'A rod of her own' : women and angling in victorian North America

This thesis will argue that angling was a complex cultural phenomenon that had developed into a respectable sport for women during the Early Modern period in Britain. This heterogeneous tradition was inherited by many Victorian women who found it to be a vehicle through which they could find access to nature and where they could respectably exercise a level of authority, autonomy, and agency within the confines of a patriarchal society. That some women were conscious of these opportunities and were deliberate in their use of angling to achieve their goals while others happened upon them in a more unassuming manner, underscores how angling also functioned as a canopy of camouflage within Victorian society. In other words, though it outwardly appeared as a simple recreational activity, angling possessed the ability to function as a meta-narrative for its adherents, where the larger experiences and intentions of women became subtly intertwined, if not hidden, within the actual activity itself.

Authors

• McMurray, David
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• Dissertations, Academic
• Women fishers -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
• Fishing -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
• Fishing -- Great Britain -- Sociological aspects
• Women fishers -- Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century

Identifier

hdl:10133/537

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/537