Beoku-Betts, Josephine

Although Black women appear to be more at risk for HIV/AIDS than other
women in the U.S., there is little information from positive Black women about positive
Black women's prevention perspectives, the failure of the prevention models, and their
perspectives on effective prevention measures. Black women with HIV/AIDS are
configured primarily as victims, poor, sexually deviant, or inferior moms who pass
disease to their children. Research helps to reinforce these misconceptions by primarily
examining HIV related behaviors outside of a race, class, and gendered framework. Since
the perspective of HIV positive Black women are not addressed comprehensively in the
design of prevention programs, the eradication of HIV among African American women
has not been effective.
This research investigates positive Black women's perspectives and concerns on
effective HIV prevention informed by their lived experience and situated knowledge.
Theories of intersectionality of race, class, gender and stigma, and reciprocal
empowerment inform this study. Study results reveal that the threat of being associated
with factors of HIV/AIDS intersectional stigma can cut off African American women
from their survival systems that help them subvert oppression. Factors that create and
maintain these systems are experiences of communal connections, familial relations, and social respect; and are privileged in the HIV prevention decision making process of study
participants. Most HIV education, care, and treatment is obtained in public institutions,
thus many women are hesitant to seek assistance. Consequently, intersectional stigmas
obstruct HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment for African American women. I
reframe HIV/AIDS in order to subvert the stigma and discrimination associated with the
virus that leaves many Black women cut off from their base.
Methodologically, the study is qualitative and situated within Black women's
narrative analysis for the systematic examination of individual experience and meaning. I
utilize in-depth interviews, participant observation, and some additional ethnographic
data. The fieldwork was carried out over several months with the Comprehensive Family
AIDS Program in Florida. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with HIV positive
African American women interviewing them on their position of what constitutes
relevant and applicable HIV/AIDS prevention.

This thesis addresses the integration of women soldiers into the
masculine-dominated institution of the United States military services. It
chronicles the history of women as soldiers from the Revolutionary War to the
present conflict in Iraq. This study first examines the gendered
marginalization of women in the United States military, investigating and
analyzing women's participation in the areas of recruitment, training,
deployment, and rank, establishing that women are marginalized. Following .
that examination, I argue that women soldiers are agents using the court
system to challenge their marginalized identity as soldiers. I conclude by
suggesting that women soldiers are working to achieve a critical mass that will
empower them to change the military from within.

My paper critically examines the U.S. home health aide industry through a feminist analysis of
the relationships between home health aides, their patients, and the medical establishment. This
research adds to current feminist scholarship on care work by focusing on the social, legal and
personal relationships impacting the lives of those who give and receive care. According to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, home health aides are one of the lowest paid members of the
healthcare field, and hiring agencies expect high turnover rates and few long-term careers. Aides
provide basic care services such as bathing, dressing, and meal preparation for elderly and
disabled clients. This industry is situated at the boundary between the public/private divide,
leading to many challenges as paid care work is performed in private homes. Historically, care
work was an expected duty done freely by the women of the family, but today much of the vital
intimate caring labor is relegated to a workforce made up predominantly of immigrant and
women of color. I add to feminist debates on gender and caregiving using intersectional analysis
and standpoint theory; discussing how race and class impact women’s ability to care for their
own families as they are paid very little caring for others. I address the implications for the
medical establishment to promote sustainable caring relationships between care recipients and
providers, and conclude that caring for the caregiver is essential in order to ensure a successful
model for patient care.

This research provides a feminist perspective on the lowest paid sector of the United States long-term care industry, Certified Nursing Assistants. This research adds to current feminist scholarship on the modern professional caregiving industry by focusing on the perspective of the workers. As the population of older adults requiring care is expected to increase over the coming decades, the demand for paid caregivers will increase as well. Historically, care work was an expected duty done freely by the women of the family, but today much of the vital intimate caring labor is relegated to paid caregivers. I examine how alternative social, political and economic frameworks can transform United States society’s attitude towards the increasingly relevant issue of caring labor. I argue that incorporating a feminist perspective will be helpful in developing a sustainable model for caring labor that acknowledges the dignity of both patients and their caregivers.

In this thesis I utilize a feminist case study method to explore gender, race, authenticity, and nationalism in the context of globalization. Each year, Guatemala conducts two ethno-racially distinct pageants – one indigenous, the other ladina. The indigenous pageant prides itself on the authentic display of indigenous culture and physiognomies. On the contrary, during the westernized ladina pageant, contestants strive to adhere to western beauty ideals beauty and cultural norms engendered by discourses of whiteness. However, when the winner advances to the Miss World Pageant, they misappropriate elements of Mayan culture to express an authentic national identity in a way that is digestible to an international audience. In the study that follows, I examine the ways in which national and international pageants are reflective of their respective levels of social and political conflict and how they serve as mechanisms of manipulation by the elite at the national and global levels.

Although the work of women artists has been widely discussed within feminist scholarship from a Euro-American perspective, there is currently little published discourse on the visual art produced by Third-World women within the context of postcolonial and Black feminist theories. This study explores the hypothesis that using the lens of postcolonial and Black feminist theories to examine the work of women artists situated in a Third World environment may identify signifiers of women's agency and empowerment.

Gender based witchcraft violence in Ghana is one of the ways in which violence against women manifests itself in the society. Historical analysis of witchcraft in Africa is widely addressed in the literature, however, there is a comparative neglect of the gender dimensions of witchcraft violence and consequences for such women in terms of human rights violations. Within the northern agriculture regions of Ghana, the legitimacy of female land inheritance, in addition to government pressure to seek out western medical care instead of low-cost traditional herbalists, are threatening power structures and sparking witchcraft violence. Locating witchcraft violence in Ghana within the human rights discourse of the women's movement tells a horrific story of modern femicide. Grassroots organizations which seek to honor and respect elderly women suspected of witchcraft points to women's resistance to oppressive structures while demanding action based initiatives from the state to improve the lives of women.

This study seeks to examine the influence of patriarchal forces, at both the local and global level, that have historically resulted in the lack of recognition of gender-specific crimes committed during and after armed conflict. By incorporating the testimonies of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian women, this study attempts to understand sexual violence from the standpoint of women who experienced these crimes during the War in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1991--1995). Theories of Third World feminisms, in addition to feminist critiques concerning rape and international law, will inform this analysis of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). I intend to show that despite greater recognition of sexual violence during armed conflict in IHL, patriarchal forces continue to obfuscate the gender-specificity of these crimes.