Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons^™

Sexual Exploitation: The Crisis And Eradicative Solution, Tonnie Adams Bracey

Student Capstone Projects

French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” I find this to be true in our current era of the digital age. Although technology has gifted a newly improved and vast method of making worldwide connections and broadening our perceptions and views, a change in how we communicate has conveniently presented itself, but the historic pattern of how we handle these new advancements have indeed stayed the same.
Smart phones are a mainstream vessel employing the world with a plethora of information while giving all sorts of people access to individual’s lives …

Tackling Networked Misogyny Through Graduate Curriculum Design, Carolyn M. Cunningham

Feminist Pedagogy

This paper explores the importance of sharing feminist research through digital projects. One of the barriers of digital projects is the networked misogyny that graduate students face. This paper offers several strategies for addressing networked misogyny, including teaching about digital privacy, strategies for documenting harassment, collective engagement, and integrating trauma-informed pedagogy.

She Speaks For Millions: The Emergence Of Female Diplomatic Voices In The Russo-Ukrainian War, Amber Brittain-Hale

Education Division Scholarship

This research critically investigates the public diplomacy strategies deployed by a cohort of influential female European leaders on Twitter during the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022-2023. The study comprises eight leaders - Kallas (Estonia), Marin (Finland), von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), Metsola (President of the European Parliament), Sandu (Moldova), Simonyte (Lithuania), Zourabichvili (Georgia), and Meloni (Italy) - representing millions of constituents. By mirroring the analytical attention given to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this study scrutinizes the distinct approaches and dif erences in emotional, cognitive, and structural language use between these influential female figures and President Zelenskyy in their …

Puppy Love And [Information] Play: An Intersection Of Theatre, Queer Kink, And Consent, Emily Kitchens

Faculty and Research Publications

This note from the field centers on a nexus of queer kink subcultures and consent-based intimacy work in theatre. I report, investigate and wrangle with the process of incorporating queer kink aesthetics into the production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill I directed at KSU February 2023. What I have learned and hope to demonstrate throughout the paper, is that queer kink subcultures are often paradigmatic examples of communities built on consent, and we as performing arts practitioners can more visibly expand the margins of our cultural competency dialogues to not only include them but look to them as …

Argumentation For Critical Heterogenous Political Discussions: Constructing A Rebuttal, Rebecca Oliver

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity seeks to explain to undergraduate students how to craft a proper attack and defense in argumentation and debate, persuasion, or political communication courses. The activity teaches students 1) the parts of a basic argument structure and 2) how to construct a rebuttal using a basic argument structure. Students will argue against their true political typology by selecting an opposing typology from the Pew Research Typology Quiz. Broadly, this exercise is designed to encourage students to engage in dialogues with people who disagree with their political positionality. Specifically, the activity accomplishes this by teaching students the value of basic …

Encoding & Decoding: Artfully Modeling Communication, Daniel L. Foster, Ashley D. Garcia

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Drawing objects and concepts, such as cats, trees, love, democracy, and family, is probably the last activity students expect to do in a communication course. Although this sounds like an introductory art activity, creating visual representations provides a nuanced understanding of the encoding and decoding processes. Encoding and decoding are the most hidden and often the most unfamiliar and complex fundamental components of communication for students to comprehend. By engaging in this activity, students translate their decoding process into drawings, which serve as personal artifacts representative of their encoding and decoding. Students come to better conceptualize this cognitive process with …

“Party In The Communication Classroom”: Exploring Communication Competence To Raise Social Awareness, Nancy Bressler

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity demonstrates communication competence and allows students to observe, assess, and ultimately utilize the model of communication competence to engage with other people successfully. To understand how to engage in communication competence, students must recognize that appropriateness and effectiveness are crucial aspects of their communication. Through the communication competence model, students examine how to achieve effectiveness in their communication by setting goals for specific contexts; they also consider to what extent their goals are achievable given the particular situation. Using a 2014 MTV Video Music Award example, students can analyze why Miley Cyrus allowed a homeless man to accept …

Introducing Public Speaking Self-Concept (Pssc): A Novel, Qualitatively-Derived Communication Anxiety And Competence Variable, Karla M. Hunter, Joshua N. Westwick

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Despite numerous quantitative assessments of teaching interventions that have helped mitigate public speaking anxiety (PSA), this common barrier to public speaking persists. In addition, quantitative measures may not be appropriate for all instructional goals, especially with students from across a variety of cultures. To enrich educators’ capacity to help diverse bodies of students overcome the challenges presented by PSA, this qualitative study asked students to “Please describe yourself as a public speaker” at the beginning and the end of a freshman-level, general education public speaking class. Thematic analysis identified a two-dimensional pattern within student responses (N = 51) (a …

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Discourse: The Journal Of The Scasd, Volume 8 (2023), The Speech Communication Association Of South Dakota

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Expanding Sites For Peacebuilding: Decolonizing Education And Research To Retrieve Cultural And Critical Sources Of Knowledge, Anya Russian, Marc B. Kuly, Heidi Lamb, Jennifer Tesoro

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

This panel considers the ideological, intellectual, personal, and practical dimensions of peacebuilding. It explores how various educational spaces, self-inquiry, and theory can bring attention to cultural predicaments and communities that are frequently neglected, omitted, or misunderstood in peacebuilding.

• In settler-colonial states, schooling is a process of naturalizing inequality which can be exposed and potentially interrupted through the application of peace and conflict studies methods and theories.
• As academic institutions seek to address gender-based violence taking place both on campuses and online, approaches may fall short in considering the institution’s continued entrenchment in colonialism. Further decolonization is needed to better address …

Small Historically Black Colleges And Universities Bridging Social Capital: The Use Of Language, Tone And Content To Share Information On Instagram, Pamela Peters

Journal of Research Initiatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained higher education institutions, especially small Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As campuses closed and reopened, Black communities' digital divide grew, adding to the need to stay connected. This study uses social capital to examine how institutions use language, tone, content, and information to bridge social capital. An analysis of 35 small liberal arts HBCUs’ Instagram posts was undertaken to compare post frequency, types of information, engagement, tone, language, and content in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the pandemic, 2020 and 2021. This study indicates that post-oversaturation in 2020 and 2021 and information …

Queer Crises: Movements From Queerness And Feelings Of White Religion In The United States, Austin Williams Miller

Communication ETDs

Anchored by contemporary crises surrounding queer and trans people in the United States, I employ movements from queerness within an affective queer phenomenological framework to understand how arrangements of “white religion” (Schaefer, 2015, p. 63), a process whereby U.S. American Christian forms escape ideology into religious affective economies in the United States, relegate queer people “to the background… to sustain a certain direction” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 31). I assemble a queer rhetorical context analyzing white religious space in documentary film, secular sexual regulation through contemporary U.S. legal contexts around marriage, and settler colonial Christian nationalist political imaginations to critique how …

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 …

Celebrity Affect, Social Media Fandom, And Parasocial Interactions: A Thematic Analysis Of Fan Reactions To Kris Wu’S Sexual Scandals In China, Yan Zhao

Communication ETDs

In this thesis, the rise and fall of a popular Chinese celebrity, Kris Wu, provided the context to examine fans’ negotiation of parasocial and affective relationships in online interactions with the celebrity and other fans. On the basis of a thematic analysis of Chinese fans’ comments on social media before and after Wu’s arrest and conviction for rape and other sexual crimes in 2022, I highlight the fluidity of fans’ positive and negative parasocial interactions and emotional attachments to a celebrity. The analysis suggests how fans can prioritize their continued support and admiration for a celebrity above matters of morality …

Digital Waves: Communicating Feminist Movements, Shauna M. Macdonald

Feminist Pedagogy

Online learning provides opportunities for pedagogical growth and innovation. When tasked with teaching an undergraduate Gender and Communication class during a virtual semester (amid the COVID-19 pandemic), I sought ways to engage students through online technologies rather than working against or despite them. The Digital Waves (DW) assignment, one that asks students to research and then create digital representations of a particular “wave” of feminism, was one of several strategies I adopted; it quickly evolved into a favorite.

Breaking Me Down And Lifting Me Up: An Autoethnography Of Being A Black Autistic Woman Online, Morgan Harper-Nichols

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This autoethnography investigates the diverse challenges associated with being a Black, undiagnosed autistic woman coming of age on the internet, and examines how online experiences shaped my identity over the past twenty years. Early encounters with racism and cautious self-expression on platforms such as forums, GeoCities, Myspace, and YouTube are explored as my initial efforts to "fit in" in virtual spaces. I discuss how engaging with platforms like Instagram and Etsy enabled my participation in the gig economy while grappling with my pre-diagnosis social struggles. I also share how I navigate post-2020 experiences as a Black autistic online creator, how …

Stakeholders And Stakeseekers’ Perceptions Of Cultural Violations And International Crisis Communication, Najwa Nishaa Albaqami

Masters Theses

Applying the expectancy violation theory (EVT) to the crisis communication context, this research explores to what extent stakeholders and stakeseekers’ perceive violations in an international crisis context. Specifically, this study investigated to what extent organizations stakeholders and stakeseekers’ perceive cultural and expectancy violations in an international crisis. Through a case study that analyzed tweets, web blogs, and The New York Times articles, this study identified that the cultural violation theme has two components, including (1) perceived responsibility and harshness of the violation and (2) damage done by the company’s transgression. Whereas expectancy violation theme included (1) frequent use of verbal …

“We Felt Powerful And Rebellious”: Contested Spaces, Lesbian Identity, And The Evolution Of Separatism, Sarah Cooper

All Dissertations

Drawing on theoretical perspectives from lesbian studies, queer theory and studies and, feminist rhetorics while using rhetorical analysis, interviews, and archival research, this project traces the relationships lesbians have had to place, through case studies. To date, research on how space occupancy or land practices have contributed to the constitution of a contemporary lesbian identity in the United States lack scholarly attention. My following chapters ask: how has separatism historically and at present contributed to the constitution of lesbian identity? To answer, I turn to archival evidence of women’s lands in Southern Oregon, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, and Olivia Travel. …

The Promise Of Media Literacy Education When “Everything Is At Stake” And “Everything Is Expected”, Monica Bulger, Gina Baleria, Renee Hobbs, Kimberly R. Moffitt

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In the midst of a tumultuous time in American and global history, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference 2021 hosted a panel to explore the promise and limits of media literacy. Panelists discussed the vital role of media literacy education in responding to challenges to democracy, social justice, and public health. With “everything at stake,” the panelists moved through responses to current crises while grounding in a historical context and offering recommendations for the future. Curated transcripts share a pivotal moment when much was expected of media literacy and media literacy experts explored promise and …

Effects Of Stereotypes On Black Women Audiences, Darian M. Shorts

LSU Master's Theses

This study focuses on the effects that televised racial stereotypes have on the self-perception of viewers who identify as Black women. This paper lists three commonly used stereotypes for Black women in television and provides detailed background and analysis of each. There were three goals that I wanted to achieve with this study. The first goal of this study was to measure the amount of stereotyped entertainment these specific viewers consume. The second goal of this study was to understand the positive and negative effects that racial stereotypes have on Black women. The last goal of this study was to …

Centering Transgender Consumers In Conceptualizations Of Marketplace Marginalization And Digital Spaces, Beck Hansman, Jenna Drenten Ph.D.

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The purpose of this study is to center transgender consumers in the conceptualizations between marketplace marginalization and digital spaces. We examine trans-gender crowdfunding as a hashtag-bounded digital space created by and for the transgender community–namely, the #TransCrowdFund digital space on Twitter. We draw on trans digital geographies as a novel analytical lens to focus attention on transgender consumers' unique experiences in and between digital spaces. Through qualitative hashtag mapping, we analyzed a sample of 200 Twitter profiles and accompanying tweets drawn from individuals using the#TransCrowdFund hashtag. Findings suggest transgender consumers utilize crowdfunding as a hashtag-bounded digital space in three ways: …

The Covid-19 Pandemic And International Students: A Mixed-Methods Approach To Relationships Between Social Media Use, Social Support, And Mental Health, Hyunjin Seo, Yuchen Liu, Husain Ebrahim, Muhammad Ittefaq, Donghwa Chung

School of Communication Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic and international students: A mixed-methods approach to relationships between social media use, social support, and mental healthThe COVID-19 pandemic has added significant stress to international students in the U.S. who already facemyriad challenges in adjusting to their host country. We used a mixed-method approach combining surveyand interview research involving international students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at aU.S. university to analyze how their social media use and perceived social support and social adjustmentare associated with their sense of mental well-being when taking into account demographic and socialpsychological characteristics. Our findings show that international students spent an …

“For The Moment, I Am Not F*Cking,” I Am Tweeting: Platforms Of / As Sexuality, Jacob Johanssen

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This article develops the argument that digital platforms are significantly infused with originary (and unconscious) residues of the sexual. Drawing on Laplancheian conceptualizations of sexuality, I argue that the digital has always been sexual(ised) in itself – a process that precedes and exceeds the erotic or pornographic. For Laplanche, sexuality is constitutive of the human subject as such. Infantile sexuality is shaped and transformed in an enigmatic relation with the caregiver. Drawing on this model as an analogy, I claim that users are drawn to platforms because they (unconsciously) desire to return to infantile sexuality and a holding environment but …

Identity And Perception Among Aspec Consumers Of Mass Media, Jericho Franke

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The portrayals of sex and romance, as well as asexuality and aromanticism, in mass media can have a profound impact on the way asexual and aromantic media consumers view relationships and their own identities, and affect the perception and treatment of the aspec community as a whole. This study uses mixed qualitative methods of online discourse analysis and participant interviews to examine the how mass media has shaped the self-perception and life experiences relating to sex and romance among aspec audience members.

Right Turn At Reality: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Right Wing Negotiations On Race And Masculinity In Online Spaces, Andrew R.J. Hart

MSU Graduate Theses

The effects of right wing politically charged violence are more visible now than at any other point in recent American history. The Internet, and social media more specifically, has become a crucial nexus point in the dissemination of decentralized Alt-Right propaganda. The visual nature of social media has increased the importance of images a means of communication. Through this thesis, I analyze artifacts coming out of these spaces representing a conversation between creators and audiences, and how they work dialogically to introduce and reify symbols of white masculine supremacy within this subgroup. Through this process, I find multiple recurring patterns …

Women Play Football Too: Feminist Theory And Uk Football, Mikayla Kummer

Capstone Showcase

Women's Football in the UK has constantly overshadowed by Men's Football and with the popularity of social media it may have complicated the issue. The way women have been treated in the media has always been different to how men were treated. Gender can be considered a performance and how women are treated by the press demands a performance from them. Through Offside, a play by Hollie Poetry and Sabrina Mahfouz, this essay explores the relationship between feminist theory, women's football and social media. Women athletes have consistently been asked about their personal lives, bodies, relationships and anything besides the …

Ivf So White, So Medical: Digital Normativity And Algorithm Bias In Infertility On Instagram, Caitlyn M. Jarvis, Margaret M. Quinlan

Human-Machine Communication

Increasingly, women experiencing infertility are turning online to social media platforms, like Instagram, to engage with a support network and foster empathy. However, Instagram is also noted for its augmentation of White, cis, and heteronormative femininity through a process of silencing and minoritizing alternative, non-White voices. Through an inductive analysis of the most frequently used infertility hashtags, we collected and analyzed 252 Instagram posts to investigate how these algorithmic practices may socially construct the idealized IVF experience through communicating normative expectations. We identify predominant patterns of use that reinforce stratification within infertility treatments as primarily accessible to White women and …

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

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 …