Publication Date
5-2022
Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)
12-13-2021
Type of Culminating Activity
Thesis
Degree Title
Master of Arts in Communication
Department
Communication
Major Advisor
Manda V. Hicks, Ph.D.
Advisor
Nivea Castaneda, Ph.D.
Advisor
Amy Arellano, Ph.D.
Abstract
The socialization one experiences throughout their lifetime informs their communication behaviors with others around them. Coming of age in a rural, Westernized geography instilled in me a unique sense of femininity that was constructed to complement the narratives significant to the cultural context of Rural America. This research discusses multiple dominant and marginalized forms of gender and these identities’ relationships to the gendered experiences that I had growing up in rural Montana. This autoethnography is composed of narrated experiences, pre-teen assessments, and poetic descriptions of the disciplining I was confronted with throughout my childhood in my small, ranching community. I utilize feminist scholarship and interpretivist-informed paradigms to investigate my interpersonal experiences from multiple reflective perspectives to provide a rich and nuanced evaluation of the long-term impacts enforcing cultural scripts on others can beget.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.18122/td.1961.boisestate
Recommended Citation
Wichman, Randi, "Rural Embodiments of Femininity: An Autoethnographic Approach to Gender Narratives" (2022). Boise State University Theses and Dissertations. 1961.
https://doi.org/10.18122/td.1961.boisestate