Digital Commons Network^™

Textual Variants In Eudora Welty’S "A Piece Of News”, Brooke Derrington, Abby Choe

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Eudora Welty’s “A Piece of News” presents the question, how does one achieve self-actualization? For the protagonist Ruby Fisher, the answer is language, although that answer is not clear in the original 1937 published version of the story. That story’s focal point is Ruby’s tumultuous and complicated relationship with her husband, Clyde. In contrast, the revised 1941 version from Welty’s collection A Curtain of Green shifts the focus from Ruby’s abusive marriage to her interiority. The subsequent increase in word count, shifts in narration, and emphasis on Ruby claiming her name when she reads it in a newspaper elevates the …

Who Am I? A Qualitative Study Exploring Identities And Sense Of Belonging Of Black Migrant Women In South Africa, Eleana Velentza

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Post-apartheid South Africa experienced a massive migration flow of African migrant women due to the accommodative Constitution of the Republic of South Africa that was promulgated in 1996. Diversity, multiculturalism, and ethnic and social heterogeneity have been some of the features and challenges of modern South Africa blending national and non-national elements. Nevertheless, black migrant women experience significant levels of xenophobia and multiple layers of discrimination because of “being a woman”, “being Black” and “being a migrant”. The perennial problem of xenophobia in South Africa towards Black Africans is complex and multifaceted; the institutional side of xenophobia circumvents other explanations …

African Right To Identity As A Right To Development: A Media Right Agenda, Olunifesi Adekunle Suraj, Gift Oluwatosin Olalusi, Olawale Olaleye

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The Right to Development is still a highly contested concept in academic and political circles. However, it is evident that irrespective of the divide of the debate, all known declarations including the United Nations, the UN Millennium Declaration, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights among others are yet to have a lasting impact on the liberation and the overall development of Africa and African descent. Hence, in order to find solutions around the right to development from the African perspective, this paper aims to reconcile the divergent views on the right to development and propose a …

Textile Autobiographies: Crafting Shifting Identities With Refugee Communities, Francesco Mazzarella, Seher Mirza

IASDR Conference Series

With the rising mass displacement of people, rethinking and addressing the needs and aspirations of refugee communities and honouring their diverse cultures is needed. Historically, the textile heritage of minorities has often been subjected to cultural appropriation practices or systematically undervalued and ‘othered’ as ‘non-fashion’. Designers are often ‘parachuted’ into marginalised or disadvantaged communities premised on bringing their own knowledge and expertise to solve other people’s problems. However, there is growing recognition of the need to ‘decolonise’ such dominant approaches in collaborative design practice. Instead of re-enacting dominant power narratives, London-based refugees and asylum seekers were engaged in storytelling sessions …

Designing Collective Racial Healing Spaces, Angelica Sibrian, Nekita Thomas, Terresa Moses, Lisa Elzey Mercer

IASDR Conference Series

Spaces for collective racial healing within predominantly White institutions are meant to support the path to collective liberation for Black, Indigenous, and students of color. It is imperative that we intentionally create racial healing spaces that support the identities and experiences of students of color on a predominantly White institution. We assert that physical spaces support empowerment and create access to opportunities for students of color through protection, healing, and community. The question that guides this work is, how might people with an agency within institutions of higher learning build sustainable, inclusive, and supportive spaces for and with Black, Indigenous, …

Beyond Binaries: A Person-Centered Ethnography Of Identity, Community, And Queer Empowerment, Luvina Cooley

Student Research and Creative Activity Expo

Using the life histories of four students from the OU LGBT Center, it explores the intersections of identity and community.

Transitions Of Self: Assuming Or Leaving A Chair Role, Denise Bullock

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

We experience multiple transitions throughout our lives. Transitioning from faculty to chair is one of those key transitional moments in which our sense of self shifts with the change in role. Participants will work through a series of exercises to discover, analyze, and plan for that transition of self.

This Is Not An Exit: Abjection And Identity In American Psycho, Danita Mapes

Capstone Showcase

This paper delves into the multifaceted exploration of Patrick Bateman's psyche in the film 'American Psycho' (2000) through the lens of the gaze. By dissecting the cinematic representation of Bateman's abjection, dejection, and his insatiable desire to possess the abject, this analysis reveals how the movie employs visual and thematic elements to exemplify his abject status. Furthermore, it underscores the film's portrayal of Bateman's quest to transcend the constraints of his privileged position, which ultimately destabilizes him due to his lack of a coherent identity.

Throughout the film, Patrick Bateman emerges as a character who is both eroticized and humiliated. …

Crafting In The Backstage: Materiality And The Changing Work Of Designers, Natalja Laurey, Marleen Huysman, Maura Soekijad

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Drawing on Goffman’s metaphor of frontstage and backstage, this article analyses the role of materiality in day-to-day work practices of craftspersons. The study is based on an ethnographic study of 17 months at a design firm which was amid a shift from product to service design. This means that instead of tangible products, the designers at the firm created intangible services. This shift in work practices reduced crafting to making visualizations for reports and presentations. As a response, the designers sought ways to spend more time on manually crafting in their work. In the backstage, when among trusted peers and …

Decolonizing Teaching In Online English For Academic Purpose Environments, Simone Hengen

Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse International Students in Open or Online Learning Environments: A Research Symposium

Continued revelations of the systemic racism and violence in past and present Canadian society underscore the importance for EAP educators to understand our situatedness in a settler society as the foundation of decolonizing classroom practices. This theoretical exploration advocates for the continuing to decolonize English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classrooms during the post-covid transition to online learning environments. This exploration draws on post-structural theories of identity (Butler, 2002; Foucault, 1980, 1991; Weedon, 1987), and Morgan’s (2004) conceptualization of identity as pedagogy, as contributions to decolonizing EAP classrooms in face-to-face or online environments.

Approaches And Treatment Of Languages In Multiethnic Societies. Case Study: Republic Of North Macedonia, Arta Toci

UBT International Conference

Multiculturalism is a doctrine under which several cultures interact in a common context. In these societies each group differentiates for its civilization, mentality and language. However, the definition of multiculturalism depends mainly on the social, political, cultural and sociolinguistic context. In multicultural societies it is expected that there are social groups which carry out their cultural values such as the language. However, are the multicultural societies always multilingual, too? The insistence of building a monolingual ideology in a multicultural and multiethnic country will always fail because the role of the language in these societies is not only to establish mutual …

Erotica As Public Pedagogy: Learning Identity Through Popular Cultural Sources, Carolyn Meeker, Craig M. Mcgill

Adult Education Research Conference

Women who are feminist and submissive struggle to learn about and navigate their identities. This study found popular cultural texts played a key role in identity construction for these women.

Transformative Learning And Identity: A Review And Synthesis Of Dirkx And Illeris, Cheryl K. Baldwin

Adult Education Research Conference

This review explores transformative learning and identity focusing on the works of John Dirkx and Knud Illeris. The synthesis creates a theoretical framework for research and continuing professional education practice.

Impact Of Identity Conflict On Onset Of Depressive Symptoms In Adolescents: A Review, Jamie Humphrey

COLA Research and Creativity Conference

This literature review aimed to investigate the potential relationship between conflicts in identity development and the onset of depression in adolescence. Much of the research on the matter of depression in adolescents is consistent in identifying the many factors that may contribute to the onset of depressive symptoms. These factors include the individual’s sex, tendency to ruminate or co-ruminate during a depressive episode, the awareness of the individual’s social network in regard to the individual’s depression, cultural and ethnic differences, and parental behaviors. The literature review also revealed a variety of environmental factors which may contribute to depression and which, …

The Language Of Non-Normative Sexuality And Genders, Emily Bolam, Samantha Jarvis

Scholars Week

This project is about how asexual, intersex and transgender identities challenge normative ideas about what it means to be human. Our research primarily focused on how language used in the medical community influences societal perceptions of non-normative identities. Western culture is pervasively heteronormative, meaning that there is a narrow idea of what constitutes a “normal” human being, which is typically heterosexual and limited to a binary gender system. While society is making strides with accepting non-hetero sexual identities, there persists the notion that humans are inherently sexual beings. Asexuality, an orientation characterized by a lack of sexual attraction, challenges this …

Exploring And Navigating Lgbt Identity In Fandom, Shannon Morrison, Idee Winfield

SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

To date, very little qualitative research has been completed and published on how exactly those who identify as LGBT use the internet to explore and define their own identities. My research aims to fill this gap by studying how LGBT members of fan communities explore, navigate, and define their personal identities through their experience in the community and work in the realm of speculative fiction (“fan-fiction”). I will accomplish this through interviewing a number of LGBT-identified members of this community and asking about how their interaction with their community in addition to their personal work affected them in their personal …

Adult Learning And Pragmatic Identity Theory, Davin J. Carr-Chellman, Joseph Levitan

Adult Education Research Conference

The interaction between identity and learning has been under theorized. American Pragmatism offers important insights into identity and learning. With new educational experiences, adults take on new identities. Pragmatic Identity Theory will be an analytical lens allowing us to better understand the identity negotiation within learning experiences.

Isolated Identities: The Storied Lives Of Lgb Emerging Adults On A Rural, Community College Campus, Erin J. Ferris, Miriam S. Phillips

Adult Education Research Conference

Community colleges serve diverse populations including LGB emerging adults who are attempting to find their place within society. Through a thematic analysis of narrative interviews and a focus group we found on one, rural campus there is a culture of isolation, which may limit individuals growth both personally and academically.

Nontraditional Approaches With Nontraditional Studentsexperiences Of Learning, Service And Identity Development, Suzanne M. Buglione

Adult Education Research Conference

This phenomenological inquiry examines the lived experiences of highly nontraditional students enrolled in credit-bearing, undergraduate higher education courses, and engaged in pedagogy related to service and learning to examine civic and student identity development reflecting the extent to which students perceive these identities as marginalized

The Effect Of Androgynous Clothing On Male Expressions Of Masculine Gender, Cassandra Walsh

Scholars Week

Gender expression is a fluid combination of verbal and non-verbal communication and an essential element of individual identity. Clothing selection and personal style is perhaps the most immediately recognizable form of gender expression. Since the establishment of androgyny as a distinct gender identity and cultural symbol of modernity over the last century, clothing options have become much more homogeneous. This research explores the behaviors and attitudes held by masculine males in response to the use of traditionally masculine clothing items for female gender expression. I interviewed six males between the ages of 8 and 64 living in the Bellingham area …

How Canadian Diversity And Anti-Oppression Educators Handle The Emotional Challenges Of Their Practice, Kirsten Somers

Adult Education Research Conference

This study investigates the perspectives of diversity and anti-oppression educators working in the non-profit, settlement and education sectors in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Toronto, Ontario. The researcher explores how Canadian diversity and anti-oppression educators handle the emotional challenges of their practice. This paper also explores how language, identity and teacher recognition impact the learning process, and highlights the imperfect yet courageous practice that the diversity and anti-oppression educators in this study embark upon when facilitating discussions about diversity and oppression.

Perceptions Of Beauty And Identity: The Skin Bleaching Phenomenon In Jamaica, Petra A. Robinson

Adult Education Research Conference

Founded on the significance of the skin bleaching phenomenon in Jamaica, and the persistent influences of colonialism, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to explore the skin bleaching phenomenon and (b) to provide a snapshot of how colonialism (despite national independence) influences perceptions of beauty and identity in Jamaica, particularly through informal learning. Based on an empirical study, the research sought to explore and understand the perceptions and motivations behind the practice of skin bleaching, given the historical and social context, and how it influenced the participants’ perceptions of beauty and identity

Hiv/Aids Identity Incorporation And The Temporal Context, Lisa M. Baumgartner

Adult Education Research Conference

The purpose of this study was to examine how the temporal context affected the incorporation of the HIV/AIDS identity into the self. In-depth interviews were conducted with 36 individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Chronological age shaped the initial reaction to the diagnosis whereas historical time did not. Social time affected immersion in the HIV/AIDS community and the passage of time influenced the integration of the HIV/AIDS identity into the self. These findings have implications for health educators.

The Rhetoric Of Store-Window Mannequins, Emma Engdahl, Marie Gelang, Kurt Zemlicka

OSSA Conference Archive

This collaborative paper examines the visual rhetoric of mannequins: the embodied media representation of the future consumer. Citing material evidence from Sweden, the USA, Egypt, Singapore, and China, the paper explores the visual arguments of mannequins as they embody female and male con-structions of identity, position, and power, both reflecting and shaping social doxa with regard to gender norms, sexuality, religious behavior, end even nationality.

Engaging Complexity Through Collaborative Brand Design, Manuela Taboada, Leo Xc Dutra, Robert Haworth, Rebecca Spence

DRS Biennial Conference Series

In this research we used inductive reasoning through design to understand how stakeholders in the Waterfall Way (New South Wales, Australia) perceive the relationships between themselves and the place they live in. This paper describes a collaborative design methodology used to release information about local identities, which guided the regional brand exercise. The methodology is explicit about the uncertainties and complexities of the design process and of its reception system. As such, it aims to engage with local stakeholders and experts in order to help elicit tacit knowledge and identify system patterns and trends that would possibly not be visible …

Theorizing The Body: Developing A Framework For Understanding The Body In Online Learning Environments, Jennifer H. Kelland

Adult Education Research Conference

This paper examines how five elements of the body (physical, personal, political, knowledgeable and expressive) have been understood in face-to-face learning contexts and how they could be examined in online learning contexts to create inclusive learning environments.