Being and Becoming Visible

Being and Becoming Visible is a remarkable compilation of previously published articles that examine female representation from feminist perspectives in a variety of performative and visual media across geographical and disciplinary boundaries. The collection is a valuable text for use in courses that focus on visual culture, representation, gender identity, and the media. -- Jill Bystydzienski, The Ohio State University

Instructors in feminist, cultural, and media studies who are looking for global perspectives will find that this fresh and provocative volume encourages students to see new connections among a variety of trends in contemporary scholarship.Spanning geographical, cultural, and methodological boundaries, the essays in Being and Becoming Visible examine female representation in a variety of performative and visual media. Olga M. Mesropova and Stacey Weber-Feve situate the disciplines of visual culture and performance studies within two conceptual frameworks-multicultural and feminist-through the overarching thematic trope of visibility. The contributors offer a mix of sociohistorical, ethnographic, ideological, postcolonial, and cultural approaches to the study of female representation in performance, visual, and consumer cultures. They examine curatorship, mythological representation of women, the interrelationship of mother and child, domestic gender roles, domestic abuse, and indigenous female representation. The volume includes case studies related to such diverse genres and media as theater, cinema, painting, television, performance activism, and photography from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Instructors in feminist, cultural, and media studies who are looking for global perspectives will find that this fresh and provocative volume encourages students to see new connections among a variety of trends in contemporary scholarship.