Digital Commons Network^™

Interface: Fringe Landscapes And Identity, Elizabeth T. Lewin

Theses and Dissertations

An MFA thesis that weaves together: virtual landscapes, escapism, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, utopia, family, and identity.

Mexican And Central American Emigration: Exploring Recent Motivations And Challenges Of The Migrant Child Arriving To The U.S, Frank (Frank Edward) Bradford

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines several critical factors deemed to be important in examining why children from Mexico and Central America decide to take risks by traveling alone to unfamiliar places, such as the U.S., in such large numbers. An exploration of present day and historical backgrounds provide insight for social, political, and economic conditions that assist in shaping the landscape and outlook of Central Americans and Mexicans, particularly children on a daily basis.

Lipan Apache Tribe Of Texas: Ethnic And Racial Identity, Ashley S. Leal

Theses and Dissertations

The findings presented in this study are based on a series of semi-structured interviews, focused on racial, ethnic and cultural identity, with 20 registered members of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. Analysis of the interviews show that while members are spread across the country the basic cultural identity still remains the same: they are all cultural and tribal ambassadors to future generations and the world around them. Results indicate that interviewed members share the same aspirations of becoming federally recognized by the United States government, not for any type of benefits but to be seen as real Indians through …

Leadership Development And Ethnic Identity Of Latina/O Students At Rowan University, Andrew Montanez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of leadership and ethnic identity among selected Rowan University Latina/o undergraduate students. More specifically, the study replicated Oldham’s (2008) research, which was based on Erikson's Identity Development Theory (1980) and the Leadership Identity Model of Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, and Mainella (2005). In addition, the study probed how Latina/o Rowan University undergraduate students viewed their ethnicity using Phinney’s (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM).

Students were surveyed randomly via an electronic version of the instrument on Rowan’s Volvici survey software, and by convenience sampling through paper formatted surveys gathered at the …

A House Without A Roof, Adam Golfer

Theses and Dissertations

A House Without a Roof (AHWAR) is a project that scrutinizes the histories of violence and displacement connecting Europe, Israel, and Palestine. With photographs, appropriated imagery, and texts, I weave together fictions of my family history with representations from Israel’s founding and ongoing military occupation. Ethnic and national identities are ruptured and reassembled as the project interrogates contradictory histories and notions of selfhood. AHWAR questions how we understand global conflict and trauma in light of our individual experience.

Communicating Identity In The Workplace And Affinity Groups Spaces, Megan Mary Lambertz-Berndt

Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation examined affinity group creation and purpose. By using identity management theory and communication privacy management theory the author was able to understand what one both reveals and conceals within an affinity group and organization at large. Two studies addressed the utility of an affinity group for those currently involved in homogeneous racial and nonracial groups, as well as for future employees who may become the next affinity group attendees. Using a thematic analysis, Study I revealed affinity group perceptions including several subthemes (logistics, helpful, harmful, more heterogeneity, and exclusion of identity). Organizational diversity sessions at large revealed …

Tara Bogart: Modern Hair Studies, Kathleen Tousignant

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

TARA BOGART: MODERN HAIR STUDIES

by

Kathleen Tousignant

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

Under the Supervision of Professor Jennifer Johung

This exhibition and accompanying catalogue explore Tara Bogart’s modern hair study photographs. Compiled of 28 photographs from 3 different series, Modern Hair Studies examines the correlation between hair and identity. The faceless portraits from her series A Modern Hair Study and Un Capillaire Modern Etude showcase the ways in which millennial women use hair colors, hairstyles, and body art as a form of self-expression. When viewed as a group, the portraits serve as a visual and demographic representation of …

Two Strivings: Uplift And Identity In African American Rhetorical Culture, 1900-1943, Jansen Blake Werner

Theses and Dissertations

During the late nineteenth- and early twentieth century, the notion of “uplift” functioned as a major thematic within African American rhetorical culture. In this milieu, “uplift” generally connoted a sense of collective self-help. However, in contrast to more generalized reform efforts, uplift was expressed as a distinctly intraracial endeavor. That is, rather than overtly leveraging the dominant white society to enact legal or political reforms, uplift typically centered on the ways in which African Americans could enhance the quality of black life independent from white involvement.

Understood as public proposals for how African Americans could employ forms of self-help to …

Un Testimonio Del Abismo: The Figuring And Disfiguring Effects Of Trauma, Addiction, And Autobiography, Erin D. Knobloch

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the paradox present in trauma, addiction, and autobiography, which are all capable of figuring and disfiguring the self. The object of the study is the written testimonio of Liliana López Cabrera, a Cuban former sex worker, survivor of sexual abuse, and recovering drug-addict, who lives on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Using Paul de Man’s idea of defacement and Jacques Derrida’s concept of pharmakon, which shows how something can embody two opposite essences simultaneously, a critical deconstruction is offered, by acknowledging rather than dismissing the incongruous nature of her work. López Cabrera’s testimonio del abismo, spoken through …

Adjunct Faculty Sensemaking In The Context Of A Student Success Initiative At A Community College, Denise-Marie Coulter

Theses and Dissertations

Now that community colleges are being pressured by external forces to improve student completion and transfer rates, it is important to determine how part-time faculty are conceptualizing change and implementing it in their practice. They comprise the majority of the teaching staff at these schools, so they are a vital component to ensuring comprehensive change. I undertook an embedded case study to examine how adjunct faculty teaching a gateway English course make sense of the shift in mission to emphasize one school’s commitment to improving student success and whether or not their understanding of this change is impacting their pedagogy. …

Effects Of Improv Comedy On College Students, Colin Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory qualitative study investigated the degree to which participation in college improv comedy affects student development. The study reviews the experiences of students from three different campuses who are involved in improv comedy. Grounded in theories from figured worlds, creativity, student development, memory, cognitive development, identity development, and imagination, this research draws on twelve semi-structured interviews, three group interviews, and three observations of performances. This study answers the following questions: How do college students make meaning of their experience within an improv comedy troupe in relation to academic, social skill, and identity development? What potential does improv comedy have …

Looking At The Marital Horizons Of Emerging Adults Through The Lens Of Identity Formation, Dallin Alexander Belt

Theses and Dissertations

Seventy years ago Erikson proposed successful identity formation in adolescence was the foundation for successful intimacy formation in young adulthood. With the extended period of identity exploration in emerging adulthood, it is unclear if intimacy formation continues to be connected to identity. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between identity in three domains of love, work, and worldview with long term views of intimacy using Marital Horizons Theory. Results from a sample of 777 college students in the Project READY dataset indicated that identity formation in love is positively associated with views of marriage, identity formation …

Adornment And Modesty A Symbiotic Relationship Between Surface Design And Social Behavior, Hawa Stwodah

Theses and Dissertations

The impulse to beautifying clothing through acts of adornments or embellishments is an innate characteristic of humans. The added decorative details are used for identification and visual communication by the wearer and comprehension and visual appreciation by the viewer.

This thesis investigates the recent attention to female modesty, labeled as the Modesty Movement--the community that has developed around the apparel segment of the Movement and the framework of the behavior encompassing the participants within Movement. Additionally, the thesis focuses on adornment through the lens of textile/surface design (embellishment) specific to the Greater Middle East and the northern provinces of India …