title: Ritual Performance in the American Feminist Utopian and Dystopian Novel from the Twentieth to the Twenty-First Century
creator: Freitag, Ulrike
subject: ddc-390
subject: 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore
subject: ddc-800
subject: 800 Literature and rhetoric
subject: ddc-810
subject: 810 American literature in English
description: This thesis explores the significance of ritual acts in feminist speculative fiction as a lens through which to examine the construction of gender, power, and resistance in both utopian and dystopian contexts. Against the backdrop of socio-political developments since the beginning of the twenty-first century - marked by increasing attacks on women’s rights and growing global inequality - the resurgence of feminist dystopian narratives reflects a growing cultural unease about stalled progress toward gender equality. This context provides a compelling rationale for examining the renewed popularity of feminist speculative fiction in recent decades and the narrative functions of ritual therein.    The analysis focuses on a selection of feminist speculative novels from the North American literary tradition, written over the span of more than a century. These texts represent a wide spectrum of feminist visions and fall into three broad categories: utopian, dystopian, and hybrid forms. A shared cultural background among the authors allows for a consistent comparative analysis grounded in ritual theory as developed in Western academic contexts.    Drawing on theoretical concepts from ritual studies - particularly those related to performance, social order, and symbolic meaning - the thesis argues that rituals in these works function not only as mechanisms of control used by oppressive regimes but also as transformative and symbolic acts of resistance. Rituals surrounding themes such as gender roles, reproductive rights, family structures, and political participation are shown to play a central role in maintaining or subverting existing power relations. In dystopian narratives, ritual practices often reinforce hierarchical, patriarchal systems, while in utopian visions they can enable solidarity, agency, and the construction of alternative social frameworks.    The methodological approach combines literary analysis with insights from gender theory and anthropology. This interdisciplinary framework highlights how feminist speculative fiction uses ritual as a structural and thematic device to critique dominant ideologies and to imagine new forms of community and identity.
date: 2025
type: Dissertation
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/36406/1/PDFA-1a%2002.05.25.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00036406
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-364067
identifier:   Freitag, Ulrike  (2025) Ritual Performance in the American Feminist Utopian and Dystopian Novel from the Twentieth to the Twenty-First Century.  [Dissertation]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/36406/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/help/license_urhg.html
language: eng