Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Off The Rez: Witnessing Indigenous Knowledges Through Social Media, Deborah Hales

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

The term “Off the Rez” is used, in the title, to mean research that is not done on a reservation or in urban areas. This study aims to discover if social media can be used as an innovative option for non-Indigenous allies to conduct respectful research. The study research questions were, (1) can social media be used as a research tool, to witness Indigenous Knowledges? (2) Can social media be used as research, by non-Indigenous research allies, to have the least impact on Indigenous communities?

This research was conducted using social media, with selected Indigenous participants who were 18, identified …

Sociological Analysis Of Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Asia Y. Mackey

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

The following analysis takes a look at how Marvel Studios portrays the treatment of African American men in heroic positions and how it connects and compares to the treatment of them in the real world through a sociological lens in one of their latest television series Falcon and The Winter Soldier. To find the connection I looked at how Marvel Studios put the key African American characters, Sam Wilson and Isaiah Bradley, in the position of deviant and alienation roles compared to the key white characters, Steve Rogers, John Walker, and James ‘Bucky’ Barnes. When it comes to real world …

Justifying Injustice: How Caricatured Depictions Of African Americans Impacted Worldwide Perception, Jaida Noble

Global Honors Theses

Despite racist depictions of African Americans in art seeming to be behind us, the consequences of such representation, including the baggage of stereotypes alongside them, live on. This paper will argue that the racist caricaturing of Black people throughout history has been used as a form of propaganda, affecting the overall perception of African Americans and influencing policies that have determined them as belonging to the lower levels of the American caste system.

Vîvar Rumagnöl: Preserving Language Through Policy, Education, And Culture, Alexa Christie

Global Honors Theses

This research paper focuses on the planning of preservation and revitalization of an endangered language of Italy, Romagnolo, through measures found in three different sectors of society: government, education, and culture. This tri-fold method shows how language can affect every aspect of a group’s identity and culture and is found to have a place in all businesses, schools, homes, and public offices. The process of language revitalization requires cooperation from many sectors of a society, individuals, educators, and program coordinators included. Language is so deeply ingrained into every culture and identity, and it is a specific and special piece in …

Metal Music And Gender, Adam Fortney

Sociology Student Work Collection

Heavy metal music is experienced as a vibrant and empowering global community, but its history, structure, and practice reflect and recreate larger patterns of masculine hegemony within the metal world. As the metal ethos is centered around the practice and affirmation of social transgression, some are pushing the boundaries of metal itself to become a vehicle for critical social discourse around structural inequalities, including gendered hegemony.

Who Wears The Pants?, Louisse Bayhon

Sociology Student Work Collection

Who wears the pants? And why we should stop asking this question.

This article will explore the standard of our society when it comes to relationships between heterosexual couples and homosexual couples in relevance to our gender norms and expectations focusing primarily on answering ‘who wears the pants or do we really need someone in to wear the pants in a relationship?

Black Asl (American Sign Language), Katrina Thulin

Sociology Student Work Collection

Presentation about Black ASL (American Sign Language) including it's origin, evolution, current study, and differences between mainstream ASL and Black ASL.

Muslim Woman:Heavenly Body, Communal Autonomy, Shadyar Omrani

Sociology Student Work Collection

This project is a quick review and analysis of different socio-cultural impacts that influence the formation of a Muslim woman’s identity through the embodiment of womanhood and motherhood. I will argue that the self-determination of a Muslim woman’s body and autonomous social identity is highly influenced by their cultural and economic notions of self; the ground, based on which their emancipation can be better paved.

Changing Gender Representation In Television, Alexandria N. Palmer

Sociology Student Work Collection

Representations on television have lasting effects on those who watch it, especially children. Unfortunately, in such a male-dominated industry, the lack of women creating television content mean men are predominately telling women's stories.

Reframing Internationalization: Faculty Beliefs And Teaching Practices, Marco Tulluck

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

This study applies Critical Race Theory as a critical lens to gain a clearer understanding of highly racialized policies and teaching practices around international student engagement in US higher education. The findings help to inform higher education leaders of how to support faculty to foster more inclusive and affirming learning environments for international students of color and other diverse student populations.

This mixed methods study employed a modified version of the Colorblind and Multicultural Ideology of STEM Faculty Measure as well as focus group interviews to gain a more complex understanding of how university faculty members’ beliefs align with colorblind …

Intersectionality And Maternal Mortality: African-American Women And Healthcare Bias, Katherine Mijal

Global Honors Theses

African-American women's maternal mortality is significantly higher than that of white women. This is because of the intersectional oppression of sexism and racism, which significantly limits these women's access to quality healthcare through their pregnancy and during and after birth. This access is impeded by healthcare practitioners' implicit biases, which result in these practitioners not providing their patients with the quality of care they need.

Transgender Vulnerabilities: State Issued Identity Documents And Third Gender Options, Mira Farrow

MAIS Projects and Theses

Until recently the power to classify people by gender in the U.S. resided exclusively with the state and federal governments, both of which previously used the two binary gender options, female and male, and no others. Since 2017 this has begun to change as more states and cities have begun making third gender options available to those who do not identify as either. This represents a step forward towards greater acceptance of transgender, and particularly nonbinary identities within society. It is revolutionary in how the state administers “sex designations,” along with your name as the foundation of an individual’s legal …

Subtle Asian Womxn, Long Tran

Global Honors Theses

My involvement with the Global Honors Program culminates with a senior capstone project for T GH 496 Experiential Learning in Global Honors. Over the course of spring quarter, I had the opportunity to produce a documentary film, under the supervision of my faculty advisor, Dr. David Coon, to fulfill the requirements to graduate with a minor in Global Engagement and earn the full distinction from the program. My film actively engages with the intersection of the historical representations of Asian womxn and their lived experiences with dating. As of Wednesday, May 1, 2019, I have been able to interview 14 …

Creating An Indigenous Multicultural Faith: The Russian Orthodox Mission In Alaska And The Centrality Of Cosmology, Niklaus Von Houck

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper applies letters, journals, history interviews, government-company contracts, international treaties, theological works, and images to examine the convergence of Russian Orthodox Christianity and Alaskan Indigenous shamanism cultures to explicate the harmonizing of an Indigenous multicultural Christian faith in nineteenth-century Russian Alaska. Central to this examination is the evaluation of effects of Orthodox Christian missiology on native Alaskans and the Indigenous religio-cultural response to Russian missionaries. Not merely a historical overview of contact between natives and missionaries in Russian Alaska, this paper harmonizes the commonality of cosmology between native Alaskan shamanism and Orthodox Christianity. It analyzes the impacts of comparatively …

#Metoo Movement: The New Wave Of Feminism, Jannette Delgado

Sociology Student Work Collection

Every wave of feminism serves a different purpose based on the state of society and how it treats women from all backgrounds. This presentation shares a glimpse on how the socially media-driven #MeToo movement has impacted all social spectrums from Hollywood to the higher courts and why it has remained effective in and outside social media.

Selling Togetherness: Family Vacation Advertising, Zandria Michaud

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

Family vacation advertisers want parents to believe that their destination will create memorable moments families cannot experience anywhere else. They want parents to believe their life will be better for choosing those experiences. But underneath advertisers' overt messages are hidden meanings related to their product and society. By looking at three contemporary TV family vacation advertisements, I discover the obvious, and not-so-obvious, messages these companies are sending viewers. These three advertisements commodify family by using elements of governmentality and nostalgia while hiding deeper ideologies like patriarchy and globalization. Critically studying these ads reveals cultural ideologies and norms. This essay begins …

Disease Prevalence And Politics- A Study Of Chagas Disease In Bolivia, Rebecca Dickson

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

Reducing disease prevalence within South America is critical for reaching global health goals and increasing life expectancy of vulnerable populations. Chagas disease, often referred to the “the New HIV/AIDS of the Americas,” is a prevalent cause of disability and death within Bolivia (Hotez et al. 1). The Plurinational State of Bolivia, a large South American nation-state, is a crucial player in promoting global health outcomes. However, intra-state political turmoil and historical tensions often affect its healthcare systems, which in turn affect individual health outcomes. This paper traces these connections within the Bolivian healthcare system- first by identifying political and cultural …

The Park Is Open: An Ecofeminist Critique Of Universal's Jurassic World, Nichole R. Mchugh

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

This paper explores an interpretation of Universal Pictures,’ Jurassic World (2015), to identify naturalized representations of human relationships and human relationships to the environment. Using the concepts of scholar, Noel Sturgeon, the ideological significance of these representations comes down to what she defines as “Politics of The Natural”. Through this avenue, this analysis examines Jurassic World as a text and reflection of normalized environmental worldviews, attitudes and values; as well as how these determine where humans place in this “naturalized” hierarchy. This essay will discuss environmental themes in the film, first, through Jurassic World as a symbol for the western …

The Rhetoric Is On The Wall: A Multimodal Study Of The U.S. – Mexico Border Through Image Narratives, Kristoffer Mason

Global Honors Theses

This paper applied social semiotics and systemic functional theory to study visual narratives related to President Trump’s border wall project and U.S. immigration policy. The images were selected by new articles posted by The New York Times using search parameters “border wall” and “undocumented immigration” between the dates of March 13 – April 13, 2018. Images were selected and categorized based on visual themes related to the border wall and policy enforcement. Of these categories, two images were selected for vertical perspective, vector patterns, and gestures to discover the narratives. Analysis of the images showed that social power and hierarchical …

Death And Taxidermy: How The Process Of Taxidermy Ties In To Modern Society’S Discomfort With Death, Caitlin Monroe

History Undergraduate Theses

“Death and Taxidermy: How the Process of Taxidermy ties in to Modern Society’s Discomfort with Death” examines the relationship between current western discomfort with taxidermy and the strengthening relationship of companion animals with humans. This strengthening of the relationship is facilitating the rising level of grief that comes with losing a pet thus allowing that loss to equate to the loss of a family member. By dispelling the mystery surrounding the process by which a taxidermy specimen is made, where it comes from and why these specimens are vital to educational advancement in the museum, we can discuss why society …

Transgender Policing & Pushing The Boundaries 1850s To 2010s, Mira Farrow

Sociology Student Work Collection

The notions of gender transgression and gender policing served as the basis for this presentation. Looking at the historical representations in media, major stories in the social awareness of transgender people, and transfeminist politics of the modern era allowed a freedom to look at the roots of trans-misogyny from multiple lenses. I wanted to humanize transgender people and simultaneously address a major question of the day. Namely do trans people have the right to exist in public spaces? This led to several related questions to help frame the issue on a historical and sociological basis and allow a synthesis of …

Material Support Laws And Critical Race Theory, Nichole M. Pace

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

The paper examines terrorism designation and material support laws for structural racism using Critical Race Theory. Legislation concerning terrorist organizations continues to limit efforts of humanitarian organizations and refugee applicants. The impact of such legislation extends beyond the designated terrorist organizations to the communities and countries they inhabit. This article describes the legal statutes and issues related to terrorist designation and material support laws before defining Critical Race Theory. The article seeks to understand the structural racism involved in the defined statutes and procedures. Using Critical Race Theory, the article defines how material support laws and terrorist designation procedures are …

Masculinity: Understanding Authority Across Institutional Settings As Social Control, Andre Martin

Global Honors Theses

Masculinity is observed here as it relates to authority, and as it functions within discourse surrounding the American penal and health care institutions. Understandings of race and gender are dictated by beliefs that masculinity can be “achieved,” or functions as a value within society. This piece works to stress that masculinity is instead a worldview, which assists in the distinguishing and perpetuation of dichotomy tied to plays of superiority and inferiority. It is for this reason, when recognizing masculinity within a capitalist global context, abolition becomes a necessary approach, when attempting to confront masculinized authority and institutions.

The Cultural Isolation Of Providers And Educators Caused By Stigma And Compassion Fatigue When Serving Survivors Of Invisible Wounds, Bronwyn G. Pughe

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to give voice to the lived experience of providers and educators regarding stigma and compassion fatigue. In this study, using critical social theory as a lens, I seek to understand how providers and educators experience and recognize the stigma they carry, their own compassion fatigue and what they do to stay healthy—including mental physical, emotional/psychological, intellectual, and spiritual health.

Cedar Weaving & Co-Sleeping Safety: A Parenting Class For Expectant Coast Salish Parents, Rena Pugh

MSW Capstones

This proposed intervention is a parenting class that combines co-sleeping safety information and cedar baby basket weaving instruction for the Pacific Northwest’s Coast Salish population. Parents will weave cedar baskets to provide their baby with the safest sleeping space in the adult bed. Parents learn to weave cedar, and understand the safety advantages provided by the basket simultaneously. This project pairs community values with the latest scientific research and safety advice to provide an intervention that addresses the disparity in infant injury and death in Native America without sacrificing cultural practices.

Voices Made (M)Other, Lizbett Benge

MAIS Projects and Theses

Voices Made (M)other is a theatrical project I created consisting of two original short plays, Momologues and ILL. This interdisciplinary project combines motherhood studies, feminist studies, whiteness studies, and theatre. One cannot have political change without revolutionizing each individual; and so I am sharing the process behind creating ILL, an autobiographical play tracing events throughout my motherline, to demonstrate the ways in which this project has helped create a more nuanced version of motherhood that incorporates mental illness, maternal abuse, and healing from trauma. This project builds upon the theory of empowered mothering (O’Reilly, 2006) by which society begins looking …