Representing Sexual Difference and Body: Kate Chopin and Women

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00455
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: Jissen Women's University
• Principal Investigator: SASAKI MARI 実践女子大学, 文学部, 教授 (30297436)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 女性作家 / フェミニズム / 優生学思想

Outline of Final Research Achievements

My research explores the impact of eugenics on the representation of women’s bodies in the works of women writers from the late 18th century to the early 20th century in the United States. By examining how gender differences and bodily issues were articulated, I delve into the intersection between these themes and the literary output of women writers during that period.
I conclude that a new representation of women in media during the late 19th century emphasized a healthy, white, middle-class female body, so that the strong ideological link between eugenics and the idealized female image persisted from the late 18th century to the 20th century, impacting various women writers who advocated for female liberation.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

アメリカにおける女性作家たちの作品に焦点を絞り、新たな女性像の表出を試みた女性作家の作品が、同時代の社会において趨勢を占めた優生学思想と切り結んだ関係を精緻に分析することで、時代を越えてアメリカ女性文学を捉え直す通時的な視点を獲得した。また、それによって、現在まで残る女性作家たちの問いの発端にあるものをとらえ、女性文学の理解と分析に関する新たな枠組を提供した。