African American Studies Commons^™

'Odd Secrets Of The Line': Emily Dickinson And The Uses Of Folk, Wendy Tronrud

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Emily Dickinson and her poetry have famously been used as a defining example of American lyric poetry. The traditional scholarly perspective maintains that the lyric poem and its speaker exist in isolation and at a remove from social and political contexts. Recent scholarship on American poetry of the long nineteenth century, however, has taken a more historical and cultural turn, reconsidering how poetic and vernacular forms and genres circulated both privately and publicly. “Odd Secrets of the Line”: Emily Dickinson and the Uses of Folk joins this conversation by theorizing how Dickinson’s poetry, written during the 1859-1865 period, registers the …

Dear Black Child: A Discussion On The Formation Of Identity For African Diasporic Adolescents In The U.S., Sokhnagade B. Ndiaye

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this capstone project, I am using art, photography, and music to depict the experiences of African diasporic youth in the United States. I will explore the white supremacist systems that contribute to the anxiety that comes with being a black child in America. In this project, I plan to discuss the ways in which African diasporic adolescents develop their identity and consciousness and the ways in which living in American society helps and/or hinders the development of this identity and consciousness. I argue that living in the United States forces black youth to form double and triple consciousnesses, which …

“I’M Real I Thought I Told Ya”: Developing Critical Media Literacy Through U.S. Latinx Digital Media Representations, Solange T. Castellar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores how audiences engage with U.S. Latinx media representations through the practice of critical media literacy. I interrogate how media consumers construct critical media literacy through interacting with U.S. Latinx figures on digital media platforms, particularly on the social-media app, Twitter, and the user-generated video content platform, YouTube. Throughout this thesis, I argue that users on these platforms who engage with U.S. Latinx pop culture figures, like Jennifer Lopez and Belcalis Almanzar (Cardi B), read, digest, and comprehend a variety of multimedia images, texts, or videos, and that this engagement becomes an accessible form of critical media literacy, …

Ua94/6/1 My Story: Wku Basketball's Kenny Cooper, Kenny Cooper

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

My Story is a series of first-person feature articles written by WKU student-athletes. The student-athletes will be telling their own stories in their own words. This article written by basketball senior guard Kenny Cooper, who redshirted as a transfer in 2019-20 but will play his final college season this upcoming year.

Screening For Iron-Deficiency Anemia In The Pediatric Population (Ages 1-17) In Gonaïves, Haiti, Cara Rose Fratianni

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot project is to screen for iron-deficiency anemia in pediatric patients (ages 1-17) in a primary school in Gonaïves, Haiti. Patients with anemia will be treated with oral supplemental iron for a period of four weeks according to WHO guidelines (WHO, 2011). All students will be treated empirically for helminths per WHO guidelines, unless treated elsewhere in the last six months (WHO, 2017). Nutritional status will also be assessed using MUAC according to WHO guidelines (2017).

Background Summary: Malnutrition contributes significantly to the problem of iron-deficiency anemia, with one in four children exhibiting stunting …

Two Black Utopias Of The United States: Self Determination And Survival, Makaveli Gresham

University Honors Theses

In line with Charles Davis III's assertion in regards to the formation of black space and it’s spectral qualities representing the "material conditions of black survival", two black utopian projects: Soul City, North Carolina and the unrealized work of Architects Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH) in New York City are analyzed to explicate to what extent that the United States built environment is compatible with "black survival". These two case studies are used to inform an understanding of the anti-black nature of Modernism and the cultural relationship between the construction of "whiteness" and "blackness" in the United States. This relationship …

Black Expressions Of Dillard University: How One Historically Black College Pioneered African American Arts, Makenzee Brown

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The proposed public history project, Within These Walls (WTW), will be one component of a larger exhibit produced by Dillard University’s, Library Archives and Special Collections entitled The Star Burns Bright: History of Dillard’s Theatrical and Musical Arts, Faculty and Students. WTW will focus on Dillard’s historic African American faculty, students and alumni who became prominent painters, musicians, writers, actors and directors among them Adella Gautier, Randolph Edmonds, Ted Shine Frederick Hall, Theodore Gilliam, and Brenda Osbey. This exhibit will also highlight the many art programs, across genres, offered at the university between 1935 and 1970. This exhibit will demonstrate …

Ua94/6/1 My Story: Wku Football's Malik Staples, Malik Staples

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

My Story is a series of first-person feature articles written by WKU student-athletes. The student-athletes will be telling their own stories in their own words. This article written by football graduate senior Malik Staples, who – along with his teammates – has navigated through a different type of Spring Ball over the past two months.

Blacklisted But Not Defeated: Jack Foner Returned To Academe After 30 Years And Made Colby A Leader In African-American Studies, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

Colby hired Jack Foner and in a single stroke, a then nearly all-white liberal arts college in Maine became home to one of the first African-American Studies programs in the country.

Brilliant: A Gifted Leader And Academic, Marnay Avant Is Ready To Inspire As A Professor Of Color, Mareisa Weil

Colby Magazine

"I think it is important to be a professor, especially a professor of color, because you get to inspire and shape the minds of so many people." -Marnay Avant '18

The Right Path: Pandit Mami '14 And Friends Make School Possible Once Again For Children In Freetown, Sierra Leone, Laura Meader

Colby Magazine

"You have to explain to them that in the long run this kid is going to be more helpful to you if they're in school than they are selling food in the streets of Freetown." -Pandit Mami '14

Beyond The Corner Sto: Why Sharing Of Black Images And Blackness Matters, Ciara Elle Bryant

Art Theses and Dissertations

What is the value of an image? Do we know? Can we even guess? In black communities, to see a visual representation of themselves is important to the growth of black identity. For centuries our existence and our experience has been negated. In this text, I invite the reader/viewer to experience the importance of representation to black communities. By choosing to look at specific examples of how black culture has been shared in the last century, I will contextualize the importance of my installation, Server, as well as discuss how it continues to document black culture.

“We Got More Yesterday Than Anybody”: Child Ghosts And The National Trauma Of Anti-Black Racism In American Literature, Megan Swartzfager

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the roles of haunting in the context of racial violence in three texts: Beloved by Toni Morrison, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, and Wolf Whistle by Lewis Nordan. In each of these texts, a parent is responsible for the death of a child. In the former two texts, both by Black authors, a Black parent kills a Black child in what they believe to be a protective act in the face of violence by white people. Wolf Whistle, however, written by a white author, is animated by the ghost of a character based on Emmett Till. …

"The Fact Of The Black Poet": Four Phenomenological Interviews With Prominent American Writers On The Impact Of The Furious Flower Poetry Center, Karen E. Risch Mott

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to discern the impact, if any, of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, the United States’ first academic center devoted to Black poetry. A qualitative approach centered on semi-structured phenomenological interviews was applied, and four nationally acclaimed poets were recruited for a purposive sample: Jericho Brown, PhD; Toi Derricotte, MA; Tyehimba Jess, MFA; and Evie Shockley, JD, PhD. Emergent themes were identified based on content analysis by hand-coding transcripts; these findings lead to a conclusion that Furious Flower’s impact on the poets has been significant and consistent in three ways: 1) creating a platform for …

Reconciling With Slavery In The United States: An Evolving Narrative, Jamie Phlegar

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This project addresses two strands of inquiry that spring from this issue of evolving race relations in the U.S. First, I examine how Americans talk about the history of slavery in the U.S. What rhetorical strategies are employed when slavery is discussed and/or debated in public history contexts and beyond? Second, I examine talk about the future of race relations in the context of the legacy of slavery. Specifically, I am interested in exploring what rhetorical strategies are employed when discussing the potential for reparations in mainstream arenas.

Perceptions And Identity: Poverty In 19th Century Rockingham County, Kayla Heslin

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The historical analysis of poverty has lain silent for nearly two decades, with only recent authors, such as Nancy Isenberg and Kerri Leigh Merritt, broaching the topic. While several others have taken a deep dive into understanding the causes and effects of contemporary poverty, it seems to me a great deal has yet to be written on the identity of those impoverished and their active endeavors to define themselves in economic circumstances largely beyond their control. Until we truly explore the complexity of economic dearth and its relation to collective identity, we cannot fully understand the topic of “poverty.”

In …

(Re)Humanizing: A Culturally Informed Approach To Coping With The Manifestation Of Super Woman Schema In Black Women With Trauma Exposure, Jasmine Dowery

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Using the Community Engagement option, this Capstone Thesis was used to create a method to explore a culturally informed approach to coping with the manifestation of Super Woman Schema in Black Women with trauma exposure. In this thesis the researcher discusses Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) in as it relates to the formation of maladaptive techniques such as Super Woman Schema. Additionally, this Capstone Thesis provides a historical context on the cultural significance of Rhythm and Blues music and Dance/Movement Therapy and ties it to the importance of healing for the community at-large. This researcher utilized self as instrument to explore …

Gender, Race, And Class In Various Aspects Of American Literature: A Portfolio, Harry Olafsen

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

In this portfolio, Harry Olafsen takes a closer look at various texts in American Literature, including women in 1960s country music, Us directed by Jordan Peele, and southern women's diaries from the Civil War.

“Well, I’Ve Whispered ‘Racism’ In A Post-Racial World”: Satire And The Absurdity Of “Post-Racial” America, Joseph Gorman

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this thesis project is to look at the works of contemporary African American satirists as they confront post-racial ideology. In looking at the works of Jordan Peele, Paul Beatty, Mat Johnson, and Boots Riley, thematic threads emerge to form a portrait of dire unrest amongst those non-white identities living in an allegedly post-racial world. Before analyzing the works, I first contextualize the thesis with a brief discussion of satire as a literary genre and African American satire as a literary subgenre, as well as address the emergence of post-racial ideology during the tenure of Barack Obama as …

Commodification Of Black Bodies, Emmanuel Yeboah

Womanist Ethics

No abstract provided.