Digital Commons Network^™

Fashion, Freedom, And Feminism: The Transcendent Work Of Rosa Genoni And Her "Tanagra Dress" Reimagined, Christina Trupiano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The fashion industry itself is broad in scope and dependent upon numerous sub-industries to produce its garments. It is heavily dependent upon machinery of all kinds, yet unlike many industries today, it is still also largely reliant on manual labor, specifically minority women labor. This dependance upon manual labor correlates with its long history of worker exploitation and sweated labor. The concentration of exploitative labor practices in the fashion industry have made it a focal point in the ongoing struggle between workers and the downward pressure capitalism and industrialization placed on worker compensation, quality of life and job security.

This …

Social And Cultural Processes That Impact Physical Activity Among South Asian Americans Managing Hypertension: A Mixed Methods Study, Sugandha Gupta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the number one cause of death in the U.S., disproportionately affects South Asian Americans (SAAs). Physical activity is a modifiable health behavior that can reduce cardiovascular risk. Health behaviors, such as physical activity, occur within specific social and cultural contexts and are influenced by multiple factors at multiple levels of the social ecological model. This dissertation aimed to provide a rich, culturally-informed understanding of the factors at multiple levels – individual, interpersonal, and cultural –associated with physical activity among SAAs at risk for CVD. A sequential exploratory mixed methods approach was employed to examine social and cultural …

Practices And Attitudes Towards Infant Hearing Protection At Orthodox Jewish Weddings, Rebecca Weiss

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Previous research has shown that prolonged exposure to noise can cause permanent hearing loss no matter what age, including infants. The impact of noise at orthodox Jewish weddings, where infants are frequently in attendance, can reach extremely high and damaging levels of sound intensity. Because the hearing conservation behaviors and attitudes towards child hearing protection in this population are unknown, the objective of this study is to identify the attitudes and behaviors of orthodox Jewish wedding attendees toward child hearing conservation. A survey was developed and administered electronically to congregants of orthodox Jewish synagogues in the New York City area. …

Do Ask, Do Tell: Lessons Learned From Marginalized Gay Or Bisexual Males In Male-Dominated Organizations, Charles Tienken

Student Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to consider the experiences of gay or bisexual males in male-dominated organizations and apply the lessons learned to help facilitate meaningful culture change in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. This paper examines the dynamics of hegemonic masculinity, marginalization and hypervisibility as they relate to the perception of professionalism and leadership capabilities of gay or bisexual males in organizational cultures including the military as well as other male-dominated organizations.

Design/methodology/approach: This research uses thematic meta-analysis of recurring themes including numerous peer-reviewed journal articles to assess the current data on the LGBTQ+ …

For What Is A Man?: Towards Languaging Contemporary Dance In A Black, Queer, Male-Presenting Body, Thomas Ford

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines Queering Blackness: Solo on a Theme of Reconciliation, a performance event that invokes movement, spoken text, projections and sound to explore the mechanisms of identity. Engaging performance, Black, queer and dance studies, the paper contextualizes cultural identity markers, towards an understanding of what it means to be Black, queer and male-assigned in Black spaces.

Estás En La Sintonía De La Gozadera: En Vivo Desde Cumbiayork, El Movimiento Sonidero Del Futuro, Vita Dadoo

Capstones

For 30 years, New York's sonideros have been making noise on the central avenues of the city's Mexican and Latino ecosystems. The movement, made up of the sonidero (translated literally as "soundman"), his assistants, promoters, fans and dancers, has created a subculture that for a long time defined the relationship between the migrant and his native home in Mexico. Thirty years later, I explore how the movement has evolved, the traits that have distinguished it from the Mexican sonidero movement, and how it continues to flourish under a new generation of deejays.

Countering Dispossession: For Palestinians In The Diaspora, Maintaining Cultural Identity Is A Means Of Resistance, Reem Farhat

Capstones

For decades, Palestinians have pushed back against Israeli appropriation of Palestinian culture, by calling it out online and making efforts to protect it through international organizations. On social media, Palestinians in the diaspora have resisted against erasure and appropriation of their heritage by learning, sharing, and teaching others about their culture online. Chef Nadia Gilbert, embroidery artist Asma Barakat, and TikToker Serena Rasoul have all maintained online presences dedicated to educating their followers on Palestinian culture. To them, practicing these aspects of their heritage in the diaspora is a means of resistance.

https://medium.com/@rfarhat1/countering-dispossession-for-palestinians-in-the-diaspora-maintaining-cultural-identity-is-a-e860d54bb8a9

Afghan Refugees Engagement Journalism, Angrej Singh

Capstones

My community of focus is Afghan refugees who came to the U.S. after Aug. 15, 2021. Since mid-Aug. of 2021, nearly 76,000 Afghan refugees came to the U.S. after living across eight U.S. military bases for a few months — with the help of resettlement agencies — they have resettled to 48 states in which they are starting to rebuild their lives. During the uncertainty of their legal status, multiple Afghan led organizations have been calling on Congress to pass an Afghan Adjustment Act. This legislation would create a pathway for permanent status to the thousands that were granted entry …

As Fewer Young Americans Say They Believe In God, A Look At Why So Many Have Abandoned Religion And What Motivates Others To Keep The Faith, Briana Ellis-Gibbs

Capstones

Generation Z, defined by the Pew Research Center as those born after 1997, is the least religious generation yet, according to a recent report from the American Survey Center. More than one-third of Generation Zers are religiously unaffiliated, along with 29 percent of Millenials, those born between 1981 and 1996. On the other hand, only 18 percent of baby boomers and 9 percent of the silent generation claim no religious affiliation.

Though overall, Americans' belief in God has hit an all-time low, from nearly 90 percent in 2017 to 81 percent this year, according to a new poll by Axios …

Does Race Still Matter? An Exploration Of Race And Mentoring Relationships From The Perspective Of Early Career Teachers Of Color And Mentors, Franchesca R. Ho Sang

Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring has been attributed to lowering attrition rates of teachers. At present, the majority of teachers in the United States are White and female. The national teacher workforce does not represent the student body. Although there have been recent initiatives to improve the diversity within the teacher workforce, by explicitly recruiting teachers of color (TOC), the attrition rates of these teachers are negating the effects of recruitment efforts. Previous research has pointed to the need to consider race in novice TOC mentee and mentor matches, as cultural capital theory suggests common knowledge and experience may lead to stronger mentor relationships …

Time And Power: The Will To Temporalize In Digital Culture, Talha Issevenler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I analyze the new forms of temporalization of social media in relationship to arrangements of power through nonhuman agency of the algorithm. The new social media industry refers to the entities that make up its circulatory movement, simply as ‘content’. This suggests that scientific or empirical study of social media should deal with content and analyze this as the data of research through sampling (Manovich, 2020, p. 93-94). Yet the forms and the temporality in which the content is presented not only are open to empirical research but should be central to our understanding of the organization …

El Ritmo Del Westside: Exploring The Musical Landscape Of San Antonio’S Historic Westside, Valeria Alderete

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The westside of San Antonio, Texas fostered a uniquely diverse musical landscape throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, demonstrating the results of cross-cultural exchanges reflected in music. From Conjunto and Ranchera music, to R&B and Jazz, a wide range of music genres was celebrated in the historic westside, eventually shaping the birth of the area’s own Westside Sound, which remains a staple in many Chicano communities to date. Despite the cultural significance and rich history, the historic westside’s musical past remains widely unknown, often overshadowed by research and documentation surrounding the area’s violent history with gang networks and crime.

Committed to …

Colonial Education: Puerto Ricans And The Carlisle Indian School, Progenitors Of The Mythic Identity, Melissa Swinea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

‘GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES’ reads a subheading of The Red Man –a historic periodical memorializing the tune of 19th century Americana with references to Godliness and its connection to Indianness and ostentatious capitalism in a canon of school newspapers. The Red Man was the staple periodical of the Carlisle Indian Industrial Institute published monthly and declared “in the interest of Indian education and civilization” for the annual price of 50 cents[1] The subject and recipients of The Red Man would also include 193 Puerto Rican students sent to Carlisle through the U.S.’s campaign to Americanize the Caribbean …

“Started From The Bottom”: The Ascension Of Hip-Hop As A Sonic Art Form, Benjamin Nile Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

For over four decades, hip-hop has been a part of the American soundscape, drawing from influences of jazz, rhythm and blues, disco, etc. Hip-hop is one of the cultural bridges between African Americans and the world. This paper will focus on the artists, culture and its ascent to high art.

Caribbean Immigrant Parents And Elementary School Choice In New York City, Keshia T. James

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For the over 3 million immigrants of New York City, the education system is one of the many areas they must navigate in their transition to the United States (MOIA annual Report, 2018). However, for the Caribbean immigrant navigating the school system is especially hard. Of the five boroughs in New York City, Brooklyn has the second-largest immigrant population with approximately 28% of the immigrants in the borough from the Caribbean. The 2018 United States Census shows that Caribbean immigrants account for about 258000 of the approximately 900000 immigrants in Brooklyn. The racial and cultural diversity among Caribbean immigrants is …

"Cultura Gamer: Esteriotipos De América Latina"., Roberto Bolanos Pinela Mr.

Capstones

La intención de “Cultura Gamer: Estereotipos de América Latina”, es presentar dos diferentes aspectos de representación que se tiene la hora de hablar de América Latina; Por un lado, los videojuegos hechos en Estados Unidos, nos estereotipan como países llenos de conflictos armados, donde manda el desorden y el caos, como lo vemos en juegos de Far Cry 6, y Tom Clancy. Pero por otro lado, estamos viendo un aumento en desarrolladores de videojuegos en América Latina, que intentan acabar con estos estereotipos; y están creando juego con la intención de dar a conocer nuestra cultura, mitos e ideología, acabando …

Growing Pains On Onlyfans: A Coming Of Age Story, Natalie M. Hernandez, Ivannia A. Morton

Capstones

OnlyFans, a content creation platform where creators can perform sex work, has been making headlines since its internet debut. Its relationship to youth culture is complicated as it’s still developing. “Growing Pains on OnlyFans: A Coming of Age Story” looks into the life of a young woman who went viral for criticizing the glamorization of OnlyFans, and how the platform shaped her self discovery. This story analyzes the life cycle of entering digital sex work as a teenager, and exiting as an adult.

Meditations, Adrian D. Mosby

Theses and Dissertations

Adrian Demarco Mosby (b. 1991, Bronx, Ny) is a figurative painter focused on the use of allegory and narrative. His stone like figures depict a modern day apathy and disillusion. The narrative content is meant to formulate a moral philosophy that might combat such apathy.

Cultural Identity And Mental Health Awareness, Natalie Cruz

Student Theses and Dissertations

Social functioning is intertwined with one’s culture (Abdullah & Brown, 2011). Culture is broadly defined as the individual’s perception of the complexity of norms and rituals shared by a group of people. As Phinney (1992) has long noted, it is apparent that cultural factors can have a great influence on our identities and how we perceive the world around us. In Phinney’s opinion, this is especially true for sensitive topics such as mental health or mental illness. But could we fully understand what the cultural risk factors are that would predispose people toward biased views of mental health and mental …

Migration And Work: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis Of Migrant Groups And Their Labor Experiences, Post Migration, Jill Douek

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although there is a large body of literature about migration and employment post migration, much of it is limited to study designs restricting either migrant groups or countries. In other words, current research is limited to focusing either a) only on one migrant group (usually expatriates), thereby failing to compare it to other migrant groups within the same country or cross-nationally or b) on multiple migrant groups in one country, thereby making it difficult to draw comparisons cross-nationally across those migrant groups. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to 1) examine the career-related outcomes, post migration, of three …

Reimagining What It Means To Be Black In The United States: Family Cultural Socialization Practices That Shape Racial Identities Among Diverse Young Adults, Latifa T. Fletcher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explores racial identity development as it is influenced by family cultural socialization practices across diverse ethnic groups that identify either racially or ethnically as Black. The literature on Black racial identity development has relied predominantly on the experiences of African Americans in the United States. This study aims to build on earlier Black identity research by exploring the developmental experiences of the growing ethnic and cultural Black population in the United States.

Young adults between the ages of 18-35 who identify as African American, Afro-Latinx, and Afro-Caribbean were recruited to complete a brief questionnaire and participate in an …

Morkovcha [Korean Carrot Salad], Lidiya A. Kan

Theses and Dissertations

Morkovcha, Korean Carrot Salad is a short documentary that tells a story of ethnic Koreans from Russia and the post-Soviet territories making their new home in New York City. The history of the diaspora is told through conversations with my mother, personal stories, fragmented memories, and my family photo archive. This very personal film is my attempt to revisit the 160-year history of the Russian Korean diaspora and to record and preserve our unique fusion of cultures in the melting pot that is the United States. Its purpose is to help to process and accept the tragic past of my …

Us, Abundantly: From Africa To The Americas, Karisma Jay

Theses and Dissertations

"Us, AbunDantly," a Live theatrical dance performance and film, delves into the African Diaspora and its influences. An artistic and academic project built upon the amplification of Black excellence and Black pride, this paper contextualizes a work within the oral histories and contemporary dance studies of a powerfully ancestral community.

The Political Aesthetic Of Hannah Arendt: Modernity, Judgment, And Culture, Quixote R. Vassilakis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The plan of this thesis is, first, to interpret Arendt’s critique of the modern age. Next, this paper outlines Arendt’s reconceptualization of Kant’s theory of judgment as the basis for a novel model of the public sphere in light of the conditions of modernity. Finally, this paper explores Arendt’s poetics as a means of activating the faculty of judgment in order to reconcile with the modern world. In order to address the political crises of modernity, Arendt develops a political aesthetic alive to the role of narrative and culture in reconstituting political communities. I argue that Hannah Arendt develops a …

Latinx Millennials Won’T Surrender To Tech-Industry Bias, Josefina F. Bruni

Capstones

Organizations like Techqueria, which seek to improve the odds of Latinx in the tech labor market, have been popping up since 2014 among minorities and other marginalized social groups, with names like LGTBQ in Tech, Blacks in Technology, Latinas in Tech and Lesbians Who Tech. They’re free, fluid and informal, with members constantly exchanging information and support. While they offer many opportunities for face-to-face gatherings, they are powered by social media.

Some of these collective efforts are no more than Slack workspaces. Others cross multiple platforms or even have web pages. Some have even incorporated. But all …

The Rise Of Cultural Appropriation In Fashion, Henna Choudhary

Capstones

A first-person narrative exploring the growing rise in cultural appropriation accusations within the fashion industry, along with its ties to historical colonialism and mercantilism.

Link to capstone project: http://hennachoudharycapstone.tilda.ws

Transforming Through Power: Teachers And The Negotiation Of Authority In Schools, Madhu Narayanan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Schools are unique institutions where structural and cultural dynamics shape the actions of humans. Teachers work within structures of power to establish themselves as legitimate figures of authority worthy of the right to command respect. Such efforts are complicated by the multi-faceted and swirling relationships of power that exist everywhere in schools, defining and guiding individuals. In this study, I interview and observe the practice of seven secondary teachers working in New York City public schools. All in their third year of teaching, they were at an interesting time in their development, not novice teachers and not quite veteran. Using …

Being Together: Imaginaries Of Coexistence And Resistance In Contemporary South Asian Writings, Mahendran Thiruvarangan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Being Together is a critical inquiry into selected writings that produce a counter-hegemonic imagination of pluralism, coexistence and cultural resistance to the violence, dispossession and exclusions perpetuated by nationalist, racist and neoliberal forces in South Asian and South Asian diasporic contexts, primarily spaces within or associated with Sri Lanka. Due to the historical role the nation, homelands, native culture, sovereignty, and self-determination have played in liberating South Asia from the clutches of British colonialism in the mid-twentieth century, these ideas have enormous political valence to the socio-political lives of the communities that consider the region their homeland today. While this …

Changing The Narrative: Building A Conceptual Framework For Advocating Representation In History Textbooks, Valerie Paul

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

At a time where Americans are beginning to engage in critical dialogue about the representation of minorities in the media, conversations about representation in education have been somewhat elusive or condensed. With the popular focus for marginalized communities being on issues of stereotype threat, achievement deficits, and culturally responsive pedagogy, it seems that policy makers are often left to make decisions that lack considerable connection between the cognitive, social and emotional implications of inclusivity in educational curriculum. Furthermore, there hasn't appeared to be an extensive analysis of these issues between and among relative disciplines. For example, when we discuss representation …

Contested Development: A Poor People's Movement For A Better Los Angeles, 1960–2018, Deshonay R. Dozier

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Zooming in on the historical development of Downtown Los Angeles’s (LA) Skid Row, this dissertation traces a continuity of abolitionist alternatives made by homeless and poor Angelinos from the 1960s to our present day. Skid Row is an important entry way into Los Angeles urban politics, particularly with respect to how forms of difference, at the axis of race, gender, class, and ability shape regional relations of property and the built environment. I show how these relations shape Downtown Los Angeles’s geography through carceral practices. These carceral practices, made by social services and policing, shape space by routinely containing and …