the personal style. From Rich’s observations on motherhood, a critique of patriarchal society and mother/son/daughter relationships develop, although the mother/ daughter relationship became more influential for second-wave feminists. Rich talks about motherhood as a tool of oppression, but far less about mothering. Forty years later, what has changed?

We asked how motherhood studies/mothering could inform our work? Someone related the essay to Woolf’s ‘A Room of One’s Own’ and noted that Woolf and other figures in the modernist literary tradition were possibly anticipating the changes to conceptualisations of motherhood in second-wave feminism. It is interesting then, that second-wave feminists, according to Rich, often erase the mother as an example of ‘matrophobia’.

We also added that when literary examples of the mother/daughter relationship were ‘rediscovered’ during second-wave feminism, Woolf was one of the key figures. Someone else related the motherhood/mothering topic to his own research by focusing on motherhood as intrinsic to the status of elite women in Roman society. But generally, aristocratic mothers would not have raised the child themselves and it created links to the concept of ‘other-mothering’ that Hallstein discusses. We talked about the fact that othermothering hadn’t been studied sufficiently and that much of motherhood studies focused on the contemporary rather than exploring historical contexts.

We talked about the difference between mother/ son and mother/daughter relationships in Rich’s work, considering she had three sons.

We discussed the tendency for the mother/ son relationship to get lost within second-wave feminism. We also raised the issue of class and race, and their presence/absence in Rich’s work.

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We talked about Hallstein’s attempt to acknowledge intersectionality and the risk of essentialisation of black motherhood in her description of black and white mothers. We also raised the issue of the influence of religion on motherhood, given that Rich does not cover religion extensively in her book while talking about Jewish mothers due to her own religious background.

We then discussed how literature had influenced depictions of motherhood/mothering.

We mentioned the novels of Storm Jameson and the way in which they negotiate a critique of the institution of motherhood with the desire to enact an individual own form of ‘mothering’. This is especially potent in the figure of the working/ creative mother. We talked about Sylvia Plath’s poetry and the sense of distance she often articulates in terms of mothering experiences.

We identified that there tends to be a sense of guilt encoded into texts about mothers. We also discussed the mother figures in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and whether Lily takes on the matriarchal role at the conclusion of the novel and the moment of her painting’s completion. The distinction between Lily as a ‘literary’ daughter to Mrs Ramsay and Prue, the biological daughter, who dies in childbirth was discussed.

We discussed the historical importance of breastfeeding to motherhood. Someone pointed out that state intervention contributes to an oppressive narrative regarding breastfeeding for women and also elaborated on its historical context, from being ‘outsourced’ in the form of wet-nurses (other-mothering) to the current capitalist interests which often shape how women are encouraged to view their breastfeeding.

We also discussed the historical role of governesses as an example of other-mothering.

We pointed that such depictions of other-mothers are frequently found in literature, for example the nurse in Romeo and Juliet. We questioned whether the ‘end’ of the governess era in the twentiethcentury prompted the crisis of motherhood for middle-class creative women, because hiring other women to help raise children became increasingly untenable.

Our Voices

Women Under Fire:

Using diaries to understand women’s emotional experiences of the Blitz

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he 1931 novel The Gas War of 1940 by “Miles” prophesized hellish scenes of crowds struck by mass panic on the occasion of an aerial attack on London, as it described how: ‘in the dark streets the burned and wounded, bewildered and panic-stricken, fought and struggled like beasts’.1 Such fearful visions were shared by politicians, as in 1934 Winston Churchill told the Commons that the first air raids would likely produce a panicked evacuation of London in a ‘vast mass of human beings’.2 As anticipated an aerial attack did take place and “The Blitz” of Britain began on 7 September 1940 when 337 tons of bombs were dropped on the docklands of London, killing 488 Londoners. 3 Following this, for 76 consecutive nights, with the exception of 2 November when inclement weather precluded it, London was bombed. Raids were also carried out on other British towns and cities.

Women were the stalwarts of the home front, but were considered at the time to be particularly susceptible to fear and hysteria, due to their physical frailty and hormonal fluctuations. However, despite the devastating attack, expectations that the civilian population, and women in particular, would succumb to ‘impotent fretfulness’, never came to pass.4 Through a selection of diaries written during the period we can see how women negotiated their emotions during the Blitz, were surprised by their own fortitude and bolstered by the new

Emily Peirson-Webber identities they assumed whilst under fire. The diaries analysed were selected from the Imperial War Museums’ archive, as well as the published diaries of housewife Nella Last, who wrote for Mass Observation during this period, and Barbara Nixon, one of the first female full-time Air Raid Wardens.

Historian Amy Bell described how ‘fear was central to the civilian experience of London during the Second World War.’5 The effects of fear are evident in all the diaries surveyed. Housewife Nella Last made recurrent references to the physiological impact of bombing, as in her entry from 15 April 1941 she described how: ‘my back feels as though my whole spine is burning hot, but I cannot relax and lie down’.6 On 4 May she remarked: ‘it’s funny how sick one can be… just through fright and fear.’7 Similarly, in her diary of the Blitz, 57-yearold Viola Bawtree also chronicled the physical and mental strain of repeated bombing. She heard phantom sounds of sirens and planes: ‘so when it begins I don’t know whether its[sic] ears or the real thing & it gives me sickly moments.’8 The diarists’ experiences are mirrored in contemporary medical records which note an overall increase in conditions caused by stress.9 However, in almost all of the diaries a notable shift in disposition took place as the Blitz progressed, and as the women became acclimatised to bombardment. Barbara Nixon remarked how after the first fortnight of the Blitz had passed, she never

1 Quoted in P. Stansky, The First Day of the Blitz (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007) p.10.

2 Hansard. 28 September 1934, vol.295, col.859, quoted in R. Mackay, Half the Battle: Civilian morale in Britain during the Second World War, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) p.21.

3 M. Gilbert, The Second World War: A Complete History, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2009) p.123.

4 J. Gardiner, The Blitz: The British Under Attack. (London: HarperPress, 2011) p.178.

5 A. Bell, ‘Landscapes of Fear: Wartime London, 1939-1945’, Journal of British Studies, vol. 48 no. 1 (2009), pp.153175, p.153.

6 N. Last, R. Broad, and S. Fleming, (eds.), Nella Last’s War: The Second World War Diaries of ‘housewife, 49’, (London: Profile Books, 2006) p.119.

7 Ibid., p.132.

8 Private Papers of Miss V. Bawtree, entry from 20 August 1940.

9 Gardiner, The Blitz, p.187.

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Our Voices again ‘suffered from the numb, almost paralyzing tiredness of the beginning’.10 In her Journal Under The Terror Phyllis Warner, a trained teacher who also wrote for The Washington Post, noted her receding sense of fear: ‘…I’m not as frightened as I was. Last week I couldn’t sleep at all…but this week I feel much stronger. …it’s just a case of getting over the first shock.’11 In her first diary entries under bombardment 68-year-old housewife Ann Jane Shepperd reported feeling ‘on edge’ due to ‘horrible noises’ continuing without cessation.’12 However, ten days later she remarked that: ‘we have all got to that point now and just get on with our tasks.’13 Likewise, despite initial complaints of sleeplessness and ill health, by October 1940 teacher and charity worker Vere Hodgson’s experience of the raids was changing, as she was ‘getting so accustomed to the Blitzkrieg’.14 G. Thomas, a nurse at Highgate Hospital in North London, described the lack of concern amongst the nursing staff by October 1940: ‘Oh, there goes another bomb… yet each sister goes on with her respective hobbies as if there was no war.’15 By July 1941, Thomas wrote of their nonchalance towards the bombs: ‘Strange how different we all feel about them now, we just accept them’.16 Such testimony demonstrates how women were able to alleviate or at least mitigate the impact of fear, through adjusting to the regularity of bombing and continuing their daily tasks.

The diarists were surprised at their own physical and emotional resilience. Hodgson confessed how: ‘I had no idea the body could get used to sleeping through such a din’ when ‘two or three weeks ago my heart would have been

pounding away’.17 In her entry from 5 May 1941 Nella Last was surprised by her own fortitude, as she described how: ‘to come through last night and keep calm was a good test of nerves all right – and heart. Both must be stronger than I thought.’18 Similarly, on 17 September 1940, Warner observed how ‘finding we can take it’ had come as a relief: ‘I think that each one of us was secretly afraid that he wouldn’t be able to…so that this has been a pleasant surprise.’19 Such accounts support ideas of fortitude which constitute the ‘myth of the Blitz’. However, the acknowledgement that the women were secretly afraid that their nerve would not sustain, and their subsequent surprise at their own resilience, as recorded in the diaries, lacks any sense of heroic blasé.

For many of the diarists the Blitz gave them a new sense of purpose, as they were able to take up valuable roles on the home front, not accessible to women in peacetime, and through these new identities they were able to gain a sense of fortitude. Women’s new sense of involvement is encapsulated in Last’s acknowledgement that ‘while it would be wrong to say I’m enjoying it, I’ve a queer feeling that at last I’ve ceased to be “always on the outside looking in…’’.’20 Likewise, Warner notes that her work in the Feeding Centre seemed ‘a useful activity’ that gave her a sense of purpose under bombardment and a reason to ‘stick it’ out in the capital.21 In finding meaningful employment, the diarists became active in shaping their own fates, and in doing so could gain greater emotional control.

Stansky notes how though the heroic myth of the Blitz is ‘clearly an exaggeration’ which has rightly been questioned, modern challengers may well

10 B. Nixon, Raiders Overhead, p.32.

11 P. Warner Journal Under Terror in Private Papers, 18 September 1940. Held in IWM Collections, Documents.3208, Imperial War Museums, London.

12 A. J. Shepperd, Private Papers. 7 September 1940. Held in IWM Collections, Documents.3267, Imperial War Museums, London.

13 A. J. Shepperd, Private Papers. 17 September 1940.

14 V. Hodgson, Private Papers. 5 October 1940. Held in IWM Collections, Documents.4767, Imperial War Museums, London.

15 G. Thomas, Private Papers. 8 October 1940. Held in IWM Collections, Documents.678, Imperial War Museums, London.

16 G. Thomas, Private Papers. 11 July 1941.

17 V. Hodgson, Private Papers. 5 October 1940.

18 N. Last, Nella Last’s War, p.133.

19 Private Papers of Miss P. Warner, 19 September 1940.

20 N. Last, R. Broad, and S. Fleming, (eds.), Nella Last’s War, pp.143-144.

21 P. Warner, Journal Under Terror in Private Papers. 19 September 1940.

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Our Voices

have gone too far in the other direction.22 The female diarists did experience fear, particularly in the first month under aerial bombardment, but as the regularity of air raids became embedded in routine, fear was normalized and thus its impact was lessened. There were moments of despair, but as the diaries demonstrate women developed strategies to cope by taking on an active role in the war effort, and showing defiance in the face of bombardment. The diaries are an important source in showing how women on the home front were able to negotiate their emotions and demonstrate fortitude in an exceptionally challenging period of British history.

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P. Stansky, The First Day of the Blitz, pp.185-186.

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Our Voices

Marginalised Identity in the writings of Marlene Nourbese Philip Sarah Jane Callender

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riting simultaneously in and against English, Marlene Nourbese Philip’s She Tries Her Tongue: Her Silence Softly Breaks, is an exploration of language, gender and racial identities. The poems express her precarious relationship with language and question its ability to truly represent her identity: ‘[w]hat happens when you are excluded from the fullness and wholeness of language?’1 Philip poses this question to her reader and implies that language can be compartmentalised: it is not necessarily as whole and as universal as we may think. As a black woman living in Canada, a colonial society of Trinidad and Tabago, Philip questions ‘[w]hat happens when only one aspect of a language is allowed you - as woman? / as Black?’2 If people are excluded from language or certain aspects of language, then how can their voice and identities be heard? Indeed, Philip questions whether ‘gendered voices’, the very title of this magazine, even exist at all: how can we have a gendered voice if language denies these voices and fails to articulate identities?

With it’s distrust of language, She Tries Her Tongue suggests that the English language and the language of other countries involved in the colonialist project, was never developed with her own gendered and racial identity in mind. Instead, English is a conquering language and a ‘language forced upon the African in the New World’.3 Philip therefore exposes the power and danger of language: ‘it speaks of [her] non-being’.4 Ironically, as a black Canadian writer, English is now the only language in which Philip can speak and in ‘Discourse on the Logic of Language’,

Philip writes that English is concurrently ‘[her] mother tongue’ as well as ‘[her] father tongue’.5 The writer exposes how the English language is both familiar and foreign to her and she calls this a ‘foreign anguish’.6 The repetition of ‘foreign anguish’ and the focus on emotion conveys a deep-rooted sadness, a sadness that does not simply belong to Philips but belongs to people and things outside of her. For example, although Philip did not directly experience the loss of language or the horrors of the slave trade, she still feels connected to it and is a part of that anguish. With poetry, Philips concludes that she cannot challenge language without challenging the language she inherited, language that is ingrained with hierarchies of gender, race and capital.

Directly adjacent to the poem, the text is shifted 90 degrees so that the reader must read down and up. It reads: THE MOTHER THEN PUT HER FINGERS INTO HER CHILD’S MOUTH – GENTLY FORCING IT TO OPEN; SHE TOUCHES HER TONGUE TO THE CHILD’S TONGUE, AND HOLDING THE TINY MOUTH OPEN, SHE BLOWS INTO IT – HARD. SHE WAS BLOWING WORDS – HER WORDS, HER MOTHER’S WORDS, THOSE OF HER MOTHER’S MOTHER. AND ALL THEIR MOTHERS BEFORE – INTO HER DAUGHTER’S MOUTH7 We are drawn to the prominence of ancestry in this passage, as it highlights the connections and continuations of ‘anguish’, an ‘anguish’ that started with ‘all [her] mothers before’ and has

1 Philip, Marylene Nourbese. She Tries Her Tongue: Her Silence Softly Breaks. (Charlottetown, PEI: Ragweed Press, 1989) p. 21.

2 Philip, p. 22.

3 Me A. “M. NourbeSe Philip: Interview With An Empire”. LemondHound.com, 12 Dec 2017, https://lemonhound. com/2017/12/12/m-nourbese-philip-interview-with-an-empire/ . Accessed 24 Feb 2019 4 Ibid.

5 Philip, p. 56.

6 Ibid.

7 Philip, p. 58.

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Our Voices

now been passed down to Philip. Despite the maternal and affectionate scene, we are also unsure about the figure of the ‘mother’, who although is providing her child with language, is also ‘forcing’ and ‘hard’. In the New World, it is not unknown that the female African body to become the site of exploitation, harassment, rape as well as other unthinkable demands. Therefore, perhaps Philip’s ‘mother’ figure also represents colonial power, fitting as this is with her idea that the mother tongue is ‘foreign’ and not native to herself. Hence, although the English language and its traditions do not allow certain embodied experiences in a way that can be understood and shared, English language is also connected to the historical trauma that her family lived, and she now lives with. As ‘mother’ is both familial yet foreign, Philip conjures the complexity and precarious notion of her identity and the identities of black women living in colonial countries. By focusing on the mouth, the writer highlights that a black woman’s identity is comprised of her mother and the language that this mother has bestowed. Indeed, body, speech, voice and language are all ways of being in the world and asserting that being.

the English language, making the familiar nouns and verbs strangers, unrecognizable as English.

It is called things such as “bad English”, “broken English”, “slang”, “Patois” and “dialect”. This type of language now bares the living linguistic legacy of people who language and identities were seized from them. Philip asks that this continue and desires black women like herself to fracture, fragment and break language open and make it the language of their identity. Thus, She Tries Her Tongue decentralises language, combatting the erasures of women, black, queer, migrant, disabled, displaced and marginalised bodies throughout history. In other words, she asks marginalised identities to break through the language which has oppressed them.

Consciously, the focus on ‘mouth’ references the power of oral history which Philip believes is ‘the greatest strength of the Caribbean demotic’ but does not translate to the page easily.8 Indeed, the formal language of “standard English” has been subverted by Afro-Caribbean peoples, forging new and different words. Think blues music and jazz, tonal accentuation took the place of many words and rhythm gained precedence. Unable to translate this to the page, the spatiality and the way Philip positions her stanzas at right angles to one another reflects this rupture in language. The havoc Philip wreaks on conventional poetry is the metaphorical equivalent of the havoc wreaked by Afro-Caribbean people on the English language as well as the havoc that coming to the New World represented for them. In her spacing and lettering, Philip’s poetry is a complete mutilation, the way her ancestor’s lives, and language were mutilated: ‘the linguistic rape and subsequent forced marriage between African and English tongues’.9 In order to gain full access to her identity, Philip turns to the power of writing and voice. During New World slavery, Afro-Caribbean people estranged 8 9

Philip, p. 23.

Philip, p. 23.

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Emotions and Anger in the Hebrew Bible

Kate Tinson

H

ow do we express an emotion and how do we recognise these emotions in others?

When considering these questions, one can think of facial expressions, body language and the way someone might use words to express themselves. However, people from different times and different cultures may express themselves differently than you would today. So how do we ascertain how people felt in the past? The study of the history of emotions is a relatively new field, becoming popular in the last few decades.

The history of emotions is an interdisciplinary field, encompassing research from psychology, linguistics, literature, history and theology. My research focusses on the character of Moses in the narratives of Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an. I am currently focussing on the emotional reactions of God and Moses in the Hebrew Bible, both archetypes of male leadership. Studying the emotional responses of these characters in the Hebrew Bible throws up questions over how it is appropriate to feel and for whom.

In the Hebrew Bible, emotions are expressed in a number of ways including directly, through speech and through a variety of metaphorical devices. The way in which the Hebrew Bible expresses emotion is notably different to how modern western cultures do in English. This carries the added challenge that there is no one left to tell us how emotion is expressed in Biblical Hebrew, as it is a dead language. Modern Hebrew is used in the state of Israel, however, it has changed considerably in over 2000 years. For example, the verb ‘to feel’ in English does not have an equivalent in Biblical Hebrew and therefore is not used. One

may get around this particular problem by using adjectives and adverbs, e.g. ‘they went with the King to the feast joyfully’ (Esther 5:14). Or the use of a preposition, ‘You did not serve the Lord, your God with joy’ (Deuteronomy 28:47). Emotion is often expressed in the Hebrew Bible through associated physical behaviours.1 However, there are problems encountered in interpreting emotion through physical behaviours, as an action may have multiple meanings. For this reason, it is key to understand not only the context but also what the appropriate reaction in the culture and time you are reading about.

The emotion of anger is mentioned 714 times, using nine or ten different terms.2 The most common way to express anger in the Hebrew Bible is through the verb-noun combination, ‘‫ףא‬ ‫’הרה‬. ‘‫ ’ףא‬or ‘‫ ’םיפא‬is often translated as anger but literally means nostrils and the verb ‘‫ ’הרה‬meaning to be hot or inflamed.3 So together this phrase means to that someone’s nostrils are inflamed.4 This way of expressing anger is familiar to us today, as people’s nostrils do ‘flare’ when they are angry. Although the person is not described as angry, we may ascertain that they are through our knowledge of this behaviour. This term is often used to describe an ‘erupting emotion’, followed by fierce discussion or destructive actions.

5 Indeed, most of the terms related to anger in the Hebrew Bible use the imagery of heat and that of a container that is bursting with hot liquid or fire, with the person as the container. Thus, their anger can burst, smoke or even explode. This richness of terms can often be missed in English translations which just use the word ‘anger’.

1 Françoise Mirguet, ‘What is an “Emotion” in the Hebrew Bible? An Experience that Exceeds Most Contemporary Concepts’ in Biblical Interpretation Vol. 24 (2016), pp.446, 451-3 2 Ellen Van Wolde, ‘Sentiments as Culturally Constructed Emotions: Anger and Love in the Hebrew Bible’ in Biblical Interpretation Vol. 16 (2008), pp.7-8 and Paul Kruger, ‘A Cognitive Interpretation of the Emotion of Anger in the Hebrew Bible’ in Journal of Northern Semitic Languages 26/1 (2000), p.182 3 Paul A. Kruger, ‘Emotions in the Hebrew Bible: A Few Observations on Prospects and Challenges’ OTE 28, no.2 (2015), p. 402, building on the work of Aubrey R. Johnson, The Vitality of the Individual in the Thought of Ancient Israel (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1949), p.11 4 Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, Vol 1., (London: Luzac & Co, 1903) p. 501.

5 Ellen Van Wolde, ‘Anger and Love in the Hebrew Bible’, p.11.

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Anger is a very common emotion in the Hebrew Bible, with the idea of an ‘angry and vengeful God’ being very familiar in the Abrahamic religions. In two thirds of the occasions where anger is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, God is the subject. However, Moses is also angry on seven occasions (Ex. 11:8, 16:10, 32:19, Lev 10:16, Num. 11:10, 16:15, 31:14).6 In Exodus 32, both he and God are angered by the Golden Calf. In Ex. 32:10, God asks that Moses might let him alone, so that ‘his nostrils (anger) may burn against them (the people)’ and in Ex. 32:19, Moses’ ‘nostrils (anger) burns’ and he throws down the tablets. Despite God and Moses being angry, the book of Proverbs contains several warnings against becoming angry and encourages people to forgive (e.g. 12:16, 14:69, 19:11). Although anger may be appropriate for God and his chosen representatives, it does not seem to be so encouraged for the rest of us!

It also seems that anger is not an appropriate emotion for women. In the Hebrew Bible, most emotions are reasonably gender neutral, in that they are found expressed by both genders.

However, the only time in which a woman in angry in the Hebrew Bible is through the use of the verb ‘‫ ’סעכ‬which implies anger through humiliation or vexation. In the Book of Samuel, one of the wives of Elkanah, Peninnah vexes or taunts the other, Hannah, about her inability to bear children (1 Sam 1:6-7). Hannah also uses this word, combining it with another meaning anxiety, to describe her emotional state (1 Sam 1:16). At

least in the case of Hannah, this word seems to describe her grief as opposed to her anger. It is difficult to say why women are almost never angry in the Hebrew Bible, a patriarchal text may have had little interest or knowledge of the emotions of women or perhaps, to be angry was seen as ‘unladylike’ behaviour. However, women act in wide capacity of potentially ‘unladylike’ roles in the Hebrew Bible and extrabiblical literature, they can be liars (Rebecca) and murderers (Judith). It seems that ‘anger’ is a righteous emotion, fit for God and those close to him. It is possible that no woman ever experiences this level of high esteem and this is why women are not permitted anger in the Bible.7 Love is also gendered in the Hebrew Bible, with women being objects of love rather than subjects of it. On a rare occasion when a woman does express love towards a man, it is Michal, a princess, to David, at this point a nobody (1 Sam 18:20). So, it may be said that their gender roles are somewhat reversed, at least as the societal expectations of the Hebrew Bible would have them.

Understanding emotion in a dead language of an ancient text is challenging. However, through certain literary structures, expressions of emotion may be understood to be taking place. The study of emotion is very much a new field. The first study of emotion in the Qur’an was only undertaken two years ago.8 This emerging field allows us not only to understand the way our ancestors felt but also what the appropriate ways to behave were in each time, whether that be in reaction to a situation or dependent on one’s gender.

6 Moses is also described as angry in the New Testament, Romans 10:19. He is also described as angry in the apocryphal (canon for Georgian Orthodox) 4 Maccabees, 2:17.

7 It is worth noting that while medical theories are not present in the Hebrew Bible, later theories can be found from Greek Philosophers such as Aristotle and Galen that women are cold and moist and men and dry and hot. This would make sense when one considers that anger is understood as an emotion of heat in the Hebrew Bible.

8 Karen Bauer, ‘Emotion in the Qur’an: An Overview’ JQS 19:2 (2017), pp. 1-30

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Reconciling Arab Homosexuality: The Internet as a Conduit for Fracturing Identity in The Bride of Amman

Jared Mustafa-Holzapfel

F

adi Zaghmout’s novel The Bride of Amman is a complex narrative of interwoven protagonists struggling with the social expectations of marriage in twenty-first century Jordan.1 This article focuses on Ali, a young man attempting to balance social expectation with his sexual attraction towards men. Zaghmout utilises the internet as an information source for his character, who is depicted accessing American Psychiatric Association research. In this article I propose that the internet in Bride is a form of imperialist exportation of Americentric ideologies of identity that complicates the subject, Ali. It does this by politically separating his same-sex desire from his Muslim and Arab identity within the social context of the novel. By connecting same-sex desire to American medicine, the subject’s sexual orientation or sexual political identity is isolated from the character’s ethnic and religious co-identity as an Iraqi refugee in Jordan.

Therefore, whilst the use of the internet to inform the subject may appear to be a positive action, I argue that the repercussions of sexual orientation being othered through Americentric association negatively influences outcomes of the narrative.

In Bride, Zaghmout pin-points Ali’s first encounter with homosexuality through ‘kids in the neighbourhood […] teasing each other and throwing insults about’ (BA, p. 88) in expositional reflection. These insults of queer, fag, poof, gay etc. are threatening due, in part, to their use as explicit offences. But they are also ‘foreignsounding terms, with more of an exotic tinge to them, words [Ali] read in magazines and newspapers’ (BA, p. 88). Through exoticisation these terms are inherently other and therefore

threatening to this character. These terms are not only used as attacks against the subject. Ali states ‘were all the degrading words teaming up to point at me and laugh?’ (BA, p. 88), suggesting that the terms themselves directly attack the subject.

These insults, in English, highlight and demonise what marks Ali as other within himself and his surroundings. I believe it is significant that only Anglophone terms are weaponised here. Unlike the other protagonists in the novel, Ali is an Iraqi refugee from post-American invasion. However, these weaponised Anglophone words, which do not have direct Arabic equivalents, are here represented as being utilised against Ali as a child, within Iraq prior to invasion.2 In the context of this specific character’s narrative arch, early associative terms which identify the otherness of their sexual preference are exclusively in the language of the later invaders. This enforces identity tensions within this character. Furthermore, it is only by going to the internet to ‘read about the scientific concept of sexual orientation’ (BA, p.

89), again exclusively in English, that the character acknowledges the connection between these insults and himself; sexual attraction towards other men. Zaghmout’s character is solidifying a cultural othering of the self. In other words, by representing the character of Ali hearing foreign-sounding terms, acknowledging them to be insults, and then finding exclusively Anglophone resources normalising his sexual desires, the construction of the subject aligns homosexuality (or same-sex desire) with the West. In the context of the novel, this alignment is presented as opposite to the character’s Arab Iraqi nationality and Islamic faith.

Additionally, the scientific concept of sexual

1 Fadi Zaghmout (trans. Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp), 2015, The Bride of Amman. Hong Kong: Signal 8 Press. Subsequent references are from this edition and are given in parentheses; (BA, p.).

2 For the relationship between these Anglophone terms and the Arabic language: Joseph A. Massad, 2015, Islam in Liberalism. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Pp. 234–37.

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89). Again, same-sex desire is here distanced from Arab culture and connected to the West by taboo and disapproval. Joseph Massad has argued that gay rights movements, and the media coverage thereof, attempt to universalise EuroAmericentric notions of gayness.3 In so doing, orientalist preconceptions of the Arab and Muslim world are being applied to sexual orientation outside of the European and American context of sexual orientation conceptualisation.4 Within Bride, sexual orientation as a scientific concept is presented to Ali through America, with the internet as a conduit, just as gay rights movements have exported Euro-American gay identities.

The internet continues its role as conduit between Zaghmout’s character Ali and Americentric ideology after Ali seeks out reparative therapy.

Not convinced by the American Psychiatric Association’s research, Ali goes to a psychotherapist who ‘disagreed with everything [Ali] had read online regarding the scientific explanations for sexual orientation’ giving the character ‘a flicker of hope […] that I might still live a normal life without fear or guilt about sinning against the will of God’ (BA, p. 90). Through the figure of the therapist the local confirms the status of samesex desire as other. Zaghmout illustrates the manipulative methods of this therapist, including unnecessary medication, brain scans, and blood tests. However, Ali returns to the internet ‘and read that there was no real relationship between being sexually abused and homosexuality, nor was there any proven link with not having a father’ (BA, p. 92) as his therapist has asserted.

In a twist of narrative irony, the therapist utilises verbatim American reparative therapy techniques involving ‘male gender-identity deficit’ within the

novel.5 As with the insults previously, Ali’s health is being threatened by a manifestation of the other in the form of reparative therapy informed

by Euro-American ideology. The dialogue of ideological difference is provided by Ali’s internet research. The therapist, in utilising reparative therapy techniques, has also weaponised EuroAmerican influences in a similar manner to the children who weaponised Anglophone terms as insults. All the while the internet, as a research source, attempts to counter these attacks to the character by posing same-sex desire as normal.

The conflicting identifiers here act in a similar manner to the methods of division used by colonial Imperialist powers against indigenous populations.

Puar’s work in Homonationalism As Assemblage analyses colonial imperialist influences within international gay rights discussions (including Pink Washing), showing homosexuality as another potential ‘divide and conquer’ tool.6 Furthermore, there is a belief that Western groups defend homosexuality whilst Eastern groups criminalise it, fed through Euro-American media representation that ‘homosexual acts are against Islamic law’.7 Thus, tension is fostered based on assumptions prior to individual analysis taking place. Whilst this is a simplified version of a complex debate for the context of this article, this assumption is nevertheless feeding into the construction of this text. The internet in Bride acts as a channel for Euro-American ideologies to be exported onto the Arab subject of Ali, a subject that has been colonised through the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In a conflicting dichotomy, America here is both the provider of assurance (the American Psychiatric Association deeming homosexuality as normal) and an active aggressor (Iraq invasion and source of reparative therapy) against Arab Muslim culture within the novel (wherein same-sex desire is explicitly sinful). At first, the internet as a source of information seems to liberate Zaghmout’s character by helping him to accept his sexual desires. However, as discussed in this article, the internet brings further complication to a character

3 Joseph A. Massad, 2002, ‘Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World’. Public Culture 14 (2).

Pp. 361–85. <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/26284> [accessed 27 November 2018].

4 Massad, 2015, p. 219.

5 Joseph Nicolosi, 1993, ‘Chapter Ten: How Reparative Therapy Works’, in idem., Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories Of Reparative Therapy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield edition. <https://ryan-beck-kuz3.squarespace.com/healing-homosexuality-excerpts/> [accessed 28 November 2018].

6 Jasbir K. Puar, 2013, ‘Homonationalism As Assemblage: Viral Travels, Affective Sexualities’. Jindal Global Law Review 4 (2). Pps. 23–43.

7 Jasbir K. Puar, 2007, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. London: Duke University Press. P. 138.

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Our Voices experiencing tensions between supposedly opposing identifiers. As the novel progresses, Ali’s actions are explicitly informed by this tension. The fallout from this therapy and internet research is the characters belief that same-sex desire is sinful, but comparable to pre-marital sex or alcohol (BA, p. 94). He chooses marriage, which ultimately falls apart, to fulfil his social role as an Arab man rather than assimilate towards Americentric ideas of gay identity.

To conclude, in this article I have attempted to pinpoint instances of direct conflict between the dual identifiers of this character. The internet within The Bride of Amman enables contact between the subject (Ali), a physical other (America), and an internalised other (same-sex desire). Through the dialogue of these othering factors within the character, the character’s understanding of identity is fundamentally challenged, further fractioning their construction and influencing their narrative arch within the novel. For this character the internet is not an unproblematic resource of self-identification but rather an additional tool contributing to the othering of the subject.

Bibliography for Article: Massad, Joseph A., Islam in Liberalism (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2015) Massad, Joseph A., ‘Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World’, Public Culture, 14 (2002), 361–85 <https://muse.jhu. edu/article/26284> Nicolosi, Joseph, ‘Book Excerpt: Chapter Ten How Reparative Therapy Works’, Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories Of Reparative Therapy, 1993 <https://ryan-beck-kuz3. squarespace.com/healing-homosexualityexcerpts/> [accessed 28 November 2018] Puar, Jasbir K., ‘Homonationalism As Assemblage: Viral Travels, Affective Sexualities’, Jindal Global Law Review, 4, 23–43 Puar, Jasbir K., Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (London: Duke University Press, 2007) Zaghmout, Fadi, The Bride of Amman trans. by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp (Hong Kong: Signal 8 Press, 2015)

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The socioemotional labour performed by women in the medieval Byzantine oikos (1000-1118).

I

n the eleventh and twelfth centuries the medieval Roman Empire, known in modern scholarship as the Byzantine Empire, ruled large swathes of territory in Asia Minor, Greece and the Balkans.1 In this society, powerful families were organised within large-scale households (oikoi).2 Textual evidence from the eleventh century is dominated by the writings of the polymath Michael Psellos (b.1018-d.1078). The Alexiad of Anna Komnene (written around 1148) also provides significant evidence for the twelfth century. Both the writings of Psellos and Anna Komnene provide evidence for the roles of women in large-scale households.

This article will use evidence from these texts to outline the roles which these women performed to enhance others’ emotional well-being. I define these roles as socioemotional labour, following Rebecca Erickson. She describes socioemotional labour, which she calls ‘emotion work,’ as activities involving time, effort and skill, through which an individual constructs and maintains interpersonal relationships which confer emotional benefits upon the people around them.3 Here, I will first specify how women who performed different familial roles were required to contribute different types of socioemotional labour within large-scale Byzantine households. Certain relationships required women to offer encouragement, advice and empathy to the men and women around them. In other contexts, women were expected to suppress their emotions to foster discipline amongst members of the household. Secondly, I will argue that the socioemotional labour performed by women within

Ewan Short

the household of the ruling family held political value. Thus, an ideological space opened allowing a small group of women at the apex of society to exercise agency within Byzantine politics.

Powerful families in Byzantium usually possessed estates in different regions across the empire.

These families therefore possessed multiple and geographically dispersed residences, which were large palatial and gated complexes. Powerful families were organised in a household unit which moved between their residences to manage their estates. The household unit was headed by a man described in Greek as a Despotes (δεσπότης) and his wife who was called the Despoina (δέσποινα).

Despotes translates into English as ‘Master’ or ‘Lord.’ Despoina is most effectively translated as ‘Lady’ or ‘Mistress.’4 The household was also populated by sons, daughters and daughters-inlaw of the Despotes and Despoina. Servants and slaves were also resident. This article will focus upon the socioemotional labour performed by the Despoina and her daughters in their familial roles as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters.

The most detailed evidence for the emotion work performed by a Despoina is provided by Michael Psellos’ speech of praise titled the Encomium for his Mother, written around 1054. Psellos was a writer and teacher who also held official positions in the Byzantine court at Constantinople between 1042 and 1074. Psellos’ mother was named Theodote and she had died sometime before Psellos wrote

1 For an excellent general introduction to Byzantine history: Judith Herrin, 2008, Byzantium: The surprising life of a Medieval Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

2 For powerful oikoi: Leonora Neville, 2004, Authority in Byzantine Provincial Society, 950-1100. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pages 66-98.

3 Rebecca Erikson, 2005, ‘Why emotion work matters: sex, gender, and the division of household labor.’ Journal of Marriage and Family 67 (2). Page 338.

4 Shown in the Cadaster of Thebes (a land register produced in the second half of the eleventh century), available online at: Prosopography of the Byzantine World (2016), Alexios I. For the writings of an eleventh-century Byzantine Despotes: Kekaumenos, Consilia et Narrationes, ed. and trans. by C. Roueché, 2013, as Kekaumenos, Consilia et Narrationes, available at http://www.ancientwisdoms.ac.uk/library/kekaumenos-consilia-et-narrationes/.

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the Encomium.5 The speech says that Theodote had been the Despoina of a Byzantine household in Constantinople, before taking religious vows in later life. Because this is a speech of praise, Psellos represents Theodote as performing societal roles to an ideal standard. He praises Theodote for her active attendance to the emotional needs of her elderly parents and her husband.6 However, Theodote is also praised for supressing her desire to show overt love for her children.7 Psellos further describes her calm and graceful presence in the household, which nonetheless inspired a measure of dread and awe in the rest of his family.8 The evidence from Psellos’ Encomium indicates that Byzantine Despoines were required to provide encouragement and empathy when performing familial roles as daughters and wives.

However, the speech also shows that Despoines were expected to develop a more restrained and formal relationship with their children. Here, the Despoina’s restraint sustained an authority which she was required to exercise towards all younger family members, as well as servants and slaves within the household.9 Despoines here performed emotion work by restraining their own emotions to contribute to discipline and order within Byzantine households. This ordered environment sustained the emotional well-being of other family members. The environment developed through the socioemotional labour of the Despoina also increased the likelihood that resident servants and slaves would display obedience to her family members.

During a digression in his Encomium, Psellos writes that when he was a boy his sister ranked ahead of him within the household. For this reason, Psellos says that he treated his sister with reverence and that he would obey her when she would frequently order to him moderate his behaviour. Yet, unlike his mother, Psellos’ sister frequently kissed him, hugged him, and engaged in empathetic conversation. Before he wrote his Encomium for his Mother, Psellos wrote a long funeral poem in 1046, this time for Maria Skleraina, who was from the powerful Skleros family and who was mistress of the emperor Constantine IX (r.1042-1055). In this speech, Psellos gives Maria’s younger brother, Romanos Skleros, an extensive speech. To open this speech, Romanos exclaims; ‘You were everything to me; mistress, glory and giver of strength, my cornerstone, my sister, the support of my spirit, pillar of my life.’10 In the first place, these words give further evidence for the high valuation with which brothers recognised their elder sisters within powerful Byzantine families. Romanos’ words also imply that the love which he felt for his sister was connected to the empathy and emotional support which she had given to him. The evidence from Psellos’ writings then indicates that women from powerful Byzantine families exercised authority over their younger siblings and at the same time, were required to commit time to providing emotional nurture to them.

During the eleventh- and twelfth- centuries, the family of the Byzantine emperor was organised

5 For an introduction to the speech, Anthony Kaldellis, 2006, ‘Introduction to the Encomium for his Mother,’ in A. Kaldellis (ed.), Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters: The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pages 29-50. Kaldellis argues that Psellos deliberately represented Theodote as achieving a pious ideal to shield himself from criticism of his own unorthodox studies: ibid., page 34.

6 Michael Psellos, Encomium for his Mother (EM), trans. by A. Kaldellis, 2006, in A. Kaldellis (ed.), Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters: The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Section 8d.

7 Psellos, EM, Section 8b.

8 Psellos, EM, Section 8c.

9 Psellos’ funeral speech for Eirene Pegonitissa (sister-in-law of Emperor Constantine X), who died in 1060, similarly praises her restrained relationship with her children and her authority in the household: Michael Psellos, ‘His epitaph for the Kaisarissa Eirene,’ trans by E. Kurtz & F. Drexil in 1936, in E. Kurtz & F. Drexl (eds.), Michaelis Pselli Scripta Minora Magnam Partem Adhuc Intedita. Volume 1. Milan: Orbis Romanus, Biblioteca di testi medievali. Pages 167, 179.

10 Michael Psellos, Verses of Psellos at the Tomb of the Sebaste, ed. by M.D. Spadaro, 1984, as ‘In Mariam Sclerenam,’ in M.D. Spadaro (ed.), Michaelis Pselli in Maria Sclerenam: Testo Critico, Introduzione e Commentario. Catania: Università di Catania, Facoltà di lettere e filosofia. Section 214-216. The Greek reads ‘ὦ πάντα μοι, δέσποινα, δόξα καὶ κράτος, κοινὸν γένους στήριγμα, κοινὴ καὶ ξάρις, ζωῆς ἐμῆς ἔρεισμα, τοῦ βίου στύλε.’ Psellos’ speech for Romanos can be used as historical evidence because constructed it according to a literary device known as ethopoiia, defined by the second century rhetorician Hermogenes as the ‘imitation of the style’ of a person or character through the representation of a speech which the individual would have plausibly spoken: Alexander Kazhdan & Ihor Ševčenko, I, 2005, ‘Ethopoiia.’ URL: http:// www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-1766.

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within a household which was resident in the Great Palace, the centre of government in Constantinople.11 There is evidence that here the socioemotional labour expected of sisters underpinned established political roles. Psellos writes that both Pulcheria, the sister of the emperor Romanos III (r.1028-1034) and Euprepia, sister of Constantine IX, gave regular advice to their brothers.12 Psellos in fact criticises Constantine for not always allowing Euprepia to approach him with the courage a sister should approach a brother.13 The eleventh-century Byzantine historian John Skylitzes is also critical of the government of Michael IV (r.1034-1041) for refusing to listen to the intercessions of Michael’s sister Maria, after she had travelled the Empire collecting petitions.14 Skylitzes’ writing suggests that sisters of Byzantine emperors often delivered intercessions when approaching their ruling brothers. It is useful to refer Kristen Geaman’s study of queenship in the medieval West to shed light on the political role of sisters of emperors in medieval Byzantium. Geaman argues that intercession became expected of Western queens because the practice was useful to male rulers. When responding to petitions from female relatives, male rulers could change their minds without appearing weak and petitions in fact worked to emphasise a king’s masculine strength, which could only be offset by female intercession.15 We have seen that within powerful families in Byzantium, sisters were expected to commit time to encourage their brothers towards moderate behaviour. By framing certain decisions as susceptibility to the moderating influence of their sisters, Byzantine emperors could therefore display mercy or change their mind without showing weakness.

The twelfth-century historian Anna Komnene was herself the daughter of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r.1081-1118). Her writing provides evidence that the socioemotional labour performed by women in other familial roles could also underpin women’s agency and authority within Byzantine politics. Anna writes that when Alexios departed from Constantinople to combat a Norman invasion in 1081, Alexios’ mother and the Despoina of the Komnenian household, Anna Dalassene, took charge of the administration of Constantinople. Her role was confirmed in an official chrysobull, which justified Alexios’ decision by emphasising the awe and reverence which he felt for his mother and Despoina.16 Here, the Komnenian family framed Anna Dalassene’s elevation as the logical conclusion of the authoritative role which Despoines and mothers performed within powerful Byzantine households.

Anna also adds that, later in Alexios’ reign, she, her sister Maria, and her mother Eirene Doukaina, the wife of Alexios, frequently travelled with the emperor when he led the Byzantine army. They were very frequently present in the imperial tent, where Alexios made decisions of government.

Anna remembers that her party’s movement with Alexios’ army was controversial, acknowledging that critics perceived that Alexios’ female relatives were exercising inappropriate agency by asserting unusual influence over the politics of his reign.

Anna justifies her party’s presence in this space by stating that it was necessary for them all to attend to Alexios’ emotional needs when he was ill, performing emotion work as his daughters and wife.17 Anna’s writing therefore shows that women could justify their movement in political spaces, by claiming their presence was necessary for them to complete the socioemotional labour expected

11 For the culture of the Great Palace: Henry Maguire (ed.), 1997, Byzantine court culture from 829-1204. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks research library and collection.

12 3.22, 6.52, 6.100. Michael Psellos, Chronographia, ed. by C. Sathas, 1899, as The History of Psellus. London: Methuen & Co. Trans. by E.R.A. Sewter, 1966, as Fourteen Byzantine Rulers: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus, Revised Edition. London: Penguin. Sections 3.22, 6.52.

13 The Greek reads ‘οὐδὲ θάρρει ἀδελϕικῷ’: Psellos, Chron., section 6.100.

14 John Skylitzes, Synopsis of Histories, ed. by H. Thurn, 1973, as Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis Historiarum. Berlin: De Gruyter; trans. by J. Wortley, 2010, as John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History 811-1057, Translation and Notes.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Section 409.

15 Geaman, K., 2010, ‘Queen’s Gold and Intercession: The Case of Eleanor of Aquitane.’ Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality 46. Pages 10-33.

16 Anna Komnene, The Alexiad, ed. Diether R. Reinsch and Athanasios Kambylis, 2001, as Anna Comnenae, Alexias. Berlin: Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. Trans. by E.R.A. Sewter & revised by P. Frankopan, 2009, as The Alexiad, Revised Edition. London: Penguin. Sections 3.6-3.8. See also the classic study of, Georgina Buckler, 1929, Anna Comnena. A Study. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press 17 Anna and her relatives moved with the Byzantine army through the Balkans and Asia Minor: Komnene, The Alexiad, sections 9.3, 12.3-12.4, 13.1-4, 14.4, 14.8.

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Our Voices of daughters and wives within powerful Byzantine households.

The writings of Michael Psellos and Anna Komnene show that in eleventh- and twelfthcentury Byzantine society, women within powerful households were required to commit time to various types of emotion work, depending upon their specific familial role. However, during this period the household of the Byzantine emperor occupied the Great Palace, which was the centre of Byzantine government. Thus, there was no clear distinction between the spaces occupied by the emperorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s household, and those of his government. In this context, the emotion work performed by women within the household of the ruling family could work to legitimise their presence and agency in central political spaces, and their assumption of established political roles.

Anna Komneneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alexiad shows that in this period some women realised they could justify agency within Byzantine politics by framing their behaviour as emotion work expected of dutiful daughters, wives, mothers and sisters.

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The Gendered Experience of Precarity and Academia

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earch ‘Academic Precarity’ on Twitter and you will find numerous tweets and threads with both personal stories about the experience of precarity, and discussions about the numerous ways that precarity affects the experience of teaching, research, and life outside work. Lack of access to resources as soon as a contract ends, bouncing across the country from institution to institution on nine month contracts, weaving together part time contracts to make ends meet with an ever increasing work load, amongst many other issues. Precarity certainly takes an emotional toll as academics negotiate the personal and professional consequences of short term contracts. There is also a gendered dimension to the experience of precarity, which is becoming increasingly evident as academics discuss the impact of precarity on family life, childcare, and geolocation.

As academic institutions increasingly advertise and employ on short term, fixed length, and part time contracts, PhD and Early Career Researchers are faced with the reality that job security within academia may be many years away. The Gendered Voices team asked a current PhD student and an ECR to talk about their thoughts on the gendered and emotional dimension of academic precarity, and how it has affected their experience of the PhD and whether their future plans have changed thanks to their greater awareness of the realities of the academic job market.

Thoughts from a current PhD Researcher: “When I started my PhD, I was pretty certain that I wanted a career in academia, and that there was nothing that I was more suited to than this career path. However, as I near the end of my project, I couldn’t feel more differently about these initial aspirations: I am almost certain that I will not pursue a career in academia, and that I am not particularly suited to one

Anonymous

either. In all honesty, this is due to a variety of reasons, including that I simply have found a career path which I believe will have a greater societal impact, as well as being more fulfilling for me. However, there is one reason which ‘tipped the scales’ so to speak, in favour of a non-academic career for me, and that was the nature of post-doctoral positions in academia (particularly for women, it seems). I’m referring here to the precarious nature of academia as it is in the current climate, and the (almost) guarantee that I would have to travel around for various temporary posts (if I were to get a job in academia in the first place, that is!), before even entertaining the possibility of settling in a permanent academic position. Whilst I am aware that virtually no jobs guarantee career safety, the price of pursuing an academic career is high, and – all things considered – is a risk that I am no longer willing to take.

This has been a difficult decision for me, and in many ways, I still remain conflicted between my options. On the one hand, I feel a certain amount of guilt for choosing not to pursue a career in academia (or at least, seriously considering this) and attempting to change the academic landscape – particularly as an LGBT-identifying woman, who comes from a very working-class background (these are also issues I feel very strongly about, thus I have the motivation to encourage change in academia). On the other hand, I feel that I could be using my resources in more impactful ways (than within academia), and I must, of course, consider my own mental health and job satisfaction alongside these other things. One good thing to come from this conflict it seems, is a greater awareness of my self-identity, those around me, and how I can attempt to affect change.”

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Thoughts from an Early Career Researcher: “I graduate from my PhD this summer, and I’ve been lucky enough to get a (temporary) job in academia. But the unstable nature of my career has been difficult for years, and will continue to be difficult for several more – even if I’m successful. I would have never have even had enough money to move to the city where my new job is if I hadn’t been lucky; I just happened to have a supportive friend in the right place at the right time who was able to help me out.

But I want to highlight one way in particular that I’ve noticed that the precarious nature of our work affects women. It’s something about the expectations there are on the kinds of work that women are supposed to do, the hidden labour that women do in every job I’ve had.

Women, whether they’re starting their PhDs or later in their careers, there are some forms of work that women are expected to do disproportionately more than their male peers, even in the same roles. This expectation sometimes comes from departments, or sometimes it comes from fellow students. And it’s rarely malicious – it’s unlikely to be something anyone is even conscious of!

Sometimes it’s extra administrative load, sometimes it’s an extra pastoral role, sometimes it’s just small and thoughtful gestures, and sometimes it’s involvement in initiatives to improve the discipline itself.

I have female peers who bake cakes for department meetings, who take the lead on organising the social events, who organise workin-progress seminars. And I have male peers who never considered it.

I have female peers who are always the first ones asked about taking on an admin role, or supporting an extra student, and male peers who just haven’t been asked, or who are asked last.

I have female peers who are constantly fighting for better representation for women and minorities in public events and events put on for students, and male peers who are happy to help… sometimes, and when prompted by a

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female colleague.

I have female peers working extra hours to strive for diversity in their reading lists and to represent the under-represented voices in their discipline, and male peers who respond: “I’ve not already heard of any women working in this area, so I won’t include any.”

We already know that women are disproportionately expected to do this kind of work – but when the women are also in precarious roles, this can be a significant extra burden on them. Women are being expected to take on extra labour in positions that they might not hold for long, at universities that they won’t see again after a few months. And many of these tasks are too small to count for anything for their CVs, or to help their future careers. I think it’s something we need to talk about – to become more aware of, in order to lift the weight off the shoulders of our precariously employed and female colleagues.”

Our Voices

Stage and Screened:

How Mary Ann Canning’s reputation influenced George Canning’s identity.

Rachel Smith

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political heavyweight at the beginning of the nineteenth century, George Canning has the distinction of being Foreign Secretary twice, Leader of the House of Commons, and the United Kingdom’s shortest-serving Prime Minister, dying less than four months after he took office in 1827.

Yet despite this success, his background, and his mother’s dubious reputation in particular, plagued his identity. This article examines his relationship with his mother, Mary Ann Hunn (formerly Canning) and her influence on George’s identity.

George Canning was born to George Canning Sr. and Mary Ann Canning on 11th April 1770.

George Canning Sr. and Mary had a happy marriage, though this was fraught with debt – he had signed away his birthright in exchange for £200 a year and his earlier debts to be paid.1 However, George Canning Sr. died a year after his son’s birth, taking the yearly allowance with him, leaving Mary Ann to scrape together funds to look after her growing family. She received some support from her brother-in-law, Stratford Canning, and his new fiancée, Hitty. She also secured £40 a year from her begrudging fatherin-law, to support his grandson. This would have only been around the equivalent of £3,490 today.2 Due to her limited income, Mary soon took the decision to go into acting. As acting was not seen as a respectable trade for women – it was equated to prostitution – it is very easy to judge Mary Ann’s decision to risk her reputation and public identity.

However, her resolve to earn money to provide for George and keep him with her proves both her impetuousness and her maternal strength. Mary Ann had clearly not taken this decision lightly: she had taken precautions by getting sponsorship from

prominent actor David Garrick and protection from the Duchess of Ancaster. Yet, her future sister in law, Hitty, tried to dissuade Mary from pursuing acting, having proposed a governess situation as an alternative: I acknowledge that the Plan…promises greater Advantages than my other you mention, yet I cannot, no more than my dear S-, be reconciled to the Thoughts of your appearing in Publick, not does my aversion to it proceed from a narrow way of thinking…I really Shudder at the Thought of you putting this Scheme into Execution.3 Nevertheless, Mary went into acting. However, all her precautions were in vain and soon she was touring round the country for work, George in tow, and the mistress of the notorious actor Mr Redditch.

It was at this point, 1776 that George was adopted

by Stratford and Hitty, his aunt and uncle. Mary Ann’s decision to let her son go allowed him to receive an excellent education at Hyde Abbey School, Eton and then Oxford University. Thus, this decision was pivotal in directing George Canning’s life and shows Mary Ann’s maternal determination to give her son a better life. Mary Ann eventually married a Mr Hunn, through whom she had more children before separating, and continued her life on the stage.

George had mixed emotions towards his mother: affection, shame, joy, concern, feelings that lasted over his lifetime. For, as Giles Hunt notes ‘throughout his life, [George] Canning had to put up with sneers and smears about his parentage

1 Giles Hunt, Mehitabel Canning: A Redoubtable Woman, (Royston: Rooster Books, 2001), p.9 2 Based on calculations from currency values in 1770. National Archives, Currency Convertor 1270-2017, http:// www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#currency-result [Accessed 02/04/2019] 3 Mehitabel Patrick to Mary Anne Canning, January 10th 1773

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and upbringing’.4 A notable example was Charles Grey’s jibe that George was disqualified from the position of prime minister as he was the son of an actress.5 Therefore, it is unsurprising that George kept any meetings with his mother secret, hidden away and he would visit alone.

This was typified in his decision to not join his Aunt, Hitty Canning, in Bristol in 1791 because: my mother having returned thither. I am sure I need not explain to you how this is an obstacle as you cannot for a moment hesitate to ascribe my feelings on the subject not to a want of affection for her, or of desire to be in her company – but a perfect conviction that it is for the true interest and advantage of us both, that we should not be, more than is necessary, together.6 Thus, George states his uneasy decision to not see his mother due to her reputation and how this could affect his career: George was always concerned that his mother would visit him in front of colleagues, friends and the well-born ‘and you know, under all circumstances, [that] would be rather inconvenient and distressing’.7 Mary Ann’s reputation meant that George screened her from his life. However, George was always dutiful and loving towards his mother and they began, in at least 1780, a lengthy correspondence.

He wrote to her weekly and there are over 1,000 letters which he wrote to her until her death in 1827.

Moreover, George always looked to relieve his mother of her situation. This began when sixteenyear-old George insisted that a small allowance be made for his mother from his Grandmother’s inheritance. George wrote to his mother explaining that he did not reply sooner:

Mother, in the kindest & readiest manner to my giving as a small alleviation to the irksomeness of your circumstances £20 a year – Small tho’ it be, I hope in God it may contribute to render a little more Comfortable & easy.8 George’s continued uneasiness over his mother is exemplified in a letter he wrote to his Aunt, Mrs Leigh, about how he refused an invitation to Crewe Hall, in Cheshire, due to his mother performing in the area at the same time. He writes that he could not see his mother, as much as he would ‘be glad of an opportunity to see her’ because he could not bear to see her performing on the stage, ‘in such a situation’ and George saw it as ‘a useless and painful gratification’ as he could not free her from it.9 He instead, asked Mrs Crewe to solicit her patronage to get his mother’s name on the front of the Bill in order to try and further her career.

George’s letter continues with a wish that: the time will come when it will be in my power to effect something more permanent for her ease and comfort, and to snatch her, at least in her decline in life, from a profession which even in its most brilliant situations, the prejudice and perhaps illiberality of mankind has stamped as disreputable.10 Mary Ann’s reputation dogged her son but he used it as a platform to rise above and determine to be successful, not least to improve her situation. George had a complex relationship with his mother and although her reputation defined his background, George Canning rose above it, showing a determination not to let it define his identity, rising to become prime minister in 1827.

had it not waited Till I could be able to inform you of the success of an application I proposed making to my Uncle. He has consented my dear 4 Hunt, Mehitabel, p.44 5 Hunt, Mehitabel, p.44, 119-120; George Canning, The Letter Journal of George Canning 1793-1795, (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1991), p.4 6 George Canning to Mehitabel Canning, May 27th 1791 LC02169- George Canning, Letters to his Aunt Mrs Stratford Canning and to her daughter, Elizabeth (Lady Barnett) WYL888. Accessed from West Yorkshire Archive Service.

7 George Canning, The Letter Journal of George Canning 1793-1795, (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1991), p.230-231 8 George Canning to Mary Anne Hunn, February 3rd 1787 9 George Canning to Mrs Elizabeth Leigh, 26th September 1788 10 George Canning to Mrs Elizabeth Leigh, 26th September 1788

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Constructions of intimacy in Mary Coleridge’s The Shadow on the Wall (1904)

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he recent controversy surrounding Naomi Wolf’s new book, Outrages, and the subsequent decision of US publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to delay publication has attracted widespread interest among members of the academic community. Interpreted by many as a cautionary tale of the dangers of confirmation bias and less-than-rigorous engagement with primary sources, it has also demonstrated the importance of a deeper understanding of the historical treatment of homosexuality and, specifically, the ways in which literature has troubled heteronormativity since the nineteenth century.

Social attitudes toward same-sex desire in lateVictorian times are often discussed in relation to the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, the legislation that saw Oscar Wilde convicted of gross indecency in 1895. Wilde’s oeuvre has been of significant critical interest in understanding the accepted limits of representing homosexual desire. Challenges to heteronormativity, however, can also be profitably studied in literature written by women. This paper explores a novel written

by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, a late-Victorian writer who similarly explored passionate samesex relationships between men. Although these relations sidelined women as objects of romantic desire, Coleridge often depicts intimate male bonding as inextricably linked with the institution of marriage.

In 1904, Coleridge departed from her characteristic blend of historical fiction and Romance with her fourth novel, The Shadow on the Wall (hereafter, The Shadow). A gothic Romance with supernatural tropes, this fantastical study of aesthetic living explores the control that one being can exert over another. As first noted

by Angela Leighton in 1997, The Shadow is

Nerida Brand

markedly reminiscent of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890/91).1 The novel is similarly structured around a fatal portrait that acts as a testament of the painter’s desire for his muse, ‘the one who had been more to him than himself’ (86).2 Although Coleridge’s text rivals Wilde’s for homoerotic suggestiveness, the critical response was decidedly muted. This suggests that the perceived inability of a woman to understand and advocate intimate male relationships inoculated her against much of the criticism that Wilde had received.

The Shadow centres on a portrait of a young man and the grief-stricken painter who immortalised him on canvas after taking his life in a duel. The fatal conflict arose from a plot, orchestrated by a third man, to determine which of the two held more power over the other. A false allegation of a sexual liaison with a woman prompts the men to decide to fight to the death, for they had ‘lived too close to say Good-bye’ (195). The painter, Basil, fires a bullet that pierces Charles’s heart, for he ‘knew the way there’ (197). Much of the plot revolves around Basil’s puzzling quest to marry Charles’s sister, Nettie, whom he instinctively dislikes due to her resemblance to her brother.

He considers her to be an inferior duplicate, an attempt by Nature to do ‘over again, imperfectly, what she had once accomplished in perfection’ (219). It is later revealed that the marriage was at Charles’s request. It is designed to be nominal and for the purpose of ensuring that Nettie inherits the family fortune, which Charles has left to Basil. It is an inheritance marred by misogyny, for Charles’s father bequeathed his wealth with the proviso that no woman could ever benefit from his death.

The novel concludes with Basil learning that his friend was innocent and had acted blamelessly.

He experiences rapturous joy that causes his heart

1 Angela Leighton, ‘Women Poets and the Fin-de-siècle: Towards a new Aestheticism’ in Victorian Review, (Summer, 1997) Vol 23, pp. 1-14, (p. 6).

2 M.E Coleridge, The Shadow on the Wall, (London: Edward Arnold, 1904), p. 87. All subsequent page numbers refer to this edition.

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Our Voices to stop beating, an event curiously summarised in the chapter title: ‘Charles Rackenham wins.’ The newly-married Nettie is left alone, sitting before the portrait with her dead husband in her arms.

Ironically, it is the intimate same-sex friendship that is the impetus for the more conventional marriage plot, which leaves the woman with a financial legacy and as the discarded and redundant member of the romantic triangle. At the same time, homosocial bonds enable tremendous power and control at a preternatural intensity that borders on the supernatural.

Basil and Nettie each have one close friend of the same gender, George and Blanche. While wedding bells ring twice for the foursome by the novel’s end, romantic attentions are directed and redirected in a haphazard Shakespearean fashion, with heterosexual relationships often shown to be profoundly unromantic. For much of the novel, George is determined to marry Nettie for the dual purpose of curing his loneliness and perfecting his artistic genius, for ‘there’s something about women that teaches you to colour’ (84). Once Nettie becomes engaged to Basil, George redirects his romantic energies to Blanche, claiming that her strong attachment to Nettie had initially caused him to disqualify her as a potential love interest.

He dismisses her for the same reason that Basil finds her most alluring, for ‘He understood her; they were alike in this, that as she cared most for a woman, so he cared most for a man’ (70).

Nettie responds to her friend’s engagement with a muted indication of surprise, followed by her commiserations. Blanche echoes this sentiment of regret, saying ‘I’m very sorry for myself. I never meant to be married’ (263).

Notably practical, Blanche believes that marriage subjects women to a lifetime of domestic servitude and interprets the proposal as ‘he [George] wants someone to mend his clothes’ (263). While this pragmatic mindset may appear to preclude the idea of a mutually-satisfactory partnership, Blanche has already been functioning as a carer figure for the flighty Nettie. Blanche reveals that ‘I only get fond of things when I take care of them; and there will be nobody to take care of now’ (259). Nettie’s decision to abandon Blanche corroborates Terry

Castle’s persuasive argument that, in eighteenthand nineteenth-century fiction, ‘even in works in which female homosocial bonds are depicted, these bonds are inevitably shown giving way to the power of male homosocial triangulation.’3 It is only when confronted with the loss of her female companion that Blanche considers an alternative partnership, transferring her caring responsibilities from one relationship paradigm to another.

As Ed Cohen argues is the case with The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Shadow ‘signifies its “deviant” concerns while never explicitly violating the dominant norms for heterosexuality’.4 While overt references to the physical expression of romantic desire are conspicuously absent, both Coleridge and Wilde manage to subvert normative standards of heterosexual discourse. This is accomplished in part through what Ed Cohen terms the ‘symbolic displacement of the erotic onto the aesthetic’.5 In this way, homoerotic desire is suggested and the portrait ‘interrupts the novel’s overt representational limits by introducing a visual, extraverbal component of male same-sex desire’.6 Wilde’s Basil Hallward is acutely aware that the aesthetic object allows for the possibility of a ‘deviant’ interpretation that would lay bare the hidden recesses of his soul.

Similarly, in The Shadow, Coleridge’s characters are able to decode the brush strokes to expose the love the artist bore his subject. The portrait is ambiguously titled ‘A Portrait of an Artist,’ and much speculation ensues as to whether it is a self-portrait. George suggests that it could not be otherwise due to the ‘tremendous audacity of it’ for ‘the man who painted that loved the man he was painting, loved him as his own soul, my dear boy- loved the devil in him and everything else’ (31-32). While the portrait’s own ‘representational limits’ leaves a margin for misidentification or misreading, the intimacy between painter and subject cannot be concealed.

Although at times more overtly homoerotic than Wilde, Coleridge employs a variety of techniques to conceal meaning. The indefinite relational noun ‘friend’ appears 34 times within the text and is used interchangeably to refer to both platonic and romantic relationships. While this ambiguity functions euphemistically to disguise erotic

3 Terry Castle, Sylvia Townsend Warner and the Counterplot of Lesbian Fiction, In Sexual Sameness: Textual Differences in Lesbian and Gay Writing (2008) p. 133.

4 Ed Cohen, ‘Writing Gone Wilde: Homoerotic Desire in the Closet of Representation’, in PMLA, vol.102, no. 5, (1987) pp. 801-813, (p. 805).

5 Ibid, p. 806.

6 Ibid.

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Our Voices relationships, it also undermines the term’s value as a platonic description, alerting us to other potential euphemisms that we might encounter.

Another technique that Coleridge employs is the seamless integration of the Christian and homoerotic experience. In the final chapter, Nettie diagnoses herself as ‘not good enough to be so happy’ (283). Aligning her actions with the Christian doctrine of renunciation of sin, she kneels by the table and ‘after a moment Basil rose and knelt beside her. They did not speak. Humbly they asked to be forgiven and guided’ (283). This act of repentance serves to undermine and distract from the homoerotic implications of Basil’s fatal heart attack, a testament to the emotional power that the two men held over each other.

By portraying intimate male friendships in a sympathetic light, female writers such as Coleridge were active in renegotiating heterosexual power relations. Whether motivated by empathy, a sense of solidarity, or something else entirely, Coleridge often represents male same-sex love as triumphing over practicable heterosexual relationships. At the same time, Coleridge critiques the notion that a woman’s value derives from her function as the object of desire and primary recipient of male affection. In revealing the closest intimacies as those between members of the same sex, Coleridge shows that emotionally meaningful same-sex connections can comfortably co-exist with heterosexual pairings. Same-sex relationships are therefore presented as embedded within heteronormative structures.

Our Book Recommendations Beth: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan for her sister and Korede’s sense of responsibility in putting her family first is clear. This all changes Braithwaite My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite is a darkly funny and rather sinister novel about a Nigerian woman whose sister is a serial killer. The story opens when Korede, the novel’s protagonist, has her dinner interrupted by an urgent call from her sister Ayoola. Korede is immediately aware of what will be needed of her: rubber gloves and bleach. From the novels abrupt opening, the tone of the story is set. Korede has found herself, yet again, bleaching the floor and clearing away the blood of Ayoola’s third murdered boyfriend. As always though, this is self-defence in Ayoola’s claims and the third time her sister’s support has been needed. Braithwaite chooses not to frame her novel as a crime thriller, instead the focus of the story is the sisterly relationship between Korede and Ayoola.

Korede and Ayoola live in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and Braithwaite excellently depicts the character of the city in her writing. Korede works as a nurse, somewhat of a juxtaposition to the role she finds herself playing when disposing of her sister’s boyfriend’s bodies. By the third murder, she should probably go to the police, but the love

however when Ayoola starts dating the doctor Korede works with. The doctor Korede has held a long-time love for. This classic love triangle forms the basis of this weird and energetic tale.

What is impressive for such a short and fast paced novel is Braithwaite’s character development.

Ayoola is a serial killer with no real sense of accountability but Braithwaite weaves an element of charm into her personality. Korede’s responsibility, as reflected in the nature of her work and family life, is contrasted with her ongoing culpability in Ayoola’s crimes. Braithwaite does well to build incredibly complex female characters who are shaped by past family abuse, subtly infused by comments on the legacy of violence in Nigeria.

Her story tries to achieve too much at times, but the complicated relationship had between the two sisters and their own romantic relationships with the various male characters make for an intriguing read!

Carla: Darling by Rachel Edwards.

I’ve never been a huge fan of thrillers, but this book completely opened my eyes in regards to

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how versatile this genre can be. Rachel Edward’s debut novel is inspired by the racial abuse which she suffered as a consequence of the EU referendum in 2016, and themes of ‘Brexit’ and racism underlie the novel in interesting and thought-provoking ways throughout. At the centre of the story, are the two protagonists of the story: Darling (a Jamaican single mother, living in the UK, and dealing with the initial consequences of the ‘Brexit’ vote); and Lola (the 16-year-old daughter of Darling’s new love interest), who is less than welcoming of Darling as a new addition to the family. The novel largely deals with the relationship between these two female characters, which becomes more sinister and tense as the story progresses, ultimately resulting in tragedy. I was completely gripped from start to finish, and absolutely did not see the ending coming; what I particularly liked though, was that because of all the psychological elements and the issues of racism that underpin the story, this book felt like so much more than just a quick-read ‘thriller’.

Alastair: Becoming by Michelle Obama An autobiography with something different to offer, Michelle Obama’s story takes us on a journey that begins in a small house in a close-knit community, through perhaps the most famous house in the world – The White House – and ends with some poignant reminders about what life is like as a former First Lady of the United States of America.

Written with a style that draws any reader in – warm, open, and relatable – Obama is able to tell a tale that appears ever more pertinent; she writes an account of what it’s like to grow up as a black woman in modern-day America. The story is alternately compelling and emotionally difficult, and there are a number of snapshots that demonstrate the harder side of presidential life for families with young children. But this is also, I think, one of the book’s greatest strengths.

Michelle Obama is writing her story primarily as a mother rather than a former First Lady, and it’s her family that influence many of the decisions she makes throughout.

Evident too is her staunch belief in charitable programmes aimed at disadvantaged youths, and the drive with which she approaches each and every challenge in her life. Interesting for its insights into the machinery of the US political system, the book shines most when it highlights the ongoing struggle for racial

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equality, and when the sheer determination of Obama herself comes to the fore.

Rebecca: Naturally Tan by Tan France Netflix’s Queer Eye is certainly one of the breakout hits of the last few years, making international stars of each of its hosts. Not surprisingly, the show has left viewers hungry for more information about the ‘Fab Five’. The show’s Fashion expert, Tan France, more than satisfies with his witty and charming memoir, Naturally Tan. A different item of clothing, and its significance in Tan’s life and career, prompt each chapter.

Spotted throughout the book are pieces of advice and opinions on clothing, accessories, and fashion. However, these are just the icing on the very rich cake that is Tan’s story.

Throughout the book Tan’s dry humour shines through – it is funny, irreverent, but also sincere and honest. It gives a striking insight into growing up in South Yorkshire, as Tan unflinchingly describes some of his encounters with racism from a young age. He also gives a fascinating insight into the dynamics of the Fab Five when he talks about his experience of auditioning for Queer Eye, and the relationship that developed between the five individuals who would go on to host the show. While most people will come to the book interested in what Tan has to say about his experiences on the cult phenomenon show, it is Tan’s witty humour and interesting career that will stay with them after they have closed the final page.

Carla: Karamo: My story of embracing purpose, healing, and hope by Karamo Brown.

As a huge fan of Netflix’s Queer Eye, I knew that when the Fab Five started releasing their own books and memoirs, I would have to read them all. In all honesty, before I read the book I didn’t know much about Karamo’s personal life at all, as (particularly in season one of Queer Eye) we don’t see a lot of Karamo in comparison to the other four guys; so, I was really intrigued to read his memoir in particular, and to hopefully get to know him better.

Our Voices

In the book, each chapter deals with a separate topic of central importance in Karamo’s life, such as fatherhood, colorism, sexuality and the religion (and how Karamo was able to reconcile the two, growing up), and coping with fame. At first, I was disappointed to see that Karamo’s role as ‘culture expert’ on Queer Eye was only focused on in one chapter towards the end of the book; but, actually, there were so many other interesting topics dealt with throughout the book, that I’d recommend it regardless of whether you are a fan of the show or not. Additionally, all of these other topics that Karamo discusses meant that the memoir was a lot deeper than I had anticipated, and I what I loved perhaps the most about his discussion was his refreshing honesty about his past mistakes in various relationships, and the way in which he was able to learn and grow from these mistakes. A really inspirational read, and I can’t wait to see what the other four of the Five Fab produce in the future too!

Perez cites a large number of damming statistics, including research that car manufacturers base their inbuilt safety mechanisms on the standard male body. Devastatingly, this means that women who are involved in collisions are nearly 50% more likely to be seriously hurt.

Perez’s writing style is highly accessible and conversational, but if you’re a stickler for scholarly precision and offended by generalisations, expect a small degree of frustration. Similarly, copious endnotes facilitate easy reading of the text, though may leave you continually flicking forwards and backwards to find dates to the studies and incidents mentioned throughout. These stylistic details, however, are trivial when one considers how timely and critical her message is.

Expect to find inequality lurking in places that you may have never imagined.

Carla: Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Nerida: Invisible Women: Exposing Data Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom Bias in a World Designed for Men By Caroline Criado Perez A quick, easy, and super creative read, Fierce One October morning in 2017, I marched across town on a quest that took me to no less than six cashpoints. Having accepted defeat, I was halfway home before I overheard a teenager exclaim seven glorious words: ‘Maaaate, there’s a chick on my money!’ The new £10 note featuring the inimitable Jane Austen was now in circulation, and writer and campaigner, Caroline Criado Perez, is largely to thank for this achievement.

Perez’s most recent contribution to gender equality is the insightful and eye-opening Invisible Women, which explores the gender data gap in intricate detail. Perez persuasively demonstrates the importance of sex-disaggregated data that rejects the assumption that the male experience is universal. The ‘male-unless-otherwise-indicated approach’ has relegated the experience of women to a secondary or niche position; Perez proves that these gaps and silences have tangible, and sometimes fatal, consequences.

Femmes was like nothing else I’ve ever read before; it has elements of a trans memoir – telling a coming-of-age story of a trans girl of colour on the run from an abusive home – but it is also a lot more than this, and blends fantasy, surrealism, prose, and poetry into one beautiful work of art.

My favourite thing about this book – (apart from the fact that it was really fun to read!) – was that it takes a whole new approach to traditional trans memoirs, which I hadn’t come across before. From the beginning, the author tells us that she wanted to write something different to the stories about trans girls and women that are already out there – she wants to write a dangerous story, and one with lots of magic.

One particularly startling discovery is that the failure to accommodate the female body in design (whether medical, technological or architectural) is every day compromising the safety of women.

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Our Voices

Recovering Épinay: A Woman’s Reputation in a Man’s World

Alastair Dawson

L

ouise d’Épinay (1726-1783) was a central figure in high Parisian culture from the mid-eighteenth century until her death, but her identity is inextricably tied up with two key markers: firstly, her relationship with JeanJacques Rousseau (1712-1778); and secondly, her womanhood. My aim here is to exculpate Épinay from this restrictive association with her male contemporary, allowing her the space, and the platform, where her own identity can take centre-stage.

British academia has, historically, not been kind to eighteenth-century female writers, and while we now have a number of publications explicitly devoted to British female writing (see, for instance, Catherine Ingrassia’s Cambridge Companion to Women’s Writing in Britain, 1660-1789 (2015)), the same cannot be said of our study of their French counterparts.

Brian Nelson’s recent Cambridge Introduction to French Literature (2015) rewards only one woman with recognition in a chapter title, Madame de Lafayette. It is against this background that one first encounters Louise d’Épinay, a forgotten woman who is best known among scholars today due to her involvement with Rousseau, and the ensuing scandal it provoked.

Let us begin, then, with an outline of the woman in question. Épinay was the daughter of a successful army officer under the reign of Louis XIV, but he died when she was ten year old. She attended a convent aged eleven to thirteen, as was common for girls of the period, but her mother otherwise severely neglected her education – an observation that has frequently been offered as motivation for her own forays into educational publishing.

Subsequently she became an eminent figure in Parisian society, where she hosted a weekly salon for many of the best-known names in eighteenth-century France; among them Melchior

Grimm, Denis Diderot, Montesquieu, the Baron d’Holbach, l’Abbé Galiani, and Charles Duclos.

Known to her friends, though not more widely, she contributed extensively to La Correspondance Litteraire, a successful periodical publication that she co-edited with Grimm. Forging her identity as a writer and thinker, predicated especially on her role as a mother and educator, Épinay reached the height of her career tragically in the same year as her death, 1783. She was awarded the Prix Montyon, conferred by the Academie Française on the author deemed to have produced the work ‘most useful to the mores, and commendable for a morally superior and useful character’.1 This prize, for her educational text Les Conversations d’Émilie (1774, 1781), beat several other works to the top spot, most interestingly the well-known Adèle et Théodore of Stéphanie-Félicité de Genlis.

It is after her death, however, that things begin to change for Épinay’s reputation. Though she had been no stranger to scandal in life – she publicly admonished her twelve-year-old son by publishing a series of letters to him in which she explained, in damning detail, each of his faults and how to correct them – in death she was unable to react as she had in life. Many of her closest friends had chided her severely for such a public display of her son’s shortcomings, which showed a lack of that most important eighteenth century virtue: maternal tenderness.

Consequently, Épinay published her next major work, the first edition of Les Conversations d’Émilie, which were based on conversations with her granddaughter, anonymously. It was only after the publication’s initial success and good press that she felt sufficiently emboldened to put her name to the second, expanded edition.

However, it was not her own productions that led to the tarnishing of her reputation. Indeed neither was it her numerous extra-marital affairs – the

1 <http://www.academie-francaise.fr/prix-montyon>, my translation [accessed 20/06/2019].

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Events Our Voices

result of an unhappy marriage – that offended Parisian society. Rather it was the publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions in 1782 that precipitated her fall. Here, Rousseau painted a scathing picture of Épinay as a woman of middling intelligence, who capriciously took advantage of others for her personal gain.

Crucially, here, we must note that Épinay was a woman very much aware that she would be remembered. In her correspondence to l’abbé Galiani, she chides him for a lack ofenthusiasm and frequency in his replies, asking ‘what will posterity say of us?’2 Épinay, then, is unlikely to have left her portrait in Rousseau’s Confessions unchallenged, and it is at this point that we turn our attention to her posthumous production. Not published until 1818, Épinay had begun a manuscript for a novel entitled l’Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant when she thirty, intended as a novel, though certainly autobiographical and possibly better referred to as a pseudo-memoir. The manuscript, bequeathed to Grimm (with whom she had been conducting a relationship) upon her death, contains extensive revisions that appear to repurpose it in light of Rousseau’s accusations.

The first editors of Épinay’s manuscript, Parison and Brunet, offered the work under the following title, translated in full here: Memoirs and correspondence of Mme d’Épinay, where she gives details of her liaisons with Duclos, J.-J. Rousseau, Grimm, Diderot, Le Baron d’Holbach, Saint-Lambert, Mme. D’Houdetot, and other celebrated persons of the eighteenth century.

Containing a large number of unpublished letters

by Grimm, Diderot, and J.-J. Rousseau, which offer clarifications and corrections to the Confessions of the latter. Shamelessly promoting her “memoirs” as a juicy exposé on recent historical figures – the ambiguity of ‘liaisons’ here is surely intentional – Épinay’s editors liberally conflated the fact and fiction woven into her writing.

By excising all traces of the novelistic in her work, the Mémoires were read as precisely that – memoirs – throughout the nineteenth century, particularly by those in the anti-Rousseau camp

who used her posthumous accusations against him as tangible evidence of his misdemeanours.

Yet Épinay’s work is neither a memoir, nor is she the sole source of the revisions. Painstaking work

by Frederika Macdonald in 1895 discovered that the most interesting and salacious of the revisions were in an entirely different handwriting to the rest of the manuscript. While there might be various explanations for this, not least the fact that Épinay was frequently in poor health and may not have been able to write herself, Macdonald takes this to mean that Épinay could not have been the one who modified her text to malicious ends.3 The truth, if indeed that is a useful notion here, is probably much more complicated that I have space to explore in this essay.

In any attempt to recover Épinay then, we come across a great number of seeming paradoxes.

Rousseau calls her plain, dull, and unintelligent, yet she presided over a prestigious salon, corresponded with some of the most popular and in-demand characters of her time, and had a number of personal relationships that brought her some degree of happiness. None of these feats seems to fit with the image Rousseau describes.

Her biographers meanwhile, concentrate on a revenge narrative that pits Épinay and Rousseau in contention – a pairing that persists in many more recent academic productions.4 Yet, prior to the Confessions, Épinay was chiefly known for her pedagogical work and had connections to such respectable women as Catherine the Great of Russia, who saw fit to offer assistance when Épinay was running dangerously low on funds, largely as a result of her husband and son, from whom she struggled to gain financial independence. What seems to arise out of these contradictions in image is a systematic misogyny; a methodical, regular privileging of male opinions over female, and even over her own account.

Restoring Épinay’s reputation is as much about restoring the whole of her oeuvre as it is about correcting the falsifications of her biographers.

By privileging her posthumous production over

2 Louise d’Épinay and Ferdinando Galiani, ‘letter of 9th November 1778’, La Signora d’Épinay e l’Abate Galiani, ed. by Fausto Nicolini (Bari: Laterza, 1929), p.221.

3 Frederika MacDonald, Jean Jacques Rousseau. A New Criticism (London: Chapman & Hall, 1906).

4 For a discussion of this relationship, see Mary Trouille, Sexual Politics in the Enlightenment: Women Writers Read Rousseau (New York: State University of New York Press, 1997); Lucien Perey and Gaston Maugras offer support for Épinay’s version of events in their introduction to Les Dernières Années de Madame d’Epinay (Paris: 1883). Evelyn Simha’s unpublished doctoral dissertation ‘An Eagle in a Cage of Gauze: Mme d’Épinay’s “Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant”’ (Yale University, 1968) offers a unique and underutilised discussion of the posthumous treatment of Épinay’s image as a celebrity scandal.

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the work she completed in her lifetime, we are not only giving a substantial boost to the voices of those who collated and edited these pieces, but also denying Épinay the choice available to all living authors; a choice to revise work before its publication, or indeed the opportunity not to publish at all. The subsequent distorted view we have of Épinay is based largely on the work she herself did not authorise or edit for publication. The version of Épinay I wish to present here is not faultless – she could be unthinking towards her children, and she did write viciously about members of her acquaintance in her correspondence – but I do want us to acknowledge the contributions she made during her lifetime, and place these front and centre in our construction of her character. Épinay is much better known than I gave her credit for when I first stumbled across her year ago, but the restoration and rebalance of her character is still in its infancy.

It is only by restoring Épinay’s oeuvre in its totality, and rebalancing her relationship with history, that we can fully appreciate her contributions. The problem, to me it seems, is that two-hundred years later, it is still all about a woman’s reputation in a man’s world.

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Events

Marginalised Networks: Locating Queer and Gendered (Trans)national Connections Thursday 27th June 2019 Nuffield Theatre Campus University of Southampton Kindly supported by the AHRC SWWDTP Cohort Development Fund and the Centre for Transnational Studies

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Programme

9.00-9.45 Registration 9.45-10.45 Keynote lecture “‘Queer(y)ing the Norm: Menstruating and Menopausal bodies in transnational perspective’ Dr Maria Tomlinson, University of Sheffield 10.45-11 Break 11-12.45 Panel 1: Networks of culture and leisure - Lydia Furse: Women’s Rugby as Queer Space - Gina Robinson: “No Place for Women Among Them”? Female Bodies and gendered identities in Brazilian Capoeira - Kate Hawnt: Queer Networks and the Early Music Revival - Hui-min Wang: Queering Chinese Kun Opera? Body Politics in the Cross-gender Acting of The Peony Pavilion 12.45-1.45 LUNCH 1.45-3.30 Panel 2: Women and social change - Rachel Beaney: The Queer Child: Examining Oppositional Practices and Queer Kinships in Arantxa Echevarria’s Carmen y Lola (2018) - Alastair Dawson: The Man Problem: Re-imagining History in 18th C Women’s Educational Discourse - Kate Burrell: Living utopias: An anarcha-feminist account of globally networked movements confronting oppressions and organising radical social change (London 2013-2018) 3.30-3.45 Break 3.45- 5.30 Panel 3: Writing in the margins - Annie Strausa: Virginia Woolf and sensory discourse and concepts - Emeline Morin: Bridegroom tales and forced marriages: Francophone and Anglophone feminist fairy tales through time - Kendsey Clements: Through Her Eyes: An Analysis of ecriture migrante au féminin in Quebec - Aswathi Moncy Joseph: “It’s Not about the Burqa” Transversing Heterotopia and Hypomnemata as Alternates in Muslim Women’s Self Writing 5.30-6.30: Wine Reception 35

Events

SWWDTP ‘Gender at a Crossroads’ conference, Cardiff University 2018

O

n 16 May 2018, Cardiff University hosted an interdisciplinary conference titled ‘Gender at a Crossroads’, with the generous support of the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership. This one-day conference was organised by SWWDTP’s Gender and Sexuality research cluster coordinators (2017-2018), Nick Havergal, Sina Stuhlert and Charlotte Walmsley.

The theme ‘Gender at a Crossroads’ emerged as a challenging and provocative point of departure inviting delegates and attendees to examine the ways in which a language of polarisation and crisis pervades contemporary discourses regarding gender and sexuality. By bringing cross-cutting research from diverse disciplines into dialogue, the day provided an opportunity to explore growing social fractures and the everincreasing scrutiny of gender identities, spaces and bodies in today’s conflictual climate. Indeed, since last year’s conference, such challenges have led pioneering voices in Gender Studies, such as Joan Wallach Scott, to claim that the field faces an existential threat as countries lurch to the far-right; Orban’s Hungary and Bolsonaro’s Brazil have both questioned the social benefit and validity of gender and sexuality-centred research, leading to what some have termed ‘a war’ on gender studies.

The day began with an incisive keynote from Dr Katharina Karcher, whose research connects themes of protest, political extremism, terrorism and counterterrorism, with a focus on 1970s Germany. Dr Karcher wove together her historical research on women’s involvement in left-wing political violence in 1977 West Germany and the role of gender in the neoliberal university today.

The resulting roundtable also showcased Dr Alix Beeston and her work on visual cultures, focusing

on her recent project ‘Object Women’ which explores the politics of representation of women in early photography, highlighting illuminating tensions between visibility and invisibility.

Opening the table up to questions from the 50plus attendees shed light on fertile intersections between research and activism and underscored the complexities of undertaking and disseminating research in a context of present-day precarity.

With speakers working in areas such as modern languages, literature, medicine, law, politics, history and classics, parallel panels throughout the day drew out diverse discussions regarding health, feminist politics, LGBTQIA activism, the rewriting of histories and the deconstruction of stereotypes and archetypes. Bringing together varied perspectives led to thoughtful debate about how moments of uncertainty, cultural tension and crisis construct gender and regulate sexualities, both today and throughout history.

We concluded the day’s events with a friendly cheese and wine reception to give time for researchers to continue conversations and connect. As organisers, we were thankful for the opportunity to hear such a wealth of papers evidencing innovative scholarship and practice, and hope those who attended enjoyed the day as much as we did.

This year’s SWWDTP Gender and Sexuality conference, organised by cluster co-ordinators (2018-2019) Jessica McIvor, Jake O’Leary, Blanche Plaquevent and with Alison Marmont, will be held at the University of Southampton on 27th June and will explore ‘Marginalised Networks: Locating Queer and Gendered (Trans)national Connections’.

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Events

6th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WOMEN’S STUDIES: How Far Have We Got? Leeds, United Kingdom 18.01.2020.

Venue: Queens Hotel, City Square, Leeds, LS1 1PJ RATIONALE In the age of post-feminism when many are trying to argue that feminism is no longer needed because women have reached equality through the introduction of legislation and entry of women to all professions, the reality shows a different story. Women politicians, for example, are still scrutinised based on their looks and objectified. For example, in March 2017 British Daily Mail splashed a cover page screaming, ‘Never mind Brexit, who won the Legs-it’. The cover page was making the comment following the meeting of British Prime Minister Theresa May and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. In addition, many professions are still running according to masculine work patterns and thus many workplaces are still places for blokes. For example, in newsrooms women cannot succeed in obtaining editorial positions as the profession is still largely masculine with men reporting on politics, main news of the day and business while women are still confined to lifestyle, food and health. However, when traditional women topics enter the agenda then we see male journalists writing about it. In addition, female journalists hardly have any role models given the fact women who succeed in journalism become so bloke-if it becomes difficult for younger women to look up and see a role model or a type of women they may want to become in the future (Miller, 2014; Gallagher, 2017; Topic, 2018; Franks, 2013).

The situation is no better in advertising where there is still a major issue of sexual harassment and the culture of sexism visible in both industry treatment of women and sterotyped representation of women in adverts (Crewe & Wang, 2018; Siu & Kai-ming Au, 1997; Sandikci, 1998; Patterson et al, 2009; Kemp, 2017; Gee, 2017; Suggett, 2018). In public relations, scholars speak of the feminization of the industry that saw women entering PR industry in higher numbers but because of it, the salaries diminished and even though women form the majority of the workforce they still face issues such as glass ceiling and wage gap. In some countries, the number of women started to decline after a decade of the profession being feminized (CIPR, 2018). These are just a few examples from a few industries, but the situation is the same (or worse) elsewhere.

The societies are still based on patriarchal values. For example, even though it is legally possible for men to take paternal leaves and stay at home to take care of children and household, it is still women who have these requests approved more often than men, which testifies that patriarchal views of expected roles are still present. In addition, in some countries, women are still banned from exercising basic rights such as the right to vote, work in all positions and even the right to drive.

While there is a number of men that experience family violence, it is still women who mostly suffer from this type of abuse, while those men who do suffer from it fear to report it due to the expectation that the men are the boss in the house. Nevertheless, with the rise of Far-Right political candidates and public speakers started to question Feminism and argue that it fulfilled its purpose, while at the same time re-introducing old prejudices and practices against women where an emphasis is based on their appearance, birth-giving, etc.

The questions the conference addresses are how far have we got, and what needs to be done to achieve true equality of both men and women, and a society where there are no expected roles?

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Events Papers are invited (but not limited to) for the following panels: Patriarchy Women and the rise of the Far Right Women and labour Women and discrimination Women and sexual violence Women and religion Women in the media Women and politics Women and sexuality Theory and methodology in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studies Women and reproductive rights Women and education Women and leadership Women in public relations Women in advertising Women in marketing Women in IT Prospective participants are also welcome to submit proposals for their own panels. Both researchers and practitioners are welcome to submit paper proposals.

Submissions of abstracts (up to 500 words) with an email contact should be sent to Dr Martina TopiÄ&#x2021; (martinahr@gmail.com) by 15 October 2019. Decisions will be sent by 1 November 2019 and registrations are due by 15 December 2019. In case we collect enough abstracts earlier, we will send decisions earlier.

The Conference fee is GBP180, and it includes, The registration fee Conference bag and folder with materials Access to the newsletter, and electronic editions of the Centre Opportunity for participating in future activities of the Centre (research & co-editing volumes) Meals and drinks WLAN during the conference Certificate of attendance Centre for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences is a private institution originally founded in December 2013 in Croatia (EU). Since July 2016 the Centre is registered in Leeds, UK. Participants are responsible for finding funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. This applies to both presenting and non-presenting participants. The Centre will not discriminate based on the origin and/or methodological/paradigmatic approach of prospective conference participants.

Visa Information The Centre will issue a Visa letter to participants with UK entry clearance requirement. The British Home Office has a very straightforward procedure, which is not excessively long and the Centre will also issue early decisions to participants with Visa requirements.

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Events

4th International Conference on Gender Studies 19.01.2020.

Leeds, United Kingdom

RATIONALE All recent research on gender demonstrates that patriarchy is alive and well and that both men and women suffer from patriarchal perceptions of expected roles. For example, women still face difficulties and inequality of opportunities for jobs, and when equality is achieved and they enter a certain industry; they face difficulties in being promoted to managerial positions (glass ceiling). On the other hand, men face difficulties in embracing roles traditionally seen as feminine such as staying at home with children or applying for paternal leaves, which are still approved more to women than men.

When it comes to gender perceptions the situation becomes even more complicated because if one refuses to identify with the sex assigned at birth and chooses to express gender differently, patriarchy kicks in even stronger and these individuals face not just discrimination in access to employment but also public mocking and in some countries even assaults. It is stating the obvious to say that many countries in the world still ban homosexuality and that LGBT individuals and couples are not just discriminated but also targets of public campaigns to ban them ever having the same rights as heterosexual couples such as marriage and adopting children (before they even asked for these rights), assaults, threats and intimidation, etc.

The question we can ask is how far have we got in achieving not just gender equality (for the vast amount of research testifies we have indeed not got far albeit lots of progress has been made), but how far have we got in achieving an understanding of gender? What kind of culture needs to be created to embrace diversity beyond positive laws (that exist only in some countries), but a true diversity where nobody will think they should have the right to question someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-perception and self-expression, and a culture where all genders will be equal?

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Events This conference, therefore, invites papers in the following (but not limited to) themes, Definitions of gender Positive practices of gender equality legislation Positive practices of cultural and social understandings of genders Discriminatory practices Feminist studies Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studies Masculinity studies LGBT rights Women, LGBT identities and patriarchal society Men, LGBT identities and patriarchal society Transgender identities Discrimination against LGBT and transgender people Gender and Culture Gender activism: case studies Personal stories and biographies Submissions of abstracts (up to 500 words) with an email contact should be sent to Dr Martina TopiÄ&#x2021; (martinahr@gmail.com) by 15 October 2019. Decisions will be sent by 1 November 2019 and registrations are due by 15 December 2019. In case we collect enough abstracts earlier, we will send decisions earlier.

The Conference fee is GBP180, and it includes, The registration fee Conference bag and folder with materials Access to the newsletter, and electronic editions of the Centre Opportunity for participating in future activities of the Centre (research & co-editing volumes) Meals and drinks WLAN during the conference Certificate of attendance Centre for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences is a private organisation originally founded in December 2013 in Croatia (EU). Since July 2016 the Centre is registered in Leeds, UK. Participants are responsible for finding funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. This applies to both presenting and non-presenting participants. The Centre will not discriminate based on the origin and/or methodological/paradigmatic approach of prospective conference participants.

Visa Information: The Centre will issue a Visa letter to participants with UK entry clearance requirement. The British Home Office has a very straightforward procedure, which is not excessively lengthy and the Centre will also issue early decisions to participants with Visa requirements.

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Events

Christopher Newport University’s College of Arts and Humanities Global Conference on Women and Gender: “Gender, Politics, and Everyday Life: Power, Resistance and Representation” to be held at CNU, March 19-21, 2020 This interdisciplinary conference brings together participants from all academic fields to engage in wide-ranging conversations on gender and politics around the world. While formal politics loom large in 2020, we encourage an expansive understanding of political action and expression, inspired by Carol Hanisch’s essay, “The Personal is Political,” which sees all relationships of power as political and connects women’s experiences, self-expression, and values to their lives as political actors and subjects.

Topics may include but are not limited to the past and/or present intersection of gender and politics in: Suffrage Expansion Feminism Voting and Candidacy Organizing and Activism Media Representation Artistic and Literary Expression Motherhood and Family Life Sexuality and Gender Identity Reproductive Rights Race and Racism Disability Rights Employment Poverty Education Health Violence Religion Law Business and Management Leadership Social Media Submissions from any academic discipline are welcome, including but not limited to art, history, philosophy, religious studies, sociology, psychology, environmental science, medicine, biomedical ethics, economics, political science, gender studies, communication studies and literature. We also invite professionals in nonacademic settings to submit proposals.

Both panel and individual paper proposals are welcome.

Please submit a 350 to 500-word abstractby October 1st, 2019 at: http://cnu.edu/gcwg Please include with your abstract: your full name and your academic or professional affiliation and rank(graduate student, professor, artist, etc.). Abstracts that greatly exceed the 500-word count may not be considered. We will also include a few competitively selected undergraduate panels in the 2020 conference. All submissions will be peer reviewed and those accepted will be notified no later than October 15th, 2019.

Paper presentations will ideally be 15-20 minutes in length and can be considered for our annual publication Please direct inquiries about the conference to ahconf@cnu.edu.

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Events

International Conference on Gender Studies: “Gender, Citizenship and Ethnicity” 30 November – 1 December 2019 Cambridge, UK organised by London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research The conference seeks to explore the past and current status of gender identity around the world, to examine the ways in which society is shaped by gender and to situate gender in relation to the full scope of human affairs.

Papers are invited on topics related, but not limited, to: gender equality women’s rights and women’s history gender and education women and leadership women’s and men’s health gender and sexuality gender and religion gender and literature The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and professionals with a particular interest related to the conference topic. We invite proposals from various disciplines including history, sociology, political studies, anthropology, culture studies and literature. The language of the conference is English.

Proposals up to 250 words and a brief biographical note should be sent by 31 August 2019 to: Dr Olena Lytovka olena.lytovka@lcir.co.uk.

Standard registration fee – 220 GBP

Student registration fee – 180 GBP

Conference venue: Lucy Cavendish College – University of Cambridge Lady Margaret Road Cambridge CB3 0BU

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Events

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Feminist Formations “The Erotics of Nonsexualities: Intersectional Approaches” Guest edited by Ela Przybylo and Kristina Gupta Submission deadline: August 19, 2019 This special issue seeks to bring into conversation intersectional work on erotics and on nonsexualities. The word erotics, derived from the ancient Greek eros, marks a way of thinking intimacy, relating, and kinship that can include but is not tied strictly to sexual desire. This way of thinking explores many different ways of being drawn to one another and forming relationships. Audre Lorde, in “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” (1978), depicted the erotic as a concept including more than sex and sexual desire, exploring the healing power of inner resolve, deep friendships, and life-affirming activities. For Lorde and scholars such as Sharon Holland (2012), Angela Willey (2016), Lynne Huffer (2013), Mireille Miller-Young (2014), and L.H. Stallings (2015), the erotic has been a powerful source of self-knowledge, of action in an unjust world, and, in Lorde’s words, a critique of the “European-American tradition, [where] need is satisfied by certain proscribed erotic comings-together.” Erotics also figure prominently in Indigenous feminist and queer thought through such frameworks as “Sovereign Erotics” and “Indigenous erotics,” which envision sexuality and intimacy on terms that are not bound to settler colonial understandings of sexuality (Qwo-Li Driskill 2004; Tracy Bear 2016).

We use the word nonsexualities to include asexuality, other forms of nonsexuality, and critiques of compulsory sexuality. Although definitions of asexuality vary, individuals and groups who identify as asexual often define an asexual person as someone who does not experience sexual attraction to other people. We reserve the term asexuality specifically to connote individuals or groups who self-identify as asexual. We use the term nonsexualities broadly to connote a variety of potentially related phenomenon such as asexual identification, abstinence (chosen or otherwise), singlehood, and/or experiences of low sexual desire. We use the term compulsory sexuality to “describe the assumption that all people are sexual and to describe the social norms and practices that both marginalize various forms of nonsexuality…and compel people to experience themselves as desiring subjects, take up sexual identities, and engage in sexual activity” (Gupta 2015).

We see erotics as an important theoretical interlocutor for thinking about nonsexual intimacies in terms that challenge settler colonial and Western knowledge paradigms. Erotics holds space for imagining nonsexual intimacies as places for celebration, protest, and world-making.

A focus on erotics draws on queer of color contributions to challenging the separation of sexuality from other realms of life, community, identity, and activism (i.e., Cathy Cohen 1997; Patrick Johnson 2001; Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley 2010). In this special issue we ask: What are the histories of asexuality and nonsexual erotics and how have they been ignored by settler colonial, Western, and sexological approaches to thinking sexuality? How can we think about erotics as a place from which all forms of desire can flourish, as a way to explore intimacy on the broadest terms possible? How can erotics foster an intersectional approach to feminist action, theorizing, world-making, and celebration that holds space for asexuality and other forms of nonsexuality?

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Events We seek submissions that develop intersectional approaches, in all their many forms and iterations. We use the term intersectionality to mark an approach to thinking about systems of oppression that has a strong lineage in black feminist thought. According to Patricia Hill Collins and Valerie Chepp (2017), “the first core idea of intersectional knowledge projects stresses that systems of power (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, age, country of origin, citizenship status) cannot be understood in isolation from one another; instead, systems of power intersect and coproduce one another to result in unequal material realities and the distinctive social experiences that characterize them.” This special issue seeks scholarship on erotics and nonsexualities that employs intersectionality as a key analytic.

We welcome submission on topics including but not limited to: new, intersectional, and interdisciplinary perspectives in asexuality studies analyses of the desexualization and hypersexualization of individuals and populations and how these relate to gender, race, age, sexuality, ability, nation, and Indigeneity historical and present-day genealogies, representations, manifestations, and “resonances” (Przybylo and Cooper 2014) of asexuality and nonsexualities in relation to gender, race, age, sexuality, ability, nation, and Indigeneity intersectional engagements with Lordean erotics intersectional engagements with Sovereign and/or Indigenous erotics intersectional engagements with eco-erotics and/or eco-intimacies intersectional challenges to Freudian and Foucauldian conceptualizations of sexuality through erotics and/or nonsexualities intersectional analyses of forms of nonsexuality such as abstinence, kinship and kin networks, friendship, family formations, non-monogamy, singlehood, virginity, chastity, human-animal and interspecies intimacies violent, misogynist, and white supremacist interpretations of celibacy and abstinence (such as the religious right) intersectional reflections on prudery in conversation with sluttiness and sex positivity intersectional approaches to asexual community formation and identity including considerations of whiteness, racism, and trauma in asexual communities histories of the function and role of compulsory sexuality in relation to whiteness, sexism, settler colonialism, ableism and/or science intersectional considerations of “normal” levels of sexual desire in relation to who is encouraged to reproduce, stay “fit,” seek pleasure, and be happy intersectional explorations of feminist, queer, Indigenous, and anti-racist organizing in relation to strategic and/or imposed sexual absence We welcome engagements with the following topics: erotics, Audre Lorde, Sovereign and/or Indigenous erotics, eco-erotics/eco-intimacies, intimacy, incel, kinship, making kin, trauma, asexuality, nonsexuality, abstinence, celibacy, spinsterhood, friendship, political asexuality and celibacy, prudery, compulsory sexuality, frigidity, platonic love, Boston marriages, aphansis, sexual desire disorders, and virginity, among others Guest Editors: Ela Przybylo, Ruth Wynn Woodward Fellow in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Simon Fraser University, ela_przybylo@sfu.ca Kristina Gupta, Assistant Professor, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Wake Forest University, guptaka@wfu.edu

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Question

ESSAYS & ART FROM THE HUM ANITIES

Frontiers ISSUE 03

Issue Three of Question, Frontiers, is avaliable now in print and at questionjournal. com. Issue Four, Myth, will be published by the end of the year.

Keep up with Question on Twitter @QuestionJournal and Facebook ‘Question: Essays and Art from the Humanities’ 45

Meet the Team

Meet the Gendered Voices Team

Rebecca James Editor-in-Chief

Carla Wiggs - Copy Editor

Beth Rebisz - Copy Editor

Alastair Dawson Communications

Rachel Smith - Copy Editor

Ewan Short - Readability Editor

Nerida Brand Communications 46

Contact us ifâ&#x20AC;Ś

Get In Touch

* You would like to make a comment on any of the issues raised in the magazine (we may publish it in our next edition) * You would like to write for us in the future * You have any suggestions as to what to include in the next issue * You are organising or know of an event related to gender and sexuality you would like us to promote * You would like to get involved in the Gender and Sexuality cluster * You really enjoyed this issue and would like to see another one soon Email: genderandsexualitycluster@gmail.com Blog: https://genderandsexualityresearch.wordpress. com/ Twitter: @swwgender

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