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Abstract
This dissertation is an examination of American media discourses pertaining to democracy and feminism in Iraq and Afghanistan during the U.S.-led military conflicts. The major focus is the circular relationship between gender and democracy. The project scrutinizes the ways that gender norms have influenced perceptions of democracy and the ways that democracy has influenced what are believed to be acceptable gender behaviors. Through an analysis of both news media and popular media, this dissertation explores the implications for linking a performance of gender with a performance of democracy. I focus on three rituals that are deemed democratic and investigate the way democratic and gendered rituals function during wartime.I pursue a close textual analysis of three case studiesthe photographs of the Iraqi election of 2005, the book Kabul Beauty School, and the blog Baghdad Burningconcluding that they offer three distinct instances of gendered, ritualized democracy. In the first case study chapter, which examines photographs after the 2005 elections in Iraq, the images are very focused on markers of both democracy and femininity. The captions and uses of the photographs suggest that the two themes are seen as complimentary. The second case study, which is a memoir about the beauty industry in Afghanistan, is explicitly about female empowerment and less obviously about democracy promotion. By contrast, the third case study, which looks at a popular blog written by an Iraqi woman, contains recognizable discussions of democracy but an emphasis on gendered bodies is not readily apparent. Analysis of these texts allows for a better understanding of the origins of these rituals and behaviors.