Digital Commons Network^™

"There Will Be More Cookies": A Discursive Exploration Of Polyamorous Identity In A Monogamous World, Stephanie K. Webb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monogamous romantic relationships are the standard by which to engage in relationships in the United States. Despite the pervasiveness of monogamy, polyamorous romantic relationships are growing. Polyamory is an approach to romantic relationships that includes engaging sexually and emotionally with multiple people simultaneously, with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved (Polyamory, 2015). This study explores how individuals who identify as polyamorous construct personal and relational identities in a monogamous world. Using relational dialectics theory 2.0 and queer theory, the study examined self-recorded conversations of 21 polyamorous participants and their partner(s). Participant talk surrounding polyamorous personal and relational identity voiced …

Shhhuicide Stories: A Crip Critical Analysis Of Attempt Survivors' Narrations Of Suicidality, Emily Krebs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Estimations suggest that one person in the United States tries to take their own life every 38 seconds (Yeager & Roberts, 2015, p. 38), making suicide the 10th leading cause of death in the nation (AFSP, 2016). Despite the prevalence of this issue, communication surrounding suicidality remains scarce - as do concrete understandings of what causes the desire to die in the first place. Dominant understandings link suicidality to chemical/neurobiological issues in the brain (mental illnesses), but these claims have not yet been scientifically proven (Hjelmeland, Dieserud, Dyregrov, Knizek, & Leenaars, 2012) and, as this study suggests, biomedical aspects of …

Shapeshifting And Sexuality: A Critical Autoethnography Of A Selkie, Sophie Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shapeshifting lore has provided a rich and evocative way to explore human experiences across many different cultures. This author utilizes the mythology of selkies to unpack the perspective of a white queer woman who is dealing with issues of racial privilege, heteronormativity, and patriarchal oppression. Utilizing performative writing and autoethnographic method, the author creates an argument for the integration of intersectional practices within the work of queer theorists, as well as for resistance against assimilation.

En Boca Cerrada No Entran Moscas. Flies Don't Enter Closed Mouths: A Grounded Theory Study Of Latinas' Testimonios Of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure, Nivea Castaneda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite countless studies demonstrating a high prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) and low rates of disclosure in the Latinx community, research exploring Latinx CSA disclosure is scant in family communication studies. This study explores how Latinas choose to disclose and/or conceal their experience(s) of CSA as well as explores the Latinx cultural constructs that impact disclosure. Using the Indigenous methodology of testimonio, grounded theory, and communication privacy management theory as a sensitizing theory, the study examined six Latinas' testimonios collected in one-on-one interviews. In an effort to stay true to testimonio, the overarching themes are presented through …

Uncertainty, Interference, And Communication In Bereaved Parent-Child Relationships, Veronica Anne Droser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research on familial loss has centered individualized experiences with grief, constructing a disconnect between family members that works to weaken interdependence and create additional coping challenges. Through a family systems lens, the current study explored family loss from a relational perspective, centering the parent-child experience as a unique and conflictual one. Drawing from the Relational Turbulence Model (RTM) and the Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM), this work used actor partner interdependence models (APIM) to test a dyadic and integrated model that centered relational experiences with uncertainty, interference, and information management for 29 bereaved parent-child dyads. Further, to understand more …

An Analysis Of The Construction Of Parent Identity In Higher Education: A Mixed Methods Study, Daniel William Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods study examined the construction of parental identity and interactions at a midsize four-year western private university. Survey responses were collected from 163 undergraduate students and 448 parents, who completed qualitative measures examining student and parent descriptions of parental interactions in higher education and quantitative measures examining frequency of parental intervention, levels of relational closeness, and use of mediated communication. Qualitative findings indicated that the student and parent participants were constructing parental identity at a private university through six emergent themes that describe parents as Financial Supporters, Academic Consultants, Emotional Cheerleaders, Housing Advisors, Advocates for Healthcare, and Advocates …

Engaging The Brave And The Bold: Exploring The Discourses Of Disability Through Life Stories, Brian L. Grewe Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the meaning making of having an acquired physical disability still remains a mystery today. With more than 20 percent of our total population experiencing some form of disability, this study explores discourses of disability that emerge from participants' life stories. This study interviewed 20 participants using a modified version of McAdams' (1993) Life Story Interview Protocol. Utilizing Relational Dialectics Theory and a thematic discourse analysis, two primary discourses emerged from participant talk. (1) the biomedical discourse of disability and (2) the disability discourse of normalcy. The latter discourse can be broken down even further into (1) the sociolinguistic discourse …

Resilience And Struggle: Exploring The Experiences Of Undocumented College Students Through Chicana Feminist Theory And Dialogical Performance, Sergio Fernando Juarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an increasingly hostile political and social climate undocumented students in the United States continue to struggle to find space for themselves within universities. This research project undertakes a goal of illuminating how undocumented students make sense of their experiences on university campuses despite facing difficult climates at their respective universities. A goal of this project is to better understand how the experiences of undocumented students are shaped in contrast to institutional policies. Universities with inclusive excellence policies, a new iteration of multicultural diversity policies, intended to create practices that make college campuses more inclusive spaces.

The perspectives of undocumented …

Governmentality/Animacy/Mythology: A Biopolitical And Rhetorical Mosaic Of Hiv Stigma In A Time Of Prep-Aration, Brendan Geoffrey Aaron Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 1981, roughly 35 million people have died from the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the end stages of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and an estimated 39 million are living with HIV today. While various factors such as poverty, lack of education, and poor access to treatment and healthcare compound the epidemic across the world, the endemic in the industrialized west faces specific communication-based challenges to slowing the spread of HIV. Now classified as a "chronic manageable condition", an HIV diagnosis is no longer the death sentence of the early outbreak in the 1980's. A major factor in the …