Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Who Are We?: Exploring American Identities, Nolan Weil

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

Framed as a question—Who Are We?—the book focuses on telling the stories of a handful of ethnic/national/racial groups that contributed significantly to the formation of the United States. In particular, the book revolves around the social, economic, legal, and historical contradictions that have confronted and continue to confront the American attempt to construct a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy, including a consideration of the forces arrayed against the American experiment. While the book does not tackle head-on the immediate cultural and political rifts currently on display in the United States today, it does take a hard look at many …

Spinoza And Enlightened Pleasures, Charlie Huenemann

Communication Studies and Philosophy Faculty Publications

Spinoza recognizes that worldly pleasures are not contrary to the life of the philosophical sage, but such pursuits must be carefully directed. He distinguishes between a joy that affects only some parts of the body (titillatio) and joy that extends through the body as a whole (hilaritas or "cheerfulness"). Titillation can be excessive, since it can blind us to our other needs. But cheerfulness cannot be excessive, since the whole body is improved at once. In his account of cheerfulness, Spinoza can be understood to be describing the life of a liefhebber, which is the Dutch …

The Intermountain West Lgbtq+ Oral History Project: The Folklorization Of Queer Theory, John Priegnitz

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

Following the passing of a friend who witnessed firsthand the transformation of Salt Lake City’s Queer community from the 1950s to 2020, I created the Intermountain West LGBTQ+ Oral History Project to document the queer experience within the Intermountain West. Since beginning the project in 2020, I have documented several diverse stories that intersect class, race, sexuality, gender, faith, and politics. By documenting the queer experience, a marginalized community will have their voices heard and preserved for the enlightenment of future generations. This presentation provides an overview of my project and its preliminary findings.

Perceptions Of Disabilities Among Native Americans Within The State Of Utah, Erica Ficklin, Melissa Tehee, Sherry Marx, Eduardo Ortiz, Megan E. Golson, Tyus Roanhorse

Psychology Student Research

Currently, little research exists on disabilities among Native American communities and no research exists on how Native Americans perceive disabilities, services currently available, and unmet needs. Understanding these key areas is essential to providing efficacious and culturally relevant care. To address this gap in the literature, we used Indigenous research methodology through sharing circles throughout the state of Utah to listen and amplify the voices of the Native communities. Participants shared how they conceptualize "disability," what they thought of current services, and how they thought the needs of Native persons with disabilities should be addressed. Four major themes emerged in …

Níksókowaawák As Axiom: The Indispensability Of Comprehensive Relational Animacy In Blackfoot Ways Of Knowing, Being, And Doing, Sandra Bartlett Atwood, Ninna Piiksii (Chief Bird) Mike Bruised Head, Mark W. Brunson, Aahsaopi (State Of Being) Laverne First Rider, Tim Frandy, James Maffie, Aakaomo'tsstaki (Many Victories) Michelle Provost, Miiniipokaa (Berry Child) Peter Weasel Moccasin, Itsiipootsikimskai

Environment and Society Student Research

This paper outlines a proposal, based on Blackfoot worldview, for a collective method to stand alongside Western qualitative and quantitative methods and highlights the value of collective methods in collaborative social-ecological research. Neither qualitative nor quantitative methods are adequate to disclose a world where all things are alive, where “objects” are subjects—agentive beings in their own right. Most Indigenous cultures understand and experience the world as a network of living beings, a collective, with whom they are interrelated/connected and therefore, any efforts to collaborate with Indigenous peoples must acknowledge comprehensive relational animacy. Applying coproduction principles in concert with Blackfoot ways …

Paths To Equity: Parents In Partnership With Ucedds Fostering Black Family Advocacy For Children On The Autism Spectrum, Elizabeth H. Morgan, Benita D. Shaw, Ida Winters, Chiffon King, Jazmin Burns, Aubyn Stahmer, Gail Chodron

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Racism and ableism have doubly affected Black families of children with developmental disabilities in their interactions with disability systems of supports and services (e.g., early intervention, mental health, education, medical systems). On average, Black autistic children are diagnosed three years later and are up to three times more likely to be misdiagnosed than their non-Hispanic White peers. Qualitative research provides evidence that systemic oppression, often attributed to intersectionality, can cause circumstances where Black disabled youth are doubly marginalized by policy and practice that perpetuates inequality. School discipline policies that criminalize Black students and inadequate medical assessments that improperly support Black …

Reconstructing The Practical Theory Of Communication In Dating Matters: Examining Teen Dating Violence Prevention From A Communicative Approach, Diana Costanzo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Teen Dating Violence (TDV) has lasting impacts on teens’ health and well-being. Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships (DM), a curriculum published by the CDC in 2019, seeks to mitigate the consequences of TDV and promote healthy relationships. Using Grounded Practical Theory (Craig & Tracy, 1995, 2014), this paper analyzes how DM conceptualizes communication. Specifically, I explore and critique how DM discusses topics related to communication and conflict. The findings of the analysis show that DM focuses on sending the right message in communication. In DM, parents and teens are encouraged to “talk it out” or “speak up” …

Making The Old New: The Recontextualization And Traditionalization Of Tree Spirits In Video Games, Alexandria Ziegler

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

Folklorists study the active rituals between humans and deities, as well as the inactive participation between them in narrative. However, they do not study the active participation that comes in the form of video games between them, though with shifts in society, this new way of engaging through digital forms is widespread and accessible. In my research, I studied Russian and Japanese tree spirits in a variety of video games to understand this new form of engagement with ancient deities. These video games are Okami, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Black Book, and The Witcher 3: The …

Oral Histories Help Document The Impact Of Covid-19 On Cache Valley's Latinx Community, Virginia Hernandez, Jasmine Morales

Research on Capitol Hill

Sophomore Jasmine, of Box Elder, is president of the USU LatinX Creative Society, the Parent Committee for Centro de la Familia in Box Elder, and the Region Policy Council for the Migrant Program. She studies social work and Spanish. Junior Virginia is a Spanish teaching major and recipient of an Institute for Mexicans Abroad scholarship for her studies in Mexican language and culture. Jasmine led this project to interview a dozen Cache Valley families about their personal experiences during the pandemic as members of the Latinx community. The documentary these students are producing will discuss the ways that their culture …

The Los Seis De Boulder Sculpture Project: A Case Study Of Socially Engaged Archivist/Artist Collaboration At The University Of Colorado Boulder, Megan K. Friedel, Jasmine Baetz

Journal of Western Archives

As academic institutions and archivists around the nation grapple with the question of how to address existing monuments to racist histories at their institutions, how can archivists support the creation of new monuments on college and university campuses that reflect suppressed or oppressed histories of people of color? This case study explores the Los Seis de Boulder Sculpture Project, a socially engaged art project at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), in which archivists in the CU Boulder Libraries' Archives supported and collaborated with a student artist and community members to create a public monument commemorating the deaths of …

Trauma In Latinx Communities In The United States As Seen Through Literature, Jessica Snider, Kate Allen

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

Multifaceted trauma is a common aspect of the minority experience in the United States, and Latinx are no exception. They experience discrimination, racism, poverty, and a convergence of cultures that leave them with an ambivalent sense of identity. The premise of this research is to show how historical traumas provoke in the main characters a desire to escape their plight through seeking education, expressing themselves through writing, and distancing themselves from their heritage. This study utilizes Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street (1983), Ernesto Quiñónez’s Chango’s Fire (2004) and Taína (2019), Érika L. Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect …

Hating Pink: The Development Of Internalized Misogyny, Jacey Wilson

Fall Student Research Symposium 2021

For women, expectations of gender roles as placed on them as children can mean growing up with a self-perception of inferiority and a prediction for themselves of incapability. Misogyny’s place in society is a concept which is fairly widely-recognized. Women face misogyny in day-to-day interactions and in larger-scale issues like the gender wage gap. More recognizable are more violent acts of sexism such as sexual violence against women and the structural wage gap. However, less commonly recognized and discussed are the acts which perpetuate sexism quietly, such as benevolent sexism. Many women experience negative psychological effects due to the patriarchal …

Ataturk Vs. Soleimani: Political Philosophy & Contemporary Archetypes, Rachel R. Tolhurst

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis is an examination of the lives of Qassem Soleimani and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk through the lens of the political philosophies of Plato and Niccolò Machiavelli. Qassem Soleimani and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were noted for their militant lives and share certain qualities of character in their pre-political careers that provide a unique opportunity for a direct comparison and the formulation of a normative claim assessing their relative successes and/or failures despite their many similarities. Through the course of this research the conclusion asserts that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was a more capable man than Soleimani to ascend to a position …

The Veins That Lighten Dearth: Documenting Hidden Collections In Rural California, Jillian M. Ewalt

Journal of Western Archives

This case study discusses an archival consulting project to document and preserve hidden collections in rural northern California. The paper provides an overview of the collecting institution (the Mother Lode Land Trust), the collections and their historical context, and the consulting process. The author highlights processing strategies to improve preservation and description while developing a post-custodial approach to managing collections in a rural, community-based archives setting.

Antimicrobial Activity Of Artemisia Tridentata, David Suisse, Kayla Suisse

Student Research Symposium

Many plants and fungi secrete substances to adjust their environment to be more favorable to their needs. These secondary metabolites include chemicals emitted to kill other plants or microbes that would otherwise endanger or compete with the original plant. One such example is that of penicillin—extracted from a mold by Alexander Fleming in the 1920s. Fleming found that the growth of staphylococci, a bacterium, which shared the plate with the mold was inhibited. Penicillin, a secondary metabolite created by the mold, quickly became a well-known and useful antimicrobial agent and an ingredient in many drugs. Aspirin has a similar, if …

Using Visual Resources To Teach Primary Source Literacy, Daniel Davis

Journal of Western Archives

Historic photographs provide an excellent teaching tool for promoting primary source literacy. People like to look at photographs, we all take them, and they illustrate the strengths and limitations of analyzing and interpreting primary sources. In 2019 I spent six months on sabbatical taking a “deep dive” into the new primary source literacy standards as well as the literature for teaching with primary sources. I then created a lesson plan, “Exploring the West in the Golden Age of Photography,” that focused on teaching primary source literacy through historic images. While this lesson plan was aimed at instructors teaching U.S. West …

The Union Of Opposites: Carl Jung, Folklore, And The Caduceus And Ouroboros In Alchemy, Jack Daly

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

This thesis advocates for the use of Carl Jung’s psychoanalytic theory in folkloristics by examining the role of the caduceus and the ouroboros in alchemy as a case study. Although a Jungian lens has not been widely accepted by folklorists, it can and should be applied to folklore, particularly in the context of binary oppositions. Folklorists such as Alan Dundes have been harshly critical of this perspective. However, Dundes also stressed the importance of binaries in folklore. Furthermore, Dundes championed the theory of symbolic equivalences, and in my paper I argue that the caduceus and the ouroboros are examples of …

The Sacred Circle: Ostension In Native American Hoop Dancing, Emma George

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

This thesis examines the role of the semiotic concept ostension in folk dance, specifically in Native American hoop dance. Although the discipline of folklore is well-versed in ostension, folk dance has not been examined through this lens. I argue that dance is a form of ostension, of demonstrating a narrative, and this is especially apparent within Native American hoop dancing. I begin with a brief history of Native Americans in North America before discussing the origins of powwows, intertribal culture, and hoop dance. I then look at both the sacred nature and material culture of the modern hoop dance before …

From Theory To Practice: Establishing The Classroom As The Setting For Race Talk Through The Intentional Analysis And Discussion Of Poems By Authors Of Color, Cree Taylor

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

Modern-day racism exists in mostly subtle ways and is often felt most keenly in the classroom. When schools began the legal integration process in 1954, Black teachers were fired, all-Black schools were closed, and Black students were bused to the formerly all-White schools. In this new environment, Black students and all Students of color were forced to accept and adapt to an educational system that favored Whites over all other racial groups. Today, White Supremacy in education affects the establishment of state and national standards, school and district boundaries, and the un-fair disciplinary action taken against Students of Color. In …

New Perspectives On Promoting Efl Teaching And Learning In Oman, Jihan Sulaiman Al Naabi

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

This portfolio is an accumulation of work that the author accomplished during her study in the program of Master of Second Language Teaching at Utah State University. It is an outcome of the author’s personal teaching experiences, insights gained from her master’s study, and several class observations as well.

The portfolio comprises three primary portions: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The teaching perspectives revolve around the author’s beliefs on the role of both teachers and students in L2 classrooms, the communicative teaching of grammar, and the value of a positive learning environment. The research …

Playing The Public Lands Game- Honr 3020: Engaging Utah's Public Lands, Libbie Anderson, Zach Archibald, Tessa Burrows, Corinne Clarkson, Connor Coles, Colten Dougher, Taylor Edwards, Emily Hales, Emma Hallock, Ivy Hansen, Chase Harward, Michael Herron, Hayden Hoopes, Kollin Keller, Nicole King, Jordan Lapp, Sarah Lueckler, Clarissa Nelson, Eliza Owens, Kinzie Randall, Mariah Richards, Nicholas Rodgers, Emmalee Rolfe, Daniel Sykes, Justin Tirrell, Alicia Oliver

Honors Think Tank

How to get involved with public land issues and learn what's at stake.

Join us as students present a guide that teaches how to locate, navigate, and participate in the various government and public processes for engaging in public lands debates.

Called To Serve: Understanding The Role Of The Woman’S Mission Decision Narrative In Latter-Day Saint Culture And Belief, Rachel Ross

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

In my thesis I explore the role of mission decision narratives of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before 2012, women could not serve missions until age 21. Once the minimum age was changed to 19 in October of 2012, many more women were able to serve on mission as the opportunity was less likely to disrupt their education or romantic relationships. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, missions are seen as a priesthood duty for men but a matter of choice for women. This ability to choose and the narrative that follows …

Metal Storytellers: Reflections Of War Culture In Silverplate B-29 Nose Art From The 509th Composite Group, Terri Wesemann

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

Most people are familiar with the Enola Gay—the B-29 that dropped Little Boy, the first atomic bomb, over the city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Less known are the fifteen Silverplate B-29 airplanes that trained for the mission, that were named and later adorned with nose art. However, in recorded history, the atomic mission overshadowed the occupational folklore of this group. Because the abundance of planes were scrapped in the decade after World War II and most WWII veterans have passed on, all that remains of their occupational folklore are photographs, oral and written histories, some books, …

Licentious Legends: A Folklore Podcast, Alexandra L. Haynes

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

Licentious Legends was created out of a need to both understand and educate about sexual contemporary legends; not just what they are and what defines them, but the effect that they have on those who experience them. The purpose of this podcast is not to shame, but to take what has been found and educate about the joys and dangers of these legends. These legends range from the everyday (such as "The Hook"), to legends about a young man killing himself with a plunger. In an effort to gather as many examples as they could, Faye interviewed several of their …

“Are You A Good Witch Or A Bad Witch?”: An Exercise In Suspending Judgment When Interacting With “Difficult” People, John S. Seiter, Christian R. Seiter

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Courses:

Interpersonal Communication, Health Communication

Objectives:

In this single-class activity, students gain awareness and practice in suspending judgments about “difficult” people in order to understand the reasoning behind certain objectionable behavior.

"I Don't Want To Have A Weird Relationship With You, So I'M Trying": Relational Turning Points And Trajectories Of Ex-Lds Children And Their Active Lds Parents, Jared Worwood

Student Research Symposium

The doctrine and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) require high levels of commitment and involvement. As a result, like many high-cost religions, not only does the LDS church influence the identities of its members, but it is also extensively integrated into the everyday life of LDS families (Scheitle & Adamczyk, 2010; Loser, Klein, Hill, & Dollahite, 2008; Airhart & Bendroth, 1996). Besides being instructed that it is their divine mandate to teach their children the gospel of the church (Nelson, 2001; Viñas, 2010), LDS parents are also …

Workplace Democracy And The Problem Of Equality, Jared Sterling Colton, Avery C. Edenfield, Steve Holmes

English Faculty Publications

Purpose: Professional communicators are becoming more invested in unique configurations of power in organizations, including non-hierarchical and democratic workplaces. While organizations dedicated to democratic processes may enact power differently than conventional organizations, they may fall short of practicing equality. This article explains the differences in non-hierarchical workplaces, considers businesses where democracy is a goal, and argues for considering equality as a habitual practice, particularly when writing regulatory documents.

Method: We conduct a review of the literature on non-hierarchical workplaces and organizational democracy, applying Jacques Rancière’s concept of equality to two examples (one using primary data collection and one using secondary …

Stories Behind The Berlin Wall: Lesson Modules, Nicholas Redmon

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

I have grappled with my primary collection just as scholars and popular authors have with bringing these stories together with political histories. My goal is to create a digital map and analysis on specific themes like education and guard duty from the lives lived behind the Wall and their discourse with the government. I would like to explore how the divide impacted lives in 1961, created a GDR Society, and produced a division still felt in Germany today. The target audience of this project is U.S. students in high school and higher education. Students will be able to access timely …

Constraints Of Haunted Heritage Tourism In Logan, Utah, Kylie Schroeder

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

It has become common in Salem, Savannah, New Orleans, Edinburg, or Gettysburg, to witness groups of people being led through the darkened streets as part of a ghost tour or haunted history walk. An altered form of commercialized legend tripping, these companies offer guided tours, feature spooky stories, and often showcase local history. However, the trend of haunted heritage tourism, especially in the form of ghost walks and haunted history tours, has spread beyond places with national or international reputations for hauntings and is now growing in small towns whose stories are rarely shared beyond the local populace.

This thesis …

Crowdsourcing Consciousness: You Think, Therefore I Am, Justin M. Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The challenge to understand consciousness is a centuries-old interdisciplinary research program. The search entails fundamental questions about our nature - the desire to understand who we are has been around for nearly as long as experience itself. It is also one of the most important questions we can ask; meaning itself is predicated on having some sort of conscious experiencer for whom something can matter. Given the magnitude and intractability of explaining the paradox of how consciousness can be at once the most obvious thing in the universe, and also the most inaccessible, the endeavor is a tremendous undertaking. Until …