Digital Commons Network^™

The Stigma Of Deaf: Managing A Stigmatized Identity And Well-Being, Renca Dunn

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The Deaf identity encompasses cultural, linguistic, and social dimensions that significantly influence the lives of Deaf individuals. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide will be living with some degree of hearing loss (2021). While there may be a growing number of people who have some type of hearing loss, there is a distinct group who identify their hearing loss as part of a culture and community. The Deaf community has a rich history, culture, language, and linguistic heritage. The development of the Deaf identity is influenced by factors such as family, education, and …

The Intersections Of Migration And Identity In Young Adult Literature Of The French-Speaking World, Kaitlyn Waller

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Both young adult literature and novels of migration frequently deal with the construction of identity, from coming-of-age stories to narratives of intercultural exploration and hybridization. Young adult narratives of migration, then, represent a fascinating intersection of two literary traditions for the exploration of questions of identity. However, young adult literature and its varied subgenres are often overlooked among the broader critical scholarship of migration narratives. Indeed, the genre is often critiqued as too simplistic or pedagogical to truly merit consideration among adult readers and academics. Through an in-depth analysis of nine novels, however, I explore questions of identity development in …

Identity And Technology Integration In An Efl Context: A Study Of Egyptian Teachers And Adult Learners, Alia Emara

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Globalization and the advent of technology have compelled many Egyptians to master the English language to participate in an increasingly competitive knowledge-centered global economy. Therefore, the demand for English language classes has been increasing in Egypt in recent years. However, English language classes alone may not guarantee that learners become technologically competent to master 21^st century skills. Therefore, one purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine how Egyptian EFL teachers and Egyptian EFL adult learners utilize technology and digital resources in teaching and learning English to promote autonomous learning and 21^st century skills. The study also …

“It’S Ok. She Doesn’T Even Speak English”: Narratives Of Language, Culture, And Identity Negotiation By Immigrant High School Students, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, James Alan Oloo

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study employs narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of two female, first-generation immigrant- and refugee-background students from West Africa. Using interview as conversation for guiding open-ended research questions and Yosso’s community cultural wealth (CCW) framework, we present participant narratives that speak to both similar and divergent experiences, which demonstrate a deep understanding of complex social issues presenting both tensions and opportunities for African immigrant and refugee student educational success in the United States. The study draws implications for rephrasing normative thinking about emerging multilingual students of African descent and developing a culturally responsive pedagogy for all students.

Sharing Identity: Indexing Cultural Perspectives Through Writing Responses To Graphic Novels, Alex Romagnoli

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Indexing identity through writing responses among ELL students in response to a graphic novel helps provide insight into how writing responses represent people and how graphic novels can aid in that process of self-discovery through their inherent multimodalities. This study takes looks at four students in an ELL class at an urban high school in southern Pennsylvania as they responded in writing to a portion of Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City (2006). All of the participants took events from the portion of the graphic novel provided to them and indexed their urban, cultural perspectives through their …

De Jesusita A Jane: Preservación Digital, Nombres Personales Y Autorrepresentación En La Experiencia Mexicano-Americana En El Medio Oeste De Eeuu / From Jesusita To Jane: Digital Preservation, Personal Names And Self-Presentation Of Mexican American Experience In The Us Midwest, Jennifer Isasi, Janette Avelar, Isabel Velázquez

Spanish Language and Literature

Pairing preservation with analytical endeavors, the corpus for the present analysis consists of 345 digital objects that include one or more iterations of the personal name of the mother and daughter of a Mexican American family that migrated from Zacatecas, Mexico, to the American Midwest, during the first half of the 20th century. Data were analyzed along the following dimensions: self-presentation, language(s), geographical location, temporality, public/private space, and type of text. At the same time, we describe the challenges involved in encoding names that follow different naming conventions, that were produced by speakers of two different languages, and that changed …

The Technological Factors Of Reddit: Communication And Identity On Relational Networks, Jennifer Kienzle

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The relational network reddit is one of the most popular and visited websites on a global and national (United States) level. Communication on reddit lends itself to intergroup communication in that reddit users engage with audiences from ingroup, outgroup, and mixed audience compositions. Reddit’s voting system allows for negative and positive feedback to enhance or impede on one’s message. I examine how these technological factors influence a number of communicative and identity processes: (a) identity salience, (b), identity gaps, (c) group and interpersonal evaluation, and (d) accommodative language. Drawn out of intergroup contact literature and theories about group processes and …

Korea And The Dominican Republic: A Transnational Case Study-Analysis, Aprille J. Phillips

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

The study of transnational movement and the lives of individuals who cross nation-state boundaries has grown in recent decades. Transnational study regarding the Dominican Republic has continued since migrations to the U.S. in the 1960s and has primarily focused on “transnationalism from below” (Smith & Guarnizo, 2002) narratives, while study of South Korean transnationalism has focused on movement motivated by access to English in order to assure access to the competitive job market and opportunities for social mobility. This pair of case studies examines the lives of two relatively privileged Korean students who lived transnationally between Korea and the Dominican …

Agency Theory: Toward A Framework For Research In The Public’S Support For And Understanding Of Science, Peter Muhlberger, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Public understanding of science and public engagement around science policy issues takes place within a complex system involving public opinion, values, identities, social groups, media, and social, economic, and political structures and influences. This paper offers a theory of agency that bridges the psychological and sociological and thereby offers a theoretical framework for understanding the system underlying public understanding of science, support for science, and the implications of public engagement. Agency theory integrates elements of well-established social science theories into an understanding of human agency. Strategies for improved public engagement are discussed.

Individual Discourse, Language Ideology And Spanish Transmission In El Paso, Texas, Isabel Velázquez

Spanish Language and Literature

This paper reports the results of an analysis of the use of metaphors, metonyms, referential strategies, and expressions of deixis used by a group of middle-class bilinguals in the border city of El Paso, Texas, when speaking about use of Spanish and English in their city and in their home. A total of 234 metaphors referencing processes, institutions, and ethnic groups related to Spanish/English use were included. The goal of this study was to analyze how speakers conceptualized language use and language users in their community, and to examine if and how individual discourses map onto larger linguistic ideologies. The …

Many Worlds Converge Here: Vision And Identity In American Indian Photography, Alicia L. Harris

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Photographs of Native Americans taken by Frank A. Rinehart at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in 1898 were then and continue to be part of the construction of indigenous identities, both by Anglo-Americans and Natives. This thesis analyzes the ramifications of Rinehart’s portraits and those of his peers as well as Native American artists in the 20^th and 21^st centuries who have sought to re-appropriate these images to make them empowering icons of individual or tribal identity rather than erasure of culture.

This thesis comprises two sections. In the first section, the analysis is focused on the historical …

Hyphenated Identities As A Challenge To Nation-State School Practice?, Edmund T. Hamann, William England

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This chapter concludes the edited volume Hyphenated Identities and affords a chance to juxtapose how transnational students negotiate school and identity with how school systems in turn view such students, and then it allows the examination of two different strategies -- situational ethnicity versus the assertion of hyphenated identity -- as a glimpse into the cosmology of transnationally mobile students as they come into adulthood.