Vanishing in Plain Sight

Playfully negotiating the historical constructs of theatrical vanishing and its disturbingly female trappings this paper centers on the creation of Bautier de Kolta’s l’Escamotage D’une Dame, an illusion used to screen the anxieties of the male British populous, irked by a buoyant surplus in unmarried, white, middle class women, in the late 1880s. Introducing texts such as W. R Greg’s Why are women Redundant? This paper makes ever more apparent the political, violent and sexual connotations of the female body in magical feats of performative disappearance. From the photographic curios of hidden mothers to the dark room of the séance, the conversation unfurls around the many forms of female vanishing, culminating in a discussion of the contemporary artwork Escamotage (Grace A Williams, 2015) that takes the Persian rug as both a motif of magical vanishing and a tool for the exposure of form. This paper was originally delivered as a performance from within a ‘Zig-Zag’ illusion box, in collaboration with artist David Cheeseman. The first critical analysis of women’s role within magical illusions, delivered by a female artist from within a magical prop that continues to dismember female bodies for entertainment in the contemporary magic market

The allegorical paintings of George F. Watts

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

LSE student experience: Manju’s story

Rachel Grace Williams catches a glimpse of the life of migrant workers on Mumbai’s construction sites, and meets one woman who dreams it could be better

PTH1R Signaling in Osteoblasts Stimulated with Functionally Selective Ligands: Phosphoproteomics Reveals Unique Signaling Networks

The past 20 years have seen G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) theory advance significantly. Receptors are now thought of as adopting multiple conformations in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The study of GPCR biased agonism has emerged from this changing concept of receptors and introduced the field to “pluridimensional efficacy.” It is thought that a single readout of efficacy is no longer sufficient and multiple parameters of efficacy must be measured in drug screens to improve the ability to predict in vivo effects. While several GPCRs have multiple cognate ligands that elicit functionally-selective responses, the present study focused on biased signaling of the parathyroid hormone receptor (PTH1R). Parathyroid hormone (PTH) maintains serum calcium and is a key regulator of bone remodeling. Human PTH1-34 (Forteo) is the only FDA approved drug used for treatment of osteoporosis that acts via its anabolic actions on osteoblasts. However, the therapeutic utilization of PTH1-34 is limited by its catabolic effects, mediated in part by protein kinase A, which after two years culminate in net bone resporption through the activation of osteoclasts by RANKL. The experimental, biased ligand of the PTH1R, bovine parathyroid hormone residues 7-34 with D-Trp12 and Tyr34 (bPTH(7-34)), does not exhibit the catabolic effects of PTH1-34. In vivo administration of the conventional ligand, PTH 1-34, and the biased ligand, bPTH(7-34), for eight weeks increased bone mineral density (BMD) in mice. The anabolic effect of bPTH(7-34) in vivo was lost in β-arrestin deficient mice, revealing a dependence on β-arrestin mediated signaling. Further analysis of osteoblast and osteoclast number, transcript expression, and the generation of second messengers revealed the anabolic effect of each ligand was achieved by different mechanisms. To elucidate the unique, proximal signaling events activated by acute stimulation of the PTH1R with the biased agonist, this study focused on characterization and comparison of the phosphorylation-mediated signaling profiles of osteoblasts stimulated with each osteogenic agonist. Relative changes in phosphorylation were measured using a SILAC-based phosphoproteomic screen following acute stimulation of MC3T3- E1 preosteoblast cells with hPTH(1-34) or bPTH(7-34) for 5 minutes. The experiments were performed in proliferating preosteoblasts (Day 0) and differentiating osteoblasts (Day 10). Over ten thousand sites of phosphorylation were observed. Regulated phosphosites and phosphoproteins were examined for putative kinase activity, targeted signaling pathways, and biological processes. Differences were observed in the kinases stimulated by each agonist. For example, bPTH(7-34) treatment activated MAPK1 and increased phosphorylation of downstream substrates, while phosphorylation of predicted MAPK1 substrates were decreased with hPTH(1-34) activation. While both drugs regulated phosphorylation of proteins in signaling pathways involving GPCR signaling (PLC, MTOR, Rho GTPases); Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) also revealed discrete signaling networks engaged by each drug. PTH (1-34) treatment yielded regulated proteins involved in cytoskeletal dynamics and the Wnt/β- catenin pathway, whereas bPTH(7-34) treatment modulated pathways related to survival (ATM, CDKs, and p70S6K) and transcription (Jak/Stat, and PPARα). Cell-based assays confirmed hPTH(1-34) and bPTH(7-34) both confer resistance to etoposide-induced apoptosis and bPTH(7-34) increases proliferation in MC3T3-E1 cells. At the biological process level, both ligands modulated proteins involved in cell survival, migration, growth, and bone metabolism. Comparison of regulated phosphoproteins at two time points during osteogenic differentiation unexpectedly revealed that the bPTH(7-34) gave a more robust effect in proliferating preosteoblasts, whereas hPTH(1-34) stimulated more sites of phosphorylation in differentiating osteoblasts. This observation indicates the differential effects of each agonist may result from changes in signaling mediators that are expressed at these two time points. While the PTH receptor was present at both time points, β-arrestin was more highly expressed in proliferating preosteoblasts

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND HIV/AIDS IN KOLKATA, INDIA: A DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS OF POLICY AND PROGRAMMING

This thesis presents the findings from a study that explores the language and discourses of HIV/AIDS in India circulating at different levels of the policy process during the early years of the pandemic, with a particular focus upon the work of NGOs in Kolkata, West Bengal. The study was exploratory and used Walt and Gilson's (1994) analytic framework of content, context, actors and process to guide data collection. Eleven NGOs were identified for case studies using a snowballing technique. The research design used multiple methods of data collection including semi-structured interviews, informal interviews, participant observation, the keeping of a research diary, and the collection of documentary sources, including policy documents, grey literature and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) material. The texts were analysed using discourse analysis following Carabine (2002). The study found that global and national level policies assigned a significant role to NGOs in three areas: prevention and control, care and support of people living with HIV/AIDS and the promotion of human rights. However, at the state level there was marked ambivalence about working with NGOs and considerable disagreement about the extent of the pandemic. HIV/AIDS was constructed as un-Bengali and a problem for marginalized and poor groups. The targeted interventions approach, adopted for use at the time, seemed to offer a mismatch between problem construction and responses. However several of the NGOs in the study were offering a package of holistic services in addition to the targeted interventions. NGOs faced the problem of how to share these experiences and understandings with the wider policy community as there was limited opportunity to do this. Further, the involvement of NGOs in care and support was limited and they faced difficulties in promoting a human rights based approach to their work, in part because of a lack of support from the State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (SAS). The findings suggest that, within the context of West Bengal, policies need to be realistic in the role assigned to NGOs in HIV/AIDS programming, clearly identify a role for the state in the promotion of human rights, and develop strategies to enable NGOs to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the policy process

(The) military career of Israel Putnam ..

Typewritten sheets in cover. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University This item was digitized by the Internet Archive. Bibliography: p. 103-108

They Done a Very Bad Act: Rape in the Civil War and Reconstruction

In this project, the interdisciplinary use of sociology, feminist philosophy, and Southern historiography combine to provide a more complete analysis of rape in the Civil War and 3 Reconstruction than previously discussed in other scholarly works. Each discipline provides a valuable piece to the larger picture. This research examines antebellum gender norms, the intersection of race and gender, the impact of slavery on Black women’s sexuality and agency, the weaponization of rape in war, and the impact of Klan violence on Black communities during Reconstruction. Additionally, this research proposes explanations for how the nature of war created an environment in which Union soldiers committed wanton acts of violence such as rape. Finally, this project examines the continuation of rape during Reconstruction by analyzing how the legal measures laid forth in the Lieber Code during the Civil War provided the framework for Southern women’s continued legal efforts to combat gender based violence

All The Trappings Of Racism Are Here, And I Live In Them : Resistance, Counterspace, and Identity Socialization as Afro-Caribbean Women Raise Second Generation Immigrant Sons And Grandsons In a Racialized U.S. Southeastern State

This nine-month narrative inquiry explored the experiences of four Jamaican immigrant women (two mothers and two grandmothers) living in a southeastern U.S. state to gain insights about how they ethnic-racially socialize their second generation immigrant sons or grandsons in this racialized context. Research questions guiding the study were: (a) How do the women perceive racism in the U.S.? How do they choose to self-identify? What connection, if at all, exists between their perceptions of racism and how they choose to raise their children or grandchildren? (b) What ethnic-racial messages do they transmit to them and what purposes do they serve? and (c) What insights do the mothers’ narratives on the ethnic-racial socialization of their children or grandchildren provide about what social justice might look like for children from families like theirs? To understand and center the voices and experiences of the Jamaican mothers and grandmothers, I used critical race and decolonizing analytic methodologies, and employed ethno-poetic as well as traditional narrative structures to represent findings from the four case studies. Grounded in critical race theory, Black feminism, and counterspace perspectives, findings revealed unjust school practices including stereotyping and negative profiling as well as strategies used by the women to cope with and negotiate existing systems while teaching their sons or grandsons to survive and thrive within a racialized society. They overtly and covertly exposed their children to ethnic-racial messages in their home and or church that helped to affirm racial and ethnic identities and challenge the deficit and racist practices they encountered. Implications provide insights for critical scholars conducting research focused on immigrant populations as well as for teacher training programs and schools to better equip in-service and pre-service teachers to support immigrant children by: (1) understanding the nuanced experiences of Afro-Caribbean families; (2) learning about families’ perceptions, experiences with, and responses to racism in the U.S. schools and society; (3) examining their own biases and using culturally relevant pedagogies in classrooms; and (4) collaborating with families to disrupt unjust school practices