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A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Second-Year African American Male Students On Predominantly White Campuses Through Critical Race Theory, Craig S. Pickett Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Title: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Second-Year African American Male Students on Predominantly White Campuses through the Lens of Critical Race Theory

Abstract:

The critical nature of the first year has pushed thousands of colleges and universities across the United States to create intentional programs specifically for first-year students. Less understood are the experiences of students during their second year – a different and, at times, even more challenging period. Second-year students face a myriad of issues, including achieving competence, desiring autonomy, establishing identity, and developing purpose, with many experiencing a phenomenon called the sophomore slump. …

Sexual Harassment As A Narrative Contest, Christine Vossler

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how stories shape both the perpetration of sexual harassment and the experiences of victims during and after sexual harassment. During and after the experience of sexual harassment, a narrative contest transpires between the harasser, victim, and others who contribute to the contest by engaging in the formal and informal conversations that follow known experiences of harassment in the workplace. I analyze 22 public statements, interviews, and investigative reports, including statements from men accused of sexual harassment, women who were sexually harassed, and bystanders. A narrative framework, including concepts of narrative believability and story credibility, is used to …

Choice-Based Games And Resilience Building Of Gender Non-Conforming Individuals: An Exploratory Study, Yuri M. Cantrell

Masters Theses

Research on gaming and user experience of the general population has been abundant, but gender non-conforming (GNC) individuals’ experiences had been largely overlooked until recent years. Using a phenomenological approach, the goal of this study is to find deeper understanding of this phenomenon by exploring what gaming experiences shape the identity of the participants. The exploration of gaming and gender non-conforming experiences through interviews can fill a gap in the current literature on gaming culture regarding this specific population. By taking a closer look at this topic, patterns and themes within games may provide insight to potential resilience building activities …

University Statements On The Murder Of George Floyd: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Alexandria M. Brown

Masters Theses

Minneapolis police office, Derek Chauvin, murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020. After this killing, many universities throughout the United States, including all the institutions in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), released public statements about the murder. Over the last few decades, cuts in funding to institutes of higher education have resulted in colleges and universities adopting the managerial and revenue-generating practices of corporations. With corporations as their example, they have also taken to releasing statements about socio-political events, rather than just about incidents pertaining to their immediate stakeholders. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper examines those statements and discusses the …

Examining The Effects Of Family Stress And Family Strengths On The Quality Of Mother-Child Relationships In Married And Unmarried Black Families, Deonte Hughes

Masters Theses

Mother-child relationships are complex, diverse, and change in response to internal and external factors that affect families and family life. For instance, Black children are more likely to live in households with unmarried parents. Even more, Black families are disproportionately more likely to be in poverty than the general population. Research on Black families tends to center association between family structure and poverty as mechanisms affecting mother-child relationships. There is little research on the role of economic hardship on familial relationships in Black families. Additionally, there is little research on the role of family strengths on familial relationships in Black …

Housing Market Conditions And Neighborhood Concentrated Disadvantage: Impacts On Crime Victimization In Knoxville, Tennessee, Jiayi Li

Doctoral Dissertations

Neighborhood concentrated disadvantage is a composite social factor that quantifies the quality of neighborhoods in urban areas. Criminal activity and victimization are more prevalent in disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, whether housing market factors (e.g., eviction, foreclosure, and subprime lending) represent an unrecognized dimension of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage remains unknown. I contribute to the neighborhood disadvantage literature by assessing whether three housing market factors (eviction, foreclosure, and subprime lending) are a neglected part of neighborhood concentrated disadvantaged that explains criminal activity and victimization. Furthermore, I investigate whether housing market factors mediate the relationship between concentrated disadvantage and crime. Last, using spatial analysis …

Film Women Violence, Madison R. Ross

Masters Theses

As a condensed version of social reality, film has become a more common object of modern sociological and criminological investigation. As such, we can explore film to understand taken-for-granted as well as innovative constructions of social phenomena. Among these are gendered violence. We can use film to dig deep into its logics, elaborated in visual and narrative representations. Prior literature has analyzed crime films and the behavioral constructions within them, outlining the representations of serial homicide, rape, mass shootings and revenge. However, few studies have outlined films that do meaningful, non-voyeuristic representational work on the issue of violence against …

Putting The Meat In Meat-Less?: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Corporate Marketing Of Plant-Based Products, Samantha A. Mcintyre

Masters Theses

The plant-based industry has sustained rapid growth within recent years due to awareness surrounding environmental harms. Due to the rise in profitability of plant-based products in the consumer market, multiple corporations have either acquired or created plant-based brands. The corporations that have done so (Tyson, Smithfield, Kellogg’s, Nestlé, and Conagra Foods) are the subjects of study for this project. These major corporations are also part of the industrial animal agriculture system, and garner profit from meat and dairy businesses. This study explores the way the marketing is embedded in ideologies of Western capitalism and patriarchy. I use critical discourse analysis …

Pandemics And Power: An Applied Analysis Of American Inequality, Megan A. Engle

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Pandemics represent both social change and continuance. While these public health crises bring about seemingly new issues, they also have a unique ability to reveal pre-existing problems within our society and perpetual social processes. Understanding historical patterns related to public health crises provides greater insight on the ongoing pandemic and American policy needs. Research reveals that, both historically and presently, systemic social injustices and economic inequalities are inflamed by such events. As a result, pandemics disproportionately affect minority groups in several interconnected ways. In examining public health theory, past pandemics, and the present moment, the effects of both power disparities …

Police, Ice, And Knox County: A Timeline Of The 287(G) And Detention Bed Contracts From 2017-2021, Taylor Dempsey

Select or Award-Winning Individual Scholarship

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) continues to heavily collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in spite of the consistent community opposition and ongoing legal ramifications that have resulted from Knox County’s 287(g) and detention bed contracts. Research on these programs and Knox County’s immigration enforcement involvement has largely focused on the logistics of enforcement mechanisms, the racism and xenophobia that construct the programs, and the legal challenges Knox County has faced as a result of their execution of the contracts. This creative project accumulates this research and utilizes public records received from Public Records Act and Freedom of …

From Mission To Competition: The Experiences Of 10 Lds Missionary Student-Athletes Returning To Competition In The National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, Matthew J. Moore, Leslee A. Fisher, Lindsey A. Miossi, Zach T. Smith, Jacob C. Jensen,

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

The purpose of the current study was to explore the experiences of LDS missionary student-athletes returning to competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (DI). Using Consensual Qualitative Research methods (CQR; Hill, 2012) including a semi-structured interview guide, 10 DI student-athletes/returned LDS missionaries were interviewed regarding their experience (i.e., mean age of 25 years; baseball, cross-country/track and field, football, and swimming). A research team with five members constructed four domains and 16 categories representing DI student-athlete/returned LDS missionary chronological identity changes during this experience: (a) the development of an LDS missionary identity; (b) challenges associated with returning …

Political Exclusion: Examining Anti-Lgbt+ Movement Results In Tennessee, Symantha K. Gregorash

Masters Theses

Social movement theory and research has produced ample works on national movements and progressive movements, but gaps persist in our understanding of conservative advocacy as social movements and the ways in which groups which hold power organize to identify and address challenges to their positions. Through analyzing state-level conservative social movements, we can examine the marginalizing legislation which continues to be passed at the cost of LGBT+ groups and the ways in which conservative social movements form coalitions and support action on conservative issues. While national-level funding analyses have called attention to the ways class connections maintain power, there is …

“And They Wrote It All Down As The Progress Of Man”: Relationships Between Environment, Extractive Industries, And Appalachian Agency, Emma V. Kelly

Masters Theses

The landscape of Central Appalachia has shaped and been shaped by its residents for thousands of years. The advent of industrialized extractive industries greatly shifted the nature and the extent of these processes, with capitalistic domination being asserted over the environment. While this shift towards industrialization was a widespread phenomenon, it undertook a unique trajectory within Appalachia, a region which occupies a distinct position within the national perspective. Although geographically established by the Appalachian Regional Commission, Appalachia is more than a politically defined set of counties: It is an incredibly diverse sociocultural region that exists on varying planes of marginalization …

Possessed: New Horror Films In The Era Of Neoliberalism, Bethany C. Nelson

Doctoral Dissertations

Since its inception, the horror genre has been reflective of cultural fears. In neoliberal society, horror cinema has experienced a cultural revival that has challenged the conventional boundaries of the genre and expanded our current understandings through a convergence of neoliberalism and gothic horror with unprecedented popularity in the cultural imaginary. The conjuring universe, one of the highest grossing and most popular horror universes to date, presents a key space for cultural criminologists, like horror and film fans, to engage with the terror of the neoliberal world through mediated new gothic images, resulting in a gothic criminology. Through an ethnographic …

Police, Ice, And Knox County: A Timeline Of The 287(G) And Detention Bed Contracts From 2017-2021, Taylor Dempsey

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Public Accounting Firm Statement Analysis: A Predictive Model To Identify Semantic Criteria To Enhance Firm Discussion Addressing Racial Injustice, Courtney Rochelle Lam

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Sex And Politics: Understanding Gender Divides In American Political Participation, Megan A. Engle

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Representation And Analysis Of The Effect Of Media And Interaction With Social Media On Its Consumers, Zoe Kendall

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Justice Involvement During Covid-19 And The Possibility Of Transitional Justice, Rachel A. Ponder

Doctoral Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced numerous unprecedented political, social, and economic challenges that resulted in unprecedented responses by policy makers. As result, existing inequalities and injustices rooted in a dense history of structural and institutional violence were uncovered and exacerbated. As of June 2021, at least 398,627 people in prison tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 2,715 had died (The Marshall Project 2021). In the United States, the inmate population is disproportionately made up of poor, people of color. This is a pattern that is rooted in the country’s long history of racism and white supremacy. This cycle continues as …

Climate Change And Human Responses, Caroline Znachko, Armando Anzellini, Katherine Parker, Christa Hicks

Anthropology Publications and Other Works

The Department of Anthropology’s Visiting Lecture Research Series is an ongoing edited volume compiling research products created by (under)graduate students for the Department of Anthropology’s Visiting Lecture Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Each volume in the series, compiled by its own (under)graduate student editors and approved by the Department Head, includes original research products by participating (under)graduate students.

The Department of Anthropology’s Visiting Lecture Program, also known as Current Trends in Anthropology (ANTH357/550), is a symposium held annually each fall semester with a different theme for the purpose of exposing students to anthropologists from around the world and …

Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá: Constructing National Identity In The Case Of Jonathan González, Arturo Jaime Morales Jr

Masters Theses

First-generation Mexican-Americans who are born in the US to immigrant parents often find themselves at a crossroad constantly negotiating their ethnic identity. One of those junctions where Mexican-Americans often have to navigate their identity is in the world of soccer, in particular when it comes to rooting for the US national team or the Mexican national team. Scholars call this transnational concept Entre Dos Mundos–Between Two Worlds (Bacallao and Smokowski 2005; Campbell 2005; Gutierrez 1996; Menjivar 2002). Jonathan González is one of those Mexican-Americans, who in 2018 announced his decision to play for the Mexican national team instead of …

Montgomery 1960: Using Technology To Teach Empathy And Perspective Taking, Brooks M. Leftwich, Gregory T. Croisdale, Khoa T. Dang

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

A primary purpose of higher education in the U.S. is to promote personally and socially responsible graduates that can lead at work and in society (AAC&U, 2005). To successfully do so, students need coaching that intentionally develops empathy, perspective taking, intercultural agility, and the capacity to make ethical decisions (Narveaz, 2006). The holistic approaches historically used to teach these skills died with classical curriculum as the research university emerged and the risk-management culture replaced our in loco parentis relationships with students (Colby & Eichman. 2005). The current legal and political climate limits genuine discussion between college students and faculty/staff mentors …

Black Men’S Intimate Partner Violence Victimization, Help-Seeking, And Barriers To Help-Seeking, Meagan A. Stewart

Masters Theses

Guided by hegemonic masculinity and intersectionality theories, this descriptive, exploratory thesis examined Black men’s intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization experiences, subsequent help-seeking decisions, and barriers to help-seeking. Even though IPV is generally associated with women, it has been documented that men also experience sexual, physical, and/or psychological abuse. The experiences of Black men as victims has been overlooked within the IPV literature, and less is known about their help-seeking decision making, as well as the barriers they face if and when they do seek help. Whether Black men are more or less likely to seek informal (e.g., friends), formal (e.g., …

“There Shall Be Made No Differentiation:” The Maintenance Of Stratification In The State Of Kuwait Through The 1959 Nationality And Aliens Residence Laws, Alzaina Shams Aldeen

Masters Theses

Article 29 of the Kuwaiti constitution states that “The people are peers in human dignity and have, in the eyes of the Law, equal public rights and obligations. There shall be made no differentiation among them because of gender, origin, language or religion.” If I were to say that the 17, 818 km ² that make up the State of Kuwait is home to 4.2 million people, it would be a misrepresentation. While 4.2 million people do live in Kuwait, citizenship and immigration laws restrict 70% of its population, to varying degrees, from making their country of residence a home. …

Debt Delivered: The Predatory Inclusion Of A Rent-To-Own Chain In The Treasure Valley, Jeff Cates

Masters Theses

This thesis is a study of customers at a rent-to-own (RTO) firm in Boise, Idaho, where I worked and collected data for nearly three years. RTOs are companies that offer higher-end electronics, appliances, and furniture to customers on a contract where the consumer receives the product immediately and pays a (usually highly marked-up) price over time by making small weekly or monthly payments. While predatory lending practices have long been studied by scholars from various fields, very little work has focused on the rent-to-own industry, which may have unique differences from payday lending and other similar businesses. This thesis centers …

Hazardous Weather And Human Response In The Southeastern United States, Daniel Burow

Doctoral Dissertations

Effectively mitigating the human costs of future hazardous weather events requires examining meteorological threats, their long-term patterns, and human response to these events. The southeastern United States is a region that has both a high climatological risk and a high societal vulnerability to many different meteorological hazards. In this dissertation, I study hazardous weather and human response in the Southeast through three different lenses: identifying uniquely simultaneous hazards posed by tropical cyclones, assessing precipitation and synoptic weather patterns on hazardous weather days, and examining patterns in intended response to tornado watches. I find that simultaneous and collocated tornado and flash …

A Collective Metamorphosis Of Breastfeeding Mothers: A Phenomenological Exploration Of A Face-To-Face Healthcare Provider Facilitated Peer Support Group, Emily Alexandria Tucker

Doctoral Dissertations

This research study used phenomenology to examine a face-to-face healthcare facilitated breastfeeding support group. Participant observations and phenomenology were used to address the following research questions: 1) what are the lived experiences of the women participating a breastfeeding support group, 2) how does the group influence their lived experiences, and 3) what were the common experiences of these women? The support group participants were observed while the researcher acted as a participant observer over the course of an eleven-month period. There were a total of seven women interviewed about their lived experiences breastfeeding and attending the support group. Data from …

Criminal Justice Contact And Romantic Relationships: Moving Beyond Marital Dissolution, Colton Tanner Kilpatrick

Doctoral Dissertations

Changes to U.S. criminal justice policies during the latter part of the twentieth century dramatically increased the number of people incarcerated, and the impact continues to reverberate throughout millions of families today. This three-part dissertation extends scholarship on the effects of criminal justice contact on adult romantic relationships in several ways. The first study uses the PRISMA framework (Liberati et al., 2009) to systematically review what is known regarding how criminal justice contact may increase the risk of marital and non-marital relationship dissolution and whether this risk differs by form of criminal justice contact or by gender. Results were overwhelmingly …

Contemporary Black Civil Rights Activism Strategies In East Tennessee: Gaining Economic And Political Power In The Black Community, Lily Joy Crosby

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the contemporary Black civil rights movement in East Tennessee to gain a better understanding of the strategies being employed to mobilize publics. Though an important aspect of the public relations field, in public relations academia there is a lack of research centering on activism. Little has been explored outside of organizational settings, especially since the rise of technology and increased interconnectedness of the world. To learn more about the movement in East Tennessee, the researcher interviewed eight leaders of the contemporary Black civil rights movement across the East Tennessee region. The researcher …

Spatio-Temporal Modeling Of Crime In Chicago, Illinois, Shelby Scott

Doctoral Dissertations

Gun crime is a major public health concern in the United States. In Chicago, Illinois, gun crime incurs a significant cost of life along with monetary costs and community unrest. Due to past legislation, there is limited research applying quantitative methods to gun crime in Chicago. The overall purpose of this work is to create a cellular automata model to observe and project the epidemic spread of gun crime in Chicago. To create that model, t-test analyses of temporal patterns, a Bayesian point process model, a negative binomial Bayesian subset selection, and a k-selection algorithm are used. The cellular automata …