Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Yo Sí Soy Boricua, Pa’ Que Tú Lo Sepas”: A Decolonial And Intersectional Analysis Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jocelin Monge

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Historically speaking, political representation in Congressional districts in the U.S. has been predominantly White and male. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is an example of a type of new mestizaconsciousness (Anzaldúa, 1987) given she is the youngest Latina congresswoman ever been elected to serve New York’s 14th Congressional District. This study employs an intersectional analysis on AOC’s viral moments with ‘The Squad’, Puerto Rico, Vogue, and Met Gala. Through a theoretical lens composed of elements of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) and mestiza consciousness (Anzaldúa, 1987), this study focuses on three significant recurrent themes found in AOC’s estilos de resistencia or sensibilities …

Canadians Redefining R&B: The Online Marketing Of Drake, Justin Bieber, And Jessie Reyez, Amara Pope Ms.

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In a country that long failed to accept, include, and institutionalize R&B music as part of Canadian culture, musical artists Justin Bieber, Drake, and Jessie Reyez have successfully broken-down barriers by having successful careers as racially diverse Canadian R&B artists. This qualitative study surveys the literature on classifications of the R&B genre and of Canadian identities in popular media. The theoretical framework of discourse analysis is used to conduct a brief episodic history of Canadian R&B and to evaluate how the music genre “R&B,” is traditionally associated with people who have "Black" and "American" identities, and how a “Canadian” identity …

The Myth Of Perfection: Charting The Rhetoric Of Veteran Disability For A Course To Stability, Nicholas Rader

All Dissertations

This dissertation rhetorically analyzes discrimination in Western institutional discourses and documentation procedures, such as architectural texts and procedures, through a historiographic lens. An analytical methodology will be offered to show how discrimination of intersectional bodies is historically informed and reaffirmed by the manipulation of Western myths and mythos. Specifically, by mapping navigational mathematics and cartographic methods over rhetorical, architectural, and historiographic theory, it will be shown how the manipulation of Western myths establishes and reifies patriarchal discrimination that eventually fissions into eugenicist logics in nineteenth and twentieth century France, England, and the United States. In modernity, the practice of manipulating …

Developing An Lgbtqia2+ Affirming Curriculum And Testing Its Impact On Allyship, Tausif Karim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why are some conversations considered more difficult in learning spaces than others? What is the potential for educational interventions strengthen our capacities for such challenging conversations and for allyship? Guided by these broad questions, the present thesis focused on LGBTQIA2+ affirming education and sought to specifically test how an intentionally queer online learning experiences impacted the participants’ self-perceived allyship efficacies.

In my thesis, I draw on literature exploring how the “civility, teacher immediacy, or teacher credibility” (Chen & Lawless, 2018, p. 376) of Western education has prevented instructors from bringing topics related to race, gender, immigration, sexuality, and others in …

Black Female Athletes’ Use Of Social Media For Activism: An Intersectional And Cyberfeminist Analysis Of U.S. Hammer-Thrower, Gwen Berry's 2019 And 2021 Podium Protests, Ariel Newell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Much attention has been paid to Black male athlete activism both historically and in the contemporary movement for black lives. Black female athletes have also made historic contributions as activists, and they continue to do so. However, Black female athlete activism has not always been acknowledged or heard. This is a problem, as Black women in American sports and society face overlapping racial and gender inequities and injustices that distinctly marginalize and oppress them. However, some Black female athlete activists (BFAAs) have begun using social media to challenge media narratives about themselves, to redefine what it means to be a …

Unapologetically Her: A Nomadic-Intersectional Case Study Analysis On Lizzo And Jillian Michaels, Alexia Berlynn Martinez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With various iterations of the meaning and representation of a feminist woman, feuds arise, especially amongst public figures who capture the media’s attention. This paper analyzes the discourse amongst two communities with opposing views about feminist representations: the body-positive community and the fitness community. Utilizing an intersectional theoretical framework allows us to understand the levels of oppression and marginalization members of the body-positive community, specifically plus-size Black women, endure while also running up against the fitness community. There is no better illustration of this phenomenon than the public skirmish between Lizzo and Jillian Michaels. The goal of this case study …

(Un)Matched: Racialized Narratives Of U.S.-Based Japanese Men, Masculinity, And Heterosexuality In Online Dating Apps, Keisuke Kimura

Communication ETDs

In this study, I documented and examined U.S.-based Japanese men’s narratives about their day-to-day experiences in and across online dating contexts. Through the analysis of narratives, I critiqued how multilayered differences (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and more) working with dominant social structures affect their everyday experiences within the spectrum of power, privilege, and marginalization in the transnational space. Specifically, the overarching purposes and goals of this study were to better understand U.S.-based Japanese men’s online dating experiences and to critique the relationalities of how Japanese men’s narratives (i.e., micro-level context) and their beliefs/attitudes within and between cultural communities …

An Unspoken Story Of Education: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Racism In Education, Elisa A. Perez-Garcia

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Privilege is when one voice is the norm, but some children’s voices are underheard within research. Extensive research has demonstrated that Hispanic face multiple barriers within the education system. This study examines how whiteness within the education system can impact a Hispanic student’s perspective of the world. An autoethnographic approach is used to analyze five stories. A grounded theory approach identified emergent themes from the stories shared. The four themes that emerged among the stories were intersectionality, privilege, social construct, and microaggression. It demonstrated minority students’ experiences and interactions could profoundly affect how they view their identity. There are measures …

"Ain’T I A Woman?”: The Intersectional Representation Of Black Women Professional Leaders Above The Concrete Ceiling In Scandal And How To Get Away With Murder, Jessica Love

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the politics of re-presentation of the two Black leading characters in Shonda Rhimes’s televised series, Scandal (Olivia Pope) and How to Get Away with Murder (Annalise Keating). This textual analysis explores how the characters are re-represented as leaders at the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality using Kimberlé Crenshaw’s (1989) theory of intersectionality. This study also imposes Patricia Hill Collins’s (2005) matrix of domination to explicate how the hegemonic structure of the concrete ceiling conditions their identities and exertion of power in the workplace. To do this, the researcher investigated cultural workplace expectations tied to notions …

Fatty Fatty Two-By-Four—Can’T Get Through The Dressing Room Door?: An Examination Of Excess As Queer Failure, Miranda Dottie Olzman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Failure and fat are not linear. It is taught, learned, reminded, and internalized. Our bodies have memories that are built through repeated moments. And for me, failure has been a part of my body’s map since I was born. This project is the culmination of many failures. In this dissertation, I am examining queer failure in multiple contexts including body size, as well as religion to create a corpulent critique. I do this by examining the lineage of queer failure as well as queer temporality as it is linked to failure (Edelman; Muñoz; Halberstam; Love) with fat queer bodies serving …

Becoming A Mom: Intersectionality And Fashion Consumption For Millennial Latinas And The Role Of Social Media Influencers, Leslie M. Cuevas

Doctoral Dissertations

When it comes to motherhood for women of color, the topic of women empowerment is scarce, and the media mostly portrays Latinas through traditional ethnic stereotypes. The advent of social media has presented women the opportunity to engage in identity formation as they exercise empowerment in choices and self-monitoring online. A good example of this transition in power involves fashion influencers who use their personal influence to change the meaning of motherhood, making it more accessible and realistic to women in general. However, a lack of diversity remains within the influencer industry as white women are the majority. Drawing upon …

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 …

Reclaiming Images Of Black Women: An Investigation Of Black Womanhood In Visual Communication, Taylor Simone Thomas

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

This thesis investigates how Black womanhood has been visually represented in hopes to either recognize Black women as full, nuanced, and legitimate participants of society or to reinforce monolithic representations built from the constructs of social, political, and economic oppression. It also gives an analysis of Black feminism and how Black feminist thought can be applied to the creative process in hopes of challenging visual misrepresentations of Black womanhood. The aim of this thesis is to show that artists and visual communicators do have a responsibility to be conscious of the messages conveyed in their work. In addition, they must …

Like A Virgin: Comparing Cross-Cultural Virginity, Anastasia M. Tejada

Communication Senior Capstones

Studies have been conducted about the social construct of virginity inside the United States and cross-culturally. Investigations comparing the United States with these other cultures are limited and focus on the United States as the ideal representation of virginity in men and women. I aim to expand upon the current research provided by adding a new perspective to the analysis. The objective of conducting this analysis is to provide a global perspective defining the connotations of virginity cross-culturally. This study focused on the cultural, religious, and societal impacts on virginity collected through qualitative methods in the cultures of Arab-Americans, Latinx-Americans, …

Representations Of Domestic Workers In Modern Arabic Fiction, Samaher Aldhamen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I have examined the representations of domestic workers in a number of Arabic mid-century and contemporary novels, using feminism and intersectionality as my overarching framework. I employed several scholarships of feminism such as Marxist and postcolonial feminism to examine the discourse on working-class women. The initial assumption of this study is that there is a noticeable invisibility of domestic workers in Arabic novels. If these characters manage to find their way into a text, they are typically ahistorical figures whose subjectivity is not centered.

Among the Arabic novels I have examined, I found that the tradition of …

"I Like . . . Red Bone:" Colorism, Rappers, And Black College Sorority Women At A Predominantly White Institution, Whitney Frierson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I examine black college sorority women’s views about skin tone bias in hip-hop culture. I conduct interviews with 12 black undergraduate women in Black Greek Letter Sororities at a predominantly white institution. Prior research finds that rap music sends skin color messages to adolescent women through lyrical content and music videos. I build on this work by exploring how the experiences of being in college shape black college sorority women’s views on skin tone bias and hip-hop. I find that time in college has been an important life stage in which black sorority women gained an increased …

Reclaiming Rhetorical Intersectionality: From Silence To Parrhesia And Attuned Listening, Tahirah Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intersectionality is a term applied by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in the late 1980s to a social experience. A person experiences intersectionality when different aspects of her identity converge in a way that causes uniquely amplified marginalization or oppression. The classic three identities that produce intersectionality experiences in the United States are race, gender, and class, making poor women of color the central figures of intersectionality study. Crenshaw explained that these forces take three main forms: structural, political and representational (“Mapping the Margins” 1243).

Intersectionality has always been rhetorical. Structural, political and representational intersectionality are supported in language. The power of …

"Mystery Meat" And "Bulldyke": Disciplining Gender And Silencing Women Sports Reporters On Reddit, Kayla J. Peterson

Masters Theses

Most of the sports industry is a male dominated space where women are very rarely accepted. We see men in the field, whether they work or play, defend the space and tell women reporters to “stay in their lane.” This study focuses on an online news-sharing site, reddit, and examines how sports fans take it upon themselves to defend sports as a male space. Reporters, such as Sarah Spain, Jemele Hill, and Doris Burke, are subjected to hundreds of comments that silence them and discipline them based on their gender. This study emphasizes the need for gender equality in what …

Social Positioning In Social Work Practice: Stories Of Hopes And Struggles Among Racialized Minority Workers, Utamika Cummings

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The primary purpose of this qualitative research is to understand the experiences of racialized social workers and social services workers and how social positioning plays out in their practice. What are the experiences of racialized workers in their work places? How do they position themselves in terms of their age, gender, race and professional identity in the various contexts of their practice? Do they experience self-doubt? How are they recognized or misrecognized for how they position themselves? How do they deal with these experiences? What are their stories? These were the main questions that this narrative research sought to capture …

Celebration, Resistance, And Change: Queer Gender Performers Of Color As Public Pedagogues, Krishna Pattisapu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project expands academic understandings of queer of color subjectivity through the critical investigation of queer gender performance and its pedagogical potential for queer communities. With queer theories of color, critical communication pedagogy, and public pedagogy theories providing support, I utilize qualitative interviews fore-fronting poetic transcription of personal narratives in order to explore how queer gender performers of color engage in intersectional queer negotiations of identities and provide new possibilities for the everyday performance of queer identities. I call upon existing scholarship in queer gender performance in order to prove the centrality of such performances to queer social life, …

Content Analysis Of Social Tags On Intersectionality For Works On Asian Women: An Exploratory Study Of Librarything, Sheetija Kathuria

Masters Theses

This study explores how the social tags are employed by users of LibraryThing, a popular web 2.0 social networking site for cataloging books, to describe works on Asian women in representing themes within the context of intersectionality. Background literature in the domain of subject description of works has focused on race and gender representation within traditional controlled vocabularies such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). This study explores themes related to intersectionality in order to analyze how users construct meaning in their social tags. The collection of works used to search for social tags came from the Association …

Communicating Queer Identities Through Personal Narrative And Intersectional Reflexivity, Richard G. Jones, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is currently a lack of intersubjective research involving human participants and conceptual frameworks that include queer theory. Queer theory's poststructuralist epistemology tends toward desubjectification, problematizing research that relies on participants' self-reports of lived experience. The author proposes that the interdisciplinary nature of Communication Studies, which is situated within the humanities and social sciences, leaves communication scholars well poised to contribute to ongoing metatheoretical and metamethodological conversations regarding queer theory and intersubjective research, particularly in relation to cultures and identities. To contribute to this scholarly conversation, the author utilizes the deconstructionist lens of queer theory to contextualize communication, employs personal …