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Black While Leading: Unmasking The Anti-Black Lived Experiences Of Senior-Level Black Men Administrators At Historically White Institutions, Dujuan Eugene Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the anti-black lived experiences of 9 senior-level Black men who are administrators at Historically White Institutions. Black critical theory (BlackCrit) and theory of marginality and mattering are the guiding frameworks used to examine the lived experiences of the Black administrators. The purpose of this study was to reveal the ways that Black senior-level administrators process, navigate, and make meaning of their lived experiences and anti-blackness at HWIs. Critical ethnography was used as the research methodology to help reveal the personal reflections and strategies that Black men who are senior-level administrators engage in to combat the pervasiveness of …

The Role Of Traditional Food In Jamaican Immigrants' Perceptions Of Health And Well-Being, Audrey Janice Simpson

Theses and Dissertations

Immigrants face many challenges when transitioning to life in a new country, and access to their traditional food can assist in facilitating a smoother transition. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact that access to traditional food has on the perception of health and well-being of Jamaican immigrants to the United States. Methods: Using a qualitative descriptive design, twenty Jamaicans (10 in New York; 10 in Utah) participated in semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and analyzed. Results: Participants expressed a preference for traditional food. New York participants had greater access to Jamaican food and rated their health …

"Defensive Flippancy": Play, Disorientation, And Moral Action In Brian Friel's The Freedom Of The City, Hannah Brooke Azar

Theses and Dissertations

When Brian Friel’s play The Freedom of the City premiered in 1973, just a year after the events of Bloody Sunday, it was met with harsh criticism and called a work of propaganda. In the play, three peaceful protestors flee a civil rights demonstration turned violent and end up trapped inside the Guildhall in Derry, Northern Ireland. By the end of the play, they are shot dead. These three protestors, disoriented by violence as well as the aftereffects of life-long poverty, on the surface are not emblems of morality. However, this thesis employs Ami Harbin’s theorization of disorientation and moral …

Exporting Reconstruction: Civilization, Citizenship, And Republicanism During The Grant Administration, 1869-1877, Ryan Patrick Semmes

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines Ulysses S. Grant’s Reconstruction policy, both the domestic and foreign policies, as an integrated whole. He focused on the broad application of citizenship rights, not only for African Americans in the South, but for all peoples in the United States’ sphere of influence. The centerpiece of Grant’s Reconstruction policy was the “Grant Doctrine,” articulated in his 1869 memorandum considering whether to annex the Dominican Republic to the United States. In it, Grant delineated his determination to export the republican policies of Reconstruction to the Caribbean by the acquisition of the island territory. Grant envisioned exporting the ideals …

Shakespeare's Leading Franciscan Friars: Contrasting Approaches To Pastoral Power, Amy Camille Connelly Banks

Theses and Dissertations

A popular perception persists that the Franciscan friars of Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing bear heavy blame for the results of the play, adversely for Friar Lawrence and positively for Friar Francis. The friars do formulate similar plans, but their roles vary significantly. I contrast their approaches using Michel Foucault's definition of pastoral power, with Friar Lawrence as an overly manipulative friar controlling the lovers in spiritual matters, and Friar Francis as a humble military friar returning from the Wars of Religion to share his authority with others. This distinction--especially with Friar Lawrence appearing chronologically first--demonstrates Shakespeare …

Charming Child-Snatchers: Forming The Bogeyman In The Pied Piper, Peter Pan, And The Ted Bundy Tapes, Maren Noel Nield

Theses and Dissertations

In January 2019, Netflix released the unexpectedly popular Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. Joe Berlinger, true crime director, compiled interviews with Bundy, law enforcement authorities involved with Bundy’s arrest and trial, and members of Bundy’s community to create a four-part docu-series focusing “on a man whose personality, good looks, and social graces defied the serial-killer stereotype, [which allowed] him to hide in plain sight” (Berlinger). The somewhat romanticized Ted Bundy Tapes serve as an example of modern folklore, in which the archetypal bogeyman has been narrativized for contemporary society as a charming, rather than hideous, monster. This …

How Governor Thomas Ford's Background, Choices, And Actions Influenced The Martyrdom Of Joseph Smith In Carthage Jail, Stuart Rulan Black

Theses and Dissertations

Thomas Ford was the governor of Illinois at the time of Joseph and Hyrum Smiths’ martyrdoms in Carthage Jail in 1844. Before his tenure as governor, Ford’s professional life included service as an attorney and judge throughout Illinois. His background in the legal field gave him a unique perspective which may have influenced his career as governor of Illinois from 1842-1846. Although Governor Ford is relatively well-known for his association with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its history, his background and the bearing it had on the martyrdom of the Smiths has received relatively little attention …

International Conflict, Political Leaders, And Accountability, William Thomas Christiansen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role that an individual leader’s background (e.g. what they did before gaining power) plays in public evaluations of their performance managing international conflicts. I propose a novel theory arguing domestic audience members (e.g. the citizens of a leader’s state paying attention to international conflicts) heuristically analyze the competence of a leader by examining their professional and educational background. Once audience members determine whether a leader is competent, they use these judgments to inform whether a given leader deserves blame or credit for the outcome of a given conflict. I find support for this theory by fielding …

The Youngest, Trezlen Drake

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a collection of poems that considers life in a southern Black family, memory, nostalgia, dysfunction, race and gender, and generational trauma. These poems are influenced by poetry, fiction, music, popular culture, and scholarship, each providing a different perspective on life and language to talk about that which can sometimes be unspeakable.

A recurring character in this collection is the girlchild, reminiscent of Marge Piercy’s character in “Barbie Doll.” The girlchild here is the figure of the woman or girl who experiences trauma, and what some consider to be unspeakable.

These poems are also an exploration and disruption …

Women For Ireland: Republican Feminism In The Northern Ireland Troubles, Laura Jacobsen

Theses and Dissertations

This paper studies the involvement of republican women in the Northern Ireland conflict, a struggle which defined life in Northern Ireland from 1969-1998. Too often, the Troubles, as the conflict is known, has been conceptualized as a struggle of men, while women are seen to be little more than suffering wives, girlfriends, and mothers. The image of “Mother Ireland” reinforces this notion: in this trope, Ireland is a woman begging for her sons to save her from British subjectivity. Similarly, contemporary feminist critics did not consider republican women to be equal to men. It was their belief that republican women …

Cyberbullying: School Administrators' Perceptions Of Law And Prevalence, And Their Roles In Prevention, Intervention And Discipline, Suzan Gragg Denby

Theses and Dissertations

This study was aimed at investigating secondary school administrators’ experiences with and their perceptions of cyberbullying, as well as their intervention and prevention procedures. As technology has become ubiquitous in our society, students’ use has increased and impacted the school environment. Given the potential for cyberbullying and the negative effects of such, schools harbor the responsibility to prevent and intervene in such occurrences. This can be a tricky process.

This study included 12 administrators of secondary schools across eight school divisions in Virginia. Through an interview process, administrators spoke of their experiences with technology and cyberbullying incidents, and how they …

Storyteller As A Cultural Leader, Brielle Yuke Li

Theses and Dissertations

Storyteller as cultural leader -- The answer : pilot "Ice cream addiction" -- Ten years later -- The last train to Death Valley.

Robert Catherine, Sarah Nelson Rupp

Theses and Dissertations

Robert Catherine is an experimental augmented reality novel engaged in the speculative realist question: What is the point to anything if everything?

A perverted and downwardly mobile Richmond millennial man quarantined because of the Coronavirus writes a series of creative non-fiction essays for his girlfriend about suicide, panic attacks, ADHD, DNA testing, capitalism, depression, and sexual repression.

Impact Of Student’S Gender And Perceived Skin Tone On Educators’ Disciplinary Decisions, Kierstyn K. Johnson-Wigfall

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this proposed dissertation is to examine the relationship of students’ skin color and gender to school disciplinary decisions for African American children. While skin tone bias or colorism is frequently studied, limited research has been completed about its prevalence in American public schools during the discipline process. For example, school suspension leads to higher rates of absenteeism, lower academic achievement and higher chances of incarceration. Even students who receive an office referral and return to c lass minutes later miss pertinent instruction time. This study aims to: 1) add to the body of literature about this topic, …