Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

An Exploration Of Exposure To Music In High School Males In Appalachian Ohio, Cassandra Mcdonald

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Even with increasing availability of alternative educational systems, individual learning plans, and vocational schools, the high school dropout rate among males is still rising. High school dropouts have a negative effect on a community because their chances of being employed and contributing to the community are reduced. The theoretical frameworks of multiple intelligences, self-efficacy, and developmental constructivism were used to conduct a hermeneutical phenomenological study of the lived experiences of a specific population of male youth in rural Ohio who decided to return to school and complete the requirements for a high school diploma or GED after being exposed to …

A Concurrent Mixed Method Study Exploring Iraqi Immigrants' Views Of Michigan, Kerry Luise Chamberlain

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Failure of emergency response personnel to communicate effectively with different cultures can have dire consequences during an emergency, including loss of lives and litigation costs. For emergency response personnel to communicate the risk of an emergency, it is important to understand how different groups, especially newly arrived foreign immigrants, perceive warnings and related messages. This study addressed how one of the largest category of immigrants in Michigan perceived severe tornados, influenza pandemics, power outages, severe floods, and snowstorms. The research question examined the degree to which the equation, Risk = Hazard + Outrage, explained perceptions of these hazards in Michigan …

Issues Affecting Sexual Decisions Among Black Women In The Era Of Hiv/Aids, Saecilia Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

HIV/AIDS became a significant concern in the United States (U.S.) during the 1980s and in recent years has increased the most among people living in underserved urban areas, particularly impacting Black women ages 24-35. Guided by the social learning theory, this phenomenological study explored the lived experiences and behaviors of Black women in the south in order to understand their sexual health decisions and how those decisions impact the spread of HIV/AIDS among this group. The central research question focused on understanding the sexual decision making of Black women in Georgia, from the perspective of the client and provider. Convenience …

The Body And Invisible Man: Ralph Ellison’S Novel In Twenty-First Century Performance And Public Spaces, Patrice Rankine

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

Patrice Rankine’s “The Body and Invisible Man: Ralph Ellison’s Novel in Twenty-First-Century Performance and Public Spaces,” contrasts the artistic uses of physicality in Invisible Man the novel with its 2012 play adaptation. Rankine argues that the stage version’s “focus on the corporeal reality of race” complements what the novel can do to facilitate social or political progress: in short, “there is therapeutic value in ‘staging’ or reliving such experiences.” Staging Invisible Man extends Ellison’s relevance in an age where, though the United States had a black president, the very novelty of the black body illustrates how infrequently that body …

In Search Of Heterotopia: Immersive Experiences In The Museum, Nicolas Crosby

All Master's Theses

Museums everywhere are waging battle to find ways to attract new audience members. In this thesis I draw upon participant observation, interviews, and event planning in order to examine how museums create heterotopic, interactive immersive experiences. I focus on the work of two Seattle-area museums, and a gallery and a museum in Ellensburg. The Entertainment, Music, and Popular Culture museum (EMP), the Nordic Heritage Museum (NHM), and the Museum of Culture and Environment (MCE) developed opportunities for visitors to engage with museum-created heterotopic events. I approach this analysis through a theoretical framework that emphasizes structure and agency. On one hand, …

Burnt Offerings: How The City Of Angels Engulfed Any And All Involved In The Rodney King Affair And Los Angeles Riots, Michael P. Mcnamara

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This thesis analyses the first modern case of police brutality and race relations - the beating of Rodney King and the 1992 Riots that followed. The roots of the gravity of this situation can be found in the the leadership of the city during that time. The thesis tells the story of the juxtaposition of the black, Democratic Mayor of Los Angeles (Tom Bradley) and the white, Republican Los Angeles Police Chief (Daryl Gates). Though both have a very mixed legacy, both men were highly effective in their respective fields and goals. It is their inability to work together and …

“Leadership Means Moving A Community Forward”: Asian American Community College Students And Critical Leadership Praxis, Melissa Ann Loredo Canlas

Doctoral Dissertations

Asian Americans are underrepresented in both formal leadership positions and leadership research (Foldy & Ospina, 2009) and rarely are Asian Americans viewed as leaders, activists, or agents of social change. Leadership development programs, particularly those focused on social and racial justice, are largely absent from the curriculums and educational experiences of Asian Americans (Omatsu, 2006), and few leadership development programs focus specifically on the needs of Asian Americans (Chung, 2014; Liang, Lee, & Ting, 2002), particularly at the community college level.

This study addressed the need for critical leadership development for Asian American community college students, focusing specifically on leadership …

Knowledge And Resistance: Feminine Style And Signifyin[G] In Michelle Obama’S Public Address, Tracy Valgento

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis examines the public discourse of the first African American first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. I argue that Michelle Obama uses the double-voiced discourses of feminine style and African American Signifyin[g] to negate post-race and post-gender mythologies that suggest that American society is “beyond identity”. Looking at three of Obama’s speeches: Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech, The Remarks by the First Lady at Memorial Service for Dr. Maya Angelou, and Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address this thesis argues that Michelle Obama performativity interrogates and questions gender and race relations …

Understanding Mentoring Relationships: The Black Male Graduate Student Perspective, Kwame R. Patterson Jr.

Masters Theses

Black males face many obstacles in higher education. They are disproportionately represented among students who are forced to withdraw, underperform academically, and report negative experiences. Despite the negative experiences Black males may encounter, many still have a strong interest in education, and mentoring plays a role in that interest. The purpose of this study was to explore the mentoring relationships and influence on the Black male graduate students experience. A qualitative study was conducted with Black males who received their master's degrees from a regional Midwestern institution. Research revealed that mentoring played a major role in Black male's graduate experience …

Saving Innocents: Tracing The Human Monster Hunter’S Hetero-Normative Agenda From The 1970s To Today, Adam Kem Yerima

Wayne State University Dissertations

In supernatural-themed American television programs that focus on hunting or exposing monsters and the monstrous, the human monster hunter’s representation and actions promote a conservative subtext. While horror scholarship prefers to examine the genre’s monsters and women, and regulate the hunter as simply being an expert, an exploration into the historical development of the figure reveals that there is a lot more to this character. The human monster hunter’s televisual depictions from the 1970s to today reveal a complex illustration that reifies the “American dream.” Time and time again, through the loss of an ideal middle-class experience, the human monster …

Queering Sugar: Kara Walker’S Sugar Sphinx And The Intractability Of Black Female Sexuality, Amber Jamilla Musser

Publications and Research

This essay analyzes the controversy surrounding artist Kara Walker’s 2014 installation, A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, to unpack the pleasures and dangers that subtend discussions of black female sexuality. What Walker announced as a tribute to the labor of brown and black bodies produced myriad conversations about pleasure, danger, and black female sexuality. Most art critics argued that the piece reclaimed black female agency; many visitors criticized the work (and the public response to it) as disrespectful and problematic. In the essay, I argue that both of these responses highlight the difficulty of talking about black female …

The Power Of The Tower: Contesting History At Bear Lodge/Devils Tower National Monument, Anna Marie Kramer

Pomona Senior Theses

Bear Lodge/Devils Tower National Monument, a spectacular rock formation in northeastern Wyoming, has a multiplicity of meanings, not all of which were fully acknowledged until the 1990s. It is widely known as a geologic wonder, the first national monument, a marker of local and pioneer heritage, and a premier rock climbing area. In the 1980s and ‘90s, however, the National Park Service began to acknowledge that the Tower also holds cultural and historical meaning for the Northern Plains tribes, dating back long before the colonization of the American West. Some of the tribes expressed to the Park Service that they …

Perceptions Of Immunizations As Health Prevention Among Female Mexican Immigrants In Oklahoma, Jennifer Doyle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research on health prevention behaviors of Mexican immigrant mothers regarding immunizations has been limited. As of 2014, Hispanics or Latinos comprised 9.6% of the population of the state of Oklahoma and were the largest minority group within Oklahoma. This minority population has continued to grow at a rapid rate in Oklahoma. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of immunizations held by Mexican immigrants who are mothers residing in Oklahoma. The aim of this study was to identify their perceived risk of contracting a vaccine-preventable disease if not immunized and knowledge of immunizations as a health prevention …

Muliple Roles As Predictors Of Subjective Well-Being In African American Women, Sha-Rhonda Michea Green-Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The role strain caused by the multiple roles of some women can impact their stress levels and health outcomes, which negatively affects reported subjective well-being (SWB). The culture and race of African American women has a complex effect on how they experience stress and manage their health. Some research shows the harmful rippling effect of stress for African American women is distinct from other racial groups and men. The purpose of this quantitative archival study was to understand how the SWB of African American women can be predicted by their age, years of education, household income, number of children, and …

African Americans' Understanding Of The Provisions Of The Affordable Care Act, Ewang Theo Epie-Alobwede

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans as a group tend to have numerous health issues, and by the time they seek healthcare, the conditions often advance into more serious ailments. Researchers have shown that cultural distrust of the U.S. healthcare system coupled with some discriminatory practices has hindered African Americans seeking care and taking full advantage of the healthcare system. With the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), there is some confusion about the application of the law, resulting in many intended beneficiaries misinterpreting it, and not accessing quality healthcare. This interpretive phenomenological study explored how African Americans in the …

Stigma And Hiv Testing Among African American Women In New Jersey, Mirriam Limage-Pierre

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American women are 18 times more likely to contract HIV than are European American women, yet they are less likely to be tested for HIV. Lack of HIV testing leads to late diagnosis and increased mortality from HIV-related illnesses. Based on the health belief model, this correlational study analyzed the extent to which HIV stigma mediated the relationship between perceived benefits or perceived severity of HIV and the uptake of HIV testing among African American women in New Jersey. A total of 93 African American women aged 18 and older who resided in New Jersey completed online questionnaires. Data …

Improving Patient Care Delivery In A Small Alaska Native Health Care Organization, Annette Cecile Siemens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Chronic diseases impose heavy burdens on the United States health care system, particularly among some ethnic/racial groups such as American Indian and Alaska Natives who experience higher incidence of these diseases than non-Native population. In an effort to improve the health status of its patients, the Ukudigaunal Wellness Center (UWC) partnered with the Improving Patient Care (IPC) Collaborative to implement changes designed to improve chronic disease care for Native Alaskans through intensive monitoring of screening for chronic disease and selected chronic disease outcomes. For this program evaluation, the units of analysis were the changes in health service delivery and the …

“Yellow Crowfoot In The Pond,/Not Lotus, Not Lily”: Mapping The River, Mapping Voices, Pamela J. Rader

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This paper examines the prosody of Chin’s eponymous poem, "The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty," through an eco-critical lens. While it does not dismiss the hybrid cultural influences of the poem, it focuses on the ways the non-human agents, or the figures in the poem’s landscape, “speak.” Poetry, like the poem’s terraced gardens, traces tension between the controlling human forces experienced by the narrating female I personas and the natural world’s affective inclinations.

Domestic Violence In Lac Su’S I Love Yous Are For White People: A Sociological Criticism Approach, Quan-Manh Ha

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This article employs sociological criticism to examine domestic violence, parenting, and communication behavior in Lac Su’s Vietnamese American memoir. The book debunks the seemingly positive myth of Asian Americans as a model minority, substantiates certain negative stereotypes of Asian men, and challenges some of the classic Asian values that apparently have shaped the Asian American identity. I argue that Su’s memoir is a critique of structural inequalities, urban poverty, unemployment, inaccessibility to a support network, and the intersection between class, gender, and race in the contexts of war and its aftermath.

"Their Shadows Still Walk With Us": Mapping A Decolonial Cartography Of Struggle With Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa, Sandra Álvarez

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper maps a cartography of struggle to document the dynamic, living legacy of Menominee leader Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa and her contribution to the decolonial possibilities of transnational Indigenous feminism. I propose that mapping a cartography of struggle is a useful way for movements to consider how the past informs the present and future possibilities of resistance and decoloniality.

Este artículo traza una cartografía de las luchas que llevó a cabo la líder Menominee Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa con el fin de documentar su legado dinámico y vivo y su contribución a las posibilidades decoloniales del feminismo indígena transnacional. Propongo la …