Digital Commons Network^™

Bless Your Heart: A Deconstruction Of Southern Hostility Disguised As Southern Hospitality And Its Effects On Black Identity In “Blues For Mister Charlie” And The Vanishing Half, Sterling S. Neill

English Theses

Southern hospitality, whether real or perceived, is a cultural stereotype tied to the Southern region of the United States. Studies on Southern hospitality are growing, possibly due to the recent surge of anti-Black legislation including disbandment of Affirmative Action, critical race theory, and women and gender studies in schools. As more racist and sexist doctrine is dispersed throughout America, it is imperative to evaluate false narratives, such as Southern hospitality, that perpetuate and reinforce structural discrimination, which historical literary works can function to counter. This thesis examines Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin and The Vanishing Half by Brit …

Destroyed By Madness: Fighting Stigma And Building Empathy Through The Narrative Experience, Kelley N. Gladden Walker

English Dissertations

This dissertation challenges the stigma of mental illness by analyzing 20^th century American life narratives written by persons with mental disorders. Focusing on the writing and lives of Zelda Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Mary Jane Ward, Kay Redfield Jamison, Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Cameron West, and Susanna Kaysen, while applying the theories of Michel Foucault, Erving Goffman, Sigmund Freud, William C. Cockerham, and Otto F. Wahl, I contend mental illness life narratives fight stigmatization by questioning the common stereotypes perpetuated by dominant cultural narratives. Through a historical lens, the project explores a variety of sources from 20 …

An Examination Of Peer Influences On Identity In The Art Classroom, Nova K. Mead

Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations

In this study, I examined the impacts of peer interactions on tween-aged students’ representations of themselves through self-portraits. Using social interaction theory (Turner, 1988), I implemented an action research study in the Fall of 2021. Two classes of fifth-grade students worked over four weeks to create self-portraits. I observed students' interactions with peers, collected audio recordings, and completed self-portraits. For two additional weeks, I conducted interviews with students. My findings concerning the impacts of peer interaction on students’ self-portraits show that students prefer to represent themselves in a way that is positively received by peers rather than focusing on accurately …

Collective Identity And Feminist Rhetorics: 19th-Century Relief Society Leaders' Use Of Ethos-Based Identities As A Pathetic Appeal To The Women Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Tiffany Gray

English Theses

Latter-day Saint women have led the Relief Society by implementing a rhetorical practice that seeks to unite the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 19^th-century Relief Society leaders began a rhetorical pattern of persuasion by utilizing ethos-based rhetorics found in their use of the collective identity ‘Sister’ and feminist identity of ‘Charity Work.’ As exemplified by commemorative acts of remembrance of the Relief Society’s March 17^th Birthday and the perpetuated use of the terms established by the first leaders of the Relief Society, Latter-day Saint women continue to invoke pathos as a relationship …

Sound, Subjectivity, And Feminism: Victorian Novels And Their Twentieth- And Twenty-First-Century Adaptations, Calabria D. Turner

English Dissertations

Investigating how film and serialized adaptations interpret feminist Victorian novels for a more modern audience yields decades of cultural responses to feminist motifs presented by nineteenth-century authors Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, and twentieth-century writer Jean Rhys. Analyzing Northanger Abbey (1817) by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) by Anne Brontë, and Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys and their adaptations demonstrates the nonlinearity of feminism as a political movement. The novels and their film and television adaptations reveal an ongoing and recursive response to feminism’s development. I discuss adaptation, …

Three Tries, Getsay

Art and Design Theses

Three Tries is an interdisciplinary exhibition featuring installation, sculpture, and performance that explores the experiences of a Queer nonbinary individual growing up in the Baptist Christian South. The exhibition centers around the reclamation of the body, identity, and space, drawing parallels between the baptist christian holy trinity of father, son, and the holy ghost and Sigmund Freud's Trinity of id, ego, and superego. By returning to the developmental stages of one's life, the exhibition serves as a revolutionary attempt to isolate the id and disentangle the workings of the id, ego, and superego. Three Tries represents a visual framework for …

The Identity Of Yoga: Contemporary Vs. Traditional Yogic Discourse, Octavia Nasr

Communication Theses

Modern yoga is a multibillion-dollar economy that penetrated many fields, from fitness to healthcare. Yoga’s popularity shows its relevance and adaptability. However, scholars found that modern yoga is synonymous with postural yoga. In this thesis, I establish that yoga’s identity is rooted in the Eight Limbs of the iconic Yoga Sutras of Patanjali ––postures being one of the limbs constituting yoga’s identifiers. Then, I link the yogic postural shift to the truncation of yoga’s identifiers in teacher training curricula. I argue that modern yoga schools focus more on postures and downplay the other limbs, especially the first two – ethical …

Expanding Identities And Advancing Global Citizenship Of Underrepresented U.S. Higher Education Students Through International Virtual Exchange, Janita Poe

Communication Dissertations

Global citizenship education (GCED) helps students thrive in the multicultural 21^st century world. Yet participation in study abroad and related programs in the United States – a purported “melting pot” of races and cultures – remains, disproportionately, the domain of affluent whites (Bell et al., 2021; Seid, 2021; NAFSA, 2020; IIE, 2020; Sweeney, 2013; Salisbury, et. al., 2011). In recent years, international virtual exchange (IVE), an educational experience involving sustained interaction between geographically-separated participants using technology and trained facilitators, has emerged as an affordable and scalable complement to study abroad.

Analyzed at the macro level, IVE has the potential …

Considering The Agency Of Faith In Reimagining Narrative And Shared Space In Beth Moore?S Departure From The Southern Baptist Convention, Samantha Joann Rae

English Theses

The aim of the following thesis is to unite Giambattista Vico’s conception of imagination and necessity within rhetorical theories of narrative and shared space. Grounded in a case study of Beth Moore’s exit from the Southern Baptist Convention, this research demonstrates the ways in which faith responds to the necessity of reimagining. The role of faith as a rhetorical agent of identity guides this discussion, which is framed in feminist rhetorical theory to highlight the precarious position of women’s roles within the church from historical to contemporary contexts. Recognizing the reciprocity of narrative and shared space within the findings of …

Hijacked Christianity: How An Aberrant Eschatology Enables A Grievance Culture That Supplants Christian Grace For An Extremist Meritocracy, David Sharp

Communication Theses

The Evangelical participation attack on Capitol Hill that happened on January 6th, 2021, that almost toppled American Democracy, was an eye-opening experience to the dangers of radicalization. For this paper, the central question is, do recent evolutions to Christian Eschatology (Premillennialism/Postmillennialism) give exigence to the radicalization of mainstream American Evangelicalism via a Dominionist ideology? This study is a rhetorical criticism that will examine sermons of four prominent Neo Charismatic around the time of the 2020 National COVID Lockdown Announcement and the Capitol Hill Insurrection. This study uses a Constant Comparative Method (CCM) to inductively identify the possible themes, and a …

Sin With Me, Nicholas Kakavas

Art and Design Theses

For my thesis exhibition, Sin With Me, I have created a series of statues that physically manifest my sexual fantasies. These sculptures expose my erotic imaginings, bringing heightened visibility to issues surrounding the repression of queer love and gay sex. With states banning public school teachers from even discussing LGBTQ+ content, it is more important than ever to normalize homosexuality and make visible these taboos that persist in American society. I am doing my part to challenge these attitudes. Sin With Me is a modern gay narrative built for everyone.

Menudo And Lucky Charms, Felicia Ann Castro

Art and Design Theses

Menudo and Lucky Charms is an exhibition of videos and paintings that explores assimilation and identity within Mexican and American cultures. This body of work is rooted in my experiences growing up in a Mexican household within a predominantly white community. I have been assimilated to American culture, a fact that becomes clear when I am among people of Mexican heritage, my heritage. Menudo and Lucky Charms is an investigation and reclamation of self. Throughout the exhibition, I seek out moments of connection and contradiction between my family history and the evolution of my identity.

If These Ivory Tower Walls Could Talk: Examining The Experiences Of Ph.D. Students In Education, Kerry A. Wallaert

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

The Ph.D. is the pinnacle of education. The Ph.D. produces scholars who impact a discipline, the institution, and society. Expectations of scholars include demonstrating intellectual mastery in the field, conducting research, and creating new or expanding current knowledge. It is within the context of doctoral education socialization, where attitudes and values of the professoriate are firmly shaped. Faculty and administrators, considered the foundational socialization agents, facilitate teaching and learning of Ph.D. students into the culture of education programs and academia. The Ph.D. experience is wrought with challenges and successes within and beyond the ivory tower. Experiences within academia highlight supervisor/advisor …

“Where—Am I?”: H.D.’S Search For Identity, Dianne D. Berger

English Dissertations

Hilda Doolittle is best known as the imagist poet H.D. In a career lasting a half-century, H.D. also penned essays, memoirs, fiction, and translations of classical Greek works. Regardless of the genre, H.D. reveals much of her self in her work. Immediately following World War 1, she confronted her traumatic experiences during the war years. During World War II, she concentrated on the relationships—primarily with males—that had formed her identity. In the last work published in her lifetime, she conveyed what she had learned in her lifelong quest for identity. I explore selections from H.D.’s work in these three categories. …

Language, Culture, And Identity: A Case Study Of Korean American Transnational Adolescents, Myoung Eun Pang

Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations

Despite the increase of diversity in transnational youth in the United States, little research has studied this unique population of transnational youth and their transnational contexts. In particular, little research has been conducted to investigate the identity of transnational youth in adolescence with their own voices in terms of language and culture. Thus, this study aimed to explore the linguistic and cultural experiences of 1.5 generation and 2nd generation Korean American transnational adolescents as well as their sense of identity in transnational contexts. Drawing on Norton’s (1995) identity theory and Vertovec’s (2007, 2017) transnationalism, research questions that guided this study …

Fullness, Jamaal Barber

Art and Design Theses

Fullness is an exhibition of paintings that manifests self-affirming Blackness separate from a world that is unwilling to engage with it. Blackness refers to the Black racial identity that embodies the collective consciousness of all melanated people. Removed from the confines of enslavement and systemic oppression, Black people become free to edify themselves visually and spiritually. In this body of work, I reimagine and rebuild Black identity with unexpected forms through mixed media paintings. The works employ layers of color and abstracted shapes to represent the Black body not only as an ethnic identity but as a psychological state of …

Black And Foreign: Haitian Immigrant Identities And Well-Being In America, Mollie Innocent-Cupid

Sociology Dissertations

Black Immigrants who come from Black majority nations must face a unique assimilation to the United States’ racial hierarchy, which places them at the bottom as a racial minority. While theoretical models address the double-consciousness of being a Black American, racial identity models fail to address the identity negotiations of this “invisible immigrant” (Bryce-Laborte 1972) minority group. Black Immigrants experience a deterioration in mental health as they increase their exposure to American society. This trend continues with each subsequent generation, causing second and third generations to display significantly poorer health than Non-Black immigrants.

Haitian Immigrants, who are considered one of …

Salmon Or Chameleon? Rethinking Evangelical Political Behavior, James Crawford

Political Science Dissertations

The prevailing narrative in political science is that evangelical identity drives the political behavior of evangelicals. This has generated a variety of puzzles for us, in that we struggle to explain how people who are quite similar in terms of their religious beliefs can be quite different in terms of their politics.

I challenge this prevailing narrative. More specifically, I contend that evangelical identity is not the primary determinant of political behavior and that it is outweighed by other relevant factors, such as race and education. Thus, evangelical identity can be more correctly understood as a factor that potentially mitigates …

Laborare, Vivere, Et Ludere, Nathalia Arruda Silva

Art and Design Theses

Abandoned: Shopping malls' definition in 2021. Once a magnificent symbol of suburban sprawl, now left in crumbles to die. This thesis project aims to make the mall relevant to people's lives by repurposing its buildings as part of a mixed-use complex. Beginning with a study of the shopping mall's history and New Urbanism concepts, I propose that a mall is not just a public place for gathering, sharing experiences, and building memories but also a reflection of a neighborhood's identity.

Urban Spaces, Places, And Identity In Early Medieval Britain, David Grogan

Anthropology Theses

The British early medieval period (c. AD 400 – 1066) was an era of migration and cultural contact that has been underexamined. This paper is a comparative study of the archaeological record of three English cities: York, Lincoln, and Southampton. Utilizing a theoretical framework combining anthropological and archaeological thoughts on space, place, and the structure and role of cities with theories of group identity formation and transformation, this project examines the role of the built environment within and near these urban sites. The project pays special attention to wic sites associated with York and Southampton.

Adopting Home Language And Multimodality In Composition Courses, Mack Curry

English Dissertations

Over the years, language has been a major issue in teaching composition courses, specifically when discussing African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Standard English (SE). Concepts such as Students Right to their Own Language (SRTOL), culturally relevant pedagogy, and code-switching have been introduced as ways to be more receptive to home language in the classroom. However, many students still lack feeling confidence to expressing themselves in their natural voices. I conducted this study to examine and tests how well AAVE, SE, code-meshing, and multimodality work together to help students better understand linguistic and rhetorical principles. This study found that teacher …

"I Can Overcome That": Counterstories Of Black Secondary Science Teachers' Positional Identities, Sonia M. Howard

Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations

This study presents the positional identities of six Black secondary science teachers – three who identify as women and three who identify as men – with 74 years of collective science teaching experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences that inform Black secondary science teachers’ positional identities and how they position themselves in their school contexts. Critical race methodology grounded this research to highlight the ways in which lived experiences inform the construction of positional identities – or one’s relative positioning as informed by social markers and by relative power and agency in given cultural …

Reimagining Multilingualism From The Heritage Speaker Perspective: A View Of Language Brokering Through The Lens Of Translanguaging And Resemiotization, Jessica Lian

Applied Linguistics and English as a Second Language Dissertations

This study examines the experiences and ideologies of heritage language speakers in the United States who have shouldered the responsibility of interpreting and translating for their families since childhood. These “language brokers” (Tse, 1995) are often “circumstantial bilinguals” (Valdés & Figueroa, 1994) who have maintained their heritage language out of necessity in order to interpret and translate for their parents. Many of these heritage speakers continue their roles as language brokers as adults (Del Torto, 2008), interpreting and translating for their families in increasingly complex situations as their parents age. However, despite the complexities of these language brokering (LB) interactions …

I Kept Pushin': Exploring The Experiences Of Black Gay Male University Students, Dante Studamire

Africana Studies Theses

In contrast to resilience research in heterosexual Black male populations, few empirical studies exist regarding the persistence of gay Black men in college. This study examines the relationship between identity development and resilience of fifteen gay Black men enrolled in collegiate academic programs. This research, informed by a phenomenological and qualitative lens highlights the voices of fifteen gay Black men who are currently enrolled in, or alumni of, college programs. The following research questions guide this study: (1) What are the ways in which the specific intersectional identities of Black gay men shape their college experiences and (2) What effect …

Embodying Blackness: Perceptions Of African American Identity And Hiring Practices Within African American Businesses, Lauren Arrington

Africana Studies Theses

This study examines African American owned businesses with a focus on identity and hiring. African Americans are traditionally community centered, but they have also been enculturated in a Eurocentric society and may hold similar values and discriminatory attitudes as that of the dominant culture. There is a gap in the literature regarding the effects of African American cultural signifiers for adults working in these businesses. The perception of cultural signifiers may affect hiring and placement within businesses. The sample enlists six African American business owners or personnel responsible for hiring and placement of employees within each workplace. This qualitative study …

The Devout Griot, Emotional Keeper., Shanequa S. Gay

Art and Design Theses

The Devout Griot, Emotional Keeper evaluates place, tradition, storytelling, and the experiences of African-American women to develop imaginative dialogues and alternative strategies for self-imaging by uprooting social proscriptions and challenging political norms. Within this installation, the paintings, performance, and monumental sculptural figures create an environment of ritual and memorial, depicting amalgamated new gods and mythical figures whose lives have been impacted by systemic inequalities, resulting in counter and

re-imagined narratives that, at times, live within the duality of physical and spiritual worlds. This work also explores the historic and contemporary social concerns of hybrid cultures through the gaze of …

Finding Identity Through 'Place': African Retention In African American Poetry, Shelley S. Clopton

Geosciences Theses

This research explores the geographic concept of place and its relationship to identity in contemporary poetry performances. Identity is the most prominent issue of New World African folklore studies, stemming from problems with race, nationhood, and colonial influences. Moreover, many scholars recognize that there is significantly less discernible African retention in African American folklore compared to other New World African folklore. Thus, this research examines contemporary African American storytelling through observing performances of poetry, a notable representation of folklore, to investigate whether African memory has been mobilized in today’s African American folklore. The qualitative method of nonparticipant observation was used …

Military Members: Body, Identity, And The Transformations Of Military Service, Valerie Masutier

Anthropology Theses

Military service and reintegration into civilian populations often entails an abrupt disorienting shift in environment for members of the United States military. Navigating variable differences in military and civilian culture directly impacts the ways service members navigate and understand health and wellness. By examining the lived experience of military members, this research aims to recognize how military service is a transformative process of the mind and body and how identity is shaped and reshaped by the institutions they work for. Using ethnographic research, I argue that service members adopt the behaviors and values associated with the military environment which directly …

In Situ, Mohammadjavad Jahangir

Art and Design Theses

In Situ is a multidisciplinary photo-based project that visually represents the truth of human identity in social life. I employed both psychoanalytic theories about human cognitive ego/identity and my personal experiences as references to re-examine how individuals consider their identities among others.

In this project, I intend on freezing the moment to monumentalizing between space, time and human postures, as a means of self-exploring Between artist, subjects, and viewers, to make a new dialogue in self-discourse through the lens of others, both personal and social. As an examination dichotomy floating discourse self-discourse, In Situ will investigate the meaning of truth …

The Fall From 'Their Ancient Dignities': How The Old English Became Irish From The Viewpoint Of England, Katharine Beene

History Theses

This thesis examines the struggle of the Old English to maintain their control in Ireland during an increasingly chaotic period. To understand this struggle for control this thesis examines the relationship between the English in England and the demographic groups in Ireland in the context of a rapidly changing society. Between the years of 1625 and 1660 the Old English lost control in Ireland and ceased to exist as a separate identity group. The English in England and the New English had a clear advantage in the fight for power and influence. In the end we see that the Old …