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A Dance Of Resistance: The Puerto Rican Bomba As A Means To Challenge Intersections Of Discrimination On The Island, Daniel Loving

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines the Puerto Rican Bomba as a multifaceted cultural and political phenomenon, focusing on its pivotal role in challenging and subverting the enduring issues of racial and gender discrimination on the Island. Drawing from an interdisciplinary framework that encompasses cultural studies, anthropology, history, performance and film studies, this research elucidates the complex interplay between Bomba's rhythmic and choreographic elements, its historical evolution, and its contemporary significance in the context of Puerto Rico's sociopolitical landscape. By analyzing Bomba's historical roots in African and indigenous traditions, its adaptation during colonial and post-colonial eras, and its ongoing relevance in the struggle …

The Adoption Of Conservation Practices And Program Participation Among Socially Disadvantaged Agricultural Producers: A Meta-Analysis, Myles A. Brown

LSU Master's Theses

As climate change has become undeniable in recent years, it has become increasingly important for the agriculture industry to address conservation. Within the agriculture industry, small farmers are usually the ones who take on this burden on a daily basis. However, some socially disadvantaged agricultural producers face unique challenges compared to the average farmer, which may impede their ability to adopt the necessary conservation practices or participate in conservation programs. This review sought to provide a definitive economic analysis on the possible effect of race on conservation adoption and program participation, as there is not much research on this topic. …

A Systematic Review And Reflection On The Dimensions Of Diversity Represented In Behavior Analytic Research, Jodie Waits

LSU Master's Theses

The United States continues to transition towards a majority-minority composition and this trend has most rapidly emerged for school-aged children. Work with diverse populations calls for specialized skills and training experiences, but these are not strongly reflected in most training programs in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). The present review was conducted to evaluate the scope and range of the dimensions of diversity included in Behavior Analytic research (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc.), as well as to compile recommendations related to culturally responsive practice in ABA. The search revealed a total of 50 publications featuring a dimension of diversity. These works …

Social Justice Through Social Media: The Use Of Twitter As A Tool For Activism In The #Metoo #Blacklivesmatter Era, Laura L. Coleman

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on social justice and how people on Twitter chose to talk about it. The rise of social media has allowed Twitter users to speak more freely in more spaces than one. The study compared two different sexual assault cases between Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Professor Christine Blasey; and Virginia’s Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax and Vanessa Tyson. Applying the social responsibility theory, which allows free press without any censorship, I then can see the tone of which Black Twitter users have when talking about two separate sexual assault cases. This study compares the use of the #BlackTwitter hashtag …

Exploring The Role Of Gender And Race In Salary Negotiations, Chelsea D. Hightower

LSU Master's Theses

Research findings from the negotiation literature have revealed significant differences in the negotiation behaviors of men and women, specifically that women do not negotiate as often or as successfully as men do. This difference has been cited as one of many factors contributing to the persistence of the gender wage gap. A possible explanation for the differences is that men and women are treated differently when they negotiate. Thus, there is evidence that women negotiators tend to receive multiple forms of social and economic punishment (i.e., backlash) for engaging in behavior that is inconsistent with stereotype-based expectations of women in …

Local Vs. National: How Twitter Reflects News Coverage Of Colin Kaepernick Protests, Jared Paul Joseph

LSU Master's Theses

Local and national media dedicate different levels of coverage to issues depending on its relevancy to their audiences. This study uses news outlets’ social media activity to show that coverage discrepancies occurred with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem protest. Because his protest reached national headlines, Kaepernick suffered the same fate of many protesting athletes in the past. This study will show how national media carried his story to national headlines and framed his protest negatively. The findings show that local media were the least active among the three media levels, local, regional and national, in covering the Kaepernick …

"If You Stand On This Corner, People Know What You're About": Powerful Geographies Of Airline & Goodwood In #Justiceforalton, Shannon Kathleen Groll

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to understand the multiple geographies of Airline & Goodwood, a site of protest occupied nightly during a part of summer 2016 in response to the police shooting of Alton Sterling. Through a methodology of observant-participation, interviews, and oral histories, I make the case that the politics of this site differed from other contemporaneous protest sites in the city through specific place-making activity which highlighted the site’s powerful contemporary and historical geographies. I connect protest at this site to the precarity of Black life and death in Baton Rouge through interviews and oral histories which discuss the historical …

"Fifty Shades Of Black": The Black Racial Identity Development Of Black Members Of White Greek Letter Organizations In The South, Danielle Ford

LSU Master's Theses

It could be argued that one of the most segregated settings on a college campus today can be found amongst the sprawling mansions that line a university’s Fraternity and Sorority Row. While many Black students join Black Greek-letter organizations (“BGLOs”), a small number decide to rush and pledge White Greek-letter organizations (“WGLOs”). According to Matthew Hughey, a professor at the University of Connecticut who studies race in Greek life, only 3 to 4 percent of members of WGLOs are nonwhite (Hughey, 2007).

Historically, many WGLOs’ constitutions and policies included official “race clauses” that banned non-White students from membership; those clauses …

An Impossible Direction: Newspapers, Race, And Politics In Reconstruction New Orleans, Nicholas F. Chrastil

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis examines the racial ideologies of four newspapers in New Orleans at the beginning and end of Radical Reconstruction: the Daily Picayune, the New Orleans Republican, the New Orleans Tribune, and the Weekly Louisianian. It explores how each paper understood the issues of racial equality, integration, suffrage, and black humanity; it examines the specific language and rhetoric each paper used to advocate for their positions; and it asks how those positions changed from the beginning to the end of Reconstruction. The study finds that the two white-owned papers, the Picayune and the Republican, while political opponents, both viewed …

Piercing Privilege: Confronting The White Problem Through Autoethnography, Destiny Marie Adams Cooper

LSU Master's Theses

In this reflexive autoethnography, the author explores the “White Problem” by examining narratives of personal transformation resulting from her involvement in Dialogue on Race Louisiana (DORLA), an “educational process for the elimination of race.” The main query of this piece is: How has the author’s relationship to whiteness worked to reify or trouble the “White Problem?” Using writing as a method of inquiry, the author recounts several pivotal experiences that correspond to DORLA’s Original Six Week Series session topics and exhibit personal transformations in her interpretations of racism. After defining the research process, design, and product in Chapter One, the …

Leadership Bias: The Case Of The Cherokee Freedmen, Kristi Barnett Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Journalists inform residents living on or near Native American reservations about key policy issues. Since most tribal councils own and operate their news outlets, retaliation towards journalists working for the tribe is a real concern if the leadership does not appreciate the message. In response to the threat of retaliation, some tribes, like the Cherokee Nation, have legal protections for journalists. The Cherokee Nation’s newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, operates under the guidelines of the Cherokee Independent Press Act (CIPA) originally passed in 2000 and amended in 2009. CIPA was the first of its kind in Indian Country. This thesis analyzes …

"What Do Separate And Unequal Schools Look Like In The 21st Century? The Legacy Of State Sponsored Racial Segregation In The South", Jerel Williams

LSU Master's Theses

The vast majority of schools that have been subject to desegregation orders are located in the South. The official levels of state sponsored segregation by southern governments made the South unique. The South was a distinctive region when it came to racial brutality and resistance to racial integration. The American South is where the battle for school integration was fought with figures like George Wallace pledging segregation forever. What impact does the history of segregation have on southern schools today in relation to racial gaps in our education system? This analysis takes a look at the impact of historic state …

Louisiana Social Workers: A Study On Attitudes Toward Lgbt Youth, Rachel Kathleen O'Pry

LSU Master's Theses

Social workers in most professional practice settings will encounter young clients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). It is therefore important that variables influencing levels of homophobia and transphobia among these workers be analyzed. In this study, the author sought to examine the attitudes and perceptions of social workers in Louisiana toward LGBT youth. These attitudes and perceptions were then compared to individual variables such as religion, previous training on sexual orientation and gender identity, and race. The Religious Commitment Inventory (RCI), Genderism and Transphobia Scale (GTS), and Heterosexual Attitudes Toward Homosexuals (HATH) scale were completed by …

La Música Popular Como Arena De Negociación En La Literatura Caribeña Contemporánea, Telba Espinoza Contreras

LSU Master's Theses

Popular music is a vital part of the cultural and social life in the Hispanic Caribbean. Undoubtedly, musical contributions from Cuba and Puerto Rico to the rest of the world and especially to the rest of Latin America are of exceptional value. For instance, Cuba has created and exported the bolero, and Puerto Rican musical rhythms are at the core of salsa music. Caribbean literature has not been indifferent to the tremendous importance of music in the lives of Caribbean people; therefore, many literary texts have included the popular music in their narratives in many ways. For example, some of …

Free Women Of Color And Slaveholding In New Orleans, 1810-1830, Anne Ulentin

LSU Master's Theses

Many free women of color lived in antebellum New Orleans. Free women of color tried hard to improve their lives, and engaged in a wide range of economic activities, including slaveholding. Numerous records show that free women of color owned slaves. It is hard to determine why free women of color engaged in such business. Free women of color’s relations with their slaves is controversial as it is difficult to assess why free black women would own slaves, but also buy, sell, and mortgage slaves. Free women of color’s status was exceptional due to specific patterns of manumission in Spanish …

How African-American And Hispanics Perceive Their Racial Equality In American Advertising, Denise Michele Pallais

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on how African-Americans and Hispanics perceive their racial equality in American advertising. A survey was conducted to find out the African-American and the Hispanic perceptions about how these ethnic groups saw themselves depicted, and the way they are stereotyped by the U.S. media. Overall, the study found that there was no difference between race and the level of perception between these two ethnic groups. However, age appears to be the only demographic variable that affects the African-American and Hispanic perception of discrimination. In addition, the study also exposed that African-Americans are mostly portrayed in the athletic advertising …

The Manner Of Mystery: Free Indirect Discourse And Epiphany In The Stories Of Flannery O'Connor, Denise Hopkins

LSU Master's Theses

This project addresses the narrative voice(s) in Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, particularly in relation to her conception of art. O’Connor critics often polarize the cultural and religious worth of her stories. As a Catholic, O’Connor was convinced that the “the ultimate reality is the Incarnation” (HB 92). As an artist, O’Connor believed that fiction should begin with a writer’s attention to the natural world as she comprehends it through the senses. It is no wonder, then, that her fiction lends itself well to critics interested in both her theology and her presentation of issues of race, class, and gender. My …

Racial Variations And Social Support And Its Impact On Stress And Depression, Claire Sam

LSU Master's Theses

Evidence suggests that social support can mitigate some of the harmful effects of stress on health. Social support theorists argue that certain social groups have differential access to social support; therefore, certain social groups are at a higher risk of experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Although social networks are beyond the scope of these analyses, it is an important component to consider when examining the uneven distributions of social support between social groups. If racial differences exist in the networks in which individuals are embedded, then part of the differential access to social support could be explained by examining the various compositions …

Transforming The Hood: Faith-Based Organizations In New Orleans And Community Development, Jaime Beth Petenko

LSU Master's Theses

New Orleans is one of the most culturally unique cities in America. However, amidst its rich history and lively traditions, there exists extreme poverty and violence. The objective conditions of New Orleans such as poverty, unemployment, violence, poor healthcare, segregation, inadequate housing, drugs, and racism have created a cycle of despair that many in New Orleans cannot escape. These conditions are not isolated in New Orleans but reproduced and reinforced through the basic structure of American society, governmental and institutional policies, and ideologies. While all poor residents in New Orleans internalize and shape the oppression and marginalization they experience on …

Effects Of Pressure Suit And Race On Functional Reach, Static And Dynamic Strength, Nageswara Rao Uppu

LSU Master's Theses

In the design of any manual workspace, it is important for the designers to have access to data that can illustrate reach capabilities under real-time work situation. Wearing bulky clothing (pressure suit) and protective restraints (seat or shoulder harness belts) is often mandatory in high acceleration work environments. Clothing and personal equipment worn can influence the functional reach and strength values since they add to the body size. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of wearing a VKK-6M pressure suit on functional reach limitations and strength values. The technology of incorporating body dimensions into cockpit design primarily …

An Integrated Approach To Judicial Decision Making: The Death Penalty In South Africa, Stephenie E. Franks

LSU Master's Theses

Existing judicial research has firmly established the role of the law and the courts in the political system of the United States. Yet very little systematic empirical research has been conducted to fully explore the extent to which theories of judicial behavior based upon the American judicial system are applicable to other legal systems. As a result, these theories lack generalizability and, moreover, have failed to determine if the U.S. judiciary is comparable to other court systems or simply an anomaly within a broader comparative framework. Given this void within the existing literature, this study extends several theories of judicial …