Digital Commons Network^™

Strictly Intersectional Scrutiny: A Recommendation For Transforming The Epc To Highlight Queer Black Women, Kayla M. Richardson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and how this interpretation can become more intersectional for Black queer women. This question is explored within the scope of two theoretical frameworks: Derrick Bell’s theory of interest convergence and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality. This project examines whether any factors compel SCOTUS to be more intersectional in its approach to the Fourteenth Amendment. Simultaneously, this study also considers what social contexts make SCOTUS more likely to focus on the interests of the oppressor, a demographic …

“We’Ll Offer Asylum Just So Long As…” The Discrimination Of Poc And Lgbtq+ Refugees In Ongoing Refugee Crises, Faith N. Schaefer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

An ongoing refugee crisis is apparent in global politics and foreign relations. Still, the way receiving countries regard certain communities in this critical period has brought to light the inhumane discrimination solely based on one’s skin color and/or sexual identity. Despite the “open arms” policy that most nations tend to project, there is an unwritten protocol along borders that some states have chosen a “pick and choose” approach when it comes to People of Color (POC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and other gender non-conforming (LGBTQ+) individuals who are fleeing their country of origin. Any such prejudice and inequity …

¿Por Qué No Vale La Pena Salvarnos? Experiencias De Mujeres Inmigrantes Latinoamericanas Con Políticas De Inmigración Post-9/11 Y Solicitantes De Asilo En Los Estados Unidos, Kaye Romans

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Esta tesis aborda la Crimmigration—la convergencia de las políticas criminales y la ley de inmigración—en un mundo post-9/11 en lo que se refiere a las mujeres inmigrantes latinoamericanas que buscan asilo en los Estados Unidos. Utilizando la jurisprudencia, la legislación y la erudición legal, sitúo estas políticas en el contexto más amplio de la ley de inmigración tanto a nivel nacional como internacional, centrándome en la legislación y políticas claves posteriores al 9/11 tales como la Operation Streamline, la Operation Liberty Shield y el Title 42, así como la jurisprudencia clave posterior al 9/11 que trata con las mujeres latinoamericanas …

Fostering Inclusivity And Resilience: Challenges To Community-Based Empowerment For Trans Elders In Roanoke, Virginia, Summer Skye Allison

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As popular media disseminates harmful “culture war” rhetoric regarding trans folk it has become increasingly necessary to amplify their voices to give them power over how they are perceived by society. Though political discourse regarding trans children has become a hot-button topic, this paper seeks to explore the overlooked experiences of trans elders as they contend with intersecting instances of ageism and transphobia from individuals and institutions in Roanoke, Virginia. Since community-based organizations like the Roanoke Diversity Center and Ladies and Gents of the Blue Ridge have been instrumental to strengthening the LGBTQ+ community in Roanoke, this research focuses on …

Time Is Money: Using Delay Discounting And Reflection To Improve Decision-Making In The Iowa Gambling Task, Soha Munir

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gambling disorder is described as a persistent and reoccurring behavior that leads to distress and significant impairments in relationships, jobs, or career opportunities in the DSM V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). With gambling behaviors on the rise, it is crucial to understand what makes one individual more likely than another to develop a gambling disorder. Impaired decision-making has been associated with problematic gambling behaviors, and delay discounting has been related to multiple behaviors such as alcohol use, drug use, and gambling. This study investigates the relationship between delay discounting and performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a commonly used …

Why Are We Not Worth Saving? Latin American Immigrant Women's Experiences With Post-9/11 Crimmigration Policies And Asylum-Seeking In The United States, Kaye Romans

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis discusses Crimmigration—the convergence of criminal policies and immigration law—in a post-9/11 world as it relates to Latin American Immigrant women seeking asylum in the United States. Utilizing case law, legislation, and legal scholarship, I situate these policies in the broader context of immigration law both nationally and internationally, focusing on key post-9/11 legislation and policies such as Operation Streamline, Operation Liberty Shield, and Title 42, as well as key post-9/11 case law dealing with Latin American women seeking asylum in the United States. With these foundational understandings, I provide possible solutions that would lessen the harms presented to …

Prior Parental Incarceration And The Impact Towards Attitudes About Law Enforcement As Adults, Jennifer Spencer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The number of incarcerations has been climbing drastically, especially in the United States. A forgotten minority which remains understudied is those children of incarcerated individuals. Many studies have found parental separation to be associated with problematic behavior in children. However, little to no information is known on the attitudes of offspring of incarcerated people toward law enforcement and the police. The current study examined just this, researching children of incarcerated parents’ attitudes towards legitimacy and confidence in the police during adulthood. Participants (N = 55) were undergraduate students at a small university who gained extra credit for voluntary participation. …

Postcolonial Indian Ruling Texts: The Ramayana, Shuchi Sanyal

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I shall be writing about the Ramayana as a ruling text and the post colonial interpretation of Hindu mythology perpetuating gender roles and encourages women to be submissive. The imposition of Western ideals alters the perception of cultural expectations of women and that to behave misogynistically is to be true to traditional Indian values. The Ramayana is a fable recorded in religious text, The Bhagavad Gita, and is taught to children to convey the Hindu objective of human pursuit composed of duties, prosperity, desire, spiritual liberation. The original text consists of nearly twenty four thousand verses in the Shloka meter, …

Smoke Filled Back Hollars: The Impact Of Traditional Barbecue On Modern Political Campaigns Within Western Virginia, Monica Thomas Fury

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The first political barbecue took place in Virginia during the Colonial period. Since then, barbecue has remained an essential part of American civic life. Western Virginia, defined for the purposes of this thesis as the political borders of the sixth and ninth Congressional Districts in Virginia as drawn in 2021, is largely a rural area, considered by most political consultants to be heavily Republican and not winnable seats for Democratic candidates. The state Democratic Party of Virginia has rarely earmarked funds or support for candidates within those districts for the past two decades. Ironically, the Democratic party controlled this same …

Resilience In The Face Of Adversity: An Analysis Of The Refugee Entrepreneurial Population And Their Resources In The Mid-Atlantic Region Of The United States., Zahin Mahbuba

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study presents an overview and analysis of refugee entrepreneurship in the United States' Mid-Atlantic region for refugee entrepreneurship by interviewing three refugee entrepreneurs and two professional individuals who actively work with refugee entrepreneurs. It introduces the refugee population and climate in the United States, and examines the connections between forced migration and entrepreneurship in the present literature along with factors that affect access and viability of entrepreneurship due to economic and social barriers, cultural and familial influences and financial hurdles. Through the interviews and examination of existing literature, three different traits distinguished refugee entrepreneurs in the region, according to …

Who Are You Protecting?: A Feminist Analysis Of Gay And Trans Panic Defense Bans, How They Are Defined, And Who They Protect, Tyler S. Sesker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As of April 2022, sixteen U.S. states ban Gay panic and Trans panic criminal defenses. These state-law prohibitions stemmed from several high-profile murder trials, focusing on the identity of the decedent, including the killings of Matthew Shepard and Latisha King. Between 1970 and 2020, criminal defenses interrogating the gender identity or sexual identity of victims of violence were used at least 104 times, with nearly a third of those cases resulting in reduced criminal charges and penalties. Today, in thirty-four states, the same tactics remain legal. Applying a feminist and outsider legal lens, this study engages in a textual analysis …

Women In American Pop Music: Christina Aguilera’S Impact On Cultural Narratives, Chin Wai (Rosie) Wong

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pop music as a mainstream medium is often more enjoyed than critically studied. Former studies and literatures point out a major issue that many American female pop music artists face. These artists are often confined in a box that reduces their full human-being attributes to a narrowed view, where their identity is portrayed in a diminishing and inaccurate way. Despite this narrowed narrative of what a woman should be, this box has become a norm that many female artists must adhere to in order to achieve mainstream success. This paper responds to this phenomenon by analyzing Christina Aguilera’s music, spanning …

Renegotiating Liminal Spaces: Catholic Nuns As Spiritual And Feminist Activists, Emily M. Lauletta

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to recognize the critical work being done by the women in two Sister-led organizations, Talitha Kum, and Network. Throughout this thesis, I make note of how the actions of these groups of nuns align with several values attributed to spiritual activism. Simultaneously, I discuss the complications that arise from doing social justice work within the confines of an institution that has perpetuated settler colonialism and white supremacy. My analysis is grounded in three theoretical frameworks; spiritual activist theory as articulated by Gloria Anzaldúa, Indigenous Feminism(s), and Womanism. In reference to the nuns' status as …

Rock, Rap, And Rage: Which Genre Elicits Negative Emotional Contagion, Sarah Vinson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous studies have analyzed the effects of the heavy metal and rap music genres, both together and separately, to study the music’s influence on aggressive behavior. A lack of studies analyzing the effect of one group against the other are available to assess which group it is that elicits higher negative emotional contagion. The current study is a follow-up to a pilot study conducted to assess whether it was heavy metal or rap music that elicited higher negative emotional contagion. Personality type using the 10-Item Big Five Inventory and the Trait Anger Scale allowed the researcher to compare several personality …

Differences Between Asians And Pacific Islanders In Mental Health Stigma And Help-Seeking Behavior, Kycel Butters

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mental health stigma is prevalent among U.S. minority groups. Minorities are found to have higher stigma towards mental illnesses and exhibit lower help-seeking behaviors compared to the majority (Narendorf, et. al, 2018). Among these minority groups, Asians and Pacific Islanders are two populations often grouped together despite their cultural differences. Due to this generalization, many of the data for Pacific Islanders are overlooked by their Asian counterparts. To address the differences between the two groups, the current study compares Asians and Pacific Islanders against each other on their attributions and attitudes towards mental health stigma and help-seeking behaviors. Participants ( …

Mothers, Morals, And Godly Motivations: Conservative Women’S Activism From Anticommunism To The New Christian Right, Kaitlyn C. Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The modern conservative movement cannot be understood without investigating women’s activism. Women’s political participation sustained the transformation of the Republican party from an emphasis on economic issues to a focus on social issues, especially throughout the mid-late twentieth century. One key point of transformation was in the 1950’s, when Communism posed a very serious danger. Conservatives claimed that in Communist countries, women gave their children to government funded programs and went to work.1 This policy took women away from their assigned roles as wives and mothers. Another important turning point was in the 1960’s, when the United States saw sweeping …

Assimilating The Dominican Tourist: What Maps Tell Tourists In Puerto Plata About The Processes Of Capitalism And Imperialism, Amy Duncan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The tourism industry in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic is dominated by foreign enterprise. Given the history of colonization in the Dominican Republic, the social dynamics in the tourism industry are imperialist by nature. This thesis seeks to understand how tourist maps are used to assimilate tourists into the social dynamics of Puerto Plata. To do this, it unravels existing literature on tourism in the Caribbean, the nature of the tourism industry in the Dominican Republic as well as its foreign benefactors, and foundational works on the sociological aspects of tourism.

The findings of this paper are that tourist maps seek …

Imagining A New Nation: Patriotism And National Identity In The Writing Of Late-18th Century American Women, Aysia S. Brenner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Benedict Anderson defined the nation as “an imagined political community” that is “imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” The research for this paper began with a desire to know how American women in the time leading up to, during, and immediately after the American Revolution and War of Independence did or did not imagine themselves as members of the newly emerging political community eventually known as the United States of America. As tensions between the Colonies and Great Britain increased, as tea was dumped in Boston harbor, and as independence was declared in 1776, how did women make sense …

Mindfulness Training's Effect On Stress, Attention, And Perfectionism And Their Relationship To Achievement Goals, Alexandra Lesniak

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In recent years, the practice of cultivating mindfulness, a nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, has made a resurgence in areas ranging anywhere from behavioral issues to work and academic productivity (Brown & Ryan, 2003a). The current study was focused on the relationships between mindfulness, achievement styles, stress, attention, and perfectionism at a single-sex, liberal arts institution. One hundred and five undergraduate, female students participated in this study. All participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness audio condition or a badminton audio condition as a control. Then, they were given measures relating to achievement goals, mindfulness capability, state mindfulness, …

Growing More Than Coffee: Global Narratives And National Reconciliation Within The Rwandan Coffee Industry, Katie Grandelli

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the Rwandan coffee industry following the genocide of 1994. The two major questions that are asked of the Rwandan coffee industry are the roles that it plays in reconciliation efforts and in global perception. The data examined in this thesis ranges from the marketing strategies of internationally popular coffee brands to an interview at a local coffee shop that specializes in Rwandan coffee products. This research engages in discussions of consumable goods as economic stimulants in post-conflict situations and indicators of neoliberal buying behavior on the part of consumers. Final analysis within this thesis suggests …

Human Trafficking Definitions To Eradication In Virginia: A Legislative Analysis, Hannah Kay Byrum

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The gap between the reality of human trafficking in Virginia and the necessary legislative systems, remedies, and support afforded to victims, is wide. My research arose from my experience navigating this incongruity in Virginia law and its impacts, through a delegate’s office, the office of a United States Senator, and a government relations firm. This research articulates the significant, material legislative initiatives required in Virginia’s human trafficking legislative landscape. In surveying this landscape, this research articulates where incongruences ex-unified language and legislative definitions, exist in key areas. This research addresses the need for expansion on the parameters to which victims …

“Country Faggots” Are Everywhere: Gay And Lesbian Life In Rural America, Katie Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will challenge many scholarly works that define being “out” and visibility as the ultimate expression of gay resistance. To define outness as the ultimate expression of resistance is to erase a group of people who did not have the privilege of always being able to be out and any contributions they made towards LGBT resistance. When studying LGBT resistance, it is important to acknowledge the necessity of political resistance, but that does not mean that other forms of resistance should be ignored. To analyze the importance of LGBT resistance outside of the public sphere means to re-examine the …

Limitation, Liberation, And The Latter-Day Saints: The Establishment Of Mormon Womanhood In The Woman’S Exponent, 1872-1890, Meaghan Harrington

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Navigating the establishment of Mormon womanhood from 1872-1890 in the Exponent shows how Mormon women related to their outer world, their inner world, and themselves. This thesis analyzes the thoughts, feelings, and desires of a complex sociocultural grouping, and asks the reader to question their own attitudes towards gender and culture. The rhetoric of Mormon womanhood in the Exponent and the culture from which it stemmed have implications for understanding both “the rights of the women of Zion, and the rights of the women of all nations.”

Printing Profanity: How The Homophiles Sought To Organize An American Gay Movement, Gina Wiese

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gay history, as it is currently taught in America, centers the Stonewall Riots of 1969 as a cataclysm of social change for gay rights, and as the beginning of gay resistance. Most histories of gay resistance in America will mention efforts of early homophile organizations, and credit the Stonewall riots as a cumulation of those earlier efforts. But this is an inaccurate interpretation of gay history. The homophile movement deserves vastly more credit for how gay Americans navigate the world today than do the riots at the Stonewall Inn. This paper will identify these individuals and the several early organizations …

Mamas, Miners, & Movements: Women And Gendered Labor In Central Appalachia During The 20th Century, Devan M. Mullins

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to better analyze the contributions and experiences of women within the central Appalachian region through the work they participated in during the 20th century. It lays the foundational understandings of gender roles that crafted the society of the area and connects labor evolution for women within Appalachia and the US as a whole – highlighting similarities and differences. It also discusses Appalachian women’s move from the household to waged labor within the coal mines. Special attention will be paid to the reactions of men and other women to women coal miners to understand what gendered labor means …

For You Will Not Abandon My Soul: Co-Optation, Deradicalization And Renormalization Of The Black Radical, Jalia Lashay Joseph

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the exploration of state-sanctioned violence against Black radicals and radical Black organizations and the essentialism of cooptation, deradicalization and renormalization as a fundamental part of white racism. The thesis further explores the ways in which Black radicals and Black social movement organizations from the height of the Black civil rights movement (1964-1969) were de-radicalized and stripped of their intellectual and social property by the effects of power exhibited by the state. Concurrently, I also argue that these same radicals and organizations would later have many of their “radical” practices, culturally co-opted / appropriated by the white …