Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Self: The Unfortunate Exploration And Development Of Myself, Owen L. Myhr

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Abstract

Through this analysis of myself, greater insight and understanding created a chance for me to understand why my aspirations are focused where they are. Taking the time to reminisce on my upbringing, relationships, and the other aspects of life allowed true reflection. This allowed me to see where specific thoughts and feelings come from. The analysis of self included taking and analyzing assessments, conducting interviews with significant people in my life, integrating theory, and reflecting on next steps for continued development. This project was an opportunity to express myself and reflect on how I would like to continue my …

The Feminine Expansion Of Role Theory: A Community Workshop, Alexis Cisneros

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Traditional gender roles and dominant narratives in society impose different pressures on men and women. Women experience the societal pressure to excel in multiple roles simultaneously such as caregiver, breadwinner, partner, and community member all while meeting societal judgements and expectations regarding appearance, achievements, and behavior (Ilic, 2023). This thesis will focus on the development of a drama therapy community workshop for cisgender women to explore the roles they play in Western society. Because we are living in a patriarchal society where the understanding of human experience is mostly through a white, male, heterosexual, middle-class, and able-bodied lens my focus …

Cognitive Borderlands: Understanding Marginalized Identity In The Work Of Ada Limón, Ashley Hope Pérez, And Carmen Maria Machado, Monica Barbay

English Theses

Gloria Anzaldúa’s groundbreaking theoretical and creative collection of essays entitled Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza provides foundational ideas and principles to consider the physical, mental, and emotional struggles of those living along the U.S.-Mexican border. This thesis furthers this discussion by contemplating what happens psychologically to those residing in physical and cognitive borderlands, including but not limited to the U.S.-Mexican border. Specifically, I develop a framework to conceptualize borderlands of the mind, focusing on people-groups who experience multiple kinds of marginalization. I argue that these layers of marginalization negatively impact one’s sense of self, fostering a cognitive divide …

A Photo-Elicitation Of The New Orleans Mardi Gras Costume Tradition And An Exploration Of The Impact This Tradition Has On The Identity Of Participants, Celeste Falgoust

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mardi Gras organizations, known as krewes, organize yearly tableaus to present their maids, queens, and debutantes in lavish costumes (Dessens, 2018). For two centuries, the city of New Orleans was the stage for a rich Mardi Gras tradition, (Madden, 1874), however, the existing body of literature failed to establish a consensus on the meanings of the tableau. To explore this tradition, interviews were conducted with women who participated in New Orleans Mardi Gras as debutantes, maids, queens, and costume designers (Bates et al., 2017). After transcribing the interviews, the researcher communicated patterns in data through a thematic analysis. …

Studio As Laboratory: Prioritizing Artistic Fluency Through The Morphogenesis Of Paper, Jeannette Lina Neal

Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a curriculum designed to examine relationships between artistic fluency in middle school art classrooms, and a robust year-long paper curriculum. A sustained focus with one material, such as paper, combined with relevant artists and investigative skills activities was designed to increase artistic fluency during a time when students often experience a decline in identity and confidence. Concerns with the U-curve theory suggest that many factors affect the continuity of art during these crucial years of school. Educational standards of the Reggio Emilia Approach can be applied to secondary education, encouraging both students and educator to create dynamic …

Developing An Artistic Self In Preservice Elementary Teachers: A Studio Art Curriculum To Promote Art Integration, Karilee D. Park

Theses and Dissertations

With the continual use of standardized testing, teaching art in schools, particularly elementary schools, often falls to generalist teachers with little to no experience in art. While art can be integrated into daily curriculum for deeper and lasting learning, without the proper training or support, generalist teachers are left to implement art as they encountered it in the past, if at all. Artistic anxiety and culturally misappropriated artistic experiences result in the arts being used inefficiently or avoided completely. Creating a curriculum for preservice elementary generalist teachers, I explored art integration through developing artistic confidence, skill, and identity for 16 …

Faculty Mentors' Influence On Latino/A/X Stem Undergraduates' Stem Identity Development, Sandy Cerda-Lezama

Dissertations and Theses

Despite Latino/a/x college student attendance rising substantially over the past decades, their graduation rates do not match the increased admission rates. In addition, Latino/a/x students are considerably under-represented in STEM. However, research suggests that when these students are encouraged by social partners to have meaningful participation and given resources such as mentoring, this eases the barriers they experience. The current study utilized interviews with 11 Latino/a/x STEM undergraduates (aged 18-29) to understand how faculty mentors influence their STEM identity development. Students shared answers about how faculty promoted and inhibited their STEM identity development through conversations about their sense of competence, …

#Getinked: An Anthropological Exploration Of Tattooing And Social Media, Delanee Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to address two inquiries regarding contemporary tattooing. The first goal is to explore how social media has changed the practice of tattooing while the second goal is to examine how tattoos are used to express or explore the differing facets of a person’s identity. Identity theory, social identity theory, semiotics, and the concepts of stigma and deviancy form the theoretical framework which allows one to understand the ways in which tattoos can provide insights into the various aspects of someone’s identity as well as how social media can influence members of the tattoo community. An online survey, …

Moving Through The Violence: Yemeni Migrants And The Reconstruction Of Lifeworlds In Cairo, Jonathan Hearn

Theses and Dissertations

This Master’s thesis is based on an ethnographic study, following the lives of a small number of Yemeni people rebuilding their lives in Cairo. Their displacement is the consequence of many factors not least the outbreak of war in 2014. In response to this, I ask: In the midst of ongoing conflict, how do Yemeni migrants go about reconstructing their lifeworlds in Cairo? That is, to ask how are Yemeni migrants in Cairo responding to the violent disruption of their social realities and what sense are they making of the consequences. The reorganisation of social realities disrupted by conflict means …

Codeswitching In The Egyptian Arabic Movies: How Do Social Variables Trigger Codeswitching?, Randa Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This is a qualitative study designed to examine the growing linguistic practice of codeswitching in a sociolinguistic context. For this purpose, 7 Egyptian Arabic films were purposefully selected to investigate what social variables and contexts can be associated with codeswitching. Data was sampled in 43 experts from the 7 films. The data was analyzed in terms of the social variables of education, social class, identity, stance, and age, within the theoretical framework of the critical discourse analysis, the accommodation theory, and the social arena theory. Although the study started with these social variables in mind, data analysis revealed two …

Affectionate Facsimiles, Julio C. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The paintings in Affectionate Facsimiles are journeys into the expansiveness of color and memory via the accumulation of gestural action. Sporadic freneticism is used to archive desire and time and their relationship to identity. Thin and translucent layers are built up in bursts of intensity as palimpsests of intentioned labor.

Hame, Russell Clarke

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Russell Clarke contemplates the need for human belonging, looking into ways that human belonging shows up in the contemporary world. Clarke explores the interconnection between his identity and memories from his childhood along with exploring his life’s journey of searching for belonging. He focuses his research on main themes throughout his life that have influenced his need to belong: family, migration, dance, and his connection to the outdoors. Growing up in Scotland and later migrating to America, Clarke found his relationship with his family and dance as constant threads entangling and influencing his life—the call of his homeland is …

“A Real Man . . .”: Deconstructing Machismo Heteronormative Standards With K–12 Latino Male Educators Through Dialogic Spaces, Mario Echeverria

Dissertations

In a K–12 educational landscape where 75% of educators are white women, recruitment of Latino male educators is crucial for diversification, yet these educators represent just 2% of the teaching workforce in the United States (NCES, 2020). These educators grapple with a layered sense of identity as they navigate expectations of hegemonic masculinity and machismo norms that dictate their roles as disciplinarians and saviors, especially for young boys of color (Brockenbrough, 2018; Lara & Fránquiz, 2015; Martino & Kehler, 2006; Mills et al., 2004; Singh, 2021). Unfortunately, Latino male educators leave the profession at twice the rate of their Latina …

Recognition And Domination: A Hegelian Approach To Evolving Gender And Technology Paradigms, Zachary Davis

CMC Senior Theses

This paper aims to develop a strong account of recognition. It begins with a Hegel-inspired account of recognition as a fundamental desire that drives humanity. This account establishes recognition as fundamental to the initial subject formation of independent self-consciousnesses as agents. I offer the lord-bondsman dualism to provide a critique of domination as oppositional to securing the means for recognition. This entails that, as history progresses the world ought to move towards universally adopting mutual recognition relationships without domination. I adopt this goal as an ideal form of recognition. In Chapter 2, I apply this recognitional framework to gender. Through …

Making Space For Adolescents Of Refugee Background In Public Libraries, Danielle S. Dejonge

Culminating Experience Projects

Refugee adolescents go through multiple transitions that affect identity while settling in their new country of relocation. The ability to recognize the complexity of identity in a healthy way is fostered by safe spaces of belonging that encourage agency. Libraries, as spaces already effectively serving diverse populations including refugee youth, have the resources to be a safe space for these adolescents. One resource that has been trending in libraries is a makerspace. Makerspaces offer multimodal activities, whether they be arts-based or STEM-based, that not only encourage critical thought, but also allow for development of belonging and agency for healthy dynamic …

Bless Your Heart: A Deconstruction Of Southern Hostility Disguised As Southern Hospitality And Its Effects On Black Identity In “Blues For Mister Charlie” And The Vanishing Half, Sterling S. Neill

English Theses

Southern hospitality, whether real or perceived, is a cultural stereotype tied to the Southern region of the United States. Studies on Southern hospitality are growing, possibly due to the recent surge of anti-Black legislation including disbandment of Affirmative Action, critical race theory, and women and gender studies in schools. As more racist and sexist doctrine is dispersed throughout America, it is imperative to evaluate false narratives, such as Southern hospitality, that perpetuate and reinforce structural discrimination, which historical literary works can function to counter. This thesis examines Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin and The Vanishing Half by Brit …

Destroyed By Madness: Fighting Stigma And Building Empathy Through The Narrative Experience, Kelley N. Gladden Walker

English Dissertations

This dissertation challenges the stigma of mental illness by analyzing 20^th century American life narratives written by persons with mental disorders. Focusing on the writing and lives of Zelda Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Mary Jane Ward, Kay Redfield Jamison, Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Cameron West, and Susanna Kaysen, while applying the theories of Michel Foucault, Erving Goffman, Sigmund Freud, William C. Cockerham, and Otto F. Wahl, I contend mental illness life narratives fight stigmatization by questioning the common stereotypes perpetuated by dominant cultural narratives. Through a historical lens, the project explores a variety of sources from 20 …

This Passing Shadow: The Role Of Trauma In Reforming Individual And Cultural Identity In The Lord Of The Rings And Anglo-Saxon Literature, Benjamin C. Benson

English MA Theses

Many scholars focus on J.R.R. Tolkien's personal history and attempt to locate his own trauma in the texts of his works. However, this focus often overlooks the role that trauma plays in the reshaping of individual and cultural identity within the works of Tolkien. Tolkien uses a number of methods to communicate trauma throughout his works, but these methods often have roots in Anglo-Saxon Literature. This study analyzes the various ways that Tolkien adapts Anglo-Saxon works to communicate trauma while simultaneously using the traumatic events to help communicate healing through the interaction of the traumatized with their community.

Dancing Mi Cultura: The Production Of Ethnic And National Identity In Midwestern Mexican-Americans Through The Performance Of Ballet Méxicano Folklórico, Katrina J. Frank

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies how Mexican Americans living in the northwest suburbs of Chicago produce connections to their Mexican heritage and culture through the performance of ballet Mexicano folklórico. Through ethnographic interviews of current and former folklórico dancers, as well as participant observation of adult folklórico dance practices, I contextualize the experiences of the interviewees using the anthropological theories of habitus, continuous and discontinuous selves, double-consciousness, liminality, and collective effervescence, as well as the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault, and Frantz Fanon, with the discussion of folklórico as an art, and the concept of institutional use of dance as …

Deconstructing Decapitation In Late Roman Gloucestershire And Oxfordshire, Uk, Shaheen M. Christie

Theses and Dissertations

The Roman conquest in Britain (AD 43) led to significant changes in indigenous settlements and agricultural systems, population diversity, social organization, economic activities, and funerary traditions. Archaeological investigations of burials from the first to fifth centuries AD in Britain have revealed a complex array of burial treatments and attitudes toward the dead, including decapitation burials, which are the most common form of differential burial represented in this period. Traditional interpretations of these burials have included infanticide, punitive execution, trophy taking, fear of the dead, and veneration practices. This project investigates a sample of decapitation burials from Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire dating …

Unveiling Identity: Exploring Afrofuturism In Ekow Nimako’S Contemporary African Diasporic Sculptural Art, Kandra James

Theses

Identity expressed within African diasporic arts has historically been connected to traditional genres such as portraiture. Over time, contemporary artists have explored identity through genres beyond portraiture and through the use of non-traditional materials. The sculptural practice of Ghanaian Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, a fine arts sculptor based in Toronto, Canada, employs the unconventional material of LEGO® to offer a multi-generational perspective into deep diasporic memory. Examining Nimako’s sculptures through the perspective of colonialism and de-colonialism, materiality, and Afrofuturism, this thesis investigates the artist’s exploration of Black historical pasts to shape identities and construct narratives of Black futures. The monumental …

Experiences Of Appalachian People With Conflicting Christian And Lgbtq+ Identities, Zacharias Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the experiences of six LGBTQ+ individuals living in Appalachia who have felt conflict between their LGBTQ+ and Christian identities. Using data from six one-on-one intensive interviews, the study examines the various kinds of conflict participants experienced, the strategies they used to manage those conflicts, and the role that Christianity played in their lives. The author found that participant conflicts were grounded in struggles to find acceptance from others while living authentically, to reconcile ideological disputes with the church, and to accept themselves as LGBTQ+ and/or Christian. Included among their various management strategies were finding accepting people and …

Self-Reflections Through A Screen: Self-Identity, Social Media, And Psychological Well-Being, Jeremy J. Serio

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Social media use among emerging adults is assumed to be related to a variety of negative psychological outcomes and has, in recent years, become a widely studied phenomenon (Kim, 2017, Pew Research Center, 2018). Despite the widespread assumption, the results from empirical studies of the effects of social media use on mental health in this population have been inconsistent and inconclusive (Keles et al., 2020, Yang et al., 2021). Several meta-analyses (e.g., Keles et al., 2020) demonstrate these inconsistent results across studies and point to the need to consider individual difference factors when researching this issue. Different self-identity styles have …

Assessment Literacy Influenced By Administrator Identity And Professional Learning Confident Administrators Within Kentucky Independent School Districts., Amy J. Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to gain greater understanding surrounding how administrators in northern Kentucky Independent School Districts describe their own experiences with assessments (assessment literacy). In addition, this study sought to gain knowledge from administrator experiences which may or may not have contributed to their confidence as leaders of assessment literacy. The context of this study was with the 11 Independent School Districts in the Northern Kentucky region, specifically with school level administrators. The significance of this study is to inform teacher preparation programs and current administrators of how and why individual self-efficacy and professional learning …

The Caboose By A Longshot: Impact Of Large Age Gaps On Youngest Siblings, Kelly Clark Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Siblings play a large role in developmental experiences and views of oneself. However, most research addressing siblings looks at individuals who grow up close in age with their siblings. What is currently known about sibling relationships does not seem to fit for those who have siblings but are not close in age to them, referred to in this study as a sibling age gap.

To learn more about what it was like to grow up with siblings who are much older, I interviewed 11 individuals who were the youngest siblings in their family and five or more years younger than …

The Dangerous Effect Of Entitlement On White Nationalist Ideology, Kara Elizabeth Harris

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Within the past few years, White nationalism has been on the rise due to societal changes and feelings of uncertainty for White Americans' perceptions of their racial group’s future. As a result, many have speculated what may be a factor in this rise. Previously it has been found that having a high White identity is associated with White nationalist ideologies. However, White identity may not be enough to drive White nationalist ideologies and the violence that can follow. Feelings of entitlement towards status, preferential treatment, and resources may contribute to White nationalist ideologies based on beliefs of superiority and deservedness …

Nigerian Students’ Experiences With Class Rank And Its Implications For Academic And Personal Adjustments: A Narrative Inquiry, Tobiloba Ojomu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Class ranking remains a prevalent practice in Nigerian primary and secondary schools, yet research has not explored how Nigerian students perceive and experience this practice. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by delving into four Nigerian primary and secondary school alumni’s experiences and perceptions of the class ranking practice. Through their unique stories, this narrative inquiry study sheds light on the extent to which class ranking has impacted them. The findings of this study revealed that class ranking had a profound influence on the participants, both within and beyond the classroom setting. It shaped their self-perception, …

Nation-Building, Ethnic Boundary Making, And Situational Nationalism: Why Did Montenegro Become More Divided And Less 'Montenegrin'?, Muhammed F. Erdem

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Once ethnically the most homogeneous among the South Slavs, Montenegro is now deeply divided between two factions over statehood and identity. Notwithstanding the expansion of national institutions and elite efforts to mobilize upon them, with independence in 2006 has come less unity, internal harmony, and loyalty to the state, and intensified division and contention. Accompanying the lack of political integration that reaches across ethnic divides has been the further erosion in the popular support for the Montenegrin identity.

This study explores why and how the nation-building efforts of Montenegrin ethnopolitical entrepreneurs, rather than fostering national cohesion, political integration, and titular …

Storying The Experiences Of A First-Year Teacher’S Mathematics-Related Teacher Identity With A Communities Of Practice Lens, Kelly Jean Navas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This longitudinal narrative inquiry explores the influences on a first-year elementary teacher’s mathematics-related teacher identity, employing a community of practice lens. Identity is a complex concept. In this study, identity is viewed as socially constructed through new experiences. These social interactions can be seen as an individual participates in their communities of practice. A mathematics-related teacher identity intertwines a teacher’s mathematical identity with their teacher identity. This can influence their classroom decisions, as well as their planning and implementation of mathematics lessons. To gain insights into the evolution of this mathematics-related teacher identity, I listened to the stories of Suzie, …

The Contradictions Of First-Year Teaching: Why New Teachers Don't Want To Return To The Classroom, Maddison L. Hewitt

Honors Theses

Teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. Beginning teachers are one of the largest groups of teachers to leave the profession every year. This paper examines the common internal and external conflicts that first-year teachers struggle with in order to create their teaching identity and how that affects their retention. Through the analysis of educational experts and their evidence-based research, the conflicts of new teachers have been collected and analyzed to determine the reasons why new teachers are not staying in the profession. Conclusions are drawn regarding how education teachers, district/school officials, and political officials can make changes …