Sociology Commons^™

A Friendship Of Two Prima Donnas: The Letters Of Adelina Patti To Giulia Valda, Jacquelyn Ancelet

LSU Master's Theses

Of the many prima donnas of the nineteenth century, Adelina Patti (1843–1919) stands out as one of the most successful, with a fifty-year international concertizing career. Biographers across multiple languages have covered her career in great depth, but devote little attention to her close friendships. Herman Klein (in The Reign of Patti [1920]) and John Cone (in Adelina Patti: Queen of Hearts [1993]), for instance, claim that Patti was known by many, but understood by few. One who does seem to have understood her and developed a close relationship with her was Giulia Valda (1850–1925), herself a professional singer, if …

Sexual Abuse: A Multi-Faceted Problem, Marcus Venable

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

On average, US citizens have experienced approximately 400,000 sexual assaults per year, which results in enormous immediate and long-term consequences for individuals, as well as society in general.

In the U.S., the principal method of combatting this crime has been the creation of Sex Offender Registries used to notify the public of the identity and location of convicted sex offenders who may be living in proximity to their residence. In addition to the Registry, laws have been passed forbidding convicted sex offenders from residing within buffer zones around areas of high child concentration [schools/parks/etc.].

The efficacy and consequences of these …

Pregnant Black Bodies In Peril: A Multi-Method Analysis Of Obstetric Outcomes And Gestational Experiences, Courtney E. Williams

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My multi-method three-paper dissertation provides a better understanding of the relationship between maternal racial identity, obstetric outcomes, and gestational experiences. Using birth certificate data from the 2016 U.S. National Vital Statistics System and binary logistic regression models, in the first paper I explore heterogeneity in severe maternal morbidity (SMM) by maternal race, maternal education, and maternal age. To complement the first paper, in the second paper I allow 35 Black and White women/birthing people to describe pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood in their own words. I situate the Covid-19 pandemic as a unique cultural backdrop in this qualitative paper to …

Round Ii: Exploring The Experiences Of Black, First-Generation Graduate And Professional Students At Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus), Derrick D. Lathan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This phenomenological study explores the experiences of Black, first-generation (first-gen) students pursuing advanced degrees at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), following the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice movements like Black Lives Matter. Additionally, this study examines the present-day motivations to pursue advanced degrees, particularly the benefits of doing so at an HBCU. The main research question guiding this study is: What are the experiences of Black, first-gen graduate and professional students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)? The sub-questions are:

1. How do Black, first-gen graduate and professional students describe being a first-gen student?
2. What barriers and supports impact …

Ladybugs, Gabrielle Bologna

Comparative Woman

No abstract provided.

Women, Animals, Food: Planetary Perspectives On The Non-(Hu)Man, Samu/Elle Striewski

Comparative Woman

The paper comparatively reads Mahasweta Devi’s Pterodactyl, Pirtha, and Puran Sahay (1995) and Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood (2009) to trace the ways in which both novels show the complex intertwinement of the climate crisis with gender, class, race, subalternity, anthropocentrism, and veganism. Bringing together Gayatri C. Spivak’s notion of “planetarity” with ecofeminist philosophy and literary criticism, the article proposes a planetary ecogender reading of the two texts and their representation of the non-man, non-human, and non-subject. Building up further on Jacques Derrida’s critique of carno-phallogocentrism, the pedagogy of a relational ethics of “nurturing” is hence presented …

Do Fishery Meeting Attendees Represent The Fishing Industries?, Dominique Seibert

LSU Master's Theses

Public meetings are a highly utilized tool for disseminating important or useful information. Many agencies rely on them to reach various stakeholders and community representation at these meetings is important. A substantial amount of research has been conducted on various aspects of public meetings including different techniques, factors impacting attendance, and representativeness, that is attendees’ opinions representing the opinions at-large. A noticeable gap in the research includes information on public fishery meetings, commercial fishing industries, and their members’ participation. With the U.S. commercial fishing industries supporting more than a million jobs and providing more than a 200-billion-dollar economic impact annually, …

Communicating Nature-Society Relationships In Coastal Louisiana: An Evaluation Of The Ecosystem Services Framework, Vanessa Van Heerden

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ecosystem services (ES) framework is a tool to communicate the value of natural environments to human well-being by monetizing services that natural environments provide to humans. The Louisiana Coastal Master Plan uses the ecosystem services provided by the Mississippi River Delta as rationale for why coastal Louisiana should be protected. Here, I am interested in determining how the ecosystem services framework is used to communicate nature-society relationships in coastal Louisiana. I conducted a meta-analysis and spatial analysis to understand the spatial relationships of ecosystem services in the wetlands of coastal Louisiana. I then conducted a survey of residents of …

Finding Forensic Evidence In The Operating System's Graphical User Interface, Edward X. Wilson Mr.

LSU Master's Theses

A branch of cyber security known as memory forensics focuses on extracting meaningful evidence from system memory. This analysis is often referred to as volatile memory analysis, and is generally performed on memory captures acquired from target systems. Inside of a memory capture is the complete state of a system under investigation, including the contents of currently running as well as previously executed applications. Analysis of this data can reveal a significant amount of activity that occurred on a system since the last reboot. For this research, the Windows operating system is targeted. In particular, the graphical user interface component …

Reverberations Of Boarding School Trauma In Upstate New York, Grace A. Miller

Comparative Woman

The legacy of boarding schools in Upstate New York is one that non-Natives seem to have forgotten. This historical amnesia compounds other acts of genocide, including cultural genocide, of the Haudenosaunee people throughout US history. Established in 1855 at the Cattaraugus Reservation (Seneca), the Thomas Indian School would serve as an institution of forced assimilation and displacement, much like the other Native American boarding schools. While the larger US population has grown to forget these schools' existence, the shadowed legacy of institutions, like the Thomas Indian School, Haskell, and Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the rippling effects of these schools’ practices …

A Closer Look At States With Strict Abortion Laws And The Impact On Healthcare Coverage For Single, Low-Income Mothers, Amber Ledoux

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Relational Element Of Trust In Teacher-Principal Relationships: An Autoethnographic Case Study, Angela Bradley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This autoethnographic case study was designed to investigate the relational aspect of trust, a characteristic of servant leadership, in the teacher-principal relationship. This trusting bond is an often overlooked, foundational element of a school’s success. I examined the role that trust plays in enhancing a school’s culture and how trust is established and maintained among one principal and teachers under my supervision. In addition, as researcher, I sought to uncover specific indicators that trust was present on a school campus. Finally, I sought to examine trust’s effects on collaboration and organizational commitment.

Through weekly reflections, I sought to examine my …

Understanding Motivations Among Sustained Cooperative Extension Partners For Obesity Prevention In Rural Louisiana, Catherine R. Losavio

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana consistently has one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation with higher concentrations of obesity in many rural parishes (i.e., counties). Due to over a century of visibility and engagement in rural communities, Cooperative Extension (Extension) is uniquely poised to reach remote rural communities disproportionately impacted by obesity. As Extension increases its use of community coalitions and implements its new National Framework for Health Equity and Well-Being, understanding motivations and communication preferences among long-term rural coalition partners for obesity prevention and health promotion has become essential for duplicating successful local-level policy, system, and environmental (PSE) changes. This …

Individual Differences In The Criminogenic Effects Of Discrimination: An Exploration Of The Role Of Impulse Control And Callous-Unemotional Traits, Toni Walker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The association between perceived discrimination and engagement in criminal offending has been well studied, especially in samples of minority (predominantly Black, Hispanic, and Latinx) adolescents. Several theories have been developed (Social Schematic Theory) and adapted (General Strain Theory) in an attempt to explain how harmful, discriminatory experiences may have an effect on an individual’s behavior. There may be variability in how an individual responds to perceived discrimination, however, but the moderating role of personality characteristics has not been explored. Impulse control and callous-unemotional (CU) traits are both established predictors of offending and may also relate to the mechanisms that theories …

Gender And Regional Differences Within The Southern Subculture Of Violence, Caitlin Oconnor

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Lies In The Headlines: How Media Coverage Painted The Police Violence Against Philando Castile And George Floyd, Bailey Malvueax

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Young Black Poets Of Baton Rouge An Ethnographic Study On The Black Poetic Perspectives, Influences, And Community Ties In Baton Rouge., Kaya Lewis

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Social Boot: Recollections From Another Side A Study On The Health And Belongingness Experiences Of Louisiana Residents That Have Either Served In The Us Military Or Been In The Us Prison System In Some Capacity., Ugonna Njoku

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Post-Ferguson Black Law Enforcement Work Experiences, Abigail Bowers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Pharmakon In The Firelands: Connecting Historical Discourses And Small-Town Social Contexts With Substance Use Experience, Andrew Robert Burns

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ongoing increase in opioid and polysubstance-related overdoses and mortality in United States coincides with a shift in the ways substance use is understood. Once almost exclusively treated as a criminal problem, substance use, and overdose is increasingly viewed in terms of public health and from an urban to rural issue. The discourse surrounding the use of psychoactive substances largely omits the voices of the very people who use them. Likewise, the social context of small towns, at once not quite rural nor entirely urban, is generally given little consideration. To address these gaps in the research, I conduct two …

A Necessary Shift? A Qualitative Exploration Of Black Women’S Experiences With Altering Self-Presentation For Job Attainment, Dorothy Rachael Kemp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how Black women describe their experiences with shifting for job attainment, including their perception of identity, and how they interpret and negotiate any outcomes of shifting. The study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How do Black women describe their experiences with shifting for job attainment? (2) How do Black women interpret and negotiate any outcomes of shifting? (3) How do Black women perceive their identity in terms of their experiences with shifting?

Ten participants shared their personal experiences shifting throughout their job attainment process. Each participant self-identified as Black …

The Lived Experiences Of Migrant Domestic Workers In Taiwan, Li-Yu Liao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The constantly increasing demand of domestic workers in developed and newly industrialized countries had prompted many women of less developed countries migrating to engage in transnational domestic work. Among these newly industrialized countries (NICs) in Asia, Taiwan is one of them with burgeoning market of domestic work. In 2019, Taiwan accommodated 261,457 foreign domestic workers. Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese women constitute the three major groups of the population. Compare to their counterparts in other host countries in Asia such as Hong Kong and Singapore, migrant domestic workers in Taiwan were understudied. This research was committed to explore the experiences of …

The Predictive Influence Of Challenging Behavior On Parent Stress In Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Paige Weir

LSU Master's Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication, restricted interest, and repetitive patterns of behavior. Individuals with ASD also exhibit challenging behaviors that affect parent and caregiver stress directly. However, researchers have not yet examined the predictive influence of specific challenging behaviors on parent stress, particularly in young children (i.e., infants and toddlers) with ASD. Therefore, the current study expands existing literature by a) investigating the influence that challenging behaviors of young children with ASD have on parent stress and b) examining the unique contribution that each behavior (i.e., aggressive/disruptive behavior, stereotypy, and self-injurious …

The Emergence Of The Legitimacy Of Religious Healing Knowledge In Taiwan, Wei-Cheng Chiu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how religious healing knowledge has been defined and used by scholars, physicians, and New Agers and how religious healing knowledge emerged as a legitimate area of knowledge in Taiwan. The key position of religious healing knowledge within the entanglement between religion and spirituality is also examined. After the martial law was lifted in 1987, Taiwan’s society had rapidly diversified, and its religions were at the transition point between the old and the new. Meanwhile, the new spirituality culture was introduced into Taiwan in the 1980s and got popular in the 1990s, and it inherited the trend of …

Prüfung: A Deconstruction Of Assessment Across Three Languages, Thomas Erich Benz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research aims at deconstructing and questioning certainties about assessment as an educational institution on its most fundamental levels. To achieve that, I am utilizing theoretical frameworks inspired by concepts on the existence of cultural and social capital, by artifact mediated cognition, and by a recently proposed discipline on pedagogy of assessment. The research operates with the application of narrative synthesis and network text analysis of material, on which they have not previously been used. As such, I aim to contribute to a methodological application of both methods on exam data, understood as the totality of curricular documents which govern …

Policing Understood As A Racial Project: An Exploration Of The Role Law Enforcement Has Played In The Shaping Of Race Relations In The United States, Jahaan Chandler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Law enforcement and minority communities have had a complicated history in the United States to say the least. The theoretical propositions used to explain the myriad of interlocking relationships between race, criminal activity, neighborhood disorder, public perceptions of crime, and law enforcement itself, have provided us with nuggets of insight that have all contributed to enhancing our understanding of crime and policing in the U.S., but none have provided an overall interpretation of this complex and often convoluted relationship. This dissertation seeks to rectify this issue by not only examining the history of law enforcement and its relation to minority …

Developing Student Agency In The Choral Classroom: A Case Study, Danielle E. Laird

LSU Master's Theses

This multiple-case study sought to describe how student agency is cultivated within two high school choir programs. Research questions were: (a) In what ways did participating teachers incorporate student agency? (b) How did their students describe their experience? (c) What opportunities/difficulties emerged when students assumed leadership and decision-making roles? (d) Why do participating teachers offer these to students? (e) How do opportunities for student agency serve student learning and program goals? Data collection included semi-structured teacher interviews in two stages, as well as a student questionnaire. Other data included choir handbooks, student leadership information, social media presence, and classroom signs. …

Virtual Worlds: Social Interactions Among Online Gamers Through Voice Chat, Omar Bradley Ictech Ii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Online gaming scholarship has rarely focused on the micro sociological aspects of virtual worlds as much of the research on online games is undertaken by psychologists and scholars in other fields. When a sociological lens is employed in analyzing social interactions that occur in virtual worlds, new understandings of social phenomena in virtual worlds can come to light. My research draws upon multiple sociological theories to make sense of data collect via in-depth interviews and participant observations in an attempt to understand how voice chat influences relationship formation and maintenance, gender relations among online gamers, and how online gamers use …

Five Love Languages: Assessment Of Marital Satisfaction In African American Couples, Freddricka C. Lee

LSU Master's Theses

This mixed-methods study examined marital satisfaction among five (n = 10) heterosexual, African American married couples. In particular, this study examined how acknowledging a partner’s love language (Chapman, 1995) can affect these couples’ level of marital satisfaction. The participants were native to the South and ranged from 26-55 years of age. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed couples were satisfied with their marriages. Although only marginally significant, the findings also revealed acknowledging a spouse’s love language was positively related to higher levels of marital satisfaction. Seven themes emerged throughout the interviews, namely communication; financial stability; understand a spouse’s …

Meritocracy And Marketization Of Education: Taiwanese Middle-Class Strategies In A Private Secondary School, Amanda Shufang Yang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the 20th century, economic growth in Taiwan has brought social prosperity and fundamentally altered Taiwanese social structure. While successive generations of young people have climbed the social ladder and experienced upward mobility, being successful is still narrowly defined through academic achievement. This study argues that, despite constant education reform, a solution to class inequality in education has yet to be found. The mandate of the 12-Year Basic Education Curriculum in 2019 was an answer to local, global, and international transformations. While citizens celebrate the neoliberal concepts of autonomy and deregulation embedded in the 12-Year Basic Education Curriculum, coercion is …