Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas

Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas
Author: Jessica M. Floyd
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2024-08-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1496853148

During his correspondence with erotic folklore collector Gershon Legman, famed chantey singer and collector Stan Hugill (1906–1992) shared unexpurgated versions of the songs in his repertoire. These bawdy songs were meant to be a part of Legman’s larger project concerning erotic folksong. Upon Legman’s death in 1999, the unfinished and unpublished manuscript sank into obscurity and was believed by many to be permanently lost. Thankfully this “holy grail” of chantey texts had been safe in the private collection of Legman’s widow, Judith Legman, all along. Cabin Boys, Milkmaids, and Rough Seas: Identity in the Unexpurgated Repertoire of Stan Hugill is the first critical investigation of this repository, reproduced here for the first time. Training an interdisciplinary lens on twenty-four unexpurgated texts, author Jessica M. Floyd interrogates the articulation of gender, sexuality, and identity as it is expressed in these cultural artifacts of the sea. Opening with both a critical explication of the chantey genre, as well as situating Hugill’s repertoire in the canon of folksong, the book introduces readers to the critical realities that attend this rich cultural tradition. Analytical chapters demonstrate the kaleidoscopic representation of gender and sexuality in this finite repertoire. Each inquiry is connected and overlapping, demonstrating an ebb and flow not unlike the waters on which the songs were sung. Words of warning, heteronormative economies, and queer undercurrents each collide to present an image of sailing life that is nuanced and complicated, provocative and evocative, transgressive and sometimes radical. The volume allows scholars to place a finger on the pulse of maritime life, feeling and experiencing one voice among the din of working-class song traditions.

The Goddess as Role Model

The Goddess as Role Model
Author: Heidi R.M. Pauwels
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2008-10-09
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0195369904

This book seeks to understand the major mythological role models that mark the moral landscape navigated by young Hindu women. Traditionally, the goddess Sita, faithful consort of the god Rama, is regarded as the most important positive role model for women. The case of Radha, who is mostly portrayed as a clandestine lover of the god Krishna, seems to challenge some of the norms the example of Sita has set. That these role models are just as relevant today as they have been in the past is witnessed by the popularity of the televised versions of their stories, and the many allusions to them in popular culture.Taking the case of Sita as main point of reference, but comparing throughout with Radha, Pauwels studies the messages sent to Hindu women at different points in time. She compares how these role models are portrayed in the most authoritative versions of the story. She traces the ancient, Sanskrit sources, the medieval vernacular retellings of the stories and the contemporary TV versions as well.This comparative analysis identifies some surprising conclusions about the messages sent to Indian women today, which belie the expectations one might have of the portrayals in the latest, more liberal versions. The newer messages turn out to be more conservative in many subtle ways. Significantly, it does not remain limited to the religious domain. By analyzing several popular recent and classical hit movies that use Sita and Radha tropes, Pauwels shows how these moral messages spill into the domain of popular culture for commercial consumption.