Digital Commons Network^™

Daughters Of Depression : A Critical-Hermeneutic Phenomenological Examination Of Adult Black Women’S Experiences With Strong Black Woman’S Role When Mothered By Women With Perceived Depression, Christin D. Haynes

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Black American women are experiencing chronic depression at alarming rates. Major racial/sex disparities in disease prevalence indicates Black American women are at increased risk for depression onset due to exposure to poverty and traumatic life events. With the rise of single, female-headed households, children are at increased risk for exposure to maternal mental illness which is defined as an adverse childhood experience impacting their development through adulthood. Black American mothers have the additional burden of racially socializing all children to learn how to manage systematic racist structures embedded in American society, yet daughters require the additional socialization for gender biases. …

Brutality Behind Bars: A Look At Prison Violence In Ecuador, Zulema Alejandra Palacios Jaramillo

Graduate Masters Theses

Prisons are frequently perceived as spaces where those unwanted by society are placed. Thus, they are often purposefully ignored and left under-served. This is the reality of prisons and inmates in Ecuador, where violence has reached unprecedented levels, raising concerns about its causes. As this thesis shows, violence inside prisons is not an isolated incident only provoked by the restrictive nature of detention centers, or the character of inmates, but rather a manifestation of a complex mix of institutional, organizational, criminological, and social factors at play in the country. This thesis aims at understanding, from a conflict resolution perspective, what …

Immediate Response Of Bats To Prescribed Fire And Impact Of Experiences On Women's Self-Image In Natural Resources Professions, Zebria Hicks

All Theses

To inform use of prescribed fire management practice in the southeastern US, we studied its impact on bats, which are important and at-risk species. We evaluated if prescribed fire had a positive, neutral, or negative effect on bat activity in the two weeks following the burns. We recorded bat activity after prescribed burns in February and March 2022 in northwestern South Carolina in select hardwood and pine stands and control sites ≥ 500 m from burn boundaries. We measured insect abundance, canopy cover, basal area, and understory density at each site. We recorded 687 passes during our 45-day study period. …

The Philosophy Of Activism And Its Paradox., Omar Arar

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Activist organizations have been at the forefront of countless progressive efforts, seeking to ameliorate social injustices, expand the rights of marginalized people, and strengthen democratic institutions. However, the efforts of activists always seem to lead to incremental victories or a minimal change to the status quo. In this paper, I argue that the primary cause of this largely stagnant social justice landscape is the professionalization of activism. Activism in its professional form, as people who make a living out of their activist efforts, brings with it numerous issues, the most problematic among them is the manifestation a paradox. Namely, professional …

Maternal Health In The Context Of Social, Political, And Economic Change Among Hadzabe Foragers Of Tanzania, Kristen Herlosky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many low and middle-income countries have implemented new national policy measures aimed at reducing maternal morbidity and mortality due to globalized efforts to improve women’s maternal health. One of the main goals is to move childbirth into hospital facilities and improve health access and education outreach. For Indigenous communities around the world, these measures have fallen short of their goals. Indigenous women suffer from greater social, political, and economic disparities and inequalities, have poorer health indicators overall, and worse maternal health outcomes compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. For small-scale communities, we have limited data on reproductive health among women, specifically …

Digital Masculinity: An Analysis Of How Masculine Values Are Manifested In Online Spaces, Catherine Thompson

Honors Projects

In this research paper, I utilize previous research to demonstrate how the history of masculinity in America impacts views of social hierarchy in gendered spaces online. I describe how hegemonic masculinity affects how men view themselves and others to understand why men’s online groups like incels, pick-up artists, men’s rights activists, 4chan, and 8chan develop and thrive by providing men with groups where they can demonstrate hegemonic masculinity to other men through degrading women. Using this framework, I use a binary logistic regression model to quantify the relationship between men’s opinions surrounding internet behaviors and attitudes towards the internet with …

Pandemic Review: South Los Angeles, Madeline Carmella Acosta

Whittier Scholars Program

IMPORTANCE The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the discussion on social inequality and vulnerabilities of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community. The understanding is that inequality is a multifaceted issue that stems from the historical mistreatment of BIPOC individuals—their sociodemographic and economic backgrounds are at the most risk in population studies. Many predictors of contracting COVID-19 included employment status (ability to work from home), education level, income (wealth), and housing conditions (environment) (Rozenfeld et al., 2020). Contracting COVID-19 in South Los Angeles was more likely to happen among those from racial and ethnic minorities and those living in …

Black Girl Magic: History, Identity, And Spirituality In Contemporary Fantasy And Science-Fiction, Taylore Fox

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2013, activist and social media influencer CaShawn Thompson composed a Tweet claiming, “Black Girls Are Magic,” which shortened to the hashtag “#BlackGirlMagic.” As the hashtag began to circulate social media, the phrase birthed a digital movement that celebrated the beauty, accomplishments, and mere presence of Black women and girls. This project argues that Black Girl Magic, operating as a social and literary framework, combats the injustice, inequality, and lack of respect and representation that Black women and girls faced in the past and continue to face today. In Black Girl Magic literature, Black women characters perform literal and figurative …

Dynamic Risk Trajectories, Community Context, And Juvenile Recidivism, Kevin T. Wolff, Michael T. Baglivio, Jonathan Intravia

Publications and Research

Purpose

While the implementation of risk assessment has expanded, the extent to which there are different trajectories of risk/protective factors among adjudicated youth during supervision in the community remains unanswered. The goal of the current study is to identify the distinct trajectories in dynamic risk and protective factors among youth on probation and assess whether different patterns in risk over time are associated with continued offending.

Method

Group-based trajectory modeling is used to identify distinct trajectories across multiple domains of risk/need. The individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with these trajectories are then explored, prior to examining their relationship to continued …

One Immune System Plays Many Parts: The Dynamic Role Of The Immune System In Chronic Pain And Opioid Pharmacology, Sanam Mustafa, Juliana E Bajic, Benjamin Barry, Samuel Evans, Kariel R Siemens, Mark R Hutchinson, Peter M Grace

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The transition from acute to chronic pain is an ongoing major problem for individuals, society and healthcare systems around the world. It is clear chronic pain is a complex multidimensional biological challenge plagued with difficulties in pain management, specifically opioid use. In recent years the role of the immune system in chronic pain and opioid pharmacology has come to the forefront. As a highly dynamic and versatile network of cells, tissues and organs, the immune system is perfectly positioned at the microscale level to alter nociception and drive structural adaptations that underpin chronic pain and opioid use. In this review, …

The In/Visible Stockade: Sex Offender Management, Governmentality, And The Search For Normal Life, Christopher Wakefield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the past thirty-five years, the United States has seen a dramatic expansion of regulatory policy around individuals convicted of sexual offenses. Sex offender management policies include national and state registries, notification laws, treatment mandates, residency restrictions, and numerous exclusions from institutions. A growing body of research from sociologists and criminologists has tracked the effects of this sex offender regime by measuring recidivism and collateral consequences among released offenders. Less attention has been paid to how sex offenders adapt to their regulator context—especially the selective public visibility that the registry generates. Furthermore, sociological scholarship has not yet developed strong theoretical …

"They Can Murder Us Today And It Wouldn’T Be A Novelty” U.S. Expulsion Policies And The Violent Structure Of The U.S. Enforcement Matrix, Cinthia Romo Alba

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the United States implemented two migrant expulsion policies: The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a policy which forces migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to remain in Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings, and Title 42, a policy that expelled migrants back to Mexico under the guise that it was a preventative measure for spreading COVID-19. I ask: What are the experiences of asylum seekers subjected to expulsion policies, and what do their experiences tell us about the structure of the U.S. Border Enforcement System? Relying on six months of ethnographic fieldwork at the Matamoros camp …

No Destination: Queering Mobility Through The Virtuality Of Movement, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper advances the epistemological potential that exists at the nexus of queer theory and mobilities research. It aims to queer mobility by rejecting the idea of the destination and embracing the virtuality of movement instead. In doing so, it draws on the queer symbolism of the closet and the cruise to highlight the heteronormative framing that has come to define and constrain the new mobilities paradigm. Arguing that anybody has the capacity to be “queer”, it calls for a redefinition of the subject and an exploration of the world-making possibilities that emerge when the virtuality of movement is foregrounded.

Toward A More Holistic Understanding Of Uranium-Related Views And Experiences Of Residents In The Four Corners Region Of The United States, Matthew J. Barnett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research on rural Four Corners Region (FCR) residents’ views about uranium production has focused mainly on predominately-White communities in the northern portion of the region. Meanwhile, residents in the southern part of the region, which includes the Navajo Nation and other tribal nations and communities, have dealt with the worst environmental and health effects of the uranium boom. Through a series of three studies in the southern part of the FCR, I explore the uranium-related views and experiences of racially diverse FCR residents.

In the first paper of this dissertation, I used 53 interviews to explore how sociodemographic factors (e.g., …

Inner Portraits, Bethany Salisbury

Graduate Theses

This paper investigates the many interconnected layers of women’s mental health through portraiture and how animal and plant symbolism can represent the way women's hormones and bodily health affect their mental health. I reveal how the artwork created presents these connections and inner mental health narratives to the viewer, creating a space of empathy, destigmatization, and self-reflection. This body of portraiture art connects five women through a series of both two-and three-dimensional portraits based on interviews using my own adaptation of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoots’ (1983) portrait methodology.

Women and non-binary individuals have always dealt with difficult interactions of bodily and mental …

A Comparative Analysis Of The European And American Child Advocacy Model To Address Violence Against Children, Abigail Champion

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This presentation attempts to explain how each of the child advocacy models in the United States and Europe are different and similar. In addition, the presentation demonstrates how each model addresses violence against children. The slideshow provides examples of tools and resources therapists, social workers, and other social scientists use in the field. Lastly, the slideshow offers solutions and references on how the audience can become advocates and learn more information about child advocacy, child advocacy centers, and the different careers people can work in the child advocacy area.

Only 2000 Psi Of Bottom-Time Air: A Case Study Of Diveheart Participant Social Capital, Kirk J. Williams

Nonprofit and NGO Studies Student Projects

Social capital development for many, but not all, is a relatively organic process, and as social creatures, people work together to reach collective goals. The defined interactions related to the practices of societal norms, taboos, and broad cultural acceptance are constructs of communal decisions lending deep credence to the value of any number of the social capital definitions. However, opportunities are not always readily available to individuals living with disabilities, so they can and do get left out to varied degrees. With unsurprising results, previous research relied on comparing survey data from individuals with and without disabilities to identify possible …

Ethnic Heritage Of The Families From East Friesland (Northwest Germany) Who Migrated To The American Midwest, Derek M. Heeren

Genealogy Resources

America is a melting pot with people from all over the world. Learning the ethnic heritage of a people group helps us to appreciate how that group contributed to the lives we enjoy today. East Friesland (German: Ostfriesland; Low German: Oostfreesland) is a small geographic area, approximately 40 miles in length, in northwest Germany. In the nineteenth century, many families migrated from East Friesland to the Midwest region of the United States. This paper was written primarily for those studying family history who have ancestors from East Friesland. When going through genealogical records, it can be confusing to make sense …

A Necessary Evil: A Leadership Analysis Of Major League Baseball’S Best Managers, Samuel Shapiro

Honors Theses

This study aims to contribute to the literature assessing the success of baseball managers relative to the context that governed their roles. More specifically, it seeks to address the presence of universal leadership styles, traits, and characteristics that have persisted across different eras and contexts.

Older Adults And Opioids, Elba L. Scherer

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Elba L. Scherer on April 27, 2023.

Book Review: The Secret Life Of Secrets: How Our Inner Worlds Shape Well-Being, Relationships, And Who We Are, Michele Hoffnung

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

The Artist's Arsenal: Hiv+ Women Artists, The ‘War On Aids’, And Reclaiming Illness Narratives, Mekha Varghese

Art and Art History Honors Papers

This work uses the methodologies of both art history and medical sociology through the ‘syndemic’ framework to engage in close readings of two selected artworks, Exit (1997) by Nancer LeMoins and Violation of Africa (1984) by Affrekka Jefferson. An interdisciplinary approach to these works enables consideration of how multiple marginalized identities—i.e., living with a stigmatized illness, being a woman, being LGBTQIA+, being a person of color—appear in visual art and shape illness experience; these ideas are investigated through a formal and iconographic reading of the selected artworks. Placing art as the foundation of this analysis reveals its astounding impact and …

Healing Practices And Ritual Feasts Among The Nabateans: A Study Of Absorbed Residues From Ceramics On The Ad-Deir Plateau, Jake Hubbert

Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Cistern B on the Ad-Deir Plateau is unusual in its breadth and variety of ceramic vessels represented by thousands of sherds. These sherds raised significant questions about the purpose and use of the vessels that they originally came from. This thesis argues that the ceramic vessels that were deposited in Eastern Cistern B represent the deposited remains of an ancient Nabataean ritual feast. Furthermore, this thesis also helps to answer the questions surrounding what the ceramic containers once held and their relationship to that ritual meal. This thesis identified residues absorbed within the ceramic fragments through the use of …

Generative Beauty: How Engaging With Beauty Sparks Transformation, Rebecca Byrd Musser

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Nonprofit Studies Capstone Projects

“Be the change you wish to see in the world,” declared Mahatma Gandhi. There is a profound awareness of the need for change as individuals reflect on the impact of global and system challenges as well as community challenges. People cannot just “be the change” until they themselves are first changed. Beauty is a powerful catalyst for change that begins with the individual, expanding to the community. To solve community problems, program designers must find a way to unleash untapped creativity. This study explores the impact of engaging beauty via the arts (paintings, Mary Oliver poetry, and The Lark Ascending) …

Self Presentation And Blended Identity In The Everyday Virtual Life: A Case Study Of Fallout 76, Dmitri Sofranko

Senior Theses

Self-presentation in a virtual online context has taken on an increasingly significant and complex role due to the exponential growth of online presence, personas, avatars, and subsequent role-playing behavior, expanding the various ways in which we present ourselves in virtual spaces. The emergence of this “virtual self” comes with the growing options for online interaction, including social media, blogs, forums, and a wide variety of interactive video games. Reliable and enduring elements of the virtual setting have helped to foster and create a sense of relatable community. Through repeated and ritualized virtual interaction, users generate novel community norms that arise …

No. 08: Young People’S Mobilities, Farming Aspirations And Engagements In Northern Ghana, Siera Vercillo, Bruce Frayne

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

Development policies targeting young people and African agriculture tend to focus on their abandonment of the sector and the need to attract new generations to agricultural activities through its commercialization. This paper points to potential gaps in such interventions by investigating the diverse mobilities, aspirations, and engagements of young people in farming, through a qualitative case study in rural northern Ghana. Our study also challenges the prevalent assumption of African farmers’ movements from rural to rural areas, from rural to urban areas, and out of farming altogether, as we found evidence of young people migrating from urban to rural areas. …

Volume 14, Ireland Seagle, Dalton C. Whitby, Cassandra Poole, Rachel Cannon, Heidi Parker-Combes, Devon G. Shifflett, Antonio Harvey

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Dr. Amorette Barber
• From the Editor: Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy
• From the Designers: Rachel English, Rachel Hanson
• Hungry Like the Wolf: The Wolf as Metaphor in Paramount Network’s Yellowstone: Ireland Seagle
• “Floating Cities”: Illustrating the Commercial and Conservation Conflict of Alaskan Cruise Ship Tourism: Dalton C. Whitby
• What Can You Do When Your Genes are the Enemy? Current Applications of Gene Manipulation and the Associated Ethical Considerations: Cassandra Poole
• La doble cara: un tema romántico en las obras de Larra y Hawthorne: Rachel Cannon
• Resolving a Conflict: How to …

“Why You Always So Political?”: A Counterstory About Educational-Environmental Racism At A Predominantly White University, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Using critical race counterstorytelling, I tell a story about the experiences of Mexican/Mexican American/Xicanx (MMAX) undergraduate students at private, historically and predominantly white university in the Northeast. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observations, pláticas, document analyses, and literature on race and space and racism in higher education, I argue that the racially hostile campus environment experienced by MMAX students at their respective university manifests itself as a form of educational-environmental racism. Through narrated dialogue, Aurora (a composite character) and I delve into a critical conversation about how educational-environmental racism is experienced by MMAX students through a racialized landscape in the …

Chilean Cinema In The 21st Century World (Review), James L. Richie Iv

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

No abstract provided.

Mandala: On The Logos Of Place, Michael Schwartz

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Suddenly, during the night, one awakens while dreaming – aware that this is a dream. The “rules” of action, reaction, and of form itself are not that of the waking state – one might leap in the air and fly, transform one’s body into any number of forms, reach up in the sky and grab the sun and clouds, pulling them to the side, bringing forth a canopy of moon and stars. The entire scene, in the lucid dream, has a heightened sense of radiance and joy, vitality and freedom.

Imagine this sense of lucid dreaming is occurring right here …