Communication Commons^™

De-Colonizing Media Literacy: An Indigenous Positive Deviance Case Study Of A Guam-Texas Community Empowering Civic Education For Inafaâ??Maolek Self-Determination, Roque Aguon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

DE-COLONIZING MEDIA LITERACY: AN INDIGENOUS POSITIVE DEVIANCE CASE STUDY OF A GUAM-TEXAS COMMUNITY EMPOWERING CIVIC EDUCATION FOR INAFA’MAOLEK SELF-DETERMINATION

This case study delves into the realm of civic and media education within varied municipalities in Guam and Texas, which, to date, have been underexplored by contemporary Indigenous social science researchers within the dominant white culture. The investigation focuses on elucidating how influencers from diverse cultural groups employ education and propaganda in the municipal public policy-making process, contributing to holistic community development, democratic citizenship education, and social transformation. The primary aim of this study is to underscore the imperative need …

Masculinity Crossing Borders: An Analysis Of Acting Like A Man In Chicano Culture, Victoria Rivas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current thesis examines the representation of Chicano masculinity in four films: Mi Familia (1995), A Better Life (2011), End of Watch (2012), and How to be a Latin Lover (2017). It uses cultural studies as a theoretical framework and methodology to explore the evolution of Chicano masculinity enacted by Latino actors in Hollywood films. Findings indicate that although the representation of Chicano masculinity has changed over the years, it remains negative. Including Latino actors in films to portray Chicano characters does not necessarily translate to accuracy. Limitations are addressed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Follow The Court: Examining Judicial Homestyle Through Extrajudicial Communications On State Court Twitter, Cayleb Bryant Stives

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

While institutional legitimacy can arise from multiple sources, much of the theorizing about courts has been developed for the federal judiciary, often specifically the US Supreme Court. My research recognizes that the connection between the public and judges on state courts is significantly more nuanced, and in many instances, direct. Notably, social networking sites like Twitter have quickly become a favored communication platform for fostering personal connections between political elites and their intended audiences. It is within these parasocial relationships I argue that favorable perceptions can be reinforced, bolstering the legitimacy of political actors and the institutions they represent. This …

Ready Player?: Sex And Race In Video Games, Matthew Michael Espino

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As a child, I had always been fascinated with video games. Sure, I used video games as a way to relieve stress mainly, but I found myself drawn into the worlds that I was immersing myself in. These worlds are filled with social structures, cultures, governments, even religions. Once I started doing research in college, I took a bit of a step back from the games I loved and took a broader look at what I was playing. Specifically, I wanted to see what these worlds had to offer in terms of representation of races, gender, and non-human characters. These …

Experiences Of Latinidad And First-Generation College Students In Jane The Virgin: Using Auto-Historia Teoria And Finding Coyolxauhqui, Gema Sarahi Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the importance of Latinx and first-generation college student representation in media. By using autohistoria-teoría and content analysis, I aim to find the ways in which the show, Jane the Virgin, influences my experiences of Latinidad as well as how it represents the first-generation college experience and how those relate to my own. I use Gloria Anzaldúa's model to study identity dealing with nepantla, arrebatamientos, and the Coyolxauhqui process to discuss my own identity.

Wailing For My Cultura: Disenfranchised Grief Among Mexican Americans Navigating A Bicultural Identity, Sandra Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There is a gap in grief research in the field of Communication that is related to the Mexican American experience. Mexican Americans navigating two often opposing cultures may experience additional complications as they attempt to maneuver the differences in grief rituals that align with either American or Mexican customs. This may result in the bereaved experiencing disenfranchised grief. This study aims to examine the significance of Mexican American bicultural grief rituals as a third option to determine how that relates to disenfranchised grief.

The first part of this study is a textual analysis of media coverage of Mexican American grief …

Examining The Effects Of Information And Communication Technologies In The Legal Representation Of Latin American Asylum Seekers, Victor M. Portillo Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how legal defense nonprofit organizations (NPO) are using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to provide legal defense for asylum seekers and improve the conditions of immigrants at detention centers. In addition, this research explored the impact of ICTs on legal defense NPOs, bottlenecks, and security implications when supporting vulnerable communities. ICTs profoundly impacted the way we interact in a post-pandemic world, and it presents new challenges and possibilities for legal defense nonprofit organizations that are helping vulnerable communities. This study consists of staff and volunteers from different legal defense nonprofit organizations NPOs …

Experiences Of Latin American Au Pairs In El Paso, Texas: Perceptions And Challenges In A Border Context, Nathaly Carolina Hernandez Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For the last three decades, the French term Au Pair has been used to name the exchange program that allows foreign young people (primarily women) the possibility to immerse themselves in American culture while living, working, studying, and traveling in the United States. Within the context of globalization in which we live, this program has experienced significant growth in Latin America and Europe, among others. The purpose of this exploratory study was to explore and make visible the concerns raised by female Au Pairs from Latin America who participate in the program in El Paso, Texas, a border community along …

Let's Talk About Sex(Ual Health) Baby: Analysis Of Sexual Communication With Adolescents In Mexican American Families, Melynda Ann Venegas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Translation In Multilingual User Experience, Tetyana Zhyvotovska

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Examining the intersections of technical communication, user experience, and translation, this study focused on the contexts of a user experience (UX) research center as a site where these intersections occurred and on practices of multilingual users while encountering translated information. In order to explore translation practices in relation to UX and cover the gap in understanding multilingual UX, the study examined how multilingual users worked with translated content, how they acted and reacted to it, and what they experienced during this process. Based on the existing scholarship in translation and usability studies in technical communication, this Dissertation undertook empirical research …

¿Y Los Condones? The Rhetoric Of Birth Control In The Latinx Community Of The United States, Carey Vanessa Cuevas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This project aims to explore the current rhetorical strategies used in framing reproductive technologies and how these frameworks influence the sexual health outcomes of Latinx communities. Despite the wealth of information made available to individuals in order to make more informed choices regarding their sexual health, literature supports that Latinx communities are at a perpetually higher risk for poor sexual health outcomes. Additionally, other influences such as mass media, culture, and legislation play roles in how this community engages around birth control and safe sex practices. This project seeks to investigate how entities utilize language in discourse over birth control …

The Rhetorical Mediator: Understanding Agency In Indigenous Translation And Interpretation Through Indigenous Approaches To Ux, Nora Karina Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In 2018, I became involved in a collaborative community-based project to co-organize an event with the purpose of collecting resources to help in the professionalization efforts of Indigenous translators and interpreters. Drawing on Indigenous and decolonial theories, this interdisciplinary study examines the work done during this event through a user experience (UX) research lens that analyzes the various ways in which Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) and Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) can better support Indigenous language practices. The colonization of the Americas brought a layer of issues that continue to affect the way in which Indigenous communities conduct their …

Graduate School Application Accessibility For International Students, Estefania Castillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The graduate school application is a time consuming, yet important, process that can often be complicated for students. However, this process is made even more complicated for international students who often face extra steps and other obstacles when applying to graduate programs in the US. Following my own experience of applying to a master's program as an international student, I set out to further explore how international students experienced and navigated this process. This research project explored the graduate school application process through the experiences of international students that were shared in testimonios through platicas, or open and friendly conversations. …

Microlevel Movements Matter: Persuasion, Identity Performance, Performative Agency, And Resistance In Egypt On Twitter During The Egyptian Arab Spring, Audrey Cisneros

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Micro-Level Movements Matter is a transnational digital study which explores audience and persuasion, identity performances and performative agency through an examination of Big Data gathered from Twitter's comprehensive historical archives collected from during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. In Egypt, the demonstrator's use of social media was extraordinarily savvy and persuasive-richly saturated in rhetorical devices effectively employed to appeal to wide swath of audiences. Overtime participatory discourse on social media engaged new ideas and dissenting socio-political thoughts, crafted shifting identities, refashioned new possibilities and futures community wide, and resulted in a remarkably successful large scale mobilization campaign. To conduct my study …

Race, Gender And Mediated Representations In The Farah Strike, Matthew Desiderio Minnich

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

May 1972, 4,000 garment workers at Farah Manufacturing Company in El Paso went out on strike for the right to be represented by a union. The strike against Farah was the first major social movement in the El Paso area in modern times. Over 80% of the striking workers were Latina. The female employees at Farah were at the forefront of the Chicana feminist movement. The labor battle at Farah proves the organic link between Chicana feminism and class struggle. The Farah strike caused a new family dynamic to rise from the ashes of the traditional Mexican household. Using Burke's …

Who Is Willing To Speak Up And Why? Examining Individual And Organizational Predictors Of Employee Voice Behavior In Higher Education Institutions, Jessie Socorro Arellano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Employee voice behavior is central to the effectiveness, the development, and the adaptability of organizations to their environments. However, there is currently limited organizational research and knowledge on the factors that influence employee voice behaviors, especially in the context of higher education institutions. As such, the purpose of this study is to examine the predictors of employee voice behaviors in institutions of higher education. Specifically, this study examines the impact of key individual and organizational factors such as alumni status, organizational commitment, work motivation, communication climate, and organizational politics on employees' expression of promotive and prohibitive voice in higher education …

How International Students From African Countries Use Digital Text, Nadia Boahemaa Kyeremeh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis critically examines how international students from African countries use digital text across disciplines in a four-year university in the United States. The goal of this study is to explore ways in which international students' challenges with digital text can be alleviated. Critical Consciousness Theory and Critical race theories are used as a theoretical framework which fosters a better understanding of international students' previous experience with digital text and the challenges faced when using digital text. Data collected through interviews indicate that international students' struggles with digital text are much more complex than the average student because they have …

Funny Politics: Examining The Motivations For Political Satire Consumption And Avoidance, And The Effects Of Political Satire Television Consumption On Political Knowledge, Engagement, And Trust In Institutions, Alexandra Rae Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Political satire television is continuing to develop into an integral part of political rhetoric and evaluation to its viewers. This thesis explores the effects that consumption of political satire television might have on its consumers. Specifically, this study uses quantitative methods to examine the effects political satire has on political knowledge, political engagement, and trust in democratic institutions. Further, this study provides insight into the motivations for viewing or avoiding political satire TV. This research uses a survey compiled of scales employed by previous research, slightly altered to reflect the changes in today's political climate and satire TV shows and …

Children And News Consumption: Tailoring News Broadcasts For Young Audiences, Yvette Van Oijen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It is important for children to know what is going on in the world, but they should not get afraid of what they see in the news. The Dutch children television news show Jeugdjournaal makes the news more understandable and suitable for children by using strategies. The present study investigated Jeugdjournaal to discover how the show uses the consolation strategies by Van der Molen and De Vries (2003), and if they use any other strategies during tragedies to comfort children. Also, the show was investigated to find how they frame messages for children during all different news items. A media …

The Female Nature: Representations Of Motherhood And Nature In Dystopian Films, Veronica Andrea Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study will explore female representation and conceptualization of nature in dystopian narratives by examining dystopian films. The study is guided by film theory and ecofeminism to investigate themes of domination of both nature and women. The main goal is to examine the structure, themes, dialogue, and visuals in the films to explore the underlying essence of dystopian narratives and examine roles of reproduction and motherhood of female characters. The study contributes to previous studies on female and nature representation in media.

Young Adults' Perceptions Of The U.S. National Anthem Protests: Examining The Role Of Form Of Expression, Empathic Concern, & Perspective-Taking, Daymon Wilson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The US national anthem protests, which is a movement that began when some athletes, most notably Colin Kaepernick, chose to not simply stand during the US national anthem, has had a major influence in numerous ways on people, regardless of whether they view it favorably or unfavorably. This study examines young adults' attitudes towards these anthem protests. This study is going to examine some possible determinants of the positive or negative perceptions about the anthem protest. The study will examine how young adults perceive the national anthem protest, positively or negatively. It will also determine if participants see one form …

The Rhetoric Of Low Carbon Energy Technology Scientists And Engineers, Nicolas Cesar Hernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Scholars in the burgeoning field of Energy Communication have successfully contributed to communication studies and environmental communication practice. However, energy communication scholars have largely focused on energy of media coverage, corporate communication and decision making in the context crisis. While rich and informative, this tendency has left quotidian aspects of energy communication rather understudied. As such, this Thesis contributes to the understanding of the internal, non-untechnical rhetoric of low carbon energy technology (LCET) scientists and engineers (herein LCET professionals). Textual analysis was used to examine LCET professionals' internal rhetoric at professional trade conferences and through long form, semi-structured interviews. Wind …

Creating Spaces For Conversations On Conservation: A Case Study Of Joint Forest Management In East Sikkim, India., Paulami Banerjee

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Successful community-based natural resource management should include both resource professionals and local communities. Recognizing this fact, my research seeks to encourage more locally adaptive and collaborative forest governance that facilitates sustainable development by enabling grassroots participation. Specifically, I explore opportunities for developing a more sustainable relationship between India's Joint Forest Management (JFM) program and rural forest-dependent communities in Sikkim-a remote, northeastern state of India bordering Nepal to the west, the Tibet Autonomous region of China to the north and northeast, and Bhutan to the southeast. As an instrument for sustainable forestry management, JFM seeks to develop partnerships between forest user …

Third Parties In The U.S. Political System: What External And Internal Issues Shape Public Perception Of Libertarian Party/Politicians?, Jacqueline Ann Fiest

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current two-party system has dominated American politics for much of history, but as voters find themselves frustrated with a limited set of choices, more are becoming open to the idea of a third-party option. According to Newsweek, 61% of people believe America needs a third major political party. That number jumps to 77% among independents (Haltiwanger, 2017). In almost every other part of American life, a variety of choices is considered a benefit.

A CNN poll done in conjunction with ORC International reflected that only 5% of Americans feel the federal government in Washington DC, which overwhelmingly consists of …

How Far Have We Come? A Comparison Of Jamaican Representations In Cool Runnings And Luke Cage, Israel Cariche Ramsay

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Representation of minority groups in popular media has been the cause of many debates in recent years. There has been outcry against the lack of diverse representations, and the kind of representation of minority groups. When powerful media organizations are representing minority groups, imperialism and post colonialism become part of the conversation. To look at the representation of minorities, I examined the representation of Jamaicans in two popular texts. The first is Cool Runnings, a 1993 film, and the second is season two of Luke Cage, a Netflix series released in 2018. In both of these instances, Jamaicans and Jamaican …

Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, Kathryn Rose Wedemeyer-Strombel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Identifying developmental habitat is essential for understanding population structure and species resiliency, especially for critically endangered species. In long-lived, oceanic, migratory animals such as sea turtles, elucidating developmental grounds is particularly difficult. When data are deficient or challenging to acquire, scientists often lean towards traditional quantitative methods when a social-ecological systems approach could better provide crucial baseline data and guiding information. Fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK), the combination of experiential and culturally transmitted knowledge, is expert knowledge and should be treated as such. In 2008, FEK led to the “rediscovery” of the critically endangered eastern Pacific (EP) population of hawksbill sea …

"Ok Girls, The Fbi Is Here- Look Your Best!": The Defining Of Postfeminism In Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Jennifer Lynn Handrop

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This is a qualitative study on E! Entertainment's Keeping Up with the Kardashians. This study explores if and how KUWTK contributes to the definition of postfeminist theory in popular culture and the media. Additionally, this study explores any potential class issues that intersect with postfeminism in KUWTK.

No Habrá Rey Sin Reina: Gender Discourse In Isabel, A Contemporary Representation Of Queen Isabel I Of Castile And King Fernando Ii Of Aragon, Michelle Sabrina Peters

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

By examining the figures of the Catholic Monarchs -Isabel and Fernando- in the popular television show Isabel, this research demonstrates how the historical fiction genre tends to privilege the stories of exceptional women and the men surrounding them. Unlike other historical fiction shows where the emphasis is placed on the empowerment of a single female character, Isabel emphasizes the mutual empowerment and equitable dynamic between a woman and a man. In an era when gender roles and prejudice were particularly strict, Fernando and Isabel enter into marriage with diametrically opposed notions of gender roles. However, when they begin ruling and …

The Effect Of Data Marshalling On Computation Offloading Decisions, Julio Alberto Reyes Muñoz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Computation offloading consists in allowing resource constrained computers, such as smartphones and other mobile devices, to use the network for the remote execution of resource intensive computing tasks in powerful computers. However, deciding whether to offload or not is not a trivial problem, and it depends in several variables related to the environment conditions, the computing devices involved in the process, and the nature of the task to be remotely executed. Furthermore, it comprises the optimal solution to some questions, like how to partition the application and where to execute the tasks.

The computation offloading decision problem has been widely …

Literacies Of The Disaster Zone: New Media Genres And Participatory Rhetorics After The 2010 Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, R. J. Lambert

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On April 20, 2010, explosions at the British Petroleum (BP) Macondo Project in the Gulf of Mexico initiated what would become the world's largest accidental release of oil into the ocean. This ecological disaster, a unique combination of natural and human causes, is one of many significant traumas over approximately the last two decades that various stakeholders have documented, participated in, and responded to largely through the expanding and increasingly ubiquitous media of the internet, computers, cell phones, and other networked communicative technologies, which both enable and constrain the variety of responses to traumatic events.

This Dissertation improves our understanding …