"They know me as king, but they don't know my name" : negotiating the self in university beauty pageants
Using the female and male perspective, this article explores the negotiation of the self within the unique context of mixed-gendered university beauty pageants in Singapore, a tradition that has become a highlight in the freshmen experience. Through a developed Foucauldian lens which accounts...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Final Year Project |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78840 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | Using the female and male perspective, this article explores the negotiation of the self within the
unique context of mixed-gendered university beauty pageants in Singapore, a tradition that has
become a highlight in the freshmen experience. Through a developed Foucauldian lens which
accounts for agency and gender, we explore the negotiation of the self within a disciplinary
structure in pageant. Using covert participant observations and semi-structured interviews, we dug
deep into the docility and resistance in the negotiations of the ideal and the gendered self.
Ultimately, despite accounting for individual agency, we argue that there is still limited agency for
effective resistance, putting the docile body and the idea of an empowered pageantee back into the
spotlight. This paper is unique in terms of the direct comparison of the gendered experience within
the same pageant, which has not been previously explored in Singapore.
Keywords: Beauty Pageants, Self, Discipline, Docile Bodies, Masculinities and Femininities, Agency. |
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