Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"Here's What's Not Changing": Institutional Adaptations That Respond To A Crisis But Preserve The Core, Hozami A. Helwani

Graduate Masters Theses

An enduring tension in the study of institutions is between the micro level of agents’ activities that shape institutions and the macro level of institutions as enduring entities that tend to resist change. Institutions in crisis offer opportunities to look at urgent and adaptive changes. I study an Islamic organization that is representative of a religious institution, which has deep traditions and meaningfulness to its members. In a time of crisis, in the urban area in the United States where it is located, the organization is pressed by external parties, such as government, media, and leaders from other religions, to …

“Provisioned, Produced, Procured,” And Purchased?: A Macrobotanical Study Of Enslaved Individuals’ Economic Engagement In The Shenandoah Valley, Linda A. Seminario

Graduate Masters Theses

This research investigates enslaved peoples’ economic engagement in the Shenandoah Valley during the first half of the 19th century. In 2017, archaeologists excavated two features at the Belle Grove enslaved quarters in Middletown, Virginia— a root cellar and subfloor pit that were filled in when a log cabin burned down. The preservation of the macrobotanicals has allowed for an in-depth analysis of the plants with which enslaved individuals engaged and the relationship between plant acquisition and enslaved people’s regional formal economic involvement at a 19th-century plantation in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. These data sets have also allowed for an …

Limitations & Liberation: Republican Motherhood And Female Advancement In Nineteenth Century America, Hannah Russell

Graduate Masters Theses

First introduced by Linda Kerber in the 1970s, Republican Motherhood is the idea that described the role women were expected to play in the years following the American Revolution. Characterized by an expanded sphere of influence through the education of her sons to be prosperous future leaders of the nation and her daughters to be future mothers of American sons, Republican Motherhood played a significant role in the continuing development of gender relations in the early republic. To show the ways in which women utilized Republican Motherhood to reach self-actualization, I analyze the lives of Judith Sargent Murray, Catharine Beecher, …

Deconstructing Reconstruction: The Portrayal Of The Reconstruction Era In High School History Textbooks, Eleanor Katari

Graduate Masters Theses

This paper examines the persistence of Dunning School narratives of the Reconstruction Era in high school US History textbooks, despite the thorough rejection of those narratives among academic historians at the college level and above. In examining the reasons for the persistence of these narratives, this paper acknowledges some structural elements of the textbook industry before focusing on the role of white women’s parent activism in shaping textbook content and adoption, stretching backwards to the 1890s and the Daughters of Confederate Veterans, and forward to the present day and organizations such as Moms for Liberty. This paper also points out …

Perspectives Of Hispanic/Latina Women Ages 60 And Over On The Impact Of Single Motherhood And Their Long-Term Financial Well-Being, Tess Juno Anselm

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Unmarried women over the age of 60 continue to experience disproportionate rates of adult poverty in the United States, while families headed by single mothers experience the highest poverty rates. This study explores the long-term impact of single motherhood on financial wellness through the perspective of Hispanic/Latina women ages 60 and over who have experienced single motherhood in Massachusetts. A transdisciplinary study, it utilizes intersectionality as a theoretical framework, employs feminist standpoint informed inquiry methods to document lived experiences through in-depth interviews, and engages diffraction as a mode of praxis as it intra-acts with narratives and explores the systems and …

“Each Heart Alone Knoweth Its Own Bitterness”: The Jackson Family In Clarke County, Virginia, From Enslavement To Jim Crow, Melanie E. Garvey

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines the experiences of three generations of the Jackson family in Clarke County, Virginia, from approximately 1860 to 1915, covering the shift from enslavement to the Jim Crow period. Chapter One introduces the challenges with pre-existing publications on Clarke County and Virginia history. Chapter two focuses on the antebellum period and discusses what enslavement may have looked like in Clarke County. Chapter Three narrows the focus to Charles Jackson, Sr., the family patriarch, who was enslaved at New Market Plantation. Chapter Four looks at Charles Sr.’s son, Charles Jr., and the life he created for himself after enslavement. …

Meta-Method Analysis On Therapists’ Experiences: An Inquiry Into Qualitative Psychotherapy Research Methodology, Javier L. Rizo

Graduate Masters Theses

I conducted a meta-method study to explore the methodological and reporting characteristics of qualitative studies on therapists’ experiences conducting psychotherapy. Articles were identified through a PsycINFO search, and through a review of article text their methodological and reporting features were coded and quantitatively analyzed. Consideration was given to standards of qualitative research in psychology, especially methodological integrity. Results showed increases in the number of these qualitative studies from the 2000s onwards. This rise seems to be above that in psychology, but comparable to other psychotherapy literature. Publication characteristics of this body of literature, namely journal discipline and impact score, showed …

Spirits And Spirituality: Temperance And Racial Uplift In Nineteenth-Century Nantucket, Ma, John T. Crawmer

Graduate Masters Theses

Studies of alcohol consumption have shown alcohol’s role in defining social boundaries based on class and ethnicity, but few have interrogated alcohol in the context of race. During the early-19th century, free black communities were encouraged to refrain from alcohol as part of a larger project of racial uplift. Black societies and churches perceived intemperance as not only immoral but a threat to community survival. Excavations of the Nantucket African Meeting House noted a considerable lack of alcohol bottles, but it was unclear whether temperance was equally observed at the neighboring Boston-Higginbotham House. This research uses a minimum number of …

Radical Routes: The Formation Of The Boston School Bus Drivers Union Local 8751, Maci Mark

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis is both a history and an examination of the formation of the Boston School Bus Drivers Union, situating their formation in both the labor movement of the 1970s and desegregation. Thrown into the midst of the storm of desegregation the drivers are set up for failure by the Boston School Committee. Forced to unionize due to unsafe working conditions and pay cuts, the unique make-up of the drivers allow for the success. Filled with community organizers, feminists, anti-war protestors, anti-racists, members of the LGBTQ+ community, leftists, and socialists, they use new tactics, willing to challenge established union leadership …

Northeastern Pennsylvania's Forgotten Labor Massacre: Analysis Pf The English Language Record Of The Lattimer Massacre, Jamie C. Costello

Graduate Masters Theses

The Lattimer Massacre occurred on September 10, 1897, in a small anthracite mining town in northeastern Pennsylvania. The bloody conflict erupted when an unarmed group of mostly Eastern European immigrant mine workers lethally clashed with militantly armed sheriff’s deputies who acted on behalf of private coal companies. Nineteen strikers died at the scene and dozens more were horrifically wounded. Despite the outraged shock of the community clamoring for justice which led to a murder trial that made international headlines, the Lattimer Massacre faded from local and national memory in the following decades. A combination of lingering nativist prejudice curated by …

The Function Of A Nail: An Archaeological Examination Of Three 18th- And 19th-Century Eastern Pequot Reservation Homes In Southeastern Connecticut, Salvatore A. Ciccone

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines three indigenous households excavated on the Eastern Pequot reservation in North Stonington, Connecticut. Architectural artifact and spatial analyses, combined with historical documents, are utilized to understand reservation building practices of Native Americans navigating colonialism in the 18th and 19th century. The homes are small in design with at least one window and one stone chimney each. They all possessed cellars, but not all are stone-lined. Nails and window glass serve as the primary architectural artifact classes in this work, with an emphasis on their manufacture and modification. Examining nail and glass type, quantity, modification, and spatial patterns …

Popular Memory, Silence, And Trust: A Mother And Son’S Relationship To School In The Shadow Of The Prince Edward County Closures, Rory S. Dunn

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis is an oral history related to Prince Edward County’s infamous school closures from 1959-1964. It tracks the popular memory of the closures through the narrative of two natives of Farmville, Virginia: a mother and son. This thesis investigates the role of physical monuments in the development of historical consciousness related to the school closures, as well as the intergenerational effects of the closures on the son. This thesis marks that there were radial effects from the school closures that manifested within the subsequent generation, and that for this particular case study, awareness of the closures and their effects …

Centers Of Community: A Spatial Analysis Of The Mid-19th Century Populaton Residing On Beacon Hill, Boston, Ma, Justin Malcolm

Graduate Masters Theses

The first Black church constructed in Boston, and the oldest extant Black church building in America, the African Meeting House was located on the North Slope of Beacon Hill; the predominant residence of Boston’s Black population during the nineteenth century. The African Meeting House has been the subject of several important archaeological investigations. In 1840, a schism within the African Meeting House congregation resulted in the establishment of the Twelfth Baptist Church. Historical contexts suggest that this neighborhood was highly segregated. A geographic and statistical analysis of the unique 1850 Boston City Census, which was made to yield spatial contexts …

Changing To Stay The Same: Spatial Analyses Of Tobacco Pipes From 18th- And 19th-Century Eastern Pequot Households, Stephen P. Anderson

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines indigenous smoking practices using European white ball clay pipe disposal patterns on the Eastern Pequot reservation in North Stonington, Connecticut. The Eastern Pequot used European-made smoking pipes in their day-to-day life during the 18th and 19th centuries. Material and spatial analyses of pipes and their disposal patterns detail how Eastern Pequot smoking practices changed and continued in the North American colonial world.

Smoking and tobacco use are unique in North American colonialism as the practice originates with the continent’s Indigenous people and was transformed by the English. Questions around cultural change and continuity in smoking due to …

Re-Envisioning Self And Community: The Experiences Of Pilipina American Students With Colonial Mentality And Decolonization, Kristine Angelica Din

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the invisibility of Pilipina American narratives in higher education by investigating colonialism and colonial mentality and how they may shape the experiences of Pilipina American undergraduate students in higher education. This study was framed by Pinayism (Tintiangco-Cubales, 2005; Tintiangco-Cubales & Sacramento, 2009), Strobel’s (2001) decolonization framework, and the Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) (David & Okazaki, 2006b). Participants reflected upon their life stories to explore and make meaning of the ways their lives have been informed by events that have occurred and the messages they received from their families, peers, teachers, and communities. Participants also engaged with indigenous, …

Beakers, Berkemeiers, And Roemers: Glass Drinking Vessels From The 17th-Century Dutch Settlement Of Fort Orange, New Netherland, Kristina Staats Traudt

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis examines 17th-century glass drinking vessel remains uncovered during the 1970-1971 Fort Orange excavations in Albany, New York. Fort Orange was a colonial outpost established by the Dutch West India Trading Company on behalf of the United Provinces of the Dutch Republic in 1624. The fort served as an important trading post within the colony of New Netherland. Drinking vessels are studied in order to determine any traceable patterns of preference in form, decorative elements, or use. Vessels of note include roemers, berkemeiers, goblets, and varying forms using Venetian and Façon de Venise decorative techniques. The analysis is separated …

To Want Too Much: Poems, Jacob Phillips

Graduate Masters Theses

This collection of poems captures a contemporary lived experience and moment by documenting, engaging with, and annotating upon feelings of modernity, present and emerging technologies, mysticism and spirituality, and intersections with present-day social order and issues. Equal parts recording and response, this thesis is response to the strange and precarious precipice of a contemporary life, this state of being alive and always on verge of something new, something beautiful, something futuristic, fantastical, dangerous, decisive, absurd, magical. It is the poet coming to terms with his own identity, queerness, and role within a world marked by the dichotomy of extremity and …

Professional Identity Development Of Asian American & Pacific Islander Aanapisi Staff, Sara Boxell Hoang

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

In spite of a swiftly growing AAPI undergraduate student population, higher education staff remain predominantly White with AAPIs significantly underrepresented within the field. The underrepresentation of AAPI professional staff is a problem not only because it may represent a lack of a career pipeline for AAPIs entering the workforce, but it also negatively impacts the large population of AAPI students who struggle to access and succeed in higher education. Contrary to prevalent stereotypes and misconceptions, many AAPI undergraduates are first-generation college students, come from low-income backgrounds, and struggle to obtain bachelor’s degrees (Maramba, 2011). Although AAPIs in predominately White fields …

Dismantling Power And Patriarchy: Reconceptualizing Entrepreneurship Through Feminist Research Methods, Heatherjean Macneil

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Initial research has shown how male and heroic idealism of the entrepreneur (Ahl, 2006), the gendering of entrepreneurial ecosystems (Özkazanç-Pan & Muntean, 2021), and societal racism (Wingfield, 2008), contribute to othering conditions for entrepreneurs who are not white and male (Ahl, 2006). Not only does this othering effect create interlocking and compounded barriers, (Collins and Blige, 2016), but a diverse perspective of how-to entrepreneur is lost amidst dominant discourse and homogenous norms. To disrupt this patriarchal mold, this dissertation investigates: How does social identity shape early-stage entrepreneurship? It applies feminist theory and qualitative research methods to explore the lived experiences …

Afflictionary: Defining Disability And Chronic Illness Through Poetic Dictionary Entries, Jaime Chernoch

Graduate Masters Theses

Afflictionary, Defining Disability and Chronic Illness Through Poetic Dictionary Entries is a poetry collection that uses the format of a dictionary to explore individualized experiences of both medical and non-medical words. The definitions and reference quotes that come before the poems come from the Oxford English Dictionary and various medical journals. The quotes act as a prompt or framework that helped shape the personal entries. They may echo the content in the poems, be placed in opposition, or complicate our understanding of the word. Some of the words list multiple years of personal entries which shows the chronic and recurrent …

Acknowledgment Of Culture And Stereotypes: Black Participants’ Perceptions Of Specific Therapist Behaviors, Tsotso T. Ablorh

Graduate Masters Theses

Mental health disparities for Black people of diverse ethnicities compared to people of other racial identities has been well-documented (Alegría et al., 2008; Maura & Weisman de Mamani, 2017). Research addressing this pervasive systemic and interpersonal problem often focuses on client-related factors that create or intensify barriers to care. However clinician-related factors (i.e., racial identity, multicultural training, implicit biases, behavior, etc.) also have a significant impact on barriers to care, retention in therapy, and clinical outcomes for people of African descent (Larrison & Schoppelrey, 2011; Owen, Imel, Adelson, & Rodolfa, 2012). Researchers suggest that the favoring of historically white perspectives, …

Religious Coping After Natural Disaster: Predicting Long-Term Mental And Physical Health In Survivors Of Hurricane Katrina, Monica Arkin

Graduate Masters Theses

Natural disasters are increasing with regards to both frequency and severity (CRED & UNDRR, 2015; NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), 2020). Exposure to natural disasters, in turn, increases the likelihood for the development of adverse mental and physical health outcomes (Augustinavicius et al., 2021). Religion and spirituality is an accessible form of coping that many people turn to during and after natural disasters, and may be especially valuable to those who face barriers to accessing mental health treatment or may not feel served by formal mental health institutions (Abu-Raiya & Pargament, 2015; Bryant-Davis & Wong, 2013). However, there …

The Boston Opportunity Agenda: A Historic Case Study Of Public-Private Partnership In Education (2007-2019), Timothy M. Lavin

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This historic case study studied the development of the Boston Opportunity Agenda (BOA), a public-private educational partnership, from 2007-2019. Despite significant prominence, influence, and investment from the partners involved, public-private educational partnerships in Boston have been understudied. The intention of this dissertation was to bring an understanding of how this urban educational public-private partnership developed; the motivations of the partners to participate; the partner perceptions of the successes and challenges of the partnership; and the extent of the partnership's influence on the Boston Public Schools.

This case study utilized qualitative methods of document analysis and semi-structured interviews of partnership leaders …

Creating Community: Examining Black Identity And Space In New Guinea, Nantucket, Jared Muehlbauer

Graduate Masters Theses

In the late 18th century, the abolition of slavery through manumission initiated a period of enormous change in the lives of people of African descent living on Nantucket, MA. Newly free, people of color living on the island immediately began to establish families and purchase property. At the end of the 1700s, they founded the community of New Guinea, located on the southwestern edge of the town of Nantucket. Though enslavement had been abolished and the whaling industry brought economic opportunity to Nantucket, the people of New Guinea continued to experience evolving forms of racial inequality, discrimination, and violence. To …

Investigating Women's Sexual Agency And Alcohol Use In The Sexual Consent Process, Julie Koven

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Among college students, sexual engagement and alcohol consumption are considered common behaviors, with many students reporting drinking prior to sexual experiences. Given the prevalence of sexual assault on campuses and connection between nonconsensual sex and drinking, colleges have adopted policies and programs with the intention of reducing risky drinking behaviors and sexual practices. The majority of these policies stipulate that students cannot give sexual consent under the influence of alcohol, but students find these policies unrealistic. Further, these policies fail to consider the larger context of traditional heteronormative gender scripts that influence sexual behavior, setting narrow expectations, especially for women’s …

The Relationship Between Participation In Recreational Therapy Physical Activity And Symptoms Of Mental Health Issues In Veterans, Krista F. Mcdonagh

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Background/Objective: The growing prevalence of mental health issues in veterans has triggered a wide-spread effort to identify and provide complementary intervention strategies to increase help-seeking behavior in this population. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) have become two of the most common mental health issues as a result of the demanding environment of military life. This study looks specifically at therapeutic recreation-based physical activity opportunities as a complementary treatment option for veterans at an increased risk for mental health issues.

Method: A correlational survey research design was used to examine relationships between factors of participation in different …

Migration And Identity In Host-Communities: Global North And South Influence On Ecuadorian Identity, Jefferson F. Cruz Ruales

Graduate Masters Theses

In the South American region that encompasses Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, patterns of human mobility have been predominantly influenced by various forms of internal conflict and limited economic prospects. The relative political, social, and economic stability which Ecuador has experienced in the region since the beginning of the 21st century, however, has made it a desired destination for many of its neighbor’s displaced populations and opportunity seekers. Similar factors have also enticed certain populations proceeding from areas of higher global development to settle into the nation’s tranquil environment. These Ecuadorian circumstances allow two very distinct groups of individuals, who exist …

The Boston Black United Front And Community-Centered Alternatives To The Carceral State, Joseph W. Sikowitz

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis is a history of the Boston Black United Front’s (BBUF) activities combatting the growing carceral state in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The BBUF was an “umbrella” organization within Boston’s Black community during the Black Power era and was particularly active on issues of police shootings, court appointments, prison reform, and street crime. This thesis examines these aspects of the carceral state, the network of criminal justice institutions that arose following World War II in Boston, and shows that the BBUF were responding to the early stages of this trend. Committees, rallies, and ideology were …

Constructing Spaces, Deconstructing Meaning: An Examination Of Architecture And Labor At A 17th-Century New Mexican Ranch, Katherine A. Albert

Graduate Masters Theses

There are few archaeological studies of the architecture of 17th-century New Mexican ranches (estancias) due to the paucity of surviving examples. Even fewer archaeological treatments of architecture from 17th-century New Mexico consider the cost of constructing estancias in terms of resource and labor extraction. Using a variety of methods to analyze archaeological evidence from LA 20,000, as well as comparative research of reports from other 17th-century colonial sites, this study presents a hypothetical reconstruction of the three main structures at LA 20,000—the house, the barn, and the corral—and provides estimates of the total quantity of materials and labor needed to …

More Than Just A School: Medicinal Practices At The Abiel Smith School, Dania D. Jordan

Graduate Masters Theses

The Abiel Smith School, located on the North Slope of Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest Black schools in the United States in one of the oldest free Black communities. The Abiel Smith School was constructed between 1834 and 1835 as a means to resist racial discrimination in the public school system. The Smith School is central to Beacon Hill’s Black history because it helped Black Bostonians advance in society and mitigate against the effects of racism through education. However, the Smith School may have served a dual role in the Black community. Medicinal bottles excavated …