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

Allyship As An Act: The Performative, Power-Laden, And Contradictory Co-Cultural Strategies Of Straight Allies, David Dooling

MSU Graduate Theses

While the study of queer communities underscores the importance of responses to heteronormativity, this dual-method study challenges positionality by examining the co-cultural strategies of straight allies in predominantly queer conversations and spaces. Using Orbe’s Co-Cultural Theory as a lens, this study examines the co-cultural strategies and factors that influence straight allies’ communication when entrenched in queer ontology and dialogue (Study 1). Additionally, co-cultural strategies are measured among straight allies in hypothetical workplaces that are either predominantly queer or predominantly straight (Study 2) using Lapinski and Orbe’s (2007) Co-Cultural Theory Scales. Together, the results of these studies contribute to the ideas …

Reclaiming Images Of Black Women: An Investigation Of Black Womanhood In Visual Communication, Taylor Simone Thomas

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

This thesis investigates how Black womanhood has been visually represented in hopes to either recognize Black women as full, nuanced, and legitimate participants of society or to reinforce monolithic representations built from the constructs of social, political, and economic oppression. It also gives an analysis of Black feminism and how Black feminist thought can be applied to the creative process in hopes of challenging visual misrepresentations of Black womanhood. The aim of this thesis is to show that artists and visual communicators do have a responsibility to be conscious of the messages conveyed in their work. In addition, they must …

The Effects Of Harmful Male Body Representation: Uncovered Through The Lens Of Podcasting, Madelynne Thompson

Honors Theses

A body of recent studies suggest men are objectified in the media, as men report increasing levels of body dissatisfaction and potentially, an array of negative consequences in response. Western media images of men, exemplified through media such as advertisements, television, and social media promote a “drive for muscularity” with attention to the upper body and abdominal region. Societal standards and norms have a documented influence on self-concept, and the current study investigates explicitly which influences hold the greatest magnitude during the development of one’s self-perception. In the present thesis project, men aged 18-25 were interviewed to gauge their perspectives …

Critical Media Literacy Approaches To Violence Prevention: A Research Note, Emily A. Moorhouse, Hayley Brooks

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Sexual violence is a global phenomenon needing sustainable interventions. The article extends findings from media literacy scholars by exploring ways that critical media literacy (CML) pedagogies can be used to teach affirmative consent education for the purposes of violence prevention. The article is not a curriculum blue-print, as the pedagogies are still being piloted for adolescents in Ontario. However, the rationales for bridging consent education and critical media literacy apply transnationally. Engaging educators and students with critical analysis of media and creative media production is key to transformative learning about consent, within and beyond the classroom. The article ends by …

Schwalbe, But Make It Sesame Street: Advocating For Children’S Sociological Education On Race And Ethnicity, Sonia Mathews

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

In this thesis, I aim to fill a hole in the existing discussion surrounding how we deal with social issues, specifically issues of race, when it comes to children. While there is ample sociological theory and legitimate research proving that children both experience and affect social constructions like race and ethnicity, this is not evident in both the way we teach children about social issues and what we teach them about the social world they are a part of. It is crucial to acknowledge and consider that once we recognize that children have these abilities to impact the social world, …

The Effects Of Language Barriers With Hispanic Patients In The Nashville, Rachel Poston

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

The existence of language barriers in the health care setting is a vital topic of study. This study assesses language barriers from the perspective of nurse-patient relationships, focusing on the Hispanic patient population in the Nashville, Tennessee area. A survey was designed using the Theory of Bureaucratic Caring by Marilyn Ray (2006) to investigate the current success, according to nursing perspectives, of healthcare facilities support of Hispanic patients to ensure quality outcomes and comprehension of care. The research design for this study was a non-experimental, descriptive study using a cross-sectional survey. The researcher used themes from the Theory of Bureaucratic …

Cultural Diversity Awareness: Perceptions Of Community Residents And Police Personnel, Vickie Minnifield Greene

Scholar Week 2016 - present

This study examined the difference in self-reported perceptions of cultural diversity awareness between two specific groups, community residents and police personnel, within a Midwestern city’s community and police department. This study also measured how their attitudes related to their likelihood to assist in enhancing the goals of community policing, which includes the prevention of crime. Literature cited demonstrates that social injustice toward African Americans and Latinos, cultural diversity ignorance, miscommunication, and lack of trust between community residents and police personnel are indicators that their relationships require positive solutions toward repairing a historically strained relationship. The Miami University Diversity Awareness Scale …

“I Matter”: Analyzing Self-Care, Racial Performativity, And Podcasting*, Molly Shilo

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The term “self-care” has recently entered pop culture through women’s magazines, feminist blogs, social media and other digital spaces. While the rhetoric has largely been about white, heterosexual, middle-to-upper class women, many Black feminists have politicized self-care and self-love as a form of resistance against a world that continuously negates their existence and humanity. The contemporary self-care movement has its roots in the Black feminist thought’s love-politics and scholar-activists Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. Continuing in this Black feminist tradition, Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton create a digital auditory enclave with their podcast Another Round where they openly …

Painted Nails: The Gender(Ed) Performance Of Queer Sexuality, Justin Rudnick

Communication Studies Department Publications

In this essay, I interrogate my own experiences performing my queer identity through my painted nails. I attest to the ways queer bodies might performatively challenge and/or reinforce rigid norms of sexuality through mundane performances of (gendered) identity. To accomplish this, I engage in an autoethnographic exploration of queer performativity. I recount and analyze a series of anecdotes that illustrate how performances of queer identity in everyday life are accomplished—and policed—in mundane situations. In turn, I reflexively investigate the ways in which these performances situate me within a nexus of aesthetic, embodied, and ethical social interaction and performative resistance. I …

Unm Staff Council: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Letter Condemning Racist Threats Against Faculty Member, Unm Staff Council

Black History at UNM

Open letter by UNM Staff Council Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, condemning racist attacks on a UNM faculty member with 439 signatories.

Counter Stories In Counterpublics: Exploring Documentary As A Form Of Activist Media To Counter Reinforced Stereotypes About The Criminalization Of Black Men, Tirrea S. Billings

Masters Theses

A story told can change the world. Storytelling has been around since the inception of human communication and has been used as a tool to educate, preserve cultural values, and make meaning of our existence. More recently, storytelling has been used in activist and social change movements. One approach to social justice storytelling is through filmmaking: creating films as a tool to disrupt, interrupt, amplify, organize, shift power and create lasting, transformative change in communities. Specifically, social justice-oriented documentary film and media can be used as a vehicle for those who are in counterpublic spaces to argue against mainstream discourses …

The Fairer Sex? Understanding The Link Between Gender And Corruption, Kayla Jackson

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

Amjambo Africa! (April 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

ILAP on TPS for Somalia.............p. 2

From Camden to Portland........p. 10

Cultivating Community............p. 14

Amjambo Africa for Teachers..p. 15

FAQ about COVID-19..............p. 16

Food Resources ...................p. 20/21

Miss Muslimah 2020 .................p. 22

US-Canada border crossings ...p. 22

Debunking Eurocentrism In Organizational Communication Theory: Marginality And Liquidities In Postcolonial Contexts, Joëlle Cruz, Chigozirim Utah

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

This article centers marginal organizational actors—the disenfranchised of the Global South—to remedy their theoretical erasure and disrupt the Anglo-American grand narrative of organizational communication. This task is urgent amidst discussions of decolonization and whiteness in the discipline. We reengage Western theory on liquidity, hereby conceptualized as shape-shifting and adaptive organizing, moving like a liquid at the margins. We draw on fieldworks in Nigeria and Liberia to unearth three properties of liquidity in postcolonial contexts: motion, solvency, and permeability. Motion refers to movement, solvency refers to the ability to dissolve into one’s surroundings, and permeability refers to organizing that infiltrates life …

Encuentros Intergeneracionales: Continuidades Y Reformulaciones En Las Prácticas Militantes De Las Jóvenes Integrantes De Espacios De Acompañamiento De Aborto En La Amba / Intergenerational Encounters: Continuities And Reformulations In The Activist Practices Of The Young Members Of Abortion Accompaniment Spaces In The Amba, Hannah Robinson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Debido al acceso restrictivo de los abortos legales, en los últimos diez años los espacios de acompañamiento de personas que quieren interrumpir la gestación se han convertido en un sitio importante de la militancia feminista en Argentina. Estos espacios o colectivos brindan información sobre el uso del medicamento misoprostol para abortar, conectan las personas gestantes con profesionales de salud “amigables” que garantizan el acceso al Interrupción Legal del Embarazo, y proveen apoyo durante el proceso de interrupción. Al mismo tiempo, en los últimos cinco años una marea de jóvenes ha entrado masivamente a la militancia feminista.

A través de la …

Ethnic-Racial Socialization Mapping In Ethnic-Racial Minority Populations: Exploring The Efficacy Of An Intervention To Increase Well-Being And Secure Ethnic-Racial Identity, Mackensie Minniear

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, I explore the benefits of developing an intervention entitled ethnic-racial socialization mapping. Previously, researchers have developed the importance of establishing a secure ethnic-racial identity in ethnic-racial minority populations, as it is tied with increased well-being. Additionally, researchers have called for interventions that highlight the role of ethnic-racial socialization in minority populations, as this process is connected with a secure ethnic-racial identity. I answer these calls by reviewing current research, leading to the creation of ethnic-racial socialization mapping as an identity intervention. In chapter 1, I explore how ethnic-racial identity and ethnic-racial socialization has been conceptualized, as well …

Leveraging Maternal Rhetoric, Space, And Experience: La Leche League's Emergence As A Counterpublic, Jenny Lynn Moore

English Theses & Dissertations

For over six decades, the international, mother-to-mother breastfeeding support organization La Leche League (LLL) has been helping women breastfeed successfully. LLL was formed at a time when the dominant ideology of scientific motherhood framed mothers as obedient adherents to physicians’ strict guidelines, which encouraged bottle-feeding and discouraged close mother-child bonds. LLL has been credited with challenging scientific motherhood, transforming medical discourse and practices surrounding infant feeding, and prompting the medical professional to accept mothers’ active involvement in decision-making; yet, paradoxically, it has also constrained mothers by reducing women to their maternal biology, discouraging mothers from participating in the public sphere, …

Racism In Media: How Media Shapes Our View Of People Of Color In Society, Semarial Wilder

Community Engagement Student Work

As a way to increase awareness about racism in the media, research was conducted to showcase the many ways racism is perpetuated against Black people through our everyday media consumption. A workshop was held and analysis of responses from pre-event surveys, activity post-it responses, and post-event surveys were completed by attendees. Using the cultivation theory, attendees increased their overall knowledge about how the media plays a huge part in how they see society. One attendee mentioned, “I learned how the media sets thoughts or images for you without you realizing it.” It is clear that the media does a wonderful …

The Choreo-Story Workshops: Devising Body Narratives, Montana J. Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This multi-methodological project analyzes the utility of the proposed performance method, the Choreo-Story, within the field of Performance Studies. The Choreo-Story is a movement-based performance method, mode of devising, and performance product. It is a performance tool that can be used to understand how embodiment and dance help individuals make sense of the many identities they perform. This method highlights the body as both a text and tool for storytelling. To analyze the Choreo-Story method, I use Kenneth Burke’s Dramatistic Approach to examine three performance acts that occurred in the HopKins Black Box theatre between 2016 and 2018: my …

The Role Of Popular Media In 2016 Us Presidential Election Memes, Kyra Osten Hunting

Journalism and Media Faculty Publications

The 2016 US presidential election was marked by the extensive role that social media played in the construction of the candidates as well as by the growth of a number of forms of digital political rhetoric, including memes. The subgenre of popular culture-based political memes that draw on well-known entertainment media, particularly those with large fandoms like the Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises, reveal inequities in gender representation in entertainment media that are replicated when these media become source material for memes. Memes based on popular culture that are designed to celebrate female candidates are disadvantaged by having a …