College Dating Across Cultures: Exploring Online And Offline Motives, Religiosity, Uncertainty Avoidance, And Perceived Dating Success, Maria Murad

SMU Journal of Undergraduate Research

Drawing on uses and gratification theory, this quantitative study examined the relationship between dating motives (long-term vs. casual), dating modes (online vs. offline), perceived dating success, as well as uncertainty avoidance among college students (n=270) seeking relationships across the globe. Additionally, it studied the cultural and religious aspects of dating behavior, adding to a more complex understanding of modern dating situations.

Results showed that online daters more frequently reported long-term relationship motives than offline daters, and offline daters more frequently reported dating for casual sex than online daters. Long-term motives were positively correlated with perceived dating success, and …

The Declaration Of Sentiments: A Womanist Perspective, Emmalee Layton

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This paper examines the Declaration of Sentiments, an influential document in the creation of the early feminist movement, through a womanist lens. This paper aims to address whether the formulation of the Declaration of Sentiments had Black women’s liberation in mind, and how feminist movements must approach misogyny and racialization as co-constitutive in order to create liberatory strategies for Black women. This paper examines specific grievances that are outlined within the Declaration of Sentiments which are then put into historical context to signal whether the Declaration of Sentiments addresses the nuances of misogynoir and effectively strategizes for Black women’s liberation …

Cultural Humility In The Workplace: A Causal-Comparative Study Of Foreign And Local Hire Employees In International Education, Natalie A. Ortiz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cultural humility is recognized as a framework for fostering respectful relationships in culturally diverse workplaces. However, limited research has examined cultural humility within international education in regard to workplace dynamics and power imbalances that may exist between foreign and local hire educators. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine differences in perceived cultural humility levels between foreign and local hire employees in PreK-12^th grade private international schools in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The study also examined whether years of international educational experience and the number of international educational assignments influenced perceived cultural humility levels. Data …

‘Passing’ The Baton Of Trauma: Queer Failure Of The Women’S Sport Policy Working Group’S Anti-Trans ‘Position’, Meredith M. Bagley, Mary Anne Taylor, Sarah F. Price

Publications and Research

Engaging in critical rhetorical theory and methodology, we interrogate the contemporary landscape of anti-trans backlash in women’s sport. Specifically, we read the ‘TERF wars’ (Pearce et al.) across critiques of biofeminism (Pape) and whiteness (Fischer) while drawing upon critical social science research into trauma-bonding, bullying, and the structural impacts of gender verification policies. Our analysis focuses on the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group (WSPWG), offering a trauma-informed reading of the WSPWG’s ‘Position’ statement to illuminate how lesbian female athletes who were previously slandered for failing to meet femininity norms in sport are unable to overcome that trauma to recognize and …

Determinants Of Antenatal Care Utilization: A Community-Based, Cross-Sectional Study In Morang And Sunsari Districts, Eastern Nepal, Sunil Shah, Chandra Jha

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

This study examined the factors influencing antenatal care (ANC) utilization in the eastern region of Nepal, focusing on the Morang and Sunsari districts, with the aim of identifying key determinants affecting ANC uptake and assessing the extent of ANC service utilization among mothers. Using lot quality assurance sampling, a community-based, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed, surveying 164 mothers who had given birth within the previous 12 months; data were collected from June through November 2023. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS, with descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression. Findings revealed that 80.5% of respondents …

Flows That Teach: Multimodal Hip-Hop Pedagogy For Equity In Special Education, Camille O'Quin, Sara Jozwik

Journal of the Arts and Special Education

Hip-Hop can be more than a soundtrack played at home, it can be a bridge between culture, language, and learning at school. This article shows how Hip-Hop pedagogy, translanguaging, and code-meshing can support students with disabilities, especially those who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE), in the classroom setting. Grounded in culturally relevant pedagogy and translanguaging theory, the approach uses rhythm, storytelling, and performance to build narrative fluency, language awareness, and confidence. Examples include students drafting rap verses about personal experiences, holding structured cypher circles to practice turn-taking and self-expression, and blending AAVE with Mainstream American English in writing for …

Tùn-Scene And A-Futurism: Biomythography, Opacity, And Posthuman Imagination, Minglu Du

Masters Theses

Grounded in the author’s position as a Chinese feminist, this thesis examines how East Asian women, as well as East Asian-coded femininity more broadly, are objectified and othered within futurist visual culture in the age of artificial intelligence. Through an engagement with ornamentalism, techno-Orientalism, and posthumanism1 , it argues that the persistent figure of the feminized humanoid cyborg continues to reproduce colonial and patriarchal structures of desire, rendering marginalized bodies as fetishized and violable surfaces. In response, the thesis develops Tùn-Scene, a biomythographic artistic framework and the first experiment in what the author provisionally names A-Futurism. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s …

Menstrual Muses: Art, Storytelling, And The Care-Based Communication Of Menstrual Justice, Burcu Koleli

Masters Theses

Menstrual Muses is an artistic research project comprising a written thesis and a body of work developed across soft sculpture, ceramics, illustration, graphic memoir, digital media, and participatory workshops. The written component operates alongside the studio practice, outlining the project’s theoretical framework, methodology, and context while engaging questions of communication, accessibility, embodiment, and stigma. It situates menstruation within feminist discourse, examining how it has been culturally silenced, regulated, and shaped through systems of power.

The artistic work functions as research materialized through practice, responding to the central question of how my art can facilitate conversations around menstrual justice. It explores …

The African American Pulpit And The Reconstruction Of Narrative Ground In The Black Community, Nathaniel Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how the African American pulpit serves as a living wellspring for rebuilding stories, memory, and identity, a task made urgent by centuries of erasure, from the trauma of the Middle Passage to the ongoing reverberations of that violence. My central claim is that African American preaching, when viewed through the insight-rich frameworks of Gadamer, Burke, and Frankl, becomes not just a form of speech, but a lifeline. It helps reclaim "narrative ground": the deep roots of meaning, belonging, and shared purpose that nourish a wounded people and allow genuine flourishing.

The journey unfolds across six movements. Chapter …

Soft Life Or Survival? The Digital Rebranding Of Black Womanhood In Online Culture, Elizabeth Revangil

Communications and Digital Media Theses

This thesis examines how Black women are using digital media, specifically the popular social media platform, TikTok, to redefine femininity through the soft life SOFT LIFE OR SURVIVAL 2 movement. Historically, Black womanhood has been tied to strength, resilience, and survival, leaving limited space for softness and emotional vulnerability. This tends to create unrealistic expectations, and an undeniable societal pressure on Black women to perform. In recent years, social media has created opportunities for Black women to challenge these expectations and present alternative definitions of the Black women identity, reshaped around peace, emotional well-being, and softness instead of strength. Using …

Nonbinary And Transgender Representation In Media: How Scripted Media Impacts And Shapes The Identities Of Communities Outside The Gender Binary, Makenna Dykstra

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The lack of, and otherwise poor, representation of nonbinary and trans communities contributes to the societal othering of these communities. However, nonbinary and trans representation holds importance to these communities. Trans and nonbinary communities, like other communities, use media to help them negotiate their identities (Hall, 2005). However, current representation in scripted television is small and contentious, with the ability to have just as much of a negative impact as a positive one. LGBTQ+ television has a history of favoring moderate depictions of queerness, like that in nonbinary and trans characters, as a means of defining these identities to cisgender …

Portrayals Of Miscarriage In Film And Television: A Qualitative Analysis, Geovana Leonetti Saraiva

All Theses

Entertainment media may serve as a primary source through which individuals learn about miscarriage; however, little research has examined how miscarriage is portrayed in film and television. This study addresses this gap by conducting a textual analysis of five films and five television shows using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Guided by the model of stigma communication (MSC), communication privacy management theory (CPM), and social support frameworks, the analysis explores how miscarriage is represented in entertainment media.

Findings indicate that the analyzed content frequently includes stigma-related cues—such as marks, labels, responsibility, and peril—that may contribute to the formation and reinforcement …

"Am I A Man Or A Muppet": A Rhetorical Analysis Of Generative Ai’S Representation Of Gender, Jessica Boaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how generative artificial intelligence constructs and performs gender roles through a rhetorical analysis of the fully AI-generated podcast Fairytale Forensics. Drawing on theories of constitutive rhetoric, stereotyping, and McLuhan’s approach to the medium, this thesis investigates how AI-generated hosts interpret classic fairy tales while simultaneously reproducing and negotiating gender norms through the lens of prosopopoeia, metonymy and synecdoche. These performances rely on normative gender stereotypes that align with broader societal expectations, thereby potentially reinforcing existing cultural assumptions about masculinity and femininity. Ultimately, it demonstrates that AI-generated discourse does not merely reflect human biases but actively participates in …

Staging The Commons Through The “Padha Nonton” Song; Youtube, Community Engagement, And Gandrung Cultural Practice, Intan Mustika Sari

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

This study examines how the Gandrung accompaniment song “Padha nonton” participates in processes of digital cultural sharing when circulated on YouTube. It employs a qualitative interpretive method within a netno‑pragmatic framework to analyse audience engagement as a culturally informed social practice. The findings show that the song’s linguistic features convey cultural scripts of invitation, togetherness, and communal spectatorship, reflecting the role of the Gandrung tradition in shaping shared social relationships and cultural values. Furthermore, the study identifies three interrelated processes: re-medialization, re-experiencing, and re-conception through which the performance extends beyond its original ritual context and becomes a shared …

Beyond The Sidelines: A Qualitative Analysis Proposal Of How Female Athletes Reclaim Narratives Via Digital Ownership, Kaitlyn Kirschner

Posters - 2026

The Gatekeeping Model: Traditional sports media operates through a centralized gatekeeping system, in which editorial filtering determines the information disseminated to the public (Wilderness Agency, 2021). Narrative Control: Such centralization strongly shapes the portrayal of athletes’ identities and restricts the visibility of individuals outside mainstream sports. The 90/10 Coverage Gap: Despite the expansion of professional leagues, women’s sports continue to receive less than 10% of total media coverage (I Play Like a Girl, 2024). Standardized Reporting: Established broadcasting practices and commercial priorities have historically resulted in standardized reporting that favors male-dominated sports (Doyle et al., 2021). Systemic Inequity: These frameworks …

Under The Cover Of Blackness: The Racialized Dimensions Of Netflix’S Personalized Cover Art, Daphne Gershon

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the mechanisms that shape how race is represented in online TV interfaces by analyzing Netflix’s personalized cover art, an essential digital paratext designed to attract viewers through individualized images. Netflix has previously been accused of using its personalized cover art or thumbnails in racially biased ways, displaying either Black or white characters based on the presumed race of users. To further existing research on this digital feature, this article focuses not just on whether Black characters are represented, but also on how they are represented. Through an exploratory pilot study that involves the creation of different algorithmic …

Bridging Cultures: Developing A Culturally Responsive Educational Website For Pediatric Service Providers, Aimun Aziz, Wendy Tremaine

Spring 2026 OTD Capstone Symposium

The increasing cultural diversity of the pediatric population in the United States highlights the need for culturally responsive, family-centered care. However, many providers report limited training and practical resources to support the integration of cultural humility into clinical practice. This capstone project aimed to develop and evaluate an evidence-based educational website to support pediatric service providers in delivering culturally responsive care.

A program development framework was used, incorporating family needs assessments, pre- and post-intervention surveys of pediatric therapy staff, and thematic analysis of key factors related to communication, trust, and provider preparedness. Community field visits with diverse populations informed the …

Eyes Wide Shut: Sex Trafficking In The Black Community, Stephany Powell

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Reimagining The American Dream Of Aging: Filmic Portrayals And Implications For Transformative Advertising Research, Katherine C. Sredl, Julie Whiteman, Finola Kerrigan, Cagri Yalkin

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Transformative advertising research uses institutional theory to position advertising as a site for transformative well-being, highlighting the role of ideology in shaping industry practice and output. Our study into discourses of successful aging in three films addressing the lives of older women demonstrates how film uses cinematography, dialogue, and mise-en-scène to discursively create film templates of successful aging. Templates provide cultural ideological frameworks for film audiences in their materialized representations of subject positions, thereby creating consent for the conditions and consumption that symbolize those positions. Although film can offer advertising and its audiences potentially transformative ideological templates of aging and …

Exploring The Mental Health Impacts Of Dating Experiences For Racial And Ethnic Minorities At A Predominantly White Institution, Maya Sánchez, Mylina Garza, Emma Chung

Communication Studies

The present study examined the mental health implications of racial and ethnic minorities’ dating experiences at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). The authors conducted retrospective interviews with 20 minority-identifying college students that attend California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Three primary themes emerged from the conducted research. 1) Feeling excluded from racialized beauty standards threatens self-worth, 2) struggling to find romantic belonging limits emotional safety in relationships and navigating cultural differences in dating produces identity hyperawareness. This study also offers interesting theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, findings display the communication maintenance of identity to how romantic involvement impacts …

The Disproportionate Impact Of Hiv On Young Women In Durban: Exploring Gendered Vulnerabilities And Socioeconomic Barriers, Adrian A. Nolasco

Capstone Collection

South Africa has a high rate of HIV, with young women in Durban especially affected due to social, economic, and cultural challenges. This study looks at the experiences of young women living with HIV and the views of healthcare professionals caring for them in KwaZulu-Natal. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five women and three medical professionals to explore how HIV affects their lives, the challenges they face, and how they cope.

The findings show that both structural and personal barriers make it hard for young women to stick to treatment. Long waits at clinics, limited …

Lyari: A War Unseen, Sammi Deen

MSJ Capstone Projects

This capstone explores the conflict in Lyari Karachi and its enduring aftermath on the locals. It examines the lived experiences of conflict victims, their families and the profound psychological traumas resulting from prolonged violence. The study highlights how the conflict continue to shape everyday life in Lyari.

My capstone provides overview of the Lyari conflict, followed by an in-depth analysis of its social and human consequences. It documents the impacts on locals’ communities, particularly victims’ families, and illustrates how the conflict not only devastated lives but also contributed to the spread of drug abuse, lawlessness, and a culture of unaccountability, …

Motherly Love: A Critical Autoethnography On Identity Formation Through Mental Illness In Maternal Bonds, Ellie E. Monge

Communication Studies

This critical autoethnography is an examination of my personal narrative on how growing up with a mother with mental illness formed my identity as a woman, and as a daughter. I utilize the lens of communication scholarship to understand the effects that this interpersonal relationship had on communication patterns, and ideology. Through personal, and societal analysis the discourse adds to how gendered expectations of womanhood, motherhood, family communication patterns, and dominant mental health rhetoric shape identity for daughters raised in the absence of maternal stability. I implore Family Systems Theory, Family Communication Patterns Theory, Muted Group Theory, and scholarship on …

Sometimes I Picture You Dreaming: How American Female Directors Use Women-In-Prison Films As A Pathway For Public Education And Activism In The Era Of Mass Incarceration, Nicolette Natale

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the role of female directors in creating media that showcases how prisons perpetuate sexism or gender-based violence. As mass incarceration began to take off in the 1970s, this paper begins with an analysis of Jack Hill’s The Big Doll House (1971), which often served as the model for women-in-prison (WIP) exploitation films. While Hill perpetuated the white and male gaze in The Big Doll House, Stephanie Rothman subverts oppressive gazes in her WIP film, Terminal Island (1973), and demonstrates a concern with the historical gendered realities of prison – moving beyond representations of prison on the …

Who We Are Together: Identity Negotiation In Different-Orientation Relationships, Justin Tackett

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

viii Abstract This qualitative study explored how partners in different-orientation (dif-orientation) relationships experienced and navigated identity across the five frames of the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI): personal, enacted, relational, communal, and material. Dif-orientation relationships, romantic partnerships where individuals identify with different sexual orientations, represent a form of intercultural communication involving partners from distinct sexual orientation communities who must negotiate different cultural frameworks regarding sexuality, relationships, and identity expression. Despite growing recognition of diverse relationship configurations, little research currently examines how partners in these relationships manage identity gaps, or misalignments between different frames of identity, and what communication strategies they …

The Final Boys' Club: Conceptualizing A Final Boy Of 1980s Horror, Ej Newton

Masters Theses

Carol J Clover’s (2015) Final Girl, the female slasher protagonist who survives to the end of the movie, has become a staple of horror scholarship, providing insight into the function of gender within the genre as well as our cultural beliefs surrounding femininity. Given the attention paid to horror’s leading ladies, however, another fascinating figure has gone unexplored: the Final Boy. This project analyzes nine horror films from the 1980s with young male protagonists in order to conceptualize and critique this previously unidentified trope. Utilizing McKerrow’s (1989) critical rhetoric as a guide, this research not only provides a thorough definition …

Critical Feminist Editorial Praxis: My Tenure As The First Journal Editor Of Color Of Communication Monographs, Srivi Ramasubramanian

Media Studies - All Scholarship

In this essay I theorize about Critical Feminist Editorial Praxis, which envisions journal editing as a site for scholar-activism. I use the term activism because to counter the hegemonic whiteness and coloniality of Communication knowledge requires active efforts to go against the taken-for-granted processes and practices. Journal editing is a significant location for interventions because this is often where we learn what is considered cutting-edge scholarship within our discipline. This significance is especially clear when the journal in question is a flagship publication of a leading professional organization. As I end my tenure as the first editor of color of …

The Role Of Media Literacy In Shaping Campus Student Leaders’ Perceptions Of Media Activism, Online Risks, And Social Support, Srivi Ramasubramanian, Minnie Mcmillian, Shumaila Bhatti, Shannon Burth, Julius Matthew Riles, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, Melody Wilson

Media Studies - All Scholarship

Campus activism by student leaders has historically played a significant role in social movements. Within contemporary contexts, media is an important site through which campus student leaders raise awareness, share relevant information, distribute online petitions, and shape public discourses on various social issues. Media literacy is an essential skill for student leaders to be effective in their activist initiatives and be able to cope with the inevitable pushback through trolling and cyberbullying that such activism would likely bring up. This survey (N = 855) with college student leaders across three universities explores how they rate themselves on media literacy skills, …

You Are Your Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams: A Journey Beyond The Lens Blueprinting The Influence And Impact Of Media And Podcast Pedagogy On Black And Brown Creatives In Higher Education And Beyond, Diamond N. Morgan Dr.

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Explores the influence and impact of media and podcast pedagogy on Black and Brown creatives (BBC) in higher education. Grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT), the Black Creative Educational Experience (BCEEs) framework, and the conceptual lenses of sociological and public podcasting, this study examines how podcasting functions as a transformative pedagogical and sociocultural tool for storytelling, identity development, creative expression, and community building within collegiate environments. Utilizing a convergent parallel mixed methods design, the study integrates quantitative survey data from 65 participants with qualitative focus group discussions to provide a holistic understanding of participant experiences across personal, professional, academic, social, …

Technology-Facilitated Violence And Abuse: Portrayals And Perceptions, Christina S. Walker

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

In the past, intimate partner violence (IPV) was primarily perpetrated in person. However, due to new mediated communication technologies and capabilities like social media and artificial intelligence (AI), perpetrators can use this technology for various purposes including subjecting others to violence, harassment, and abuse. Such violence can be a form of IPV and is referred to as technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA). TFVA is becoming increasingly prevalent and is encountered by a staggering percent of women. Furthermore, unlike traditional forms of IPV, even men are subjected to TFVA at increasing and disproportionate rates, particularly male teens.

In the current state …