Spencer, Ilana
(2024)
Constructing White Femininity: Race, Gender, and Power in Haredi and White Christian Texts.
Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This article explores the processes of whitening through targeted gendered practices. Utilizing cultural artifacts and texts sourced from two distinct religious communities, I investigate the ways in which embodiment practices regulate the body for use as a focal point of power. Institutional practices are realized through texts such as school rule handbooks, which form the basis of this textual analysis. These handbook texts coordinate and reproduce social relations historically rooted in racial differentiation. Analysis of these texts and artifacts reveals the institutional regime’s expectations that Haredi girls reproduce historically white, American femininity in the Jewish community. Instantiations of this white femininity are found through cultural artifacts designed for both the mainstream white communities and ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jewish community texts, both of which I draw upon to illustrate racialized gender production within broader contexts. These texts are evidence of institutional influences on everyday embodiment practices, dress codes, and comportment. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how constructs, practices, and interpretations of gender production and whitening intersect with embodiment practices within diverse cultural contexts, specifically the White Christian Nationalism that galvanizes these processes in this case.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| Contributors: |
| Contribution | Contributors Name | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Brush, Lisa | lbrush@pitt.edu | lbrush | UNSPECIFIED | | Committee Member | Hughes, Melanie | hughesm@pitt.edu | hughesm | UNSPECIFIED |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
November 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Acceptance |
| Defense Date: |
November 2024 |
| Approval Date: |
19 December 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
12 December 2024 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
59 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Sociology |
| Degree: |
MA - Master of Arts |
| Thesis Type: |
Master's Thesis |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
gender, race, ethnicity, whiteness studies, critical theory, haredi, Jewish, textual analysis, American femininity |
| Date Deposited: |
19 Dec 2024 21:10 |
| Last Modified: |
10 Apr 2025 15:14 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/47242 |
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