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Student Perspectives Of Music Courses In A Southwest Missouri School District: An Exploratory Case Study, Mary Elisa Wren Jan 2023

Student Perspectives Of Music Courses In A Southwest Missouri School District: An Exploratory Case Study, Mary Elisa Wren

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate student personal perspectives (grades 8-12) of music courses, their value, and what music courses they might choose or recommend. Numerous researchers and educators have debated and researched how music course offerings and instructional approaches used are central to the relevance, inclusiveness, accessibility, and equity in music education (Abramo, 2011; Clauhs & Cremata, 2020; Cooper, 2013; Green, 2006; Kelly & Heath, 2015). However, few researchers have investigated how students think about the motivations and barriers to different types of music courses. A semi-structured interview was used to explore secondary music students’ (a) perceptions, …


The Strong Black Woman Schema: How It Informs The Gendered Racial Identity Development Of Black College Women/Non-Binary Students And Their Navigation Of Pwis, Whitney Ngozi Akalugwu Jan 2023

The Strong Black Woman Schema: How It Informs The Gendered Racial Identity Development Of Black College Women/Non-Binary Students And Their Navigation Of Pwis, Whitney Ngozi Akalugwu

MSU Graduate Theses

The strong Black woman schema (SBW) is known to be a salient aspect of Black womanhood. This culturally specific schema can be understood as a protective factor against the social inequities that Black women are subjected to. However, not much is known on how the SBW schema informs Black college women’s gendered racial identity development and how it informs their navigation of PWIs. The purpose of this study is to explore the strong Black woman schema and how it informs the gendered racial identity development of Black college women/non-binary students and their navigation of PWIs. This study will also address …


Auto-Exploited: Narrative Explorations Of The Commodification Of Time, Grace C. Willis Ms. Jan 2023

Auto-Exploited: Narrative Explorations Of The Commodification Of Time, Grace C. Willis Ms.

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis is an exploration of the phenomenon of the auto-exploitation of the modern individual through and in conjunction with the commodification of time. It explores the eruption of gig-work in recent decades in the United States, and the ways in which the modern individual is both consumer and product, buying and selling her own constructions of identity in order to gain time, fiscal currency and a sense of socioeconomic worth from herself and others. Using theoretical frameworks of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Catherine Rottenberg and Byung-Chul Han, I explore the ways in which the modern individual is …


Conceptualizations Of A Flea Market Space, Tyler D. Curran Jan 2022

Conceptualizations Of A Flea Market Space, Tyler D. Curran

MSU Graduate Theses

The ubiquitous presence of flea markets is emblematic of midwestern life. They illustrate common consumption practices and distinct modes of entertainment. This study investigates how vendors within a large, midwestern flea market conceptualize and utilize the space. Additionally, this study reveals the relationship between variant conceptualizations of the market and the merchandise sold by individual vendors. Existing research identifies a tension between social and economic dimensions within flea markets. This study extends prior research by examining the specific social fulfillments vendors garner and identifying other non-economic rationalizations for participation within the market. The results are derived from ethnographic observations and …


Self-Portraits Of The Byelingual Immigrant, Sujash Purna May 2021

Self-Portraits Of The Byelingual Immigrant, Sujash Purna

MSU Graduate Theses

The following poems chronicle the journey of a contemporary Bangladeshi-immigrant poet living in the United States of America. Divided in three sections, the poems serve as self-portraits that peek into the complex psycholinguistics of the immigrant writing in a second language. The poet offers sketches of different aspects of his immigrant life through self portraits. While mostly autobiographical, the collection offers poems that serve as commentary on the socio-economic reality of workaholic American life. Through exploring the self as a bilingual poet, the poems serve as critiques of the socio-political systems of this country. “Self-Portraits of the Byelingual Immigrant” also …


Does Aging Identity Moderate The Impact Of Experiences With Familial Ageism On Well-Being?, Emily E. Kinkade May 2020

Does Aging Identity Moderate The Impact Of Experiences With Familial Ageism On Well-Being?, Emily E. Kinkade

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to begin investigating the effects of ageism in the family context. The current literature has documented the negative impacts that negative stereotypes and negative perceptions of aging has on older adults’ health, mortality, and well-being (Levy, 1996; Levy, 2003). However, the majority of extant research on ageism focuses on age discrimination in the workplace and in healthcare despite the majority of peoples’ time being spent in the family context. Therefore examining experiences of ageism sourced from family members merits study. Walker, Bisconti and Kinkade (in preparation) found evidence that the experience of ageism within …


Brilliant Women: Prose And Poetry, Amelia Fisher May 2020

Brilliant Women: Prose And Poetry, Amelia Fisher

MSU Graduate Theses

This collection of creative writing explores themes and subjects relating to feminism, sexuality, performativity, societal woes, popular culture, and the different ways we communicate. The individual pieces often examine women’s empowerment and lack thereof. These stories, essays, and poems are introduced by a critical work situating the contents of the thesis within greater literary traditions, such as Viktor Shklovsky’s defamiliarization, which I claim can function on the structural level as well as the story level, and his theory of the Chronotope; time and place are significant threads I follow from one genre to the next to create a cohesive collection …


A Journey Into My Mind, Shen Chen Hsieh May 2019

A Journey Into My Mind, Shen Chen Hsieh

MSU Graduate Theses

During my time as a student in the MFA in Visual Study Program, I have been interested in creating imagery that expresses my inner world that is based on my emotional experience. I believe my identity is influenced by my multi-cultural background, relationships, daily moments and my own introverted personality. I continue to experiment with various mediums and visual styles to communicate these feelings. Drawing, silk-screen printing, mixed media, and three-dimensional sculpture are the main mediums in my artwork. Exploring diverse mediums provides me opportunities to develop my self exploration in my images. I seek to express and understand the …


Journey To My Roots, Ainura Ashirova Barron May 2019

Journey To My Roots, Ainura Ashirova Barron

MSU Graduate Theses

This autobiographical body of work is a visual journey that involved the investigation of my personal identity and roots as well as the exploration of my cultural history through a process that relied on photographs, stories and family traditions, such as crafting. I consider this process and practice to be my passage into a globalized society while simultaneously finding my niche in my newly adopted country of America.


At Least Buy Me A Drink First, Ali Renee Geren May 2019

At Least Buy Me A Drink First, Ali Renee Geren

MSU Graduate Theses

This is a collection of poetry that focuses on relationships and how those relationships shape our identities. The collection begins with a critical reflection on the poems in the piece and the way that they interact with pop culture and other contemporary poetry. Although the piece is not divided into sections, the poems deal (primarily) with three types of relationships: romantic/sexual, mother/daughter, and patient/caregiver.


Tree Song, Amie Elizabeth Case Dec 2018

Tree Song, Amie Elizabeth Case

MSU Graduate Theses

The Grace that flows through the three realms is fractured, and it’s Mauhiyn’s fault. She is a Daughter, the only living and direct descendant of the line of women who are vessels for the Grace that sustains the realms in a state of perfect balance. Because Mauhiyn is the first Daughter unable to carry the Grace, she is blamed for the turmoil and darkness in the realms. King Darbrend of the western realm claims Mauhiyn’s Grace is simply dormant, not absent. Mauhiyn is sent to King Darbrend with the hopes that his dark power will restore the Grace within her …


A Relational Dialectics Approach To The Identity Development Of Millennial Mothers, Shawna L. Merrill May 2018

A Relational Dialectics Approach To The Identity Development Of Millennial Mothers, Shawna L. Merrill

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis uses relational dialectics theory (RDT) to make sense of the experiences of millennial mothers. RDT is a heuristic theory of relational meaning making and asserts that relationships and identities are negotiated in states of competing and contradictory discourses. This thesis can be conceptualized as two projects: autoethnography and qualitative inquiry using semi-structured interviews. Autoethnography explores the researcher’s own experience with the topic. Interview participants were asked a series of questions about their lives as millennial mothers to identify competing discourses, management strategies, and implications for identity. Three primary tensions were identified of millennial vs. mother, authenticity vs. persona, …


The Relevance Of Militant Islamist Ideology In Crafting Countering Violent Extremism Policy In The U.S., Leena Almeda Carmenates May 2016

The Relevance Of Militant Islamist Ideology In Crafting Countering Violent Extremism Policy In The U.S., Leena Almeda Carmenates

MSU Graduate Theses

Militant Islamist ideology and the level of attention and reaction it merits from the United States government has been the point of much contention and debate within both the academic and policy communities. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the relevance of militant Islamist ideology in crafting and implementing the emerging United States policy of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). Militant Islamist ideology provides its adherents with a strong sense of identity, motivation towards a seemingly worthy cause, and an all-encompassing and simplistic worldview. This ultimately points to the importance of engaging with the Muslim community, careful and tactful …


The Identity Of Leave-Taking: A Multi-Methodological Qualitative Sensemaking Explanation, Janice Nadine Hersey May 2016

The Identity Of Leave-Taking: A Multi-Methodological Qualitative Sensemaking Explanation, Janice Nadine Hersey

MSU Graduate Theses

Many church organizations require women to adhere to a strict code of conduct and dress that affects every area of their lives. While some women choose to create a narrative that validates these guidelines, others choose to leave the church. The purpose of this study is to explicate how women who have left the United Pentecostal Church (UPC), a legalistic splinter group of Pentecostalism, make sense of that decision, redefine their language, and construct new identities in and through the leave-taking process. Current research on women in gendered faith-based organizations focuses on feminist theory and folklore, often ignoring the voices …


Skin And Smoke, Kelly Anne Baker Jan 2016

Skin And Smoke, Kelly Anne Baker

MSU Graduate Theses

My thesis consists of the first ten chapters of a horror novel, entitled Skin and Smoke. My novel focuses on the character of Violet Masterson and her attempts to create her own identify and reconcile with her family's past actions. Violet lives in the small, recently unincorporated town of Nuovita in central Washington. Following her grandmother's death, she must face the paranormal events occurring in Nuovita, while her father leaves on an unknown journey. My thesis addresses themes of loss, identity, and revenge. In Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he proposes that the monomyth ends with the …