Digital Commons Network^™

African American Female Narratives And Identity Development: A Case Study Of Language, Literacy, And Identity Development In The Beauty Salon, Felicia C. Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

This four-month case study explored the connections among language, literacy, and identity development of five African American women as they shared narratives within a beauty salon context. The questions that guided the study were: (a) What language and literacy practices are enacted in the beauty salon? (b) In what way do African American women narrate their experiences? (c) What stories are shared by African American women in the salon? (d) What are the effects on the listeners of the narratives shared in the salon? and (e) How are social and cultural identities (co)constructed and performed in the narratives?

The narratives …

Identity, Colonial Mentality, And Decolonizing The Mind : Exploring Narratives And Examining Mental Health Implications For Filipino Americans, Ashley M. Decena

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Colonial mentality is defined as the perception of ethnic and cultural inferiority and a form of internalized racial oppression. It is deemed a direct consequence of the Philippines' long history of colonialism. This empirical, qualitative study explored whether colonial mentality resonated with Filipino Americans who were born and raised in the United States. This study also investigated if and how the process of decolonization of the mind transpired within individuals. One way decolonization of the mind can be conceptualized is the process of understanding one's history to understand the present. Also examined was Filipino/Filipino American identity and how these perceptions …

Mother's Experience Of Social Media: Its Impact On Children And The Home, Abe Van Hatch

Theses : Honours

With the prevalence and accessibility of social media within the last 15 years it has become possible for children to have constant access to their friends and social networks. It is relatively unknown what impact adopting social media has on children and how mothers interpret this. There are gaps in the literature investigating the pervasive effects of modern technology and what meaning mothers ascribe to their children using social media as a method of connecting with the world. The present research aims to explore this phenomenon by investigating the experiences of mothers who have children that have recently adopted social …

Mind Playing Tricks: Individualism, Upward Mobility, And The Commitment To Self-Determination Among The Urban Poor, Will Bryerton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ethos of the American Dream offers a popular and straightforward prescription for success: Work hard, rely on yourself before others, avoid bad choices, and prosperity will follow. It is a decidedly optimistic, largely undefined, and intensely individualistic promise with serious implications for Americans’ views on achievement and upward mobility. For all of these reasons, the validity of this ethos has come under attack. Philosophically, it is seen as illusory, ambiguous, and unrealistically demanding of individual exceptionalism. Sociologically, it is admonished for being too dismissive of structural constraints, systemic inequalities, and the value of relationships, social embeddedness, and mutual dependence. …

Education Ain't Black: The Disidentification Of African American Students, Erica Lynette James

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, I will discuss the influence of education on the identity formation of African American students. Based on the scholarly literature in education theory, I will argue in Bourdieuan theory education, formal education, fails to accommodate the specific needs of African American students because education influences African American students to develop constructions of “whiteness" that education reinforces. As education attempts to uphold the “status quo” of American society, education simultaneously forces African American students to question the relevance of education. In questioning the relevance of education through high-achieving African American students’ use of language and pursuit of academic …

The Identity Of American Catholic Women Religious: A Qualitative Study Of Identity Narratives In An American Apostolic Religious Community, Annunziata Marcoccia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Catholic Church has a rich history of women choosing to devote their lives to God and the Church through religious vocations. The theological shifts at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) affected the spirituality and lifestyle for many women religious. These changes renewed the identity of women religious and their role within the modern world. Over the past few years in the United States of America, the Vatican has conducted two assessments involving American women religious. The purpose of this study was to explore the identity of American women religious and to explore the impact of the current events within …

Commodity Or Dignity? Nurturing Managers' Courtesy Nurtures Workers' Productivity, Montana Rafferty Moss

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Dignity is the measure of people's worth determined through social interactions (Neal, 2012). As people must enjoy core capabilities to possess dignity (Ward & Syversen, 2009), work is one activity through which core capabilities provide a sense of worth (Venkatapuram, 2013). Workplace managers must enact dignity affirming discourse so their workers perceive ownership of core capabilities that afford a sense of worth and fulfillment. Dignity disaffirming (or violating) discourse obstructs core capabilities, leaving work unsatisfying and workers physiologically, psychologically, and emotionally damaged. Not only do such people suffer, but so do their organizations (Ghoshal, 2005). This study reveals that women …

Missoula Historic Underground Project: Urban Archaeology, Landscape, And Identity, Nikki Manning

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The American West’s urban undergrounds are laced with mystique and lore. Well-known historic undergrounds exist throughout the American West in cities such as Portland, Pendleton, Seattle, Boise, and Butte. Tales exist of secret underground passages to houses of prostitution, Chinese opium dens, and Prohibition-era alcohol smuggling operations. While in some cases these stories can be based in fact, it appears that many underground spaces were less nefarious than imagination might suggest. In Missoula, Montana, a local, urban archaeological survey was conducted to see what evidence remained of the puzzling historic underground landscape. This study of Missoula’s subterranean archaeological features included …

The Identity Of The Heart Patient In The Context Of The Gift Economy: Heartnet And Media Framing, Lynsey Uridge

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This health communication research examines the identity levels of the heart patient on a therapeutic website HeartNET through an empirical investigation of site interactions as manifestations of a gift economy. The thesis also explores the media’s representation of heart health in both television and print.

This research utilised a longitudinal qualitative ethnographic and netnographic approach involving twenty-six participants who completed two in-depth interviews. The first one-on-one interview occurred during the early stages of the participants’ heart journey, explored their heart story and use of interactive technology for heart health support. The second interview occurred six to twelve months later, and …

A Stirring Of Cultures: The Contest For Place, Belonging And Identity In Australia, Garry Stewart Henderson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The creative work, The Wounded Sinner, and the accompanying exegesis, form a volume of writing that considers aspects of place and belonging in a contemporary Australian context through the agencies of Aboriginality, migration and homelessness. While these issues are present and, at times, contentious in the structure of modern Australian society they have roots in past eras of empire building, racism and the movement from agrarianism to industrialisation. The characters are drawn from my own experiences and, as such, validate both the creative work and give the exegesis substance.

Jeanie Bayona is an Aboriginal woman who was raised, from …

An Anxious State: The Search For Identity And The Struggle For Peace In Irish And Palestinian Literature, Benjamin Patrick Sweeney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis works to connect the literature of two geographically and historically disparate people – the Irish and the Palestinians. One can observe patterns of disjuncture, identity crisis, and identity formation in the history of one people; one can then apply the principles learned to analogous historical situations. I argue that the Irish and the Palestinians share a kind of communal psychological trauma brought about by the experience of imperial/colonial domination, violence, and especially diaspora. Because of this shared trauma, Ireland’s historical experience can offer insight into that of Palestine. The situations are unique, but at certain human levels they …