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The Spirit-Murdering Of Black Students From White Educators, Brian C. Guilfoyle, Casetta D. Brown, Sarah J. Guilfoyle, Courtney D. Jude

Dissertations

In this collection of autoethnographies, four researchers explored our deeply personal experiences and encounters with racialized oppression in the form of spirit-murder. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies, this dissertation explores how two white educators have committed spirit-murder against Black students and how two Black educators have both experienced spirit-murder as students and have spirit-murdered their Black and Brown students as classroom teachers. We wanted to elevate our voices using counter-stories as a tenet of CRT and examples of our teaching practices. We aimed to elicit relatable suggestions to combat spirit-murdering from white educators toward Black students …

Diverse Gamers: Resistance Through Video Gameplay, Breon Rose

Dissertations

With most of the global population engaging with video games, it is crucial to understand the relationship between gaming and the holistic health of players. However, counseling scholarship exploring the relationship between gaming technology and mental health is nascent. Moreover, ethical guidelines in counseling require professionals to further their awareness and competence while working with underrepresented populations (American Counseling Association; ACA, 2014). To address the preceding statements, this two-study dissertation focused on expanding awareness and clinical understanding of video game technology and human experience. The first study used quantitative methods to examine the relationship between race-related stress, motivations to play …

The Permanence Of Racism In Tennessee Public Schools, Jarral Yokley

Dissertations

The qualitative case study exposed the permanence of racism beginning in the antebellum public schools of Nashville and continued in the current actions in the Tennessee legislature with the expulsion of two Black male legislators. Critical race theory is used as the main descriptor for the actions of White politicians and legislators in Tennessee who continue the oppressive treatment of Black people in the state of Tennessee.

White members of the Tennessee legislature have attempted to strategically continue white supremacy in their decision to display a depiction of one of the most deplorable, racists in the history of the state …

Where Are The Black Teachers? There Should Be More To Make It Even, Harolyn Harris

Dissertations

For years, Black teachers lived and worked in the communities that they served. I was one of those teachers who lived and worked in my community, but I noticed that there were not many of us. As a Black woman, mother and teacher, I was fully aware of the numbers of Black teachers declining. I wanted to know why.

In this study, I utilized my experience as a Black student, a Black teacher, and a Black administrator to reflect my feelings. I used Critical Race Theory as the theoretical lens on my stories using autoethnography as the research method. I …

Barriers Teaching Environmental Justice Education, Jodi Devonshire

Dissertations

The idea of freedom in education has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 60s. Civil rights groups coalesced independently of other marginalized groups and movements of its time. While similar in nature, environmentalism and civil rights issues rarely crossed paths. As environmentalism made its way into science education and curriculum, social justice issues were restricted to historical perspectives in education. This research initially sought to create an understanding of purpose driven, social justice conscious, Environmental Education as it is related to marginalized learners and identify the barriers of creating and implementing culturally relevant environmental education …

Confronting And Dismantling Whiteness In Higher Education: A Grassroots Approach, Winnie Needham

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to investigate how an Educational Studies department in a small, Midwestern liberal arts college might confront and dismantle whiteness in curricular, pedagogical, and policy choices. Utilizing a critical participatory action research design, five higher education faculty engaged in a critical conversation inquiry group (Schieble et al., 2020) to develop their critical literacy (Rogers and Mosley, 2014). This study was designed to answer the following questions: How do faculty within an Educational Studies department think about their racial identities and the relevance of racial identity to the program, the institution, and higher education? …

More Than Just Words On A Screen: A Biopsychosocial Approach To Understanding Effects Of Race-Related Media, Melinda Kittleman

Dissertations

Racial disparities in physical and mental health are ongoing and well-documented problems in the United States. Black Americans, compared to White Americans, have higher risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression, and substance abuse. Research suggests prejudice and discrimination play a role in racial health disparities. Everyday discrimination is considered a chronic, psychosocial stressor that impacts the health of Black Americans. A biopsychosocial approach states there are various factors that contribute to the pathway from discrimination to disease and proposes complex relationships that explain effects of racial discrimination on health. The current study examined social factors (race-related media), biological factors …

A Silent Epidemic With No Voice: Alzheimer's Education In An African American Midwest Community, Sandra D. Fields

Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease is a growing crisis in this country, particularly in the African American community. Despite this awareness by the health care community and educational programs offered about the disease, a deficit in research assessing the impact of these programs exists. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to analyze the key criterion relative to the educational programs about Alzheimer’s offered by local organizations and the impact they have on a Midwest African American community.

According to research regarding Alzheimer’s disease, African Americans continue to go undiagnosed and untreated. The literature review in this study explores the synergy of three …

The Illumination Of Racial Understandings As Revealed In Teacher Education Students' Interpretation Of Written Text, Carolyn Marie Fuller

Dissertations

This study utilized a basic qualitative research design to explore how teachers enrolled in a graduate level social justice course read and respond to racialized texts, referenced as the “critical reading tasks.” These “critical reading tasks” included the constructs of: racial identity/positioning, historical time frame, characters/personal attributes, language, class, and intersectionality. Additionally, the following research questions guided the study: In what ways do teacher education students evoke, interpret, construct or misunderstand race, racism and anti-racism? And how do these understandings change over time, as participants revisit the readings? In what ways do participants describe the emotionality associated with revisiting racialized …

Another 40 Years Of Inequity: Two-Tier Schooling As The Lasting Legacy Of Desegregation Policy In St. Louis, Missouri, Renee L. Racette

Dissertations

The St. Louis Public Schools of St. Louis, Missouri were at one time the second largest segregated school district in the United States. In the years since Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 and 1955, the school district of St. Louis has been attempting to desegregate as ordered by the courts. A group of North Side parents brought a lawsuit against the district and the State of Missouri that, after many years of litigation, found both parties to be liable for maintaining segregated schools, but an out-of-court settlement was reached. As a result of this suit and subsequent …

A Narrative Of A Teacher’S Awakening Of Consciousness: Learning To Become An Effective Witness, Wendy Lynn Freebersyser

Dissertations

This autoethnographical narrative chronicles the awakening and subsequent conscientization of a middle-class white female teacher through critical reflective praxis. Autoethnography, Liberation Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT) are used in this study, allowing the researcher to become the focal point of the story. The narrative details the journey in retrospect, revealing the evolution of my conscientization. The research statements guiding this dissertation are as follows: this autoethnographical narrative details the peeling back of the awakening and critical consciousness developed by a white female teacher using Liberation Theory and aided by CRT and Care Ethic Theory as I interrogate each layer …

Informally Educating The Community: St. Louis Phyllis Wheatley’S Ywca Committee On Administration Speaks On The Decline Of The Organization Through Historical Narratives, Cheryl Denise Osby

Dissertations

Immediately following the end of the Reconstruction period, Negro Americans were forced to live in the second wave of racial bondage resulting from the institutionalization of Jim Crow Laws. For Black females, this bondage carried a double-edged sword, as the weight of this oppression encompassed every aspect of their lives. Unfortunately, many viewed that there was no outlet from this misery. Even before the official end of slavery, free Black women that rose to the middle-class economic status had begun club work and established clubs in their communities. These organizations not only provided a social outlet for these privileged women, …

The Interactive Roles Of Gender And Ethnicity In African-American Women's Mental Health, Dianna Nadine Moses-Nunley

Dissertations

Abstract For African-American women, female gender and African-American (AA) ethnicity combine to create experiences of discrimination, discrimination related stress, and mental health issues that are not encountered by individuals who occupy only one of these status variables. Gender and ethnicity also influence socioeconomic status, an additional variable affecting the experiences and issues that AA women uniquely encounter. The first goal of this study was to examine the ways in which the combined social statuses of gender and ethnicity influence the discriminatory experiences and mental health of AA women. The second goal was to determine the ways in which AA women¿s …