This thesis focuses on the ways in which the linguistic choices of drag queens can play a role in their identity performance. Transcripts from season nine of the television show RuPaul’s Drag Race...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the ways in which the linguistic choices of drag queens can play a role in their identity performance. Transcripts from season nine of the television show RuPaul’s Drag Race were analysed in order to determine what lexical and grammatical features were more common among drag queens on this show than in general English conversation. The pervasive features of their language were then considered in their context to see how these features could possibly relate to the construction and performance of identity. The results show that the language of drag queens can be seen as drawing attention to one’s own personality and identity as a drag performer and as imitating stereotypically female ways of using language. In addition, the language of drag queens contains a strong emphasis on collective identity as a subgroup within the broader LGBTQ+ community.Show less
Ranging from prose to poetry, many children’s books use features such as rhyme, rhythm and repetition in order to help children familiarise themselves with a new language and enlarge their...Show moreRanging from prose to poetry, many children’s books use features such as rhyme, rhythm and repetition in order to help children familiarise themselves with a new language and enlarge their linguistic toolbox. As children’s books are often to children it is important that these books and their translation meet a certain level of ‘performativity’ in order to be successfully read aloud. This thesis aims to examine whether Low’s point-scoring schema for the evaluation of rhyme (2008) and ‘pentathlon principle’ can be used as a quality assessment tool for the translation of children’s books into Dutch and if these models can be used to help improve the reading aloud of songs and poems in children’s books. By means of a Thinking Aloud Protocol and the awarding of points via Low’s point schema, the results showed that whilst the schema can definitely help translators when translating children’s song, there are still some key issues – such as repetition – that need to be addressed before Low’s models can be used as a quality assessment tool.Show less
Museums have been traditionally a public sphere of heteronormativity; that is, an institution which privileges the narrative of two sexes from a heterosexual perspective. Recent exhibition makings...Show moreMuseums have been traditionally a public sphere of heteronormativity; that is, an institution which privileges the narrative of two sexes from a heterosexual perspective. Recent exhibition makings around the world have attempted to go beyond this gender norm and coincide with the latest LGBTIQ social rights movements. This thesis asks how LGBTIQ-theme exhibitions can challenge the normalized gender and sexuality in the museum. It addresses this question by proposing a theoretical framework of queer curating based on Judith Butler’s performativity theory and aims to rethink ways of exhibition display. Bringing queer theory into curatorial practice, the thesis explores the critical intervention of the Schwules Museum*(the Gay Museum* in Berlin) and examines how the curators reflect on displaying approaches in exhibition space. To rethink human sexualities in a more nuanced way, critical exhibition makings not only display diverse sexualities but also reveal the institutional neglect of non-conforming gender subjects and open up possibilities of performing diverse sexualities in museums.Show less
