Digital Commons Network^™

Enacting Race And Class Online: Gatekeeping And Meaning Making On Reddit’S R/Brooklyn, Peter J. Sclafani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the following thesis I examine how race- and class-based power structures are conceptualized and actualized in the virtual sphere. The Internet as an “imagined community” upholds the historically embedded power structures that perpetuate deeply-rooted American hegemonic ideals as they relate to race and class.

To demonstrate the conceptualization of power structures in virtual space an analysis of discourse on the social media and news aggregate website, Reddit, that positions online conversations about race and class as an extension of the racial inequality present in social structures offline. Isolating gentrification, and topics related to gentrification such as new business openings …

Unstitching The Borders: Color, Class And Consumption In Queens, New York, Cassandra R. Barnes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The following thesis is a comparative multipart examination into the ways in which globalization, translocality, and gentrification influence communities and their inhabitants through the lens of fashion. Political and social forces drive processes of consumption. In the Corona and Jackson Heights sections of Queens, New York, several waves of migration and immigration have given rise to an extremely diverse yet socially complex area. Historically, four major shopping districts: Roosevelt Avenue, 74^th Street, 82^nd Street, and Junction Boulevard developed in the two towns and reflected much of the demography within. Currently these districts are physically accessible to anyone able …

Impacts Of The Erosion Of State Funding For Public Higher Education: Longitudinal Case Studies Of Four State Systems – California, Georgia, New York And Wisconsin, Meghan M. Moore-Wilk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The rising cost of higher education in America is national news on a regular basis and many feel that as the costs increase the American dream of upward mobility slips further and further out of reach. Much of the research on higher education to date focuses on the quantifiable changes in support for public colleges and universities at the national or state levels, but less is written about individual state public higher education systems. This study provides a fifty-year, fifty-state history of funding for the operating costs of higher education and new information, from the four quadrants of the country, …

Desde El Margen: Teatro Alterno Y Comunidades Hispanas De Nueva York, 1997–2017, Pablo D. García Gámez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Esta disertación analiza ocho textos de los autores Tere Martínez, Jorge Merced, Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Eva Cristina Vásquez y cuatro performances en la calle. La misma explora las relaciones entre los cuatro dramaturgos y las comunidades hispanas de Nueva York. Indaga en el proceso de cómo la memoria de estas comunidades se refleja en un repertorio teatral. Por otro lado, revisa la organización del performance cultural en las comunidades.

La hipótesis de esta investigación es que en el teatro hispano alterno hay obras que son reflejo y reflexión sobre los grupos periféricos y que el performance es una herramienta social. …

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take X-4, Barbara T. Paulus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take X-4 is a zine that analyzes and responds to William Greaves’s 1968 experimental documentary film titled Symbiopscyhotaxiplasm: Take One, in which Greaves performs the role of a bad director in order to compel his film crew into rebelling against him. As a Civil Rights Activist, Greaves was interested in exploring the relationship between authority figures and the oppressed, particularly how this dynamic operates on a film set. The film consists of three channels of footage: the fictional script being filmed; footage of the film being filmed; and footage of everything else occurring on the set. The fictional …

Challenges In Measuring Firearm Prevalence: A Test Of Cook's Index Across The Rural–Urban Continuum, Noah R. Cypher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cook's Index is the most commonly used proxy for firearm prevalence. This research uses New York's Pistol Permits to measure legitimate firearm prevalence and compare it to Cook's Index. In this study, Cook's Index predicted impossible values for several counties that together contained a clear majority of New York State citizens. Cook's Index was also shown to be unreliable across types of counties. Rural and Urban counties had significantly different ratios of Cook's Index to Pistol Permits in New York. The models show a general finding that the relationship between Cook's Index and legitimate firearm ownership varies depending on the …

The Equal Right To Sing: The American Zeitgeist And Its Implications For Music Education, Youngeun Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

According to music educators and proponents of arts education, music education in U.S. public schools seems to be in jeopardy. This thesis brings attention to several issues in current music education. It is a case study of music education in New York City public elementary schools. First, it shows that music education is not equally distributed to all students in the public-school system and is especially unequal among elementary schools. Next, it investigates possible causes for this inequality, from the current system’s limitations to more fundamental causes including the cultural perception of music among the U.S. public. The consequences of …