Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Diasporic Strangers In The Mirror: Ever-Evolving Identity And The Immigrant Experience, Meriam Metoui

Theses and Dissertations

This text explores the disparity between immigrant parents and their American born or raised children and show the chasm of misunderstanding between generations navigating different national and cultural contexts found in novels such as The Joy Luck Club, The Namesake, Americanah, and Everything I Never Told You.

Race, Sense Of Belonging, And The African American Student Experience At Predominantly White Institutions, Anthony Kane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study utilized a critical race theoretical framework and methodology to explore the lived experiences of African American students at a predominantly White institution. The purpose of this study was to identify how race impacts the sense of belonging of African American students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This study highlighted the racialized experiences of African American students at a predominantly White institution and how these experiences impacted their sense of belonging. Additionally, this study sought to understand the type of support African Americans students preferred and needed in order to develop a positive sense of belonging.

Six African …

Homeland Insecurity, Amy Chen

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

Homeland Insecurity is a project born out of a life’s worth of marginalization, internalized racism, and forced assimilation. It presents common experiences and emotions that are located between cultures, questioning what it means to inhabit a homeland that exists as a hybrid mental space. As I progress through life, my parents’ culture—my heritage—becomes more and more distant, yet like many non-white children of immigrants, I will continue to carry it in my face as a physical reminder of a life I do not know. Influenced by acculturation theory, my work explores this culture that never quite belonged to me to …

The Rise Of Cultural Appropriation In Fashion, Henna Choudhary

Capstones

A first-person narrative exploring the growing rise in cultural appropriation accusations within the fashion industry, along with its ties to historical colonialism and mercantilism.

Link to capstone project: http://hennachoudharycapstone.tilda.ws

Haole Like Me: Identity Construction And Politics In Hawaii, Savanah Janssen

English (MA) Theses

Haole is a contested, multi-faceted word in Hawaii. It generally means “foreigner,” or “white person.” It is used to refer to both tourists, and haoles like me, or those who are born and raised in Hawaii. In either case, it is always negative, referring to something “other” and really, colonial. Paraphrasing rhetorician Kenneth Burke, this thesis analyzes how this word “works in the world,” and from there, explores how identity, culture, and belonging are constructed through language. The essential questions become: are culture and identity constructed and performed, through language, tradition, and cultural engagement? Or is some blood content or …

#Queer: Community, Communication, And Identity In The Digital Age, Margaret Allen-Young

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The creation and facilitation of community among LGBTQ+ people has always been necessary as a means of support, protection, and affirmation in a discriminatory society. The common perception of this community imagines the migration of people from rural areas to urban meccas like San Francisco and New York in search of likeminded people. However, the advent of new technology has allowed for community building and organizing to occur more easily without face-to-face contact. In this paper I utilize existing literature, including a large study on queer rural populations, and real-world examples such as the platform Tumblr to explore the evolution …

Seventeenth-Century Spanish Colonial Identity In New Mexico: A Study Of Identity Practices Through Material Culture, Caroline M. Gabe

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation explores how seventeenth-century Spanish colonial households expressed their group identity at a regional level in New Mexico. Through the material remains of daily practice and repetitive actions, identity markers tied to adornment, technological traditions, and culinary practices are compared between 14 assemblages to test four identity models. Seventeenth-century colonists were eating a combination of Old World domesticates and wild game on colonoware and majolica serving vessels, cooking using Indigenous pottery, grinding with Puebloan style tools, and conducting household scale production and prospecting. While assemblages are consistent in basic composition, variations are present tied to socioeconomic status. This blending …

The Sanctuary Of Acceptance: Love And Identity Through The Letters And Poetry Of John Keats, Amanda Caridad Estevez Ms.

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I propose to explain how it is that the life and work of John Keats assists us in answering the question of how we create ourselves through the presence of others. I aim to do this through an analysis of the work that his relationship with Fanny Brawne inspired. In doing so, I hope to prove that romantic love creates a sort of metaphysical sanctuary for us to inhabit as we shift through the various incarnations of our identity throughout our lives. By synthesizing the theories of phenomenology and transgression, I hope to demonstrate how Keats’ rapid …

He Said, She Said: The Impact Of Language In Advertising On The Development Of A Feminist Identity, Alicia Fletcher

Honors Theses - Providence Campus

Little kids are often told they can be anything they want to be. Firefighter, princess, football player, and dragon are among the more popular answers. One of the less popular answers is “Feminist.” Very rarely, if ever, do young children declare that when they grow up, they want to be Feminists. So, how did so many people grow up to be Feminists? At what point do people realize that they can be both firefighter and Feminist, orthodontist and Feminist, or seamstress and Feminist? Though there is no set timeline, it begins when people start to develop identities and fundamental beliefs …

Life Between Two Zions: The Beta Israel And Their Experience Of Multiple Diasporas, Alexander Peeples

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

There are several communities at the intersection of both the African and Jewish Diasporas, but the largest is a community of Ethiopian Jews known as the Beta Israel who have primarily resided in Israel since the 1980s. As a group that is defined by multiple homelands and overlapping oppressions, their experience provides a unique demonstration of the limits and possibilities of diasporic identities in explaining and defining the modern world. In particular, the recent experiences of the Beta Israel draw attention to the limits of essentializing identity, collective notions of shared oppression, and inert understandings of place. The work of …

Missional Metamorphosis: How Identity, Presence, And Praxis Are Reshaping Disciple Making Within Post-Christian Contexts, Justin Thomas Wester

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The American Church’s current disciple-making paradigm is struggling to engage post-Christian contexts with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite American society’s steady trending away from a biblical worldview, dwindling church attendance, and declining religious affiliation, the American Church is still operating under a disciple-making paradigm conducive for the Christendom era. What changes must occur to help churches break away from an antiquated paradigm and embrace a more contextually appropriate expression? This project helps to answer that question by capturing and expressing how changes in ecclesial identity, contextual presence, and corporate praxis are altering disciple-making paradigms within post-Christian contexts. Utilizing quantitative …

Muslim Diasporic Identities In Kamila Shamsie’S Home Fire (2017), Padel Muhamad Rallie Rivaldy, Manneke Budiman, Shuri M. Gietty Tambunan

International Review of Humanities Studies

Beside accepted with surprise across the world, the winning of Brexit referendum also brings up the tangled web into the United Kingdom’s political and cultural realms. Recent studies mention there is correlation between the voting behavior and issues of identity, immigration, and Islamophobia. Kamila Shamsie alludes these issues in her latest novel, Home Fire (2017). By focusing on three main protagonists, this close-textual analysis examines how Pakistani diasporic community construct their identities within the novel. To support the analysis, this article draws upon Hall’s identity theory (1990) and Bhabha’s Unhomely (1992). Research findings show how Shamsie’s novel represents heterogeneity within …

Temporal And Topological: Two Ways Of Living Israel/Palestine, Rocco Giansante

Journal of Religion & Film

Elia Suleiman and Amos Gitai are two Israeli filmmakers, Palestinian and Jewish respectively. Gitai’s first film, House (1980), was censored by Israeli Television—the producers of the film—due to its sympathetic portrayal of Palestinians. Elia Suleiman’s debut film, Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996), was criticized at the Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia for a sequence showing an Israeli flag and Suleiman himself was accused of being a Zionist collaborator. By comparing the ways in which these two films deal with the political and social implications of the Israel-Palestine conflict, this article highlights two distinct methods of relating to facts on the …

La Comunidad Nikkei En Perú: Su Historia, Sus Influencias Y Sus Relaciones Con La Comunidad Indígena En Madre De Dios, Olivia Snyder

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Usando los métodos de observación directo y entrevistas personales, esta tesis analiza el contexto histórico y moderno de la migración japonesa a Perú, específicamente al departamento de Madre de Dios. Este análisis incluye las influencias y cambios provocados por los migrantes japoneses, la pregunta de identidad y doble herencia y la relación entre los descendientes japoneses y las comunidades nativas de Madre de Dios. Los resultados revelan que la primera generación de los migrantes japoneses, los “ isseis ”, generalmente tenía una relación muy cercana con los nativos. Algunas familias japonesas vivían y trabajaban en el Río Tambopata para escapar …

The History Curriculum And Inculcation Of National Consciousness In History Students In Ghana, Charles Adabo Oppong

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Abstract

National consciousness plays an important role in socio-economic and political developments in many nations. Mostly, national consciousness promotes national unity, sustainable development, peace, respect for diversity, patriotism, and others. Undoubtedly, most of the variables mentioned are acquired through the study of national history. This study stems from the motivation to find out whether the Ghanaian senior high school history curriculum addresses the canons identified as variables of national consciousness. The study, therefore, aimed at examining the content of the Ghanaian history syllabus, as a curriculum document, whether it inculcates national consciousness or otherwise. 125 Form Three history students in …

Notoriously Ruthless: The Idolization Of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lucille Moran

Political Science Honors Projects

It is now a fixture of mainstream commentary in the United States that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become a popular idol on the political left. Yet, while Justice Ginsburg’s image and story has reached an unprecedented level of valorization and even commercialization, scholars have yet to give sustained attention to the phenomenon and to contextualize it: why has this idolization emerged within this context, and what is its impact? This paper situates her portrayal in the cultural imagination as the product of two political forces, namely partisanship and identity politics. Considering parallel scholarly discourses of reputation, celebrity, …

Worship Music As Spiritual Identity: An Examination Of Music In The Liturgy Among Black And White Adventists In The United States From 1840 To 1944, David A. Williams

David Williams

The Topic

This study examined Black and White Seventh-day Adventist music in the liturgy in the United States from 1840 to 1944. Little scholarly attention has been given to the development of Adventist liturgical practice, the function of music in the liturgy, and the effect of music upon the spiritual identity. This study utilized liturgical history, ritual studies, musicology, and liturgical theology to derive and compare the spiritual identity fostered through music in the liturgy by these ethnic groups. This study considered both the shared and distinct spiritual identities of Black and White Adventists, as cultivated by the music in …

Exploring Gender Through Art In Myanmar, Allison E. Joseph

EnviroLab Asia

No abstract provided.

Toward A New Theory Of Gender Transcendence: Insights From A Qualitative Study Of Gendered Self-Concept And Self-Expression In A Sample Of Individuals Assigned Female At Birth, Seth T. Pardo

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Sex and gender are two concepts that are often conflated in popular culture. However, those who experience dissonance between their assigned sex and gender identity intimately understand the difference between sex, a biologicallybased distinction, and gender, a confluence of social and behavioral factors that contribute to understanding who one is as well as how one is seen by others. The gendered self-understanding and self-expression of 170 North Americans who selfidentified as gender nonconforming and who were assigned female at birth were explored using a transpersonal lens and thematic analysis. Data suggested a range and variety of gendered self-concepts that aligned …

Revolución De Identidad: An Autoethnography On Spanish Heritage Language & Identity, Cristina Velazquez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This autoethnography narrative examines my journey as a first-generation Mexican immigrant woman from birth, through completion of the doctorate degree at California State University, San Bernardino. The purpose in writing this autoethnography is to present a personalized account of my experiences growing up, in communicating between two languages, the structural and personal motivators behind maintaining a heritage language (Spanish), and to reflect, in my experience, how I have negotiated with multiple social identities, including ethnic, academic, and bilingual identities. In this self-study, I bring the reader closer to Mexican-American identity, language, and culture. Specifically, this qualitative analysis of Spanish Heritage …

Getting Located: Queer Semiotics In Dress, Callen Zimmerman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The body, a long contested site of identity construction, has been used by historically by queers to convey desire, build affinity and transgress norms. Looking at the fashioned queer body, this capstone takes the form of a proposal for an art exhibition at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. Seeking to engage with objects, performance and film which approximate, provide proxy for or depart from the body as a site, it explores the social and political quagmire of getting dressed. Comprised of contemporary art that looks at the rupture of legible bodily semiotics, this show wonders what …

Rui(N)Ation: Narratives Of Art And Urban Revitalization In Detroit, Jessica Ks Cappuccitti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation considers the City of Detroit as a case study for analyzing the complex role that artists and art institutions are playing in the potential re-growth and revitalization of the city. I specifically look at artists and arts organizations who are working against the popular narrative of Detroit as “ruin city.” Their efforts create counter narratives that emphasize stories of survival and showcase vibrant communities. By focussing on artist-led and institutional initiatives, I emphasize the importance of art in both community and narrative-building.

This research has taken the form of a written dissertation and two adapted projects, and positions …

From Creative Writing To A Self’S Liberation: A Monologue Of A Struggling Writer, Ethan Trinh

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The pressure of being alone in a new country and of surviving in a competitive academia has scared me to death. I cannot find any better way to heal me other than writing. Writing helps me make sense of the worlds and come closer to my true self. This piece is journeying from my own struggles of a Vietnamese, queer, immigrant teacher to accept who I am as a writer. In addition, writing this piece helps me get closer to decademizing academic writing in higher education.

Teaching Issues Of Identity Through Multicultural Young Adult Literature, Emily M. Withers

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Despite changing demographics of high school classrooms, teaching practices and literature remain similar to decades-old practices focusing more on literary devices and symbolism than on topics relevant to the students. Many teachers don’t have the time to find new novels. And when they do find the texts, they are often at a loss for how to properly teach the novels. This thesis is a three-part paper advocating for teaching identity to high school students using a blend of classic literature and contemporary multicultural young adult literature. The first section focuses on personal experiences and research illustrating the need for more …

Deaf Cultural Socialization: Exploring The Role Of Parents In Deaf Cultural Identity Development, Macrae Husting

Theses and Dissertations

There is an assumption in the Deaf identity literature that suggests that parents’ hearing status determines the cultural identity and well-being of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. This dissertation challenges that assumption. It does so by proffering an alternative explanation of the role that parents play by introducing two forms of socialization as mechanisms through which parents influence their child’s cultural identity development and well-being. Deaf cultural socialization is the process by which parents transmit messages to children regarding the importance and meaning of Deaf culture and membership in the Deaf community. Minority status socialization is the process by …

Crypto-Jewish Identity In The Inquisition Of Mexico City, Suzanne E. Skinner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis studies identity among a group of Roman Catholic converts and accused heretics in Mexico City, called Crypto-Jews. The areas of identity that were examined in depth were, religious identity, gender identity, and racial identity. The records that exist for Crypto-Jews in Mexico City are limited but can be found among the records of the Holy Office of the Inquisition.

In order to study the documents of the Office of the Inquisition in Mexico City, I had to travel to the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. I was supported in this endeavor by the History Department at Utah …

Untitled: Deconstruction And Reconstruction Of Identity In Le Chevalier De La Charrette And The Romance Of Tristran, Devin Louise Moulton

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Questions of identity are a central source of tension within the genre of the chivalric romances. Even among the large collective that is King Arthur’s court, innumerable romances recount the tales of individual knights in search of individual glory and of some way to distinguish their names among the masses of the court and the group of knights across chivalric traditions while simultaneously bound by the confines of that same group and its structures. For most, such a feat is impossible and many knights, though they may earn a name in the course of a single romance, never truly break …

Rethinking Individuality In Quantum Mechanics, Nathan Moore

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

One recent debate in philosophy of physics has centered whether quantum particles are individuals or not. The received view is that particles are not individuals and the standard methodology is to approach the question via the structure of quantum theory. I challenge both the received view and the standard methodology. I contend not only that the structure of quantum theory is not the right place to look for conditions of individuality that quantum particles may or may not satisfy, but also that there is an important role for traditional metaphysics to play. Consequently, my work brings together the philosophy of …

Identity And Memory, Ryley Hinton

Philosophy Summer Fellows

For my Summer Fellows project, I researched personal identity in a philosophical way. The goal was to disambiguate the concept of self-identity, understand what the main notions of identity are, and look at how they apply in different circumstances. My philosophical approach is to treat films as philosophical thought experiments, imaginative situations that reveal the meaning and limits of concepts. Films are great for exploring the topic of identity because they present characters struggling with their self-identity as situations change around them. A major focus of my research is the role of memory in the formation of one’s identity and …

Heritage And Scale - Challenges To Wellbeing And Place Management In Dubrovnik's World Heritage Site, Celine Motzfeldt Loades

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This article is an ethnographic contribution to ongoing debates on the consequences of heritagisation and touristification in the lived realities of World Heritage sites. Based on my doctoral research in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the article provides an ethnographic case-study that explores the consequences of global tourism and relationships of scale on Dubrovnik's urban development, local tourism management and the citizens' experienced wellbeing. The article calls for a broader conceptualization and treatment of heritage that encompasses the multiple values attached to the World Heritage and the wider geographical scale and socio-cultural relations that the World Heritage is situated in. To the inhabitants …