Digital Commons Network^™

“The Childish, The Transformative, And The Queer”: Queer Interventions As Praxis In Children’S Cartoons, Heather Wright

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud considers “the simplified reality of the cartoon,” establishing a definition and theory for the medium (30). McCloud believes that cartoons possess “a special power” that is tied to their unique ability to “focus our attention on an idea” (31). Put simply, there is something about cartoons that allows for an easy exchange of concepts. Cartoons can teach. Using cartoons, a general term, to refer to both comics and animation, this thesis examines the transformative power of queer world building and intervention in recent children’s cartoons and how it functions, and can …

Choose Your Own Adventure: An Analysis Of Gender Inequality In Higher Education, Topaz Szewczok, Bethany Parslow

Senior Honors Projects

This project explores how gender inequality in contemporary society impacts the individual’s experiences in their career path, especially in regards to higher education. We document experiences that gender minorities have in their academic disciplines and gain insight on how individuals overcome or do not overcome being the gender minority. Our data come from in-depth interviews with college professors and survey responses from college students in gender segregated fields such as nursing, STEM, early education, and family studies. For this study, according to information gathered and published by the university, a “gendered field” at URI is determined by two thirds or …

Nutraceutrical Snack Prepared From Sprouted Rough Rice And Green Gram And Its Physichocemical Properties, In Vitro Glycemic Index, And Sensory Attributes, Rachel Browder

Food Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Snacks make up a large portion of the U.S. daily meals, but unhealthy snacks may be causing consumers to become overweight or obese. A healthy alternatives are germinated cereals and legumes, which undergo chemical compositional changes producing smaller size molecules for easier digestion and generate bioactives. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop a healthy and nutritional snack chip from germinated, Arkansas produced rough rice and germinated green gram that will be easier for the body to digest, provide much higher protein than conventional chips or crackers with low on the glycemic index, and still meet consumer demands …

Killing Martin County : Resiliency In A Central Appalachian Community., David Adam Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental stressors, anything that poses a threat to human and environmental health, are disproportionately located in marginalized communities. Coal extraction companies produce and concentrate environmental stressors in Central Appalachia, a sub-region of Appalachia with high poverty rates and economic hardship. Through destructive coal extraction methods, the coal industry has jeopardized Central Appalachian health and environmental quality. The coal industry’s power to cause destruction in Central Appalachia is a product of historical strategic initiatives. Since the late 1800s, the coal industry has forcefully altered the culture and ideology of Central Appalachians and developed relationships with local, state, and federal policymakers to …

Gender And Leadership In Animal Sheltering Organizations., Jennifer Blevins Sinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the connection between gender, leadership and implementation of best practice strategies to reduce or eliminate euthanasia of healthy, adoptable companion animals in animal sheltering organizations. The purpose of this mixed methods study utilizing an online survey and in-depth interviews is to explore the impact of gender and animal sheltering leadership on organizational policies, as well as workers’, and volunteers’ attitudes toward reducing euthanasia in sheltering organizations. It is anticipated that the knowledge generated from this research will provide new insights into animal sheltering policies and procedures and inform sheltering organizations about the connection between gendered leadership in …

Ptsd And Dysfunctional Parenting: Emotional And Biological Mechanisms, Molly Franz

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Women are disproportionately at risk for developing PTSD following exposure to trauma. Among its many harmful effects, PTSD is associated with a range of negative family outcomes, including impairments in parenting behaviors. Despite the prevalence of PTSD and its impact on parenting, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for this association. The present project addressed this gap by examining the impact of PTSD on dysfunctional parenting behaviors in a lab setting. Based on prior theory and empirical evidence, I expected that a diagnosis of PTSD would be associated with more dysfunctional parenting (i.e., harsh/overreactive and lax/permissive behaviors) during routine …

There’S Nothing Here: Tenure, Attachment, And Changing Perceptions In Gentrifying Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Sara Martucci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Depending on the audience, the term “gentrification” conjures images of pristine condos, fancy restaurants, dive bars full of hipsters, or eviction notices. This qualitative study examines the divergent perspectives of existing and former residents in a gentrifying neighborhood. For most of the twentieth century Williamsburg, Brooklyn was a working class neighborhood and it served as an ethnic enclave to several waves of (im)migrants. The neighborhood struggled through a period of deindustrialization, divestment, and high crime through the 1980s, when it began to gentrify. Initially networks of artists and students started moving into the area, but it soon became a destination …

Progressive Commemoration: Public Statues Of Historical Women In Urban American Cities, Melanie D. Chin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Women who made notable accomplishments are underrepresented in commemoration. Some American cities have brought women to the forefront of becoming visible through commemoration in statues. This thesis compares the commemoration of historical women in four different American cities. Stakeholders hold the key to implementing and changing public policy to increase the visibility of women and people of color in public monuments. Cities which lack representation of women and people of color may learn from and follow the efforts of a leading city to achieve lasting and effective change in representing those who historically been underrepresented.

Facebook As A Social Outreach And Advocacy Tool In Intersex/Dsd Groups, Emelie J. Ali Ms

Publications and Research

My project includes a netnography of a Facebook intersex group called Families and Friends of Intersex People. I observed the group’s forms of communication within the group and which topics they discussed. It appears one of the major concerns the group has is the use of nonconsensual, sex assignment surgery on infants to “correct” their body to match a gender identity. I have also discovered a link between being intersex and affiliated with the LGBT+ community. Since the 20th century, intersex people have been stigmatized due to their assumed ability to engage in sexual, same-sex relations. I have concluded that …

Eggplants And Peaches: Understanding Emoji Usage On Grindr, Emeka E. Moses

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on how gay men communicate on the Grindr dating app. Prior research has been conducted on how gay men construct their online identities, however, few studies explore how gay men experience interactions online, negotiate their relationships with other men online, and perceive other users. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 20 men who use the Grinder app, a location-based dating app used by men who have sex with men. Additional data were collected by observing user profiles on the app, which is free and public. This comprehensive, qualitative study of gay men who use Grindr provides insights …

Agricultural Revolutions In America’S Heartland: The Corn Belt And The Making Of American Capitalism, Benjamin J. Marley

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The family farm has been the foundation of America’s cheap food model. This research examines how cheap food from the Corn Belt was produced from 1840s to the late twentieth century. It investigates how the interrelationships between family farming, proletarianization-housewifization, and national and world markets configured and reconfigured. Utilizing a world-ecological framework, I argue that Illinois and Iowa, the heart of the Corn Belt, were the epicenter of two successive agricultural revolutions that fundamentally transformed world accumulation and world nature. The analysis is centered on the development of successive agricultural revolutions over the longue durée of capitalism, with the greatest …

Constraints Of Haunted Heritage Tourism In Logan, Utah, Kylie Schroeder

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

It has become common in Salem, Savannah, New Orleans, Edinburg, or Gettysburg, to witness groups of people being led through the darkened streets as part of a ghost tour or haunted history walk. An altered form of commercialized legend tripping, these companies offer guided tours, feature spooky stories, and often showcase local history. However, the trend of haunted heritage tourism, especially in the form of ghost walks and haunted history tours, has spread beyond places with national or international reputations for hauntings and is now growing in small towns whose stories are rarely shared beyond the local populace.

This thesis …

Color Between The Lines: Navigating Mixed Race Identity, Kelly O'Halloran

College Honors Program

Through the qualitative work of narrative psychology, this thesis explores experiences of mixed race individuals who have one white parent, one minority parent, and who grew up in a predominantly white community. The data were drawn from the author’s own first-hand experiences as well as in-depth interviews from three Holy Cross students about their mixed race identities. On the basis of these data, three forms of self-identity were found to be especially salient: the unaware self, the unique self, and the liminal self. The unaware self can be understood as not knowing how one appears to others. The unique self …

The Shade Tree, Xin Zhong Cassie

Second-Year Seminar Posters (COE 202)

The Shade Tree is a non-profit organization for providing a shelter and food for abused women and children for free.

The Shade Tree, Siyan Cen

Second-Year Seminar Posters (COE 202)

To provide safe shelter to homeless and abused women and children in crisis and to offer life-changing services promoting stability, dignity, and self-reliance.

The Shade Tree, Jody Chu

Second-Year Seminar Posters (COE 202)

To provide safe shelter to homeless and abused women and children in crisis and to offer life-changing services promoting stability, dignity, and selfreliance

The Relationships Among Moral Judgement, Social Identification, And Stigmitization, Rebecca Isaacs

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Stigma has had a perceived link with the concept of morality since the Grecian era (Goffman, 1963). The purpose of this study was to see if there was a correlation between moral judgement (using the Defining Issues Test 2; DIT2), social identification (using the Identification with all Humanity Scale; IWAHS) and stigma attributions toward those with mental illness. Specifically, whether those with a heightened sense of identification with all humanity and more developed moral judgement schemas are less likely to make negative stigma attributions toward persons with mental illness. The results this study supported correlations between those variables and the …

I Have Not Lost Someone To Gun Violence, Mattelyn R. Wadley

SURGE

On Friday, April 20, 2018, Gettysburg College students organized a campus-wide walkout to protest all forms of gun violence as part of Gettysburg College’s first annual Peace and Justice Week. Over the next several days, SURGE published the poems and personal testimonies of the student speakers who participated in the event.

I have not lost someone to gun violence, but

When I hear the word gun…

I still picture children’s bodies lying lifeless on the floor of a blue-carpeted classroom [excerpt]

The Story Of Helen Serrano, Helen Serrano

Facing Dayton: Stories

A first-person narrative about life in Dayton, Ohio, composed as part of the Facing Project, a nationwide storytelling initiative.

I Am Proud: Roma's Story, Roma Stephens

Facing Dayton: Stories

A first-person narrative about life in Dayton, Ohio, composed as part of the Facing Project, a nationwide storytelling initiative.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 93, No. 38, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Henderson, Andrew. Timothy Caboni Announces $16 Million in Cuts
• Ziege, Nicole. Dissolved – University College
• Deletter, Emily. First of Three Candidates for Provost Visit WKU - Jeffery Osgood
• Eiler, Olivia. Woman Reports Burglary, Assault in Bowling Green
• Editorial Cartoon re: Kern Alexander & College Heights Herald
• Save Student Newsrooms – Editorial Independence
• Dimeo, Chris. San Juan Smokehouse: A Plate Where Two Worlds Meet
• Leonard, Nicole. The Rise of Identity Politics in Society
• Eaton, Tyler. WKU Athletes Make Up 5 Percent of C-USA Honor Roll
• Stahl, …

Allopathic Medicine’S Influence On Indigenous Peoples In The Kumaon Region Of India, Eliana M. Blum

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper focuses on the use of western medicine in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, India. The goal of this research is to understand which healing practices are preferable in rural villages. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 53 participants, including two spiritual healers, two doctors, and one pharmacist. Results indicate that allopathic medicine, otherwise known as modern medicine or western medicine, has become the go-to remedy for even the most remote people in India. Nearly all participants use allopathic medicine, but less than half of the participants experiment with other forms of healing, such as Ayurveda, homeopathy, meditation, and yoga. …

Fresa Style In Mexico: Sociolinguistic Stereotypes And The Variability Of Social Meanings, Rebeca Martinez Gomez

Linguistics ETDs

This dissertation examines the flexibility in the social meanings of sociolinguistic stereotypes and how linguistic and non-linguistic information affect these meanings. The investigation consists of four empirical studies surrounding the case of fresas in Mexico –members of the upper class that are perceived as using a unique linguistic style.

Study 1 investigates the linguistic and non-linguistic characteristics associated with the fresa stereotype. Through a qualitative analysis of 64 webpages and 3 performances of the style, it is shown that fresasare perceived as the counterpart of another construct, nacos,and that their linguistic style is linked to English due to …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

It's Just A Toy, Lauren Strauss

Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies (2015-2021)

Each and every one of us experiences gender stereotyping, whether we realize it or not. It is such a simple concept and something people don't tend to think about. Although, from a young age, we are exposed to our parents' and societies' views on gender and the toys we should play with, which then stick around for generations. The color pink and dolls are for girls and trucks and the color blue are for boys, right? Well, not necessarily. Toys are also expressed through the idea that women have to be the stay at home mom and take care of …

Thoughts From The Margins: A Five-Year Longitudinal Exploration With Former Alternative Education Youth, Alice M. Harnischfeger

The Qualitative Report

This longitudinal case study explores the evolving identity constructions and schooling perspectives of former alternative education program members, at an early stage of their adult lives. Using a critical sociocultural lens and in-depth semi-structured interviews, I revisited three young women, five years after their participation in research I had previously undertaken in a middle school, alternative program. This current effort provides individual participant profiles detailing the present life circumstances and thinking of each participant, along with brief middle school recaps and five-year interval updates. This work illustrates its participants’ evolving perspectives on selves and schooling and their present recognition of …

The Very Perplexed Stepmother: Step Motherhood And Developing A Healthy Self-Identity, Sonia Cann-Milland, Jane Southcott

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnographic study unpacks Sonia’s experiences as a stepmother. Historically stepmothers are the evil, unkind villains in fairy tales. Most research about stepfamilies has deemed stepmotherhood to be ambiguous and stress-laden. This research explores how becoming a stepmother has impacted her evolving sense of self-identity. To do this we undertook an autoethnographic study of Sonia’s experiences. The use of authoethnographic method supports and challenges personal narrative. We reflected upon the specific situations that caused her to question, alter and sustain a healthy sense of self, so in turn she may create a safe and secure environment that supports healthy and …

Experiences Of Asexual People In The Lgbtq+ Community, Z Rankin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Dolpopa, Yvette Segan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The village of Dho is located in the Tarap Valley in the Himalayas of western Nepal. In the limited literature about the region, it is generally regarded as one of the most remote villages in the world with a culture that has been largely preserved due to the lack of accessibility. The villagers today maintain a trade that has been occurring for hundreds, if not thousands, of years with Tibet to ascertain the goods that they need. Lower Nepal is less available for trade due to the lack of a drivable road between Kathmandu and Dho Tarap. This has resulted …

Cultivating Compassion, Amelia Baliey

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Fostering compassion in a divided community is essential to the well-being of its members, and creating a sense of community. Although we come from different culminations of experience, privilege, genetics, and influence and can be divided across race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or class, our humanity is what connect us. After a literature review and compilation of recent scientific studies, we recognized there was much to be said and done about compassion. Ultimately, we can take a few steps in order to cultivate compassion: communicating with others, practicing empathy, finding commonalities, giving and advocating for others, to name …