Men training to be secondary English teachers : a case study

This is a case study of seven men training to be secondary English teachers on a one year Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) in a. university department of education. Men training to be English teachers are worthy of investigation because men are in a minority both on PGCE secondary English courses and in English departments in schools in England. As more women than men teach English in secondary schools, initial training takes place in predominantly female English departments and school mentors are more likely to be female. Within this statistical context, this qualitative study attempts to understand what happens to a group of men during their initial training as they enter part of the education profession that is predominantly female. Men's socialisation and processes of adaptation have been widely researched in the predominantly female areas of early years and primary education, but have been hitherto overlooked in the secondary sector, in spite of the perception of the feminisation of the subject of English. In the study, female mentors are shown to possess gendered stereotypical expectations of male trainees regarding their ability to work hard, organise paperwork, plan effectively and exert forceful power. With limited access to other male English teachers, the male trainees resist the classroom management strategies they observe, preferring to be `comfortable', `laid back' and `jokey'. They develop more gentle teaching styles and personae that they see as appropriate for male teachers working with teenagers. Their relationship with the subject of English also shifts as they reject the new emphasis on functional literacy and embrace the literature components of the English curriculum, which are more familiar to them. Their experience of training forces the men to reconsider their masculinities and to renegotiate relationships with colleagues, pupils and the subject of English. The analysis of the interrelationship between the three areas of masculinities, initial teacher development and the subject of English reveals deeper knowledge of each. Within the richness of the findings, the interconnections between the three areas are explored and a unique body of knowledge about male English teachers during their training is revealed

A commentary on the autobiographies of W. B. Yeats

From the introduction: William Butler Yeats published the first section of the Autobiographies in 1915 with the appearance of Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and published the last contribution to the final volume of 1955 with Dramatis Personae in 1935. For a period of twenty years, Yeats was formulating this official version of his life. The constant building and selecting for this version created a volume that, for the most part, carefully edited out too personal reflections and also served to present an incomplete and disjointed autobiography

Boardinghouses, Parties and the Creation of a Political Society: Washington City, 1800-1830

Washington\u27s elite society was a political society where members of Congress, the president, members of his cabinet, Supreme Court justices, and members of the diplomatic corps met with members of the press, and other visitors to the capital, and long term residents came together to form a unique society. This study evolved from the premise that James Sterling Young\u27s view of Washington City was flawed. Three questions guided this project: How did Washington change over time?; Why were specific boardinghouses chosen?; and What role did elite wives play in the Washington community? Washington\u27s elite community was by definition a political community. For the senators and members of Congress who swarmed to the city during congressional sessions, boardinghouses and hotels provided both accommodation and the opportunity to develop close friendships with other like-minded individuals. Within the various congressional residences conversations often focused on politics. Wives and other non-congressional guests relayed political dinner, and leisure time gossip to their friends and relatives in their home states. On the whole life in boardinghouses and hotels much like fraternal organizations provided members the opportunity to cull important friendships. Coming to Washington meant that the President\u27s wife, Congressional wives, and wives of cabinet members became hostesses for political events. Parties, teas, and public assemblies were as much political gatherings as were sessions of Congress. For Washington\u27s elite women, theirs was an environment of power and privilege, and although their society followed proscribed rules, these women had access to most federal officials. As suggested through the actions of these wives, elite women in Washington used their social positions for political means. From 1800-1830 an unwritten etiquette increasingly regulated social behavior in the capital city. Making calls, attending balls, taking tea and even visiting Congress brought these women into the public sphere, open to public scrutiny

South African studio ceramics, c.1950s : the Kalahari Studio, Drostdy Ware and Crescent Potteries.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.The oeuvre of the Kalahari Studio (Cape Town), Drostdy Ware (a division of Grahamstown Pottery, Grahamstown) and Crescent Potteries (Krugersdorp) is investigated within the historical context of the 1950s, a watershed period that witnessed crucial developments in South African cultural and political history. This dissertation elucidates the historical development, key personnel, the ceramics, as well as relevant technical information related to the Kalahari Studio, Drostdy Ware and Crescent Potteries. This dissertation analyses the broader socio-political and ideological paradigms that framed South African art-making, as well as the international design trends that influenced the local studio ceramics sector. The establishment and demise of the South African studio ceramics industry and requests for tariff protection were considered within this context. Significant primary research was conducted into the present status of South African studio ceramics from the 1950s in the collections of our heritage institutions. Wares of all three of the studios reveal a predilection for figurative imagery, especially images of indigenous African women and iconography derived from reproductions of Southern San parietal art. Imagery of African women is considered within the framework of the native study genre in South African painting, sculpture and photography from 1800-1950 and Africana ceramics from 1910-1950. Images of San parietal art are investigated within their historical context of a growing public and academic interest in the Bushmen and a surge in publications containing reproductions of San parietal art. Some images of African women and San parietal art conform to pejorative and theoretically problematic modernist cannons of the'other', while some are subversive and undermine the dominant pictorial and ideological artistic conventions

Queer Between the Covers

Queer Between the Covers presents a history of radical queer publishing and literature from 1880 to the modern day. Chronicling the gay struggle for acceptance and liberation, this book demonstrates how the fight for representation was often waged secretly between the covers of books at a time when public spaces for queer identities were limited. The chapters provide an array of voices and histories – from the famous, Derek Jarman and Oscar Wilde, to the lesser-known and underappreciated John Wieners and Valerie Taylor. It includes first-hand accounts of seminal moments in queer history, including the birth of Hazard Press and the Defend Gay’s the Word Bookshop campaign in the 1980s. The book demonstrates how the queer community could be brought together through shared literature. The works discussed show the imaginative and radical ways in which queer texts have fought against censorship and repression and could be used as a tool for political organisation and production. From the powerful community-wide demonstrations for Gay’s the Word during their battle with the British government, the mapping of Chicago’s queer spaces within Valerie Taylor’s pulp novels, or the anonymous but likely shared authorship of the 19th-century queer text Teleny. Queer publishing often involved a range of creative tactics to beat the censor, from self-publishing to anonymous authorship. The book also shows how collage and the repurposing of found image and text became a key queer publishing practice, from Derek Jarman’s vast creative repertoire to book artwork created by the Hazard Press. A fascinating and poignant analysis of some key historic moments for queer lib in publishing and book history, this is an essential read for those interested in how LGBTQ people throughout modernity have used literature as an important forum for self-expression and self-actualisation when spaces and sites for queer expression were taboo

‘Opting out’? nation, region and locality

This thesis considers the extent to which the BBC, arguably the nation’s most important cultural institution, attempted to meet its commitment to regional and local broadcasting in one English region, Yorkshire, between 1945 and 1990. The study focuses specifically on the extent to which a distinctive regional culture can be identified within the BBC in Yorkshire and how this changed over time while also considering how BBC programme makers both engaged with and represented the audience and the extent to which they attempted to foster place-related identity. The years 1945 to 1990 included the relaunching of English regional broadcasting at the end of World War Two, the arrival of television in the North and a redefinition of the BBC’s non-metropolitan broadcasting at the end of the 1960s with the creation of a new BBC television region based at Leeds and the launch of BBC local radio. Prior to, and then alongside, the establishment of these new services, Leeds-based producers working for the BBC North Region were bringing new voices in drama and entertainment to the attention of the nation. But by 1990 this period of relative regional autonomy and expansion had come to an end and producers of regional programmes had been told they were to focus on news and current affairs. An oral history approach has been employed alongside an analysis of programme material that concentrates on day-to-day local and regional broadcasting - programmes made in the region for the regional audience - going beyond the ‘texts’ to ask why these programmes were made and how they were made. Different aspects of programming are considered (regional television news and features, the early years of local radio) together with BBC cultures and practices

I must record the grit of my little wife Millie': Experience, representation and rural women in early 20th century British Columbia.

No abstract available.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b130418