This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by the Faculty's staff and students. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2671 2026-10-04T04:06:18Z 2026-10-04T04:06:18Z Henry, Lucy Victoria http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38351 2026-09-28T13:35:59Z 2026-01-03T00:00:00Z

Title: ‘According to Justice’: Women’s interactions with the Inverness Sheriff Court, 1777-95 Author(s): Henry, Lucy Victoria Abstract: This thesis examines the Inverness sheriff court criminal processes and assesses their documentary value for historians of gender, Scots law, and social history. The sheriff court represented a locus for Inverness civic life but was not solely an urban institution. Over the period under study, the court made significant efforts towards improving and cementing access to law throughout Inverness-shire, appointing various court personnel throughout rural parishes. This was primarily an attempt to counteract entrenched pockets of resistance to state authority in various areas, particularly Lochaber. It is clear that lower-order Inverness-shire residents were aware of their rights and ability to access the law, and frequently utilised the sheriff court system to adjudicate disputes and to obtain justice in response to experienced harm. This thesis will first examine the institution of the Inverness sheriff court, its place in civic society, and the men who wielded the state power instilled in the inferior court system. It will then analyse a range of crimes for what relevant cases reveal about women’s interactions with this court system, including lawburrows, resistance to judicial authority, and sexual violence. It concludes that while the surviving criminal processes of the Inverness sheriff court are vital sources of information regarding women’s lives in the late eighteenth century Highlands, analysing women in isolation does not reveal the full picture of lower-order legal interactions at this time. Women very frequently collaborated with or were supported in their attempts to gain justice by men in their communities and kinship groups. Therefore, by considering what these documents reveal about community actions and familial support in relation to the law, we gain a fuller understanding of both how the law was administered in the Highlands at this time, and how women’s lives were lived within their communities.

2026-01-03T00:00:00Z Hope, Simon http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38336 2026-09-18T16:46:15Z 2026-06-25T00:00:00Z

Title: In Defense of (Kantian) Imperfect Duty Author(s): Hope, Simon Abstract: This paper argues for three points. First (very briefly): Kant’s criteria of perfect/ imperfect duty should not be conflated with other perfect/imperfect distinctions. Second (less briefly): when you reflect on the duties you, as a human being, are under, you find reason to accept Kant’s distinction; it tracks important considerations. Third (and not at all briefly): the common objection to Kant’s distinction in modern philosophy—that it misclassifies some duties of aid—fails. I argue for this last point on two lines. I show that familiar arguments for reclassification face serious difficulties. I then attempt to undermine the assumption that “directed” duties are all, or almost all, of what matters

2026-06-25T00:00:00Z Li, Shaona http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38334 2026-09-18T13:19:27Z 2025-09-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Translating Virginia Woolf's feminist perspectives in the 20th and 21st century Author(s): Li, Shaona Abstract: This thesis examines how Virginia Woolf’s feminist discourse has been translated, reframed, and ideologically negotiated within the Chinese context across different historical periods. Woolf’s narrative technique, especially the use of free indirect discourse, challenges established gender norms, making these four works—Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando: A Biography (1928), and A Room of One’s Own (1929)— exemplary texts for analysing gender representation in literature and society. Focusing on gender representation, linguistic transformation, and cultural adaptation, this study explores how Chinese translators have addressed Woolf’s complex feminist discourses and evolving constructions of gender, identity, and power. Based on Catford’s theory of "translation shifts" (1965) and Toury’s idea of "optional shifts" (1995), the research assesses how feminist roles and expectations are conveyed to Chinese audiences through these translations. A mixed-method approach is utilised, combining a self-constructed diachronic corpus with detailed textual analysis and content coding using NVivo and WordSmith 6 to examine the linguistic, cultural, and historical variations in Chinese translations. This study uncovers two main findings. First, it challenges the common belief that early Chinese translations of Virginia Woolf’s works were uniformly conservative. Instead, it shows that some early translators actively engaged with Woolf’s feminist ideas, sometimes even emphasising them despite prevailing historical and ideological limitations. Second, the analysis reveals a pattern where co-translated works tend to prioritise fidelity, and sometimes even amplify feminist ideas, whereas individual female translators are more inclined to employ interpretive strategies that emphasise gender critique. Conversely, male translators frequently downplay or domesticate feminist elements. These findings suggest that translator identity and the structure of collaboration significantly influence ideological positioning, regardless of the historical period. This research contributes to feminist translation theory and Woolf scholarship by highlighting the significance of translator agency and collaboration in shaping feminist discourse through translation.

2025-09-01T00:00:00Z Park, Hyeyoon http://hdl.handle.net/1893/38332 2026-09-18T00:32:45Z

Title: Two Narratives of Securitization and Norm Development in Transnational Governance of Critical Mineral Resources: Toward Realpolitik or Sustainability? Author(s): Park, Hyeyoon Abstract: Amid the rapidly increasing global demand for critical mineral resources driven by the energy transition and the AI revolution, critical mineral governance has become an urgent topic at the intersection of security and sustainability. Intensifying geopolitical turbulence from the Ukraine War and the US-China trade war has triggered the securitization of critical minerals, (re)shaping the core norm structure in the current transnational governance architecture. This paper examines competing approaches to securitizing critical minerals and the extent to which sustainability norms are developed in transnational governance institutions. Drawing on securitization and norm literature, this research traces institutional and discourse changes in 15 selected institutions, identified from a mapping exercise of 50 cases. The findings demonstrate two emerging securitization narratives: 1) a hierarchical national security-centered nexus, prioritizing national security norms over sustainability norms (norm-ordering), and 2) a horizontal multi-layered security nexus, emphasizing multiple norms interlinked, such as human rights, sustainability, peace and security (norm-layering). These competing approaches to securitization as a strategic practice of norm-making mirror normative fragmentations around accelerating bloc-alignments in the current geopolitical crisis. It signals a shift in the transnational governance architecture from conventional liberal multilateralism to "Realpolitik" which could foster accountability problems.