Moaning with pleasure and keening through pain: Eroticism in the work of Patti Smith, Björk and Tanya Tagaq

Within our largely androcentric society, women’s voices are still underrepresented in the conversation about eroticism in all spheres of discourse, whether artistic, academic or popular. Women still face greater obstacles than men when it comes to free erotic expression in life and art. This dissertation aims to diversify the discussion of female sexuality in music by examining the work of three experimental artists in the realm of popular music—Patti Smith, Björk and Tanya Tagaq—as well as Anna Pidgorna’s song cycle Invented Folksongs, focusing specifically on their varied explorations of sexuality, gender, romantic relationships and sexualized violence. These artists are united by their idiosyncratic and highly expressive uses of the voice, which becomes an important avenue for exploring eroticism and pleasure both on the intellectual and the physical plane. Detailed musical and poetic analyses of particular works are linked to larger cultural contexts, drawing on diverse scholarship in psychology, sociology, feminism, evolutionary psychology and biology, and history. Patti Smith’s “Break It Up” from Horses is analyzed through the lens of her favorite childhood character, Peter Pan, whom she connected with the idea of eternal youth and existence beyond the gender binary. For Patti Smith, youthful androgyny is the key to free artistic and sexual expression. Peter Pan, who acts as the guide to Neverland, becomes an entry point into Björk’s “Hidden Place” from Vespertine. In this more gendered reading of J.M. Barrie’s classic children story, Neverland and “Hidden Place” are framed as the emergence of autonomous female erotic fantasy, which exists independently of any particular man. Traditional lamentation practices and their connections with eroticism inform the discussion of Björk’s album Vulnicura, which traces the breakup of a longterm romantic relationship. Tanya Tagaq’s free-form novel Split Tooth offers a gateway to her rejection of colonialist values through a largely wordless exploration of Inuit animistic spirituality in her album Animism. Anna Pidgorna’s song cycle Invented Folksongs draws on poetic imagery and musical gestures from Ukrainian folk music to explore contemporary issues of gender, sexuality, relationships and sexual violence

On the Eve of Ivan Kupalo

This paper examines the process behind the creation of "On the eve of Ivan Kupalo," a chamber opera in a prologue and four scenes scored for seven singers, accordion, piano, and percussion. Drawing heavily on Ukrainian folklore, the opera explores the particular singing style used in Ukrainian villages and incorporates existing folk repertoire into a musical language, which freely mixes diatonicism, chromaticism, and atonality. The work frames the experience of village dwellers within the ritualized structure of the Kupalo festival, a pagan tradition, which merged with the Christian persona of St. John the Baptist. The analysis of the music and libretto concludes with a discussion of how this opera fits into post-19th century operatic development as a whole, and where it stands in relation to contemporary operatic composition in Ukraine and Canada

Representation, redundancy, and resilience :waterfowl and the National Wildlife Refuge System /by Abba B. Pidgorna.

The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) is a network of 545 protected areas designated to manage and protect wildlife in the U.S. The 1997 NWRS Improvement Act requires the NWRS to be managed in a manner consistent with the preservation of its biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health. I used the principles of representation, redundancy, and resilience as indicators of biological integrity and diversity of 43 waterfowl species on NWRS lands. Waterfowl plays an extremely important role in the life of the American public and has been a priority conservation target for the NWRS for over 70 years. I evaluated the representation and redundancy of waterfowl species on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) at three geographic/ecological (national, flyway, and climatic) and two temporal (all-season and breeding) scales. The assessment of resilience included three parameters: the proportion of a waterfowl species' range captured by the NWRS, the number of cities and interstate highways in proximity to refuges, and the projected changes to the breeding ranges of waterfowl on the NWRS as a result of global climate change. I found that waterfowl species occur on at least 45% of NWRs in their all-season range. Ten waterfowl species, eight of which were dabbling ducks, occurred on two or more NWRs across all scales of analyses. Ten waterfowl species had at least 10% of their all-season range and 17 species had 10% of their breeding range in the U.S. captured by the NWRS. NWRs in the Central Flyway and in Alaska had the lowest number of cities and interstate highways in their surrounding 50- and 10-km buffers. Forty-one waterfowl species were projected to retain some part of their breeding range on the NWRS as a result of global climate change. One species, the spectacled eider, was projected to lose its breeding range from the NWRS.;Although the NWRS was designed to capture waterfowl diversity at a multitude of scales, it will not be sufficient to maintain waterfowl populations in perpetuity, especially in the face of global climate change. Therefore, steps must be taken to strengthen the NWRS primarily by incorporating the surrounding matrix into the design of the NWRS through collaborative conservation partnerships with surrounding landowners.Thesis (Ph. D., Environmental Science)--University of Idaho, May 2007

By the Numbers

The current endangered species list has its administrative beginnings in 1964 when the Department of the Interior\u27s Committee on Rare and Endangered Wildlife Species published a preliminary list of 62 species at risk of extinction (Goble, forthcoming). Following the enactment of the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 (ESPA), the secretary of the interior in 1967 published the first official list of 78 native fish and wildlife threatened with extinction (ESPA sec. l(c); U.S. Department of the Interior 1967; Wilcove and McMillan, this volume). By the time the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was adopted in 1973, there were 392 species on the list (Yaffee 1982). These first lists included only vertebrate species. On the thirtieth anniversary of the ESA, the number stood at 1,260 domestic species and 558 foreign species (USFWS 2003a), with plant and invertebrate species outnumbering vertebrates. This chapter presents a graphical summary encapsulating thirty years of species protection and restoration under the ESA. The summary reveals both gains and losses. For some species, such as the Aleutian Canada goose (Branta canadensis leucopareia), the process worked as it was meant to, reversing decline and restoring populations to healthy levels (USFWS 2001a); for others, such as the dusky seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens), the process failed, and despite being listed the species continued to spiral toward eventual extinction (USFWS 1983; Walters 1992). What follows is an assessment of the state of species protection as it has evolved under the ESA. This includes the taxonomie and demographie distribution of listed species, and the number of critical habitat designations. We also examine newer legal tools for conserving habitat on private land (such as habitat conservation plans), various measures of the act\u27s success, and funding levels for species protection

Climate Change Adaptation for the US National Wildlife Refuge System

Since its establishment in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) has grown to 635 units and 37 Wetland Management Districts in the United States and its territories. These units provide the seasonal habitats necessary for migratory waterfowl and other species to complete their annual life cycles. Habitat conversion and fragmentation, invasive species, pollution, and competition for water have stressed refuges for decades, but the interaction of climate change with these stressors presents the most recent, pervasive, and complex conservation challenge to the NWRS. Geographic isolation and small unit size compound the challenges of climate change, but a combined emphasis on species that refuges were established to conserve and on maintaining biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health provides the NWRS with substantial latitude to respond. Individual symptoms of climate change can be addressed at the refuge level, but the strategic response requires system-wide planning. A dynamic vision of the NWRS in a changing climate, an explicit national strategic plan to implement that vision, and an assessment of representation, redundancy, size, and total number of units in relation to conservation targets are the first steps toward adaptation. This adaptation must begin immediately and be built on more closely integrated research and management. Rigorous projections of possible futures are required to facilitate adaptation to change. Furthermore, the effective conservation footprint of the NWRS must be increased through land acquisition, creative partnerships, and educational programs in order for the NWRS to meet its legal mandate to maintain the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the system and the species and ecosystems that it supports