Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

‘Welcoming’ Guests: The Role Of Ideational And Contextual Factors In Public Perceptions About Refugees And Attitudes About Their Integration, H. Ege Ozen, Aysenur Dal, Efe Tokdemir

Publications and Research

In this study, we aim to explore the ideational and contextual sources of perceptions about refugees. Contrary to many studies focusing on the interaction with and integration of refugees in developed countries, we examine the effect of social identity and refugee exposure on the perception of refugees in Turkey, which pose a substantive case with a background of ethnic conflict and scarce resources. We contend that social identities provide individuals with cues; however, we argue that identity type and its salience are key to understanding in-group vs. out-group formation processes, hence the perceptions about refugees. Moreover, we argue that socioeconomic …

The Impact Of Overseas Study Experiences On Chinese Students’ Attitudes Toward The United States, Xufeng Fang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extent to which overseas study experiences increase Chinese students’ positive attitude toward the United States has triggered debates because of Chinese government’ overwhelming influence on Chinese students studying overseas, the instability of U.S.-China relations and the especially complex characteristics of Chinese students’ attitudes themselves. I will use value theory, belief system theory, and self-categorization theory to explain the unstable character of these attitudes, and the important roles of values and identity that determine attitudes’ change. After making three key hypotheses based on these theories, this paper conducts a survey on three groups of Chinese students both in China and …

The Impact On Gay Men Of Support And Enforcement Of Workplace Dei Policies: A Meta Analysis, Steven M. Vega

Student Theses and Dissertations

The poor enforcement of workplace DEI policies affects gay men in ways that are unique and invite close attention. The nature of the impact of missing or unsupported DEI policies on gay men has been widely debated in the field of human resources and communication studies, with scholars such as David Wicks, Helen Seitzer, James Ward, and Diana Winstansley arguing that these effects include lasting negative mental and physical health effects and discomfort with self-disclosure in the workplace. However, the existing research on this topic has not sufficiently considered the effects of the poor enforcement of workplace DEI policies side …

In The U.S., Mena People Are Legally White. But Their Lived Experiences Say Otherwise, Youcef O. Bounab

Capstones

The U.S. Government classifies people whose origins are from the Middle East and North Africa as racially “white.” This is reflected in the decennial census, as well as in other questionnaires and forms, even as many among those groups prefer to have their own categorization. In this feature article, we explore the history of the issue, how individuals from those backgrounds would prefer to identify, and whether their lived experiences in a post-9/11 United States reflect their current categorization.

African American English As A Predictor Of Ethnic And Ethnolinguistic Identity In Adolescence, Giahna L. Glasco

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s purposes were to provide support for the Social identity theory of African American English (Vietze & Glasco, 2022) and the meanings African American English (AAE) speakers assign to their dialect. The study was primarily based on Tajfel’s (1979) social identity theory that proposes individuals derive a sense of self from group membership. The qualitative analyses examined ethnic and language group memberships. Ethnic identity development (Phinney, 1992), and ethnolinguistic identity theories (Giles and Johnson, 1987) guided narrative and content analyses of Kiese Laymon’s memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir (Laymon, 2018). The sample included 21 African American English conversations …

Identity Selection And The Social Construction Of Birthdays, Brett W. Pelham, Tracy Dehart, Mitsuru Shimizu, Curtis D. Hardin, H. Anna Han, William Von Hippel

Publications and Research

We argue that rather than being a wholly random event, birthdays are sometimes selected by parents. We further argue that such effects have changed over time and are the result of important psychological processes. Long ago, U.S. American parents greatly overclaimed holidays as their children’s birthdays. These effects were larger for more important holidays, and they grew smaller as births moved to hospitals and became officially documented. These effects were exaggerated for ethnic groups that deeply valued specific holidays. Parents also overclaimed well-liked calendar days and avoided disliked calendar days as their children’s birthdays. However, after birthday selection effects virtually …

Desde El Fuego Que En Mí Arde: Performance, Literatura Y Cine Afro-Latinoamericano Producidos Por Mujeres Afrodescendientes En Perú, Cuba Y Brasil (1960–2000), Elena Ekatherina Chavez Goycochea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines different films, literary, and performance art pieces created by contemporary afro-descendant women from Peru, Cuba, and Brazil after the sixties with emphasis on the most relevant works of Conceição Evaristo, Sara Gómez, Victoria Santa Cruz, and Lucía Charún-Illescas. I focus my research on the crucial role these artists played in the cultural identity formation of Latin America when inserting ‘race’ as a category of socio-political analysis and cultural production. How did their films, performances, and texts challenge national narratives and imaginaries after 1960? Although in the sixties, women improved their civil rights in different countries, the ‘mujer …

The Grid Elegies, Pamela A. Kallimanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Immigrants are a key component in New York City’s pandemic. Historically, New York is a city of immigrants and their children. In the latter part of the 20th Century, more immigrants arrived due to changes in migration policy. There was also an increased outmigration through second and third generations, which mirrors an economic trajectory seen in previous points in history, mainly in the 1970s. At that time, there was the lure of government policies – from federal mortgage agencies that graded white suburban areas as safer areas for banks to make loans than racially mixed urban areas, to road construction …

Reimagining What It Means To Be Black In The United States: Family Cultural Socialization Practices That Shape Racial Identities Among Diverse Young Adults, Latifa T. Fletcher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explores racial identity development as it is influenced by family cultural socialization practices across diverse ethnic groups that identify either racially or ethnically as Black. The literature on Black racial identity development has relied predominantly on the experiences of African Americans in the United States. This study aims to build on earlier Black identity research by exploring the developmental experiences of the growing ethnic and cultural Black population in the United States.

Young adults between the ages of 18-35 who identify as African American, Afro-Latinx, and Afro-Caribbean were recruited to complete a brief questionnaire and participate in an …

Educational Investments In Low-Income Households: The Role Of Parental Occupational Identity And Substitutability, Aparna Anand

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Poor parents face difficult trade-offs when investing in their children's education. This dissertation studies how low-income urban households in Southern India, where child labor is a concern, make educational investments for their children. First, I build a model that shows how educational investments are shaped by the possibility of children substituting labor for their parents. Second, I collect parent surveys, child surveys, and student-level administrative data from schools and construct a linked dataset. Third, I examine the relationship between educational investments and several pertinent factors, with an emphasis on child labor substitution and the strength of occupational identity. I find …

A New Twist On The “Un-African” Script: Representing Gay And Lesbian African Weddings In Democratic South Africa, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This essay examines the media coverage surrounding two African weddings of lesbian and gay couples in South Africa, as a lens onto the evolving cultural politics of black queerness in that country. Two decades after South Africa launched a world-leading legal framework for LGBTI protections, I argue that these media representations depict the growing inclusion of black LGBTIQ people as a process of bridging the supposed “gap” between homosexuality and African culture. This new “bridging the gap” script seemingly rejects the older, dominant script portraying homosexuality as intrinsically “un-African.” But I argue that it instead reproduces the “un-African” script in …

Identity Development In Adolescent And Young Adult Cancer Survivors, Rachel M. Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated identity development among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. We examined the relationship between identity development with body image, self-esteem and self-perception. Results suggest that AYA survivors’ sense of self (how they perceive themselves, and how much they like themselves) is associated with their identity status.

Redefining Gender & Gender Expression Through Self-Perceptions & Self-Reflections, Deborah O. Ade

Publications and Research

As societies evolve policies are developed to recognize and formalize these changes. One current context for change is New York City and the concept that has undergone significant change is gender. Many individuals no longer identify with the traditional binary distinction of male or female. Subsequently, new gender categories have emerged (e.g., bi-gender, pan gender, androgynous). Indeed, a total of 31 gender categories have been recognized by the NYC Commission of Human Rights. The goal behind this acknowledgement is to encourage equitable treatment and respect of all individuals within the workplace. NYC businesses that do not accommodate individuals identifying with …

Contemporary Art And Food: An Examination Of Three Case Studies Using Anthropology And Diaspora As Key., Viridiana S. Mayagoitia

Dissertations and Theses

Food-related artworks are as crucial to understanding culture as other mediums in art like painting, installation, sculpture, and drawings. From Greek and Roman mosaics, Egyptian banquet scenes, to Renaissance frescoes and Flemish still-life paintings, the depiction of food and meals has had multiple meanings. Food as a medium in Western contemporary art was introduced in the 1930s by the Italian Futurists’ banquets, which celebrated modernity and technology underlying social and political commentary. It continued throughout the 1960s with performance art, conceptual art, and happenings, and in the 1970s with the Fluxus movement’s exploration of the boundaries between art and life. …

Are We Represented As Who We Are? An Assessment Of Library Faculty Online Profiles Within The City University Of New York, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

Academic librarians have been wrestling with faculty status and rank for many decades and their dual identities as professionals and faculty made their identity representations in the online profile environment designed by colleges and universities even more complicated. Misrepresentation or insufficient representation of academic librarians’ identities could lead to jeopardy of their public images within colleges and universities, or even trigger suspicion that academic librarians bring an impediment to academic standards by achieving less or none. Therefore, this study surveyed library faculty’s online profiles within the libraries of the City University of New York and tried to assess whether library …

Relationships Between Dress And Gender In A Context Of Cultural Change, Alyssa Dana Adomaitis, Diana Saiki, Kim K. P. Johnson

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

‘Its Something You Do Bro’: Language And Identity On A Male Erotic Hypnosis Messageboard, Eric Chambers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Drawing on a seven-year corpus of data (total words N = 86,881) on a publicly-accessible messageboard on which self-identified gay men discuss their experiences undergoing erotic hypnosis, this study applies Critical Discourse Analysis methods to understand how posters understand their sexual identities and those of others. This study identifies the emergence of two main identity-types at-play on OnYourKnees: the jock and the coach. Jocks are generally characterized by a focus on sports and body-consciousness, a disinterest or inability to engage in scholarly/academic pursuits, and a desire to be submissive to others to achieve sexual pleasure. Coaches, on the other hand, …

Transforming Through Power: Teachers And The Negotiation Of Authority In Schools, Madhu Narayanan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Schools are unique institutions where structural and cultural dynamics shape the actions of humans. Teachers work within structures of power to establish themselves as legitimate figures of authority worthy of the right to command respect. Such efforts are complicated by the multi-faceted and swirling relationships of power that exist everywhere in schools, defining and guiding individuals. In this study, I interview and observe the practice of seven secondary teachers working in New York City public schools. All in their third year of teaching, they were at an interesting time in their development, not novice teachers and not quite veteran. Using …

Dios En Carne: Rastafari And The Embodiment Of Spiritual Blackness In Puerto Rico, Omar Ramadan-Santiago

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my dissertation, I examine how the Rastafari community in Puerto Rico constructs, reshapes, imagines and embodies blackness as a personal, political, and ideological identity. I argue that my interlocutors refuse non-black privilege and choose blackness, an act that is understood as identification not with subjugation but with power. I consider their identification with blackness and enactment of this identity as a performance. My analysis, based on 22 months of ethnographic research, and utilizing ethnography, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews, explores how my interlocutors claim blackness as a spiritual identity. In doing so, they demonstrate the metaphysical nature of race …

Navigating Colorism And Racial Identity In Dominican Women, Christine Hernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Colorism has been perpetuated in Dominican culture across generations. That along with a colonial mentality has shaped the racial identity and ideologies of their people. I explore what historical and societal factors play into identity in Dominican women. Additionally, I delve into the history of blackness on the island of Hispañola and how it has led to the perpetuation of colorism. I show how this perpetuation influences the racial self-identity of Dominican women through different forms of media and culture.

Italian/Americans And The American Racial System: Contadini To Settler Colonists?, Stephen J. Cerulli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the relationship between ethnicity and race, “whiteness,” in the American racial system through the lens of Italian/Americans. Firstly, it overviews the current scholarship on Italian/Americans and whiteness. Secondly, it analyzes methodologies that are useful for understanding race in an American context. Thirdly, it presents a case study on the Columbus symbol and the battle over identity that arose out of, and continues over, this symbol. Finally, this thesis provides suggestions using the case study and methodologies to open up new ways of understanding Italian/Americans and the American racial system.

The Practice Of Mainland Chinese Students Adopting English Names And Its Motivations, T. Leo Schmitt

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the Chinese practice of adopting English names in the context of Chinese international students studying at American institutions of higher education. This work adopts the position of Bourdieu (1991) that there is a fundamental unity of the market, in that economic and political capital is connected to linguistic and cultural capital. Prosperity in one area is linked to others; people who have wealth and power tend to use language and have names that are similarly valued. In this situation, we are able to make choices about our linguistic and cultural stances based on our status within society. …

Know(Ing) Thyself: Examining Complementary Practices Of Health And Wellness Through A Teacher's Standpoint, Ernest Andre Poole

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How do we know the nature of a thing; of a person? This is not just a compilation of skills, theories, methods, and methodologies but an examination of the various facets of a human being trying to make sense of a single human being: himself. The research presented here is an attempt to gain a better understanding of self through examination of emotions and how they are expressed, movement and how it brings forth and may hold the possibility of inner wellness, pain and its power as a common language, and the relationship between knowing and feeling. Burgeoning spirituality, self-worth, …

The Prediction Of Personal Narrative On Features Of Recovery Among People With Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders, Beth Vayshenker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Among individuals with schizophrenia, research has demonstrated that in addition to the positive and negative symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia, the diminishment of the self also represents an important aspect of the illness (Lysaker & Lysaker, 2010). Research has confirmed that the self-experience, particularly as measured by the telling of one’s life story through the Scale to Assess Narrative Development (STAND), is linked to a variety of subjective and objective recovery outcomes from schizophrenia. While this association has been documented in different research studies, less is known about the ways in which personal narrative functions to predict recovery outcomes in a …

Hyper-Selectivity, Racial Mobility, And The Remaking Of Race, Van C. Tran, Jennifer Lee, Oshin Khachikian, Jess Lee

Publications and Research

Recent immigrants to the United States are diverse with regard to selectivity. Hyper-selectivity refers to a dual positive selectivity in which immigrants are more likely to have graduated from college than nonmigrants in sending countries and the host population in the United States. This article addresses two questions. First, how does hyper-selectivity affect second-generation educational outcomes? Second, how does second-generation mobility change the cognitive construction of racial categories? It shows how hyper-selectivity among Chinese immigrants results in positive second-generation educational outcomes and racial mobility for Asian Americans. It also raises the question of whether hyper-selectivity operates similarly for non-Asian groups. …

Persistence Of Cultural Heritage In A Multicultural Context: Examining Factors That Shaped Voting Preferences In The 2016 Election, Anna M. Schwartz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The prevailing discourse about the myth of the “melting pot” of American culture implies that heritage cultures are eliminated in favor of a homogenous “American” norm. However, this myth belies the persistence of our cultural heritage in forming our attitudes, morals, and habitual patterns of thought, each of which shape how we participate in our democracy through voting. By contextualizing voting predictors such as authoritarianism, social dominance, and sexism in developmental and ecological theories, this dissertation shows how they are shaped by culture and transmitted through consumption of media and interaction with members of one’s community and family. In an …

Comparing Two Measures Of Self-Role Integration In Their Prediction Of Well-Being, Alexander Cloudt

Theses and Dissertations

The present study is a method comparison. We used the data from Reich et al. (2017) to calculate the same predictor variable (self-role integration) to predict the same outcome: well-being. However, whereas Reich et al. (2017) operationalized self-role integration in terms of HICLAS, we did so in terms of MDS.

Conditions Of Personhood And Property, Zachary James Acree

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper seeks to demonstrate that a more robust understanding of personhood both reveals flaws in the underlying assumptions of modern property law, and orients that law to a more just application. To do this, the law needs not only a better definition of what persons are, but also a better understanding of how persons function in their society. First, in order to provide some context to the issues at stake, there is a brief historical introduction to some of the problems that personhood inquiries have faced. After the introduction, this paper is divided into four sections. Part I summarizes …

From Invisibility To Liminality: The Imposition Of Identity Among Non-Federally Recognized Tribes Within The Federal Acknowledgment Process, Christopher M. Drake

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the imposition of a “liminal” identity among non-federally recognized American Indian tribes pursuing federal recognition through the Federal Acknowledgment Process. By requiring a tribe to simultaneously appear as both intelligible/similar to and distinctive/different from American society, the “liminal” identity fails to be maintained, barring a tribe’s recognition.

Genealogy Of The Concept Of "Hate Crime": The Cultural Implications Of Legal Innovation And Social Change, Roslyn Myers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The term "hate crime" is new to legislative and public discourse, as well as legal and social science scholarship. A decade after the concept of a "hate crime" was introduced in Congress, the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA), to punish criminal actors who target victims because of their characteristics (race, color ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, gender, gender identity, or disability). Using relevant archival sources, this project uses genealogical qualitative methods to examine the interplay of cultural elements manifested in this provocative term, which reflect dominance and subjugation among social groups (In- and Out-Groups) …