My Day of Digital Humanities begins with crack of dawn wake up, exercise, then getting ready for work. By 715 I’m in my office ordering food for a lunch meeting.
So far my sole contact with DH work has been to sign the time sheet for the graduate assistant I’m lucky to have. She spent the semester digitizing periodicals for me, creating a spread sheet of citations, and now will start on the laborious process of cleaning the data. Because she also works as an intern I spent several hours yesterday experimenting with methods for cleaning some particularly tedious multi-column pages, and then emailing her instructions. I’m hoping to write a short part II follow up to my first post on the results of this project.
In a quick 1.5 hour break from teaching, I’m going to work on my google doc journal for a grant funded metacognition pedagogy project. No history but at least digital!
I wrote the above all before lunch, and just spent the last two hours doing the digital work to write the following, the second part of doing women’s history with digital methods.
Keyness
Keyness measures the frequency of a word in a corpus relative to is usage in another corpus. This makes it an interesting way to compare corpora. If we look at Chrysalis and OOB, the words with the highest keyness (higher value = more exceptional) the words that pop might not suprirse any scholar of women’s liberation or really any schlar familiar with feminist theory.
Critical discourse analysis, defined by Van Dijk as “the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context.”
Female, nature, body goddess, which initially would appear to be confirming descriptions and impressions of cultural feminism from the literature, but using digtal tools reveals a deeper story. While nature is more frequent in Chrysalis, Frequency 348, with kyness of 247, oob 215, both periodicasl have the same collocate & cluster for nature “nature of.” Given the other keyness words we might expect to see “the nature of the female body” or the nature of women” or the nature of the goddess. Using the concordance view reveals that “nature of” does not end with any of the ways
Instead we see nature of over 94 times in forty-five items, almost a third of those that comprise that Chrysalis concordance. Clearly the writers in this periodical liked the turn of phrase, but how are they using it? The Concordance view allows for close reading which reveals exactly how “nature of” used and very few include references to women or female or body
I spent the past almost two hours hand cleaning and culling the following data:
1 nature of painting Chrysalis 1 No. 1 Article 10 Pg 101.txt
2 nature of the ailment Chrysalis 1 No. 1 Article 7 Pg 67.txt
3 nature of her is culpable {reference to Eve, critical] Chrysalis 1 No. 1, Article Pg 31-1.txt
4 DUPLICATE
5 nature of woman [critical of male usage] Chrysalis 1 No. 1, Article 6 Pg 55.txt
6 nature of our work Chrysalis 1 No. 1, Article 6 Pg 55.txt
7 nature of the animal Chrysalis 1 No. 1, Article 6 Pg 55.txt
8 nature of sexual identity Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Table of Contents.txt letter from Eleanor Antin
9 nature of their activities.
Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Table of Contents.txt letter from Eleanor Antin
10 nature of the virtues Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Table of Contents.txt letter from Eleanor Antin
11 nature of reality. Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Table of Contents.txt letter from Eleanor Antin
13 nature of the self and “the other” Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Table of Contents.txt letter from Eleanor Antin
14 nature of the child. Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Article 1 Pg 13.txt
15 nature of my children, cause th’ey’re all grown now and got Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Article 1 Pg 13.txt
16 nature of the genre Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Article 7 Pg 51 (1).txt
17 “the nature of rape has changed” Chrysalis 10 No. 10 Article 7 Pg 51 (1).txt
18 nature of women’s everyday dress Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 12 Pg 91.txt
19 nature of human Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 16 Pg 115.txt
20 the nature of their relationship Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 16 Pg 115.txt
21 nature of his existence Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 16 Pg 115.txt
22 nature of the process of growth. Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 18 Pg 131.txt
23 nature of the creation process Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 2 Pg 11 (1).txt
24 nature of man himself, Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 2 Pg 11 (1).txt
25 nature of a culture Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 3 Pg 19 (1).txt
26 nature of the participation Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 3 Pg 19 (1).txt
27 nature of the thicket, Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 6 Pg 49.txt
28 nature of oppressive female role conditioning Chrysalis 2 No. 2 Article 7 Pg 53.txt
29 ” nature of the foundation beast” Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 13 Pg 103.txt
30 nature of political force Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 15 Pg 119.txt
31 nature of phenomenon Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 2 Pg 11.txt
32 male-centered nature Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 2 Pg 11.txt
33 nature of women and men Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 2 Pg 11.txt
34 “nature of gender dissatisfaction” Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 2 Pg 11.txt
35 nature of the women’s movement during the rapidly changing Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 6 Pg 43.txt
36 nature of our human Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 6 Pg 43.txt
37 nature of class Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 6 Pg 43.txt
38 nature of their private lives Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 6 Pg 43.txt
39 nature of women’s differing sexual preferences Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 6 Pg 43.txt
40 nature of their life’s work; and their work Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 6 Pg 43.txt
41 nature of female reality Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 8 Pg 65.txt
42 nature of reality Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 8 Pg 65.txt
43 nature of surrealism, which was its original and deepest Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 8 Pg 65.txt
44 nature of this industry Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 9 Pg 79.txt
45 nature of hair. Chrysalis 3 No. 3, Article 9 Pg 79.txt
46 nature of pornography Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 1 Pg 11.txt
47 duplicate
48 “nature of the language” Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 15 Pg 111.txt
49 the nature of the mind Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 15 Pg 111.txt
50 nature of passion among women Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 2 Pg 19.txt
51 nature of relationships Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 2 Pg 19.txt
52 nature of women. Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 4 Pg 35.txt
53 nature of causing us to divide our minds. Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 4 Pg 35.txt
54 nature of “reality” Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 9 Pg 67.txt
55 nature of Irene’s privileges. Chrysalis 4 No. 4 Article 9 Pg 67.txt
56 nature of this world Chrysalis 4 No. 4 (1) Table of Contents.txt
57 nature of any writing by women Chrysalis 4 No. 4 (1) Table of Contents.txt
58 nature of these images Chrysalis 4 No. 4 (1) Table of Contents.txt
59 nature of the institution Chrysalis 5 No. 5 Article 11 Pg 93.txt
60 nature of desire. Chrysalis 5 No. 5 Article 4 Pg 37.txt
61 nature of Elena’s Chrysalis 5 No. 5 Article 4 Pg 37.txt
62 nature of its impact Chrysalis 5 No. 5 Article 5 Pg 43.txt
63 nature of the groups Chrysalis 5 No. 5 Article 5 Pg 43.txt
64 nature of the book: Chrysalis 5 No. 5 Article 8 Pg 71.txt
65 nature of those actions Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Table of Contents.txt
66 nature of spirit. Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 1 Pg 9.txt
67 nature of their skills Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 1 Pg 9.txt
68 nature of feminism Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 11 Pg 77.txt
69 nature of interrelationships among women. Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 13 Pg 103.txt
70 nature of dialogue Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 13 Pg 103.txt
71 nature of poetry Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 13 Pg 103.txt
72 nature of their garments Chrysalis 6 No. 6 Article 6 Pg 39.txt
73 nature of our moral being Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 1 Pg 9.txt
74 nature of sexual politics Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 1 Pg 9.txt
75 “nature of publishing “ Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 11 Pg 87.txt
76 DUPLICATE
77 the nature of women Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 12 Pg 103 (1).txt
78 nature of matter Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 12 Pg 103 (1).txt
79 nature of matter Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 12 Pg 103 (1).txt
80 the nature of women. Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 12 Pg 103 (1).txt
81 nature of things; Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 12 Pg 103 (1).txt
82 nature of this knowledge Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 4 Pg 39.txt
83 nature of consciousness. Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 4 Pg 39.txt
84 nature of man Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 4 Pg 39.txt
85 nature of man Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 4 Pg 39.txt
86 nature of the relationship Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 4 Pg 39.txt
87 nature of the journal Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 4 Pg 39.txt
88 nature of death Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 6 Pg 55.txt
89 nature of the artist Chrysalis 7 No. 7 Article 6 Pg 55.txt
90 nature of this romance. Chrysalis 8 No. 8 Article 1 Pg 17.txt
91 nature of my affection Chrysalis 8 No. 8 Article 1 Pg 17.txt
92 DUPLICATE
93 nature of the self Chrysalis 8 No. 8 Article 4 Pg 43.txt
94 nature of the healing Chrysalis 8 No. 8 Article 4 Pg 43.txt
95 nature of the biological damage Chrysalis 9 No. 9 Article 2 Pg 15.txt
96 nature of that exchange. Chrysalis 9 No. 9 Article 3 Pg 29.txt
97 nature of heterosexual Chrysalis 9 No. 9 Table of Contents.txt
#41 “the nature of female reality” turns out to be from an art historical article on the women of surrealism Gloria Feman Orenstein “Leonora Carrington’s Visionary Art for the New Age” in which she argues that is key to redefining women’s place in western male-dominated art history “The study of the female imagination is perhaps the most crucial point of focus in contemporary feminist criticism in the arts, for it is that part of our total investigation into the nature of female reality that strives to understand and redefine women’s potentialities in the many as-yet-uncharted and multidimensional realms of female experience that are now unfolding.” While clearly Orenstein believes some “female experience” exists, she does not reduce it to a singular, instead referring to the “multidimensional realms”
No 50 In Susan Griffin’s article “Woman and Nature,” the full book version of which is often pointed to as a touchstone of cultural feminism, “nature of” appears three times, two of which use nature only one of which is “the nature of women” discussed in regards to her criticism of “patriarchy, [which] has always regarded and treated women and nature in the same way as nature.
#52 an reference by Jane E. Caputi in The Glamour of Grammar to the “authentic nature of women” does seem to fit the cultural feminist paradigm in that it seems to imply a “singular” nature of women
if not fully essentialist what about apolitical Orenstein refers to “potentialities” while Caputi understands witchcraft as based on “weapon)s” used “by men” to oppress women, but whether that is “politically” engaged is open to debate
The most interesting and suggestive in terms of cultural feminism revolve around the five references in a collective review of the books of Honor Moore, Mary Daly, Susan Griffin and Alix Kates Shulman, in which “Moore is shaped by a patriarchal idea of the nature of women, by an idea alien to us.” Griffin on Daly Well, your question really ought to be,”How does one not experience an idea?” Daly shows us that the whole experience of seeing and being in this culture is shaped by a patriarchal idea of the nature of women.” Review of Grffin by Daly “As the author explains, the first book, “Matter,” begins by tracing a history of patriarchy’s judgments about the nature of matter, or the nature of nature, and places these judgments side by side, chronologically, with men’s opinions about the nature of women”
In this review we might get closest to the idea of cultural feminism that glosses all of chrysalis, but when placed in the quantitative context, it becomes clear Chrysalis did not speak a univocal cultural feminism.* Chrysalis speaks nature quantitatively more than OOB, but does it speak it qualitatively differently? Next up close readings of the “nature of” in OOB.
* Another issue is that Chrysalis as art art/culture periodical speak nature in the same quantity/quality as other art world periodicals of the same era?