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An Investigation Of Employment And Wage Distribution In The Construction Industry By Race/Ethnicity And Gender, Binit Kumar Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

One of the largest job providers in the U.S, is the construction industry, an industry that suffers from critical problems pertaining to a labor shortage. Yet the industry also struggles with insufficient interest and inconsistent participation from underrepresented demographic groups. To address the issue of workforce income inequality and bias, the industry must better understand the current situation regarding inequality; it needs to pinpoint some basic problems. To do so, analysts must scrutinize the following aspects: 1) the current differences within the construction workforce by race/ethnicity and gender with regards to the total employment and 2) the current disparity within …

Custodian Of The Specie: White Women, Capital, And Slavery In The Hemispheric South, Jenny Leroy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation argues that white women played crucial roles in the economic, political, and cultural circuits that linked the United States and Cuba, and the hemisphere broadly, during the nineteenth century. It inserts white women into a historical account of U.S. imperialism by analyzing the literary works of a number of American women who traveled to or simply fantasized about Cuba during this period of intense and widespread interest in the island. It identifies white women not just as providing the symbolic rationale for Cuban annexation or intervention – the preservation of their chastity being a common justification for the …

Black Models Matter: Challenging The Racism Of Aesthetics And The Facade Of Inclusion In The Fashion Industry, Scarlett L. Newman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The global fashion market is expanding every day, but often, the global fashion runways do not reflect that reality. On average, black models make up for six percent of models used on the runway during the fashion month calendar. This small percentage is also mirrored in advertisements and editorials featured in popular fashion magazines. In the 1970s, black models were met with great opportunities, and that success trickled down into the 1980s and the 1990s. As the 90s came to a close, top designers opted for an aesthetic that ultimately excluded models of color, but black models beared the brunt …

“Pay, Protection, And Professionalism”: The History Of Domestic Worker Organizing And The Future Of Home Health Care In The United States, Julia R. Gruberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

With a multidisciplinary approach, I analyze the socio-economic, political, and historical factors that led to the current state of home health care in the United States. The legacy of slavery and the devaluing of so-called “women’s work” explain how the field of domestic work has been historically excluded from protection and regulation in the United States. Caring for children and keeping house have been women’s work for centuries, regardless of whether women were paid to do it or it was outsourced to an employee. Domestic work is sometimes referred to as “the work that makes all other work possible,” but …

Variations In The Marital Attitudes And Marital Status Of Black And White Americans: An Intersectional Approach, Stacey Ellen Coleman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to assess the unique socio-demographic positions of Black and White Americans related to variations in marital attitudes and marital status and differences in sex. The study was guided by two research aims: 1.) to assess whether socio-demographic factors were related to racial variations in marital attitudes of Blacks and Whites and if the relationships differ by race and sex and 2.) to assess whether socio-demographic factors were differentially associated with marital status of Black and White Americans and if they varied by race and sex. The study drew on individual-level, nationally representative, cross-sectional, 2010 …

Radical Dissonance And Haunted Gestures: Rupture And Reverence In The Artwork Of Aja Mujinga Sherrard, Aja M. Sherrard

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper serves to establish the studio practice of Aja Mujinga Sherrard within the framework of conceptual art, touching on the flexible use of media, the subversive or political nature of the work, and its relationship to movements and disciplines such as Feminism and Poststructuralism.

The section entitled “Race and Incoherence” addresses the practice of Radical Dissonance—or the creation of ruptures within commonly accepted concepts and social constructions—through the Costuming Kinship Series, 13≠12≠12.2 (Genetics Project), and Body Double. The section entitled ”Art, Loss, and the Unspeakable” traces an emotional shift in her work and speaks directly to the pieces …

Laughing Against White Supremacy: Marginalized Performance Of Resistance Comedy, Caren Holmes

Senior Independent Study Theses

This study examines the political influence of charged standup comedy as a form of protest in resistance movements against white supremacy. It examines the experiences of seven marginalized comics who confront oppression through this non-traditional and humor based form of protest. Over the course of two months I conducted and filmed eight in-depth, semi-formal interviews with seven comics of color; six women and one trans-non-binary person, as well as an academic who specializes in studying the production of “charged humor.” I attended more than 30 standup shows and filmed several performances. In my analysis I explore four major themes, (1) …