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Cycles Of Domination And Resistance: A Performance Autoethnography Of A Black Woman At A Pwi, Savannah Brown

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis is a performance autoethnography that examines and unpacks my experiences as a Black woman who attends a predominantly white institution. Through narratives, letters, and photos, I reveal and analyze the ways in which I navigate both systems of domination and resistance between my interactions with spaces, people, discourses, and objects. As I use Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and performance studies as my theoretical underpinnings, I can understand how my Black, female body is situated and contested within the institution that I refer to as Everywhere University. While this project shows my experiences with concepts such as racism, whiteness, …

It’S Time To Talk About Sexual Health Education: The Process Behind The Youtube Web Show The Confessions Of A Sex-Ed Teacher, Ashley Hendricks

Master of Arts in Media and Communication Plan II Graduate Projects

There are many topics of discussion that are considered controversial when taught in school systems. One of the most common topics is sexual health education and the material being distributed from teachers to students in a classroom setting. Although there is plenty of research that defines sexual health education as a benefit and positive outcome for lowering sexually transmitted infections and unintended teenage pregnancy, there is still concern about topics regarding sexual activity to adolescents in middle school and high school. One of the best ways to approach a sensitive and controversial topic in academic research is by applying creative …

Allyship As An Act: The Performative, Power-Laden, And Contradictory Co-Cultural Strategies Of Straight Allies, David Dooling

MSU Graduate Theses

While the study of queer communities underscores the importance of responses to heteronormativity, this dual-method study challenges positionality by examining the co-cultural strategies of straight allies in predominantly queer conversations and spaces. Using Orbe’s Co-Cultural Theory as a lens, this study examines the co-cultural strategies and factors that influence straight allies’ communication when entrenched in queer ontology and dialogue (Study 1). Additionally, co-cultural strategies are measured among straight allies in hypothetical workplaces that are either predominantly queer or predominantly straight (Study 2) using Lapinski and Orbe’s (2007) Co-Cultural Theory Scales. Together, the results of these studies contribute to the ideas …

Redefine: Messages About Masculinity, Anna Leonidovna Goryachikova, Mason Mitchell Montgomery, Hannah Jayne Martell

Communication Studies

REDEFINE: Messages about Masculinity was held in the Berg Gallery on May 7th, 2019. REDEFINE’s story began on an evening of Fall Quarter of 2018 at Barrelhouse in Downtown San Luis Obispo. The overarching goal of the event was to start a conversation about masculinity and to educate. As communication students, we studied the value of building relationships and communicating effectively. We believe that listening to personal narratives of diverse interpretations through monologues, music, and video is a great way to learn about masculinity. As audience members and performers, we came to understand how crucial it is to create a …

Julia De Burgos, Embodied Excess, And (Un)Silenced Memory: A Decolonial Feminist Analysis Of Performances Of Resistance, Sara Johanna Baugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation makes an argument for a decolonial move in rhetorical memory studies to more ethically account for the ways in which colonized women in the Global South, like Puerto Rican poet and revolutionary Julia de Burgos, have resisted the trauma colonization has systemically wrought against gendered, raced, and classed bodies. Building from a decolonization methodology, and theoretically situating my argument in Chicana, Latina, and decolonial feminisms, I argue Burgos's poetry both bears faithful witness to the violence of US imperial rule and articulates the dangers of a Puerto Rican nationalist movement built on a Spanish colonial foundation. Approaching Burgos …

"Femme Fatales Of Faith": Queer And "Deviant" Performances Of Femme Within Western Protestant Culture, Kelsey Waninger Minnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women and queer folk are changing the religious landscape of Christianity in America, and the scope of visibility for these figures and their apostolic endeavors is widening as more and more Christians are seeking out communities rooted in doctrines of love and connection rather than exclusion and hegemonic piety. Thinking on this phenomenon, this dissertation focuses on the intersectional dilemmas of faith practice and rhetorical discourse with Western Christianity, particularly as it revolves around those female pastors and clergy - considered "dangerous" by many within the church - who are advocating for a more inclusionary church space. By conducting a …

Brooklyn Bedroom: An Ethnodrama On Female Sexuality, Third World Feminism And Performance Ethnography, Ayshia Stephenson

Doctoral Dissertations

Brooklyn Bedroom is a performance that interrogates societal perceptions of race and sexuality. I have utilized the writing of the performance as my method; the performance is an act of Third World feminist resistance and liberation. Storytelling is the type of research preferred by many black female playwrights. A type of qualitative inquiry, ethnodramatic work forms a bridge between individual stories and social issues affecting society with the goal of socio-political change. The source of reality for this ethnodrama is the Rose family, their history was a catalyst for the writing of Brooklyn Bedroom. I have explored their stories to …

Playing At Women And Men: A Discourse Analysis Of Gender And Sexuality Performance In An Online Play-By-Post Role-Playing Game, Caitlin M. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Online play-by-post role-playing games mark the discursive intersection between computer-mediated-communication and gaming. The performance of gender and sexuality is an important aspect of online play-by-post role-playing games.

Although play-by-post role-playing games are open world and do not have the same graphical and technological constraints as other forms of gaming, the performances on them are governed by both explicit and implicit rules. Performances of gender and sexuality are also governed by cultural standards. This thesis seeks to describe how players perform gender and sexuality within these boundaries.

This thesis describes the performance of gender and sexuality on the website Another Day …

Drag Performance And Femininity: Redefining Drag Culture Through Identity Performance Of Transgender Women Drag Queens, Cristy Dougherty

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Viewing gender as a performance reveals how gender identity is shaped and formed. There is currently tensions associated with drag queen performance as an act of subversion and transgression from the heteronormative definition of gender and drag as a perpetuation of heteronormative definitions of gender. There is also a tension between the affirmation of femininity and transgression from gender binaries of womanhood. In order to address these tensions, this thesis project examined the reasoning behind how transgender women and gay men drag queen performers navigate the world of femininity. Specifically, this study explored the varied reasons behind performing femininity through …

Love On - The Life Of A Suicide Survivor: A Performance Autoethnographic Study, Patricia R. Wheeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide touches the lives of millions of people each year in this country alone, yet conversations about suicide loss and survival after a loss remain taboo and often do not happen. The story I performed for this performance autoethnographic study centers on my life as a survivor of suicide. It provides a starting point for dialog regarding trauma, grief, and suicide loss. The narrative was constructed directly following the sudden death of my father, which had a direct effect on my ability to produce artistic work. The development, staging and performance of the story were altered to account for the …

Flying With The Storks: Communication, Culture, And Dialoguing Knowledge(S) In Prenatal Care, Liliana Herakova

Doctoral Dissertations

Approximately 6 million women in the U.S. become pregnant every year. Over 4 million give birth. Over 1 million babies annually are born with low birth weights or prematurely - phenomena, statistically linked to both lack of "adequate" prenatal care and to worsened health outcomes (www.americanpregnancy.org). Additionally, maternity "care" in the U.S. has been called a "human rights failure" (Bingham, Strauss, Coeytaux, 2011, p. 189), referring to the trend of increasing maternal mortality, despite the fact that child-birth related expenses in the U.S. are the highest healthcare expense in the country and are also much higher compared to other "industrialized" …

Humble Me: Increasing Awareness Of Ethnocentrism And Of The Need For Ethnorelativism Through A Spoken Word Performance Event, Corinne H. Sherman

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Stories: A Communicative Investigation Of Dancehall Narratives And Caribbean Culture, Marlon Emmanuel Douglas

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the power of stories told within Caribbean dancehall music and culture that present “good reasons” that are adopted by members of that culture. In addition, these “good reasons” were further investigated through participants’ communicative cultural performances at two dancehall related events. I adopted a qualitative interpretive approach to data collection and employed Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm theory to engage in narrative analysis of collected Caribbean dancehall stories. My findings show that dancehall stories reveal powerful ideological frames that “naturalize” ways of being within Caribbean dancehall culture. Moreover, various relationships between “good reasons” presented in lyrical stories and …