Digital Commons Network^™

Using Social Perspectives On Vaccination To Build Public Trust In Pro-Vaccine Communication, Lindsay Hale

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

United States public health guidelines for mandating vaccination of school age children for preventable diseases is increasingly ineffective. Little is known, however, about what sociocultural factors influence parents’ and legal guardians’ decisions to adhere to, hesitate against, or refuse to abide by immunization public health guidelines. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover and better understand sociocultural factors that contribute to or detract from parents and legal guardians’ adherence to recommended vaccination schedules. The theoretical framework for this study was Coleman’s Rational Choice Theory. Research questions involved sociocultural factors and reference groups that influence parents and legal guardians’ …

Refugee Women’S Post-Resettlement Experiences In The United States, Dr. Kristen M. Curry, Phd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and community members of the host country make decisions regarding refugee lifestyles during and post-resettlement rather than the refugee women themselves. This research study informs the development of and provision of multiculturally appropriate counseling services to refugee women living in the United States from the perspective of the refugee women themselves. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences and related meanings of a group of Hmong refugee women living in post-resettlement in the United States. This hermeneutic phenomenological study was developed with a feminist …

Seeking Clarity In Murky Waters: Nuances Of Equity And Social Justice From A Teacher Perspective, Elaine J. Chan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In this study, I examined interactions between an English teacher and her students to illustrate ways in which issues of equity and social justice may play out in nuanced ways in the implementation of school curriculum in a diverse, Midwestern high school. These stories of classroom teacher and student experiences reveal complexities of how equity and social justice might unfold for students, and be understood by a teacher as she works with her students, to build a body of “teacher knowledge” (Clandinin and Connelly, 1996) that grows as the teacher gains experience. Examining complexities of “teacher knowledge” as a classroom …

Wanji-Wanji: The Past And Future Of An Aboriginal Travelling Song, Myfany Turpin, Calista Yeoh, Clint Bracknell

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Classical Aboriginal culture in Australia consists of many different kinds of ceremonies, including travelling ceremonies that are often shared across linguistic and geographical boundaries. Each of these ceremonies is made up of dozens of different verses. Perhaps the most widely known travelling ceremony is one referred to in some areas as ‘Wanji-wanji’. This was known over half the country and dates back at least 170 years, as evidenced in eleven legacy recordings and fieldwork interviewing more than 100 people across the western half of Australia. Like any oral tradition, the names of such ceremonies vary from place to place and …

“It Only Hurts When I Laugh”: Tolerating Bullying Humour In Order To Belong At Work, Barbara Plester, Tim Bentley, Emily Brewer

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Our study examines the impacts on workers when organisational humour is repeated, sustained, dominating, and potentially harmful, and thus can be considered to be bullying. In an ethnographic study of an idiosyncratic New Zealand IT company, we observed humour that was sexualised, dominating, and perpetrated by the most powerful organizational members. We argue that the compelling need for belonging in this extreme organizational culture influenced workers to accept bullying humour as just a joke and therefore acceptable and harmless even when it contravened societal workplace norms. Our contribution is in identifying and extending the significant theoretical relationship between workplace humour …

Manila’S Black Nazarene And The Reign Of Bathala, Antonio D. Sison

Journal of Global Catholicism

A consideration of how the dynamics surrounding Manila's Black Nazarene express crucial themes in the Filipino psyche. The article specifically addresses the importance of "felt-experience" (pagdama) in devotion to the Black Nazarene as well as its connections to indigenous Filipino religion.

Catholicism In Context: Religious Practice In Latin America, Gustavo Morello Sj

Journal of Global Catholicism

A critical problem to study Catholicism in the context of Latin American modernity, is that the conceptual tools we use to study religion were designed to understand the transformations that modernity provoked in European religiosity. Studies on the religion of Latin Americans have largely explored the religiosity of the population through surveys that measure attendance, adherence and affiliation. While some anthropologists have explored religious practices among particular groups, we do not know how ordinary, urban Latin Americans practice religion. To fill this gap, a group of researchers from Boston College, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Catholic University of Córdoba, and …

Fraternity, Martyrdom And Peace In Burundi: The Forty Servants Of God Of Buta, Jodi Mikalachki

Journal of Global Catholicism

During Burundi's 1993-2005 civil war, students at Buta Minor Seminary were ordered at gunpoint to separate by ethnicity—Hutus over here, Tutsis over there! They chose instead to join hands and affirm their common identity as children of God. The forty students killed were quickly proclaimed martyrs of fraternity. Their costly solidarity defused the cry for reprisals and continues to inspire Burundians and others on the path of reconciliation. Drawing on fifty interviews with survivors, parents of martyrs, neighbors, religious leaders and other Burundian intellectuals, this essay examines how Burundian Catholics understand the significance of the Buta martyrdom to their …

Editor's Introduction, Mathew N. Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

‘Stuck’ In The Waiting Room: African And Haitian Migrants Between Liminality And Mobility In A Mexican Border Town, Julia Hause

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the border town of Tijuana, Mexico as a site of fragmentation and rupture along the migration journeys of African and Haitian migrants transiting the South American-Central American corridor towards North American destinations. Extra-continental migration of migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean to Latin America has been an emerging migration trend as global migration governance becomes increasingly restrictive and externalized. U.S. immigration and asylum policies implemented at the southern border have made migrating and making claims to international protection difficult for those migrants who arrive at the border. These policies, coupled with the indefinite U.S. land border …

"This Wizard Of The Cooking Stove": How P.G. Wodehouse Contributed To The Field Of Gastronomy Through Anatole, The French Chef, In The Jeeves-And-Wooster Series, Elizabeth Wilson, Anke Klitzing

European Journal of Food Drink and Society

Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson’s premise that Balzac, a realist fiction author, contributed to the cultural field of gastronomy by his ethnographically accurate depictions of restaurants in mid-nineteenth-century Paris, prompts asking whether this may be true for other fiction authors that painstakingly reflect the foodways of their time and place, such as English author P.G. Wodehouse through his character, the French chef Anatole, in the Jeeves-and-Wooster series. Thematic analysis found three gastronomic themes surrounding Anatole that could be confirmed as historically accurate. The highly-skilled chef employed in the country houses of the Edwardian upper class possessed cultural capital through his professional capabilities …

Food, Comfort And Community: Media Coverage Of Last Meals For The Dying, Tina Sikka

European Journal of Food Drink and Society

This article examines the media coverage of food in the context of community-based end of life rituals and death meals that are increasingly being observed by those undergoing a medically assisted death (medical assistance in dying: MAID). I employ a reconstituted form of media analysis that aims to identify and unpack the socio-cultural themes, values, and assumptions that underpin these food events. These include the central frame of plenty, community/family, personality, comfort, and gender. My objective is to provoke a discussion about how media coverage acts as a site from which to understand the significance of food in the context …

Bringing Political Upheaval And Cultural Trauma Into Order: A Document-Theoretical Approach To The Social Significance Of Bibliographic Classification Systems, Joacim Hansson

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper explores the ability to define bibliographic classification systems as socially significant documents in a way that goes beyond their immediate function in the information retrieval process. It does so in dialog with theory on documents and documentality, and knowledge organization theory. Two examples show how development of new classification systems address social and cultural structures in periods of rapid social and cultural change and crisis. The first example discusses the design of a classification system for Swedish public libraries in the late 1910s, and the second addresses the re-formulation of the Holocaust experience in American Jewish library classification …

Defining And Detecting Toxicity On Social Media: Context And Knowledge Are Key, Amit Sheth, Valerie Shalin, Ugur Kursuncu

Publications

As the role of online platforms has become increasingly prominent for communication, toxic behaviors, such as cyberbullying and harassment, have been rampant in the last decade. On the other hand, online toxicity is multi-dimensional and sensitive in nature, which makes its detection challenging. As the impact of exposure to online toxicity can lead to serious implications for individuals and communities, reliable models and algorithms are required for detecting and understanding such communications. In this paper We define toxicity to provide a foundation drawing social theories. Then, we provide an approach that identifies multiple dimensions of toxicity and incorporates explicit knowledge …

The Motivations Of Learning Foreign Languages: A Descriptive Case Study Of Polyglots, Noprival Noprival, Zainal Rafli, Nuruddin Nuruddin

The Qualitative Report

Polyglots are extraordinary people in terms of language ability. Therefore, it is interesting to academically explore their motivations for learning several languages. This research is novel compared to previous studies because scant extant research exists of polyglots’ motivation for learning several languages. To this end, researchers collected data from semi structured interviews obtained from five informants. The method that we used was a descriptive case study. Findings showed that the polyglots’ motivation for learning multiple foreign languages were (a) pleasure, (b) social intercourse, (c) professional purposes, and (d) academic purposes. Mostly, the previous research revealed that motivation for people learning …

Sociology Between The Gaps Volume 6 (2021)

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

The Messiness Of (De)Coloniality: An Autoethnography Of The Cross-Cultural Researcher, Amber Kelley

The Qualitative Report

In this paper I explore the complexity of psychological cross-cultural research, particularly noting the ways in which cross-cultural mental health research and the global mental health movement are still driven by Western conceptualizations of mental health. By taking up decolonial theory through autoethnographic methods, I consider the responsibility, ethics, and tensions in conducting cross-cultural mental health research, particularly as a White researcher with non-White, non-Western participants. Ongoing reflexivity as a researcher and practitioner offers the opportunity to engage in culturally responsive practices that continue challenging the coloniality of Western psychology which can pervade global mental health studies when unchecked. I …

The Politics Of Women's Presence On High Courts: Bias And The Conditional Nature Of Cultivating Legitimacy, Christopher Shortell, Melody E. Valdini

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

While we know that women's presence in the legislature positively impacts how citizens view the institution, little is known about the impact of women's presence on the legitimacy of high courts. We argue that despite differences in public expectations for courts, women's presence on the high court does impact citizen perceptions of legitimacy. However, this effect is dependent on both the level and the type of bias held by citizens. That is, when a person feels hostile bias toward women, the bias disrupts the potential legitimacy that the court could gain. On the other hand, we argue that benevolent sexism …

Risk Perception And Response Among International Students Of The University Of Southern Mississippi, Elida Lopes Souza Rocha

Master's Theses

Given the exposure of university campuses to hazards, disaster mitigation is a critical element of higher education policy. Although U.S. higher education institutions are leaders in the global education market, emergency warning systems give little consideration to how international students perceive risk, prepare for hazards, or access warning technologies available to them. This poses several questions regarding the suitability of hazards mitigation practices and the welfare of international students.

This thesis investigates the relationship between USM international students and natural hazards. Responses from online surveys and semi-structured interviews data were analyzed through qualitative and quantitative methods to document the extent …

Collateral Damage: How Expanding Public Charge Policy Influences Adult Esl Enrollment, Allison M. Eckert

Master's Theses

This study used statistical analysis of enrollment records for ESL programs at community colleges throughout California from 2015-2019 to determine whether adult immigrants’ participation in public ESL programs was reduced under President Donald Trump. Immigrant families’ lesser use of public education services and means-tested federal benefits has been widely documented in the wake of Trump’s expansion of the public charge rule, which counted immigrants’ use of a wider array of public benefits against their case for residency in the United States than had any previous iteration of the rule. Failing the public charge test can block an immigrant’s entry into …

The Lived Experiences Of Latinx Parents And Their Perception Of Bilingual Programs: A Phenomenological Reflection, Manuel O. Adrianzen

Dissertations

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, to better understand and capture the lived experiences of Latinx parents as they navigate the registration/enrollment process at the school and select a language program for their Pre-kindergarten child. Second, to understand what lived experiences influence their perception about bilingual education programs. Using Van Manen’s (2016) concept of human sciences and phenomenology, data was collected through the use of conversational interviews. The responses provided by the parents and school clerk revealed five themes, fear & anxiousness, hope for things to come & for a brighter future, use of social networks to understand …

Culture And Social Change In Mothers’ And Fathers’ Individualism, Collectivism And Parenting Attitudes, Jennifer E. Lansford, Susannah Zietz, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Dario Bacchini, Marc H. Bornstein, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sevtap Gurdal, Qin Liu, Qian Long, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli, Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbing, Sombat Tapanya, Laurence Steinberg, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Liane Peña Alampay

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Cultures and families are not static over time but evolve in response to social transformations, such as changing gender roles, urbanization, globalization, and technology uptake. Historically, individualism and collectivism have been widely used heuristics guiding cross-cultural comparisons, yet these orientations may evolve over time, and individuals within cultures and cultures themselves can have both individualist and collectivist orientations. Historical shifts in parents’ attitudes also have occurred within families in several cultures. As a way of understanding mothers’ and fathers’ individualism, collectivism, and parenting attitudes at this point in history, we examined parents in nine countries that varied widely in country-level …

Merowe Dam In Northern Sudan: A Case Of Populatin Displacement And Impoverishment, Imam Ahmed

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

“I Finally Marginalized Myself From The Mainstream”: An Autoethnography Study Of Chinese International Student’S Development Of Intercultural Communicative Competence, Yuqi Lin, Hongzhi Zhang

The Qualitative Report

In the higher education market, the cross-border flow of international students has become increasingly apparent. For Australia, China has been a major student source and most of these students have been enrolled in the higher education sector. Such a phenomenon has rendered the innovation of higher education management necessary, and its socio-cultural influence has attracted attention from the Australian government. This study suggests that international students’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) deficits could influence their self-perceptions thus compromising their ability to communicate with peers. Using a qualitative research approach, the study explores the extent to which China’s College English influences Chinese …

Refugee Identity And The Influence Of International Refugee Law, Tara E. Peters

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Convictions And Ambivalences: Theorizing Power At A Cairene Feminist Ngo, Laura Wulf

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How Are The Formal And Informal Online Supports Of Mental Health Accessible For Refugees And Their Children In Canada?, Maria Jose Gonzalez Sanchez

MA Research Paper

Refugees fleeing from extreme human rights violations are highly vulnerable and predisposed to a variety of mental health illnesses. The issue that this study addresses are the barriers refugees encounter when navigating mental health resources in Canada. Across the literature it has been found that refugees tend to underutilize mental health resources for a variety of reasons despite their poor mental health outcomes. Some factors of underutilization include, linguistic, religious, cultural, and economic (Chaze et al., 2015). To address this problem, the purpose of this study will be to evaluate the online accessibility of available resources. A content analysis on …

Intersectionality, Relational Positionality, And The Lived Experiences Of Inequality: Contextualizing Intergenerational Opioid Use And The Constrained Choices Of Indigenous, Latina, And White Women Caregivers In Rural New Mexico, Carmela M. Roybal

Sociology ETDs

Opioid addiction is a serious and persistent global health issue. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that between 1999 and 2016, more than 630,000 people in the United States died of an overdose of a prescription opioid or illicit drug (CDC 2018). Extant research has suggested that for nearly a century, New Mexico has experienced some of the highest rates of prescription and illicit opioid death in the nation (Goldstein and Herrera, 1995; Landon, 2003; Shah et al., 2008). I examined intergenerational opioid dependence through the lived experience of women caregivers of opioid-addicted family members. Data …

Pseudo-Patriotism, Polemics, And Propaganda: European ‘Indianness’ And Contemporary German Populism, Dagmar Wernitznig

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

This article highlights and explores new nuances of colonialisms that can be witnessed in German populist politics in conjunction with public discourses about migration and refugeedom. In their xenophobic aversion towards aliens, ultra-nationalist organizations and parties in Germany pervert the colonial trauma of Native American peoples by projecting it onto their own existence. By drawing analogies between their own lives and the plight of Native American expulsion or forceful assimilation since the arrival of the first European settlers, right-wing individuals and groups perceive themselves as a vanishing tribe that is threatened with extinction, caused by Arabic and African newcomers …

Anthropocentric Tautologies: The Ape Who Mistook His Jabbering For A Self, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.