Malwine Stauss Women Empowerment
When the notion of women empowerment comes to mind, it is imperative to understand that it pertains to the promotion of self-worth of women, their capability to be in a position to decide on their alternative, as well as their right to have an influence on social change both for their own sake and others. It is often intimately linked to female empowerment, a critical human right to gain a more prosperous and peaceful world.
Firstly, it is crucial to note that in Western countries, the postulation of female empowerment is frequently linked with particular phases of women’s rights movements in history. This movement often tends to be grouped into three areas, with the first starting during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. It was a period where the notion of voting was a vital feature. The second group began during the late 1960s and included the aspect of sexual revolution for women and the role that women essentially play in society. The last feminist group manifested during the 1990s (Silvia, 2004). Women’s empowerment and the promotion of their rights have appeared as a segment of a prominent global movement, and it is proceeding to break fresh ground in the past several years. Days such as International Women’s Empowerment Day are also gaining impetus. However, regardless of the tremendous degree of progress, girls and essentially the female gender have been facing discrimination and even violence in virtually every part of the globe. As such, personalities like Malwin Stauss have used artistic work to empower women to feel proud of themselves and never subject themselves to situations that can weigh down their esteem. Her book and works of art encourage women to rise above and limit their opportunities as society might have led them to believe throughout history.
Undoubtedly, for most people, it is impossible not to smile at the artistic works of Malwin Stauss that have almost child-like portrayals. Aside from being deemed a work with only aesthetic beauty, her works are underpinned by an intriguing and severe message that insists on women’s empowerment and inclusion. Malwin firmly insists that females are a crucial part of her work. (Luttrell et al., 2009). As such, it is also imperative to understand that most of her works use female characters to bring out the best quality about women in general. Also, her efforts as an artist are focused on depicting diversity.
Besides, through her widely acknowledged travels in areas such as Denmark, Germany, and Albania, it can be confidently maintained that they have been crucial destinations that bolstered her resolve to make artworks aimed at diversity and women empowerment. It suffices to assert that these travels have contributed to an all-round perspective of the world in the fullness of time, which can be seen as highly present in her artistic works. In most of her paintings, she makes use of soft pink. She maintains that it helps make her images both solid and soft at the same time. Given that most of her works dwell primarily on female empowerment, she has often been seen to refer to her personal experience. Regarding the hair depiction in her characters, rather than the literal depiction, she used circular balls joined indistinguishably from the cartoon sausages, often resulting in a playful chain she made across her artistic works.
Furthermore, Malwine was interested in the notion of witchcraft spirituality and the struggles women go through and relaying its trickle down the following years. For this German artist, the witch is a resistance to the feminist symbol. In her most recent project, Hexen, she connects the witches who were often ostracized throughout history and the female artists who strived to achieve recognition in their lifetime. As such, the women are given a fresh outlook as mystical creatures with magical powers and can reclaim their agency in a world dominated by females (Adichie, 2017). This is, therefore, a land with vivid colors and precise graphic shapes, landscaping an emotional area of their pleasure, escape, and even experimentation.
When the notion of witch-hunt comes to mind, it is crucial to note that they seldom appear in proletariat history. As such, it is one of world history’s most essential understudied phenomena. “…That the victims, in Europe, were mostly peasant women may account for the historians’ past indifference towards this genocide, an indifference that has bordered on complicity” (Silvia, 2004). The period whereby they were eliminating witches from historical pages has contributed mainly to underestimating the burning at the stake that often happened, implying that this was an occurrence deemed to have minor significance. Because people who studied witch-hunting in the past were predominantly men, it is crucial to note that they were inheritors of the 16th-century demonologists. In the deploration of the aspect of exterminating witches, a majority have maintained on regarding these women as “…wretched fools, afflicted by hallucinations, so Centuryeir persecution could be explained as a process of social therapy” (Silvia, 2004). As such, this was the intention to force people to have neighborly cohesion.
Also, the fact that this form of justice was often administered from a “a woman-executing viewpoint” virtually discredits the position of the victims of this brutal persecution, or
through portraying them as persons who have failed at the social levels and at times, they were regarded as perverts that enjoyed teasing around their male investigators with the sexual fantasies that they had. In one instance, it is recorded that the women who were accused of being witches frequently played well into the hands of their investigators and thereby relieved their guilt by confessing their sexual fantasies at the open courts (Silvia, 2004). During these periods, they were able, to some extent, to gain a bit of erotic gratification by dwelling on the details in the presence of their male accusers. It is essential to understand that these women, who were often emotionally disturbed to a large extent, were particularly susceptible to the idea that they had demons. As such, they confessed to having a close interrelationship with the evil spirits.
However, it was only after the feminist movement gained momentum that the aspect of witch-hunting materialized after long periods of being undermined. It was primarily associated with the feminists identifying themselves with witches, which was inevitably and symbolically deemed their female revolt symbol (Silvia, 2004). One of the reasons that made feminists strongly align themselves with witches is the postulation that the thousands of women burnt at the stake for being “witches” was because they could not be killed or subjected to these hurtful tortures unless they were deemed formidable forces, challenging the traditional structure of power.
In conclusion, Malwine Stauss’s artistic work and identification with witches aim to promote women. It aims to rise in defiance of the traditional power structure that has often been male-dominated and often dismissive of women. It is acceptable in defiance to be associated with witches to signify their power and ability to influence the world around them.
References
Adichie, C. N. (2017). Dear Ijeawele, or a feminist manifesto in fifteen suggestions. Anchor.
Luttrell, C., Quiroz, S., Scrutton, C., & Bird, K. (2009). Understanding and operationalizing empowerment (pp. 1-16). London: Overseas Development Institute.
Silvia, F. (2004). Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation. Brooklyn (NY), Autonomedia.
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Question 
Students will choose one artist who self-identifies as a “witch” or whose work has been critiqued as engaging in the discussion around alternative artistic or spiritual practices based on an in-depth analysis of why this is so. Write a manifesto of that artist’s stance/positioning in the more extensive discussion of the course. PDF or Word doc only. 1000 words.
Malwine Stauss Women Empowerment
Artist Chosen: Malwine Stauss
Course:
The Evolution of the Femme: From Witches to Madam Vice President
Major Themes:
Misrepresentation/stigmatization of the feminine
Social and legal justice for women (through history)
The body as space and place
Reproductive rights
Women in Religion
Women’s Rights
Women in politics
Course Synopsis:
This course analyzes the root and development of the term “witch” as a means of exploring the historical and systemic oppression of women and the stigmatization of the feminine. The proposed “Study Domestic” course examines our history with these US themes. We begin by exploring how the fear of the unknown, severe oppression from the Christian Church, and other realities of life during the 19th and 20th Centuries cemented a series of ideals and moral and behavioral codes that have made it possible for systemic issues of inequality to continue to exist today. Students will get a chance to prepare for the themes they will be coming face to face with on the course’s travel portion by critically analyzing important texts around these and related topics. The course will focus on writings at the intersection of race, gender, oppression, and agency. The themes will be explored in gender studies, religion, history, sociology, ethnography, performance, politics, and the arts. Students will critically examine theoretical and first-hand accounts of this experience and performances (staged and mediated) centered on these themes.
Additionally, this course examines the implications of these themes in the evolutionary role of women in politics—as voters, citizens, candidates, and leaders from the Seneca Falls Convention to the first woman VP, Kamala Harris. The role of women’s organizations and movements in expanding political and legal rights is also explored. Students will learn to recognize their biases entrenched in patriarchal/religious values and how to live through a more intersectional lens. Finally, each student will apply for an internship in DC related to women’s empowerment in politics.
Travel Component:
The course will then continue in New York, where students will get to meet and engage with artivists currently reclaiming the term witch or bruja as a means of agency and alignment with the othering that has long been part of the silencing and shaming of women. The works of Luciana Achugar (- https://nyuskirball.org/performance-matters/studies/prepschool-brujx/ and Yara Travieso (film-maker and producer who mixes equal parts Latin American magical realism, popular culture, and mythology in her work – https://belatina.com/meet-yara-travieso-artist/, will be of particular interest in examining how contemporary women artists are using these terms to align with discourses centered on a reclaiming of power and illuminating spaces long relegated to the margins. Students will also visit various museums to review the historical plights of women. This is followed by visits to the United Nations and UN Women for a tour of women’s role in the global sphere. Finally, the exploration will culminate in Washington, DC, where students can examine how this translates into the systems that govern us and policymaking. We collaborated with DC to provide meet and greets with representatives, potential employers tours, and interviews. The trip will conclude with a well-rounded perspective of women’s history, present, and future in politics and how it intersects with the fields of religion and gender studies.
During this course, students will:
Research the evolution of the “witch” from at least three disciplinary perspectives and analyze how this term has been used historically to justify oppression against women.
Learn the practical applications of said terms in distinct religious, socio-cultural, socio-political, and artistic discourse and become familiar with other terms that intersect in these discussions, including decolonization, identity consciousness and formation, and embodiment.
Compare and contrast histories of women’s representation in the US in religious, social, and political fields.
Evaluate the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in political institutions in the US and the international sphere.
Analyze the effect of gender and stereotypes on politics and policymaking.
Read scholarly and creative literature that tackles themes of witchcraft and alternative spiritual practices and herblore.
Analyze at least five case studies focused on different aspects of the “performance” of said identity that reflect what the embodiment of said identity means in a contemporary context.
Discuss the implications of terms (like witch and bruja) and related concepts, their nuances in intercultural understanding, identity consciousness, and performance, and what this means for its socio-political implications.
Read/watch and analyze texts/performances by artists and writers self-identifying as “witch,” bruja, bruxa, or “other” and compare how liminality is discussed, integrated, and “performed” in these spaces.
Examine the evolutionary role of women in politics- as voters, citizens, candidates, and leaders- from the Seneca Falls Convention to the first woman VP, Kamala Harris.
Analyze how religion plays a role in societal constructs, law, and political issues that are up for debate.
Produce an original piece of written work that analyzes the role of gender in the political sphere in the US.
Apply for an internship/job in DC.
Classwork:
In addition to their readings, class and online discussions, and case studies, students will have a chance to visit sites where these ideas have a long-standing history, engage with politicians and historians, activists, and artists at the forefront of these discussions, and draw their conclusion as to the validity of terminologies and their use. They will have a chance to view performance (both as ontology and epistemology) with a critical eye and to develop the capacity to ask questions that lead to critical discussions in gender studies and spirituality.
In class, before the travel to each city, students will engage in a series of discussions and examine specific case studies as examples of applied theory. Those students registering for the course under religion will have community liaisons they will engage with before travel through two interviews/conversations and a post-trip debriefing consultation where they will discuss their findings on the socio-political implications of these ideas/practices. Writers whose work we will be examining include but are not limited to Audrey Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, Shirley Chisolm, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Diana Taylor. Additionally, the course focuses on the approaches, concepts, and methods of women’s and gender studies and how they apply to the intersection of religion/spiritual practices and policy. Students are encouraged to consider how the theoretical lens of gender allows us to rethink traditional analyses of religious systems, governing bodies, social practices, political processes, and theories in all three fields, thereby enhancing their understanding of the application of religious and political studies. Finally, it will place those who choose to acquire an internship on the playing field.
Required Textbook:
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Course Schedule:
Video: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists (Links to an external site.)
Module 1 – Weeks 2-5 – Misrepresentation/stigmatization of the feminine
Discussion in class: Understanding the link between mythologies and conception of gender.
Read before class: Despite Plato – “The Case of Penelope” (Intro and pgs. 11-30)
Discussion in Class: The Disappearance or silencing of women in “historical data.”
Read before class: Chapters 1 and 12, “The Path to Pokrovka” and “From Celts to Mongols: Women of Business and Kingmakers” in Warrior Women: An Archeologist’s Search of History’s Hidden Heroines.
Discussion in class: Understanding how we got here – Beginnings.
Read before class: Introduction and Chapter 1, “All the World Needs a Jolt” in Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body, and Primitive Accumulation.
Discussion in Class: Understanding how we got here – Transitions and Cementing Ideas.
Read before class: Chapter 2, “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women: Constructing ‘Difference’ in the ‘Transition to Capitalism'” in Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body and Primitive Accumulation and “Teaching, Marriage and the Political Idea” in Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm.