Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

A Literature Review Of Community Art Therapy With Youth In Inner City Communities Of Color, Jennifer Habeeb

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review was developed to synthesize the research surrounding community-based art therapy with youth who reside in inner city communities of color. Youth of color in inner city communities face a number of different challenges such as low socioeconomic status, social inequality, discrimination, and lack of political representation. There is currently little research on the impact of art therapy and expressive arts interventions with this population, however; these interventions have shown to be effective in a number of different areas. Literature revealed that community-based art therapy with inner city youth of color has shown to increase self-esteem, decrease symptoms …

Student Wellbeing And Open Studio Process In The School Curriculum, Maria Kim

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study aimed to explore whether Open Studio Process (OSP) increased wellbeing of middle and high school students when facilitated by teachers as a part of the regular art curriculum. It was hypothesized that OSP might increase the sense of wellbeing among middle and high school students as well as facilitating teachers. The research was conducted as a mixed methods study in South Korea where students need preventative interventions for their wellbeing. The researcher trained eight teachers to facilitate OSP and five of them implemented it with their classes for seven sessions. Quantitative data (K-YSR; pre- and posttest) were collected …

Moving Towards Intimacy: A Literature Review On The Use Of Dance/Movement Therapy With Couples, Rachel Kuntz

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Since its development in the early 20th century, dance/movement therapy has sought to help individuals strengthen communication, deepen empathy, build trust, and experience physical closeness. Incidentally, couples counseling tends to address many of the same goals. This Capstone thesis investigated the overlaps between the fields of dance/movement therapy and couples counseling to the effect of understanding how those fields may work together. An initial review revealed that the current research only examined dance/movement therapy with couples who are privileged in the areas of race, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. Thus, the review broadened to explore how dance/movement therapists work with …

The Identity Crisis In France: A Study Of Alienated Immigrant Populations, Ava Armand

Senior Theses

The following thesis will revolve around the current identity crisis experienced by North-African communities in France. The French nation has witnessed a divide between the native citizens and the naturalized, immigrant population, who has felt excluded from the privileges that the French identity offers. The object of the thesis will be directed at finding the source of the identity crisis, specifically by focusing on the immigrants’ economically vulnerable living conditions, in the poor suburban areas of France. To answer the question of how the socio-economic conditions of the suburbs have created the ground for the identity crisis, the thesis will …

Systemic Racism In Education: Perspectives Of Teachers Of Color, Stephany Vallejo

Education | Master's Theses

Many strides have been made in addressing equity, diversity and social justice in the field of education. However there has remained a gap in the representation of the voices of Teachers of Color. Current literature reveals that there is underlying systemic racism deterring People of Color from pursuing a career in education for a variety of reasons including social, financial, racial and political barriers. Applying Critical Race Theory, critical studies of Whiteness and Microaggressions this study analyzes the experiences of Teachers of Color through their educational career. This research uses a qualitative methods approach with an emphasis on a constructivist …

Narratives Of Black Identifying Newcomer Youth, Saniyyah Lateef

Master's Theses

This study seeks to explore and understand the unique and individual experiences of Black identifying newcomer youth in the United States. Current research related to the experience of newcomers is limited in regards to Black identifying newcomers. Through narrative inquiry methodology, this study seeks to share the experiences of Black identifying newcomer youth. It does this while recognizing the omnipresence of racism in the United States, and acknowledging the influence of life prior experience on identity development. The intent of this study is to help educators and community members better understand the integration and assimilation processes of Black identifying newcomers. …

A Leadership Change. A Culture Shift...And A Police Riot: The Story Of How The Highest College Going High School In San Francisco Became The Lowest Graduating School In The District, Emmanuel Padilla

Master's Theses

Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, located in San Francisco’s Bayview, Hunters Point, scored the third lowest in the most recent Academic Performance Index (API) Report. Based on the median household income, the Bayview is a low-income community and according to San Francisco data, is a high crime neighborhood. The odds are against Marshall to provide exceptional service to their students, but it once did. In 2001, Marshall had the highest college-going rate in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Today, only 20% of its student body would be considered college ready. This study will look into what happened to …

Hollywood Media And The Model Minority Myth: The Representation Of Asian American Masculinity And Its Effects, Khanhlinh Le

Master's Projects and Capstones

Asian Americans are becoming one of the largest growing minority groups in the United States, almost surpassing the Latinx community. Asian Americans, however, are rarely ever represented in Hollywood films and are limited to stereotypical roles. Asian American actors have a difficult time finding roles playing characters that are three-dimensional and complex. While both Asian American men and women face this challenge, it seems that in Hollywood films and television shows, Asian American males are even less represented than females and are typically portrayed as the quiet nerd, sexy doctor, martial arts expert, or the villain. These media stereotypes impact …

Beluu El Diak Le Belumam: Reclaiming And Decolonizing Palauan-American Cultural Heritage, Connie Ngirchemat

Master's Theses

Prior to colonization, Palau practiced their own indigenous ways of knowledge and epistemologies in relation to their spirits, land, and community. Through Palau’s colonial and imperial relationships under Spain, Germany, Japan, and evidently the United States, these impacts throughout Palau’s history have affected the community’s traditional ways of knowing. From colonial influences, to the evident emigration of the Palauan diaspora, this created a new generation of Palauan-Americans, who were raised unfamiliar with their cultural heritage and language. This lack of cultural awareness for the Palauan-American diaspora raises concerns of loss of culture, sense of self and identity, and its impact …

The Function Of The Hukou System In Post-Revolutionary China & Its Autonomous Regions, Joseph Kramer

Master's Theses

Over the course of more than two millennia the Hukou System has shifted in scope and purpose. In dynastic times it served as a mechanism of tax acquisition. In more recent years it has functioned as a method of census and land distribution. Today it holds a duplicitous function serving as both an economic and social control mechanism. The Hukou achieves this through controlling movement through a passport like system of internal registration. In simpler terms, think of the Hukou as an internal passport regulating movement while simultaneously holding all of your biometric data which is surveilled and controlled by …

Making It Make Sense: Black Undergraduate's Negotiation Of Spiritual And Lgbtq+ Christian Identities Within The Black Church, Leah Davis

Honors Theses

For Black LGBTQ+ individuals, spirituality and sexuality can often conflict as the Black community tends to be more spiritual than other demographics and historically exhibited exclusivity towards the LGBTQ+ community. This research examines how Black LGBTQ+ youth at the University of Mississippi handle the intersectionality of race, spirituality, and sexuality and makes recommendations about ways to improve the lived experiences of Black LGBQT+ Christians and to promote LGBQT+ positive attitudes within the Black church. This research study was conducted using qualitative methods with purposeful sampling. The data yielded results that discovered Black youth identify with Christianity, engage in oppositional identity …

Unplanned Pregnancy In The Mississippi Delta: Causes And Implications, Julia Grant

Honors Theses

This study seeks to understand the causes and implications of the abundance of adolescent pregnancy in the region known as the Mississippi Delta, where teenage childbearing is among the highest in the nation. To do so, this study reports and analyzes twelve interviews with young, African American, single mothers conducted by the author in the summer of 2019. This study relies on a narrative approach to research and analysis and employs the theoretical framework of Afrocentrism. As a result of the interviews, the author concludes that a blatant lack of sex education in the region is a powerful influence on …

Supporting Biracial Students Through An Equity Lens: Multicultural Literature And Advocacy In School Libraries, Jacqueline Ahlborn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biracial students make up a substantial allocation of the school population, and their demographics are only expected to increase within the coming years. With this emergence of a larger Biracial community, schools need to consider how they will implement equitable resources and practices to meet the needs for this unique population. School librarians, serving as instructional leaders, can provide the necessary materials and strategies to support their students who are Biracial in order to foster positive racial identity. The purpose of this study is to explore school librarians’ perspectives on the influence of multicultural literature on students’ acceptance and understanding …

The Embeddedness Of Racial Microaggressions In International Student Experiences At The University Of Mississippi, Morgan Blythe

Honors Theses

This study explores the lived experiences of international students at the University of Mississippi (UM). Using a phenomenological approach, the participants’ stories were understood and offered as a counter-narrative to existing literature dominated by White Americans. The interviews were processed through the lens of Critical Race Theory, specifically the microaggressions framework to account for modern-day racism as it evolves alongside culture. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with international students at UM ranging from exchange to PhD candidates. These participants are from various countries around the globe, chosen through convenience sampling. The interviews were coded using NVivo12. The results of this …

A Social Change-Maker And A Dreamer: Olive Schreiner’S Figures For An Ideal Future, Jessica Ampel

Periclean Honors Forum Scholar Award Winners

Social activist, theorist, and author Olive Schreiner dreamed and demanded that others dream as well. Living in the Victorian era, a time of extreme change but also rigid cultural values, she dreamed about an ideal future characterized by gender equality, sexual equality, and racial equality not just in her own “homes” of England and South Africa, but globally. However, for Schreiner, dreaming was not enough; we must act on our dreams in order to make the necessary social change to reach an ideal future. Schreiner acted on her own dreams for social change throughout her life by theorizing, joining important …

Legacies Of American Slavery In The South: An Analysis Of White Racial Resentment Towards African Americans, Rebecca Raveena Feldherr

Periclean Honors Forum Scholar Award Winners

This study aims to explore whether the historical institution of slavery in the United States is manifested in contemporary white racial resentment towards African Americans through engaging institutional replication, racial threat, and intergroup contact theories. Present differences in the residential integration of blacks and whites at the county-level is hypothesized to be a mediating factor in the relation between the presence of slavery in 1860 and attitudinal measures of current white racial resentment. This study analyzes three distinct sources of data: the proportion of slaves in 1860 counties is derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, black-white dissimilarity indices are calculated …

A Social Change-Maker And A Dreamer: Olive Schreiner’S Figures For An Ideal Future, Jessica Ampel

English Honors Theses

Social activist, theorist, and author Olive Schreiner dreamed and demanded that others dream as well. Living in the Victorian era, a time of extreme change but also rigid cultural values, she dreamed about an ideal future characterized by gender equality, sexual equality, and racial equality not just in her own “homes” of England and South Africa, but globally. However, for Schreiner, dreaming was not enough; we must act on our dreams in order to make the necessary social change to reach an ideal future. Schreiner acted on her own dreams for social change throughout her life by theorizing, joining important …

Learning About Two Immigrant Families' Educational Experiences And Educational Needs For Cultural Transmission From Trigenerational Family Storytelling, Kimvy V. Calpito

Theses & Dissertations

Research Focus. It is estimated that approximately one-third of children in the United States will be raised in immigrant families (Feliciano & Lanuza, 2017). Due to generational gaps and language mismatches from acculturation, immigrant family members tend to have difficulty communicating and interacting with one another (Buckingham & Brodsky, 2015; Ng, He, & Loong, 2004; Simes & Pietka-Nykaza, 2015). The researcher experienced similar challenges growing up, which led to her interest in studying how cultural differences among family members impact their dynamics. This research is important because it pertains to a large and growing group in our community as well …

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 …

Stress And Coping In Food-Insecure African Americans In Clark County, Nevada, Johanna Andrews

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

African Americans have the highest rates of food insecurity than any other racial/ethnic group in the nation as a result of poverty, low household income, unemployment, food injustice, food mirages, and racial segregation. This consistent uncertainty in food access demonstrably results in poor mental health outcomes for food-insecure African Americans. Thus, the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping provides a theoretical framework to investigate how African Americans cope with food insecurity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate processes of coping with food insecurity and determine their impact on emotional well-being for African Americans in Clark County, Nevada. A …

'The Once Peaceful Little Town:' Edmondson, Arkansas, And The Decline Of African American Landownership, Samuel Morris Ownbey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the systematic dispossession of African American property by white planters in the Arkansas Delta. It argues white planters, backed by a legal system favorable to their interests, expropriated the black land in the once flourishing community of Edmondson, Arkansas. Founded in 1902 by African American business and political leaders, the Edmondson Home and Improvement Company purchased farmland and town lots and began to sell or rent the land to African Americans coming to the area. Located in Crittenden County, Edmondson represented black defiance in the face of Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. The town consisted of …

How Does Disproportionality In Discipline Manifest In Rural Schools In Southeast Arkansas?, Julie Workman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African American students are disciplined in schools at disproportionately higher rates than White students. This trend was first reported in 1975 in a report by the Children’s Defense Fund and since that time, has been highly studied. However, most research has been conducted in urban or suburban schools, with less known about disproportionate discipline in rural schools. This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to explore disproportionate discipline between African American and White students in five rural schools located in Southeast Arkansas. The research questions were as follows: (1) How is discipline disproportionality perceived in specific rural schools …

Mental Health And You, Sierra Salvatierra

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Latinx community at the Epicenter in Salinas dealt with mental health illnesses, as well as were brought up with machismo attitudes. This population has a strong stigma against getting help with their mental health. Being faced with immigration, poverty, discrimination and inadequite conversations about health, drives a spike in anxiety levels. Consequences of not dealing with mental health illnesses include unresolved emotions are generational trauma, self harm, substance abuse, and unhealthy relationships. The project created to get in front of this problem was a dialogue series of conversation starters for people who want to open up. The purpose of …

Lean On Me: Leadership Beyond The Patriarchy, Tamara Taylor

Master of Arts in Humanities | Master's Theses 1936 - 2022

Leadership styles have taken various forms throughout humanity’s trajectory on earth. Indicative of patriarchal systems, the most prominent styles of leadership that are widely recognized in the public and private sectors routinely favor individuals who portray characteristics of ambition, confidence and assertiveness that at times crosses over into aggression. When one considers which gender fit the stereotype of exhibiting leadership qualities under these assumptions, often hyper-masculine men fit the mold.

In contrast, when women are successful at ascending and working in higher ranking positions, the characteristics that are mapped on to their personas are often associated with collaboration and relationship-building. …

Intimate Partner Violence In A Native American Community: An Exploratory Study, Sheena L. Gilbert

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Native Americans experience a higher rate of intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to other racial/ethnic groups (Bachman et al., 2010; Bachman et al., 2008; Bohn, 2003; Bryant-Davis et al., 2009; Bubar, 2009; Dugan & Apel, 2003; Hamby, 2000; Perry, 2004), however, there is limited research that examines IPV among Native American populations. To understand Native American victimization, it is important to understand the historical context as it relates to trauma and oppression and how these experiences influence Native victimization experiences today. Historical context, legislation, and current policies are described, as are existing research findings pertaining to Native IPV. This research, …

All Eyez On Me: The Socialization Experiences Of African Americans At Predominately White Institutions, Tamara Kuykendall

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

The review of literature section is to analyze the socialization experiences of African Americans that attend predominately white institutions (PWIs). African Americans are defined as Americans of African and especially black African descent for this research. The term “African American” and “black” will be used interchangeably. The paper highlights an overview of the social experiences of African American college students, distinguishes external, non-academic factors that contribute to the black college experience, and describes how African Americans experience social collectiveness within a predominately white campus. It also moves to identify how this interaction shapes African Americans’ perception of ‘blackness’ amongst the …

“Disbelieving Black Women To Death”; The “Double Jeopardy”: Racism And Sexism Affects Black Women’S Access To And Quality Of Care During Pregnancy, Birth, And Postpartum, Madeline St. Clair

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This paper explores possible reasons why Black women in the United States experience a higher maternal mortality rate than their white counterparts. Using books, articles, journals, documentaries, personal experiences and stories of Black women and mothers, I argue that barriers from the societal to the individual level create health and medical disparities for Black mothers in pregnancy, during delivery, and the postpartum period. The paper concludes with a multifaceted solution and call to action.

“Contact” Sports: Competitive Athletic Experience, Racial Attitudes, And Intergroup Contact, Savana Nawojski

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Allport’s (1954) Intergroup Contact hypothesis suggests that interaction among people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds can reduce prejudice, particularly in situations that involve cooperation and common goals. Although participation in competitive sports may provide opportunities for cooperative interaction among people from different racial backgrounds, and athletic teams tend to be more diverse at higher levels (NCAA 2019), relatively little work has examined the contact hypothesis in this context. Using a national representative data set (N = 966), we examine whether respondents’ levels of competitive athletic experience are related to their attitudes toward African Americans. We find no bivariate relationship …

Strategic Resistance In An African Owned Hair Salon: Intersections Of Race, Gender, And Nationality In U.S. America, Nicole Jenkins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As social constructions of race and nationality continue to transform in the U.S. and anti-Blackness, and anti-immigrant sentiments grow in popularity and visibility, it becomes increasingly necessary to document, analyze and center the experience of these marginalized groups in the U.S. Using two years of ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and unstructured interviews, this research project aims to understand the perspectives and experiences of Black American and Black Immigrant women as they navigate the above-mentioned sentiments within various institutions. I center Black women’s lived experiences in urban cities through sharing their perspectives on Black identity and Black motherhood and analyzing unique …

Baton Rouge Slam!: An Obituary For Summer 2016: A Critical Performance Ethnography Of Eclectic Truth Poetry Slam, Joshua Hamzehee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This critical performance ethnography presents the theory, methodology, and practice surrounding the fieldwork, scripting, and performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. As participant-observer, director, and co-performer, I unpack social drama, performance ethnography, and slam culture by employing a lens rooted in critical race theory. Local poets permitted me to de- and re-contextualize their interviews into ensemble scenes and theatricalize their slam poems about the recent summer’s charged events. One year later, this involved and embodied process of ethnographic bricolage became the ensemble cast performance of Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016. Community members and …