Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

American Vibe Check: Based, Mid, Or Cringe? Measuring Gen Z’S Attitudes And Perceptions About American Democracy, Bethany Perryman

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Democracy is a concept, process, and practice, and American democracy is a specific flavor of it. Public opinion is influenced and shaped by mass media, and messages about American democracy emerge in a web of powers and among power dynamics. These messages include the actions and relationships of the American civic system with its citizenry and the world. Generation Z is a socially, culturally, economically, and politically unique population in American life, who form their own perceptions and attitudes about American democracy based on their experiences and with the ecosystem of communication and interaction they have with mass media messages. …

The Sounds Of The Shore: An Afrofuturistic Double Record Performed Through Vernacular Technology, Collin Bright

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Predominately white institutions are socially exclusive hostile environments that uphold white heteronormative patriarchal systems (Harper, 2013; Holliday & Squires, 2021; Razzante, 2018). The everyday task of existing on campus is a struggle for students of color as they are asked to enter spaces/places that are not diverse, inclusive, equitable, or accepting. To address the oppressive and dismissive forces of campus, my thesis uses Afrofuturism to reimagine what it means to exist as a student of color at a PWI. Afrofuturism is a “counter-imaginative cultur[al]” aesthetic-based practice that uses creative postcolonial critiques to reimagine future possibilities (Asante & Pindi, 2020; Pirker …

Cycles Of Domination And Resistance: A Performance Autoethnography Of A Black Woman At A Pwi, Savannah Brown

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis is a performance autoethnography that examines and unpacks my experiences as a Black woman who attends a predominantly white institution. Through narratives, letters, and photos, I reveal and analyze the ways in which I navigate both systems of domination and resistance between my interactions with spaces, people, discourses, and objects. As I use Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and performance studies as my theoretical underpinnings, I can understand how my Black, female body is situated and contested within the institution that I refer to as Everywhere University. While this project shows my experiences with concepts such as racism, whiteness, …

“But For Those Of Us Who Live Here”: Performance Of Work And Community By Women Employed In Rural, Predominantly White, Small-Town Schools, Telena M. Turner

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Rural, small towns are incredibly complex cultural centers. Although rural places are consistently portrayed as unchanging, the operation of cultural and identity within these locations is consistently on the move. Using reflexive interviewing, poetic transcription, autoethnographic writing, this project (re)presents poems on community and identity from five women employed in schools in rural, mostly White, small towns in the Central Appalachian region. Analyzing the poems through concepts in performance studies and work on space and place, this project positions movement and change at the center of small towns and examines how notions of rural place and community are performed through …

'Why Do They Make Her Wear That?': A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ramy Youssef: Feelings, Rania Zaied

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Muslims have often been portrayed in the media, as violent, barbaric, terrorists, and powerless victims, along with many other misconceptions of negative and stereotypical images. Ramy Youssef: Feelings (2019), is an hour-long stand-up comedy special presented by comic Ramy Youssef, who is a Muslim millennial Egyptian-American man. By conducting a rhetorical analysis of the special, this research combines the method of Critical Rhetoric with two of Lowery and Renegar’s (2016) three frameworks, those being Bicultural Otherness and Self and Culture Deprecating Humor, to analyze Youssef’s comedy special Feelings (2019). This research delineates how the media influences the rhetoric of Muslim …

Ecofascist “Snakeoil” And The Imperative Of Racializing Environmental Justice For The 21st Century: A Burkean Rhetorical Criticism Of Contemporary Ecofascist Manifestos, Lantz Shifflett

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Ecofascism of the 21^st century is a revival of centuries-old white nationalist fascism integrated with a concern for environmental issues from the last few decades. Designated by their writers as “manifestos,” three ecofascists have widely disseminated their documents online just before committing acts of racially motivated terrorism in three different countries. Furthermore, these manifestos provide a lens into contemporary ecofascist conspiracies as well as their own concocted “snakeoils” that present their ecofascist agendas in the form of rhetorical “curatives” to environmental issues of pollution. These “cures” are grounded in a new “green nationalism” that attempts to disguise the white …

Youth As Coalitional Possibility In The Youth Climate Movement: An Analysis Of The Climate Justice Rhetoric Of Hilda Nakabuye, Autumn Peltier, & Greta Thunberg, Kristopher Samuel

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In 2019, Greta Thunberg delivered her “How Dare You” speech that captivated the social and political world. Throughout her speech she tethered ideas of extinction, future generations, and coalitional movements. These topics encouraged the Political and Social world to contemplate the reality of climate crisis and generated support for the Youth Climate Movement. However, Thunberg garnered a lot of attention that ultimately overshadowed the worksof other youth activists, particularly BIPOC activists. I analyze the rhetoric of fellow climate activists Hilda Nakabuye and Autumn Peltier utilizing psychoanalytic terms and analysis. Nakabuye and Peltier advocate for climate justice through a lens of …

An Exploration Of Student Athletes Perception On The Athletic Trainer/Coach Relationship, Nikki Owens

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The goal of this study was to explore how the athletic trainer and coach relationship impacts the social support provided to Division I intercollegiate student—athletes. Through a qualitative-case study design, eleven participants were recruited and interviewed for the study. Criterion for inclusion included all NCAA sports at the university. This included males and females in various years of school and sport. After the completion of data analysis, four main themes were developed. These themes included social support, positive impact, negative impact, and unforeseen findings. Seven of the eleven student—athletes reported feeling that there was a direct relationship between the athletic …

Because I, As A Black Woman, Can: Using Autoethnography To Investigate And Evaluate Hegemonic Systems Of Oppression Facing Queer Black Women, Mayah-Peacelynn Bell

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In this thesis, I use autoethnography to uncover systems of oppression that are rooted in the existing structures and dominant culture of a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). My beliefs supported by various Black scholars infer that some alleged practices intentionally silence communities of color and can impose upon them as they attempt to make sense of their experiences in academia, the work place, and in the home (bell hooks, 1993, 1994; Calafell, 2012; Griffin, 2011; Boylorn, 2011; Hill-Collins, 1989, 1990). Black students, like myself, are potentially withheld from reaching our full capacity as critical thinkers while simultaneously mastering the master’s …

The (In)Visible Woman: A Performative Autoethnographic Exploration Of Queer Femme-Ininity And Queer Isolation, Bri Ozalas

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis is a performative autoethnographic exploration of my experiences existing betwixt-and-between the intersection of queer femme-ininity and isolation. Through a creative, affective rendition of my experiences, I detail and connect the nuances of queerness, femme-ininity, and queer isolation to provide a closer look at understanding queer identity with an absence of connection to the queer community. First, I provide an overview of the main theoretical and methodological approaches, and main concepts I utilize throughout my project. I then provide the intricacies of queer theory, queer intersectionality, and affect theory to provide theoretical explanations of my approach to queer isolation. …

Analyzing Discourse Surrounding The George Morris Ban: An Ideological Critique Of Sexual Assault Culture In Sports, Megan Mcloughlin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On August 6^th, 2019 one of the biggest names in the equestrian community, George Morris, was barred from the sport for life based on sexual assault allegations. I have conducted a Social Constructionist discourse analysis of the online responses to this case. Overarching themes exposed flaws in the hegemonic ideals of both the sports world and American culture in its entirety. As the case continues to develop every day, I have adapted my research to reflect new findings and have found that Deflection, Bolstering, and Reflection have emerged as the major themes of this discourse. This method allowed …

How Successful High School Boys Soccer Coaches Perceive And Develop Cultural Competency: A Grounded Theory Approach, Lauren Jefferson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this study was to examine how high school athletics coaches conceptualize the knowledge, values, and skills of cultural competence, with specific attention to learning processes and influences. In order to serve the increasingly diverse U.S. student population equitably and to the full holistic potential of extracurricular programming, high school coaches must develop a greater comfort with and capacity for exercising cultural competency. A qualitative approach using a grounded theory was applied. Seven coaches and one athletic director were recruited by purposive sampling. The research suggests a process-oriented, chronological model of how experienced coaches begin to work with …

Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community, Anne M. Sherman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On a campus where women make up a majority of the student population, it is especially important that female voices are heard and given a platform on which they can control their own narrative. I wanted to give those female-identifying voices that platform. I conducted a series of interviews to examine how college-aged female-identifying students feel about their identity and how they construct that identity within the climate of the JMU community. I was particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and ability. I asked each person to share their stories of times when they …

American Sign Language As A Foreign Language Equivalent At James Madison University, Abigail E. Compton

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

ASL is increasingly gaining acknowledgment as a foreign language in the university setting. At James Madison University, sign language classes have traditionally been housed within the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. This research makes a case for considering ASL as an equivalent to courses in the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and argues that ASL meets the university standards for the study of a foreign language with regard to fulfilling Bachelor of Arts requirements.

Considering the linguistic history of ASL and the language’s accompanying culture, we will demonstrate the standards for teaching ASL are identical to the …

No Soy De Aquí, Ni Soy De Allá: How Stateless Individuals In The Dominican Republic Construct National Identity, Lindsay Wright

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Resolution 12, a piece of national legislation in the Dominican Republic, retroactively revokes citizenship from individuals whose ancestors came to the country illegally. The resolution was proposed in 2007, signed into law in 2008, and ratified in 2013, rendering a large number of Dominican-born individuals stateless. Using the framework of Communication Theory of Identity (CTI), the researcher analyzed the communication processes and cultural elements stateless individuals utilize to form their national identity. The researcher used a qualitative approach to gather data, which were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Responses from the participants, provided through in-depth individual interviews, indicate that …

Trying To Restrict Her Range: The Backlash In Response To Ree Drummond, “The Pioneer Woman,” And Drummond’S Agency In Constructing And Profiting From A 21st Century Pioneering Persona, Jennifer R. Oskin

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Ree Drummond is the creator of the wildly popular lifestyle blog, thepioneerwoman.com, and star of the Food Network show, “The Pioneer Woman.” This thesis analyzes the rhetorical practices of Ree Drummond, as “The Pioneer Woman,” and how critics’ responses to this constructed persona have taken shape on blogging platforms. To conduct this analysis, I examined a variety of artifacts from Drummond’s public persona including her blog, cookbooks, television episodes, as well as YouTube videos of her public appearances and speaking engagements. I also analyzed the forums in which people respond to “The Pioneer Woman”; this includes op-eds on the …

Padded Assumptions: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Patriarchal Menstruation Discourse, Kathryn M. Lese

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In 2015, Rupi Kaur’s photography project featuring a menstruating woman was censored on Instagram, a photo sharing social media platform. The menstruation censorship created a surge in public media discourse about what is and is not appropriate to discuss about menstruation. Menstruation communication is often discrete or invisible in dominant discourse and focuses of medicalization rather than the social norms of “performing menstruation”. This thesis explores menstruation communication in public media discourse and examines how it empowers and disempowers the menstruating female body. Themes including the everyday language of menstruation, patriarchal censorship of women’s bodies, shame and stigma in menstruation …

(Re)Positioning Black: Negotiating Racial Subjectivities In White Discursively Constructed Spaces, Elisa Davidson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is both a personal and social inquiry of the experience of Black students at a predominantly white university. Within this inquiry, I extend Nakayama and Krizek's (1995) concept of whiteness as having "no true essence" to conceptualizations of blackness to assert that blackness is “a pattern of negotiation that takes place in conditions generated by specific discursive formations and social relations” (McLaren, 1999, pg. 40) rather than a fixed, essential category. Viewing blackness as encounter means that it is emergent through specific social and discursive conditions that are constantly constructed and negotiated through interactions with whiteness. I approach …

My Body, Our Illness: Negotiating Relational And Identity Tensions Of Living With Mental Illness, Erin E. Casey

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis uses an autoethnographic methodology informed by narrative theory to interrogate my experiences of relational and identity tensions as both a consumer of mental health services and an advocate for the care, autonomy and acceptance of those who identify with concepts of mental illness recovery. In doing so I am using my personal diaries and medical records from the past seven years as archival data to assist me in recovering and reconstructing narratives that represent meaningful truths about these experiences. I also call on heavily what Carolyn Ellis (2004) calls "relational ethics" because I know that while I am …

Contesting “Obligation”: Memory, Morality, And The (Re)Construction Of Divestment Narratives, Christina Quint

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Leaders in the medical field representing organizations abroad such as the British Medical Association (BMA) and MedAct have called for health care organizations to divest from fossil fuels, on the grounds that it is hypocritical for health care leaders to take the Hippocratic Oath and be implicated in the health impacts for which the burning of fossil fuels is responsible. The emerging discourse highlighting the imperative to divest draws parallels to the health care sector’s leadership in divesting from tobacco in the 1990s on the grounds of its health implications. Even before the current fossil fuel divestment movement and the …

Policing Charities: A Genealogy Of The American Nonprofit In The Context Of Neoliberalism, Jaclyn Carroll

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This project offers a critical rhetorical history of “the nonprofit” over the last 50 years of American political discourses. The author explicates the value of genealogy and rhetorical history as methodologies in critical communication studies. She then examines three discursive junctures. Beginning with Ronald Reagan’s public addresses and his deployment of the neoliberal epideictic, the author traces different rhetorical treatments of “the nonprofit.” The author then examines the emergence of nonprofit watchdogging agencies in the 1990s, and discourses of surveillance and resistance that developed at this time. Particular attention is paid to the discursive shifts surrounding September 11, 2001.

The …

Place, Space, And Family: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Resistance Rhetoric Of Judy Bonds, Alex K. Davenport

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis examines the ways that rhetorics of resistance can operate in contemporary social conditions. I do this specifically by examining the rhetoric of Judy Bonds, an environmental justice activist who opposed mountaintop removal (MTR) mining in Appalachia. I utilize a qualitative rhetorical approach to examine 34 instances of Bonds’ discourse as well as my own autoethnographic reflections focused on my work with Mountain Justice, a regional anti-MTR activist organization. Pairing the constant comparative method with principles of ideological criticism, informed by theories of place, voice, memory, and narrative, forms this qualitative rhetorical approach. The postmodern turn allows for the …