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A Deep-Er Practice For Educators: Reflecting, Unpacking And Confronting Racism Through Critical Performative Pedagogy, Natalia Ortiz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the current political climate, we have seen time and time again the killings of black and brown youth, witnessed the separation of immigrant families, and the mass murders caused by nativist xenophobic white rage. Teachers in schools across our country need to be better prepared to engage in critical race dialogues and need to understand their location in the larger educational system so to contest, rather than reproduce, racism. This study is based on the premise that teachers are not adequately learning about structural oppression that impact the experience of school children and are not trained in the art …

Latinx Students In Boston Exam Schools: Growing But Consistently Underrepresented, Ava Marinelli, Fabián Torres-Ardila

Gastón Institute Publications

Boston Public Schools exam schools – Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Sciences – are widely considered some of the most elite schools not only in Boston Public Schools, but also in the country at large. They have also been the subject of numerous lawsuits and investigations, alleging racially biased admission standards, racism among faculty and students, and disproportionate enrollment numbers. The Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy finds that while the enrollment of Latinx students has trended steadily upwards in Boston Public Schools and exam schools …

Signals In The Black Stack / Geometyr Design Manual, Jason T. Scaglione

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The following white paper provides a critical accompaniment to my capstone project: the GEOMEtyr Design Manual. GEOMEtyr is a virtual reality to be made accessible as a mobile and web platform for the visualization of certain systemic elements of a utopic world that parallels our own planet’s geographies, polities, and climates. As such, the GEOMEtyr virtualization is designed to derive utopian space from the informational structures of our own world. The operations by which this may be accomplished are broadly described within the accompanying GEOMEtyr manual. The white paper, Signals in the Black Stack, elaborates vital world-building characteristics of informational …

Understanding The Politicization Of Oromo Identity In The Diaspora: Re/ Locating The Bones Of The Oromo, Madeline Jaye Bass

Dissertations and Theses

The Oromo people of Ethiopia share a common language, worldview, set of sacred meanings, and a historic system of governance. The rise of the Abyssinian Empire in the late 1800s led to the colonization of the Oromo; their language and religion were made illegal, their homeland was expropriated and renamed, and they were forced to live as slaves on their own land. After the end of the Abyssinian colonial era, historic discrimination was institutionalized into the new Ethiopian state form through the politicization of identities. Ethnic identities become political identities when cultural traits are used by the state as criteria …

Exploring Critical Events In An Inaugural Arts-Based Research Class Through Ethnographic Mapping And Poetry-Enriched Narrative Sketches, Janet Richards, Steve Haberlin

The Qualitative Report

Arts-based research (ABR) employs the arts to explore the “experiences of researchers and the people they involve in their studies” (McNiff, 2008, p. 29). Acknowledgement of ABRs’ potential for enhancing social science inquiry has gained momentum along with the development of new ABR methods courses. However, there is a lack of published studies that investigate what goes on in ABR classes (Cahnmann-Taylor & Siegesmund, 2008; Leavy, 2015; Personal communication, The Qualitative Report 2018 Conference). In this inquiry we (Janet, course designer and instructor, and Steve, student and class assistant), employed ethnographic techniques to explore unexpected critical events that occurred in …

Kathleen O'Gorman On The Conditions At Us Immigration Facilities, Ryan Denham

Interviews for WGLT

IWU Professor of English Kathleen O'Gorman spent the summer of 2019 interviewing children being held at U.S. immigration facilities, as a volunteer on behalf of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. She spoke about this experience and the conditions of these detainment centers with WGLT's Ryan Denham.

Kinship, Fractionalization And Corruption, Mahsa Akbari, Duman Bahrami-Rad, Erik O. Kimbrough

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We examine the roots of variation in corruption across societies, and we argue that marriage practices and family structure are an important, overlooked determinant of corruption. By shaping patterns of relatedness and interaction, marriage practices influence the relative returns to norms of nepotism/favoritism versus norms of impartial cooperation. In-marriage (e.g. consanguineous marriage) generates fractionalization because it yields relatively closed groups of related individuals and thereby encourages favoritism and corruption. Out-marriage creates a relatively open society with increased interaction between non-relatives and strangers, thereby encouraging impartiality. We report a robust association between in-marriage practices and corruption both across countries and within …

On The Margins Of Friendship: Aggression In An Elementary School Peer Group, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

This article uses qualitative data from a larger study of two elementary schools in a rural city of about 15,000 people in the Midwestern United States. Here, I focus on a single peer group and those who are on its margins to provide insight into the intersection of friendship, aggression, and masculinity. In doing so, I address the lack of research examining how aggression functions within peer groups and why those who are victimized choose to remain in these groups.

Misrecognition In A Sustainability Capital: Race, Representation, And Transportation Survey Response Rates In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Raoul S. Liévanos, Amy Lubitow, Julius A. Mcgee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

US household transportation surveys typically have limited coverage of and responses from people of color (POC), which may lead to inaccurate estimation of POC transportation access and behavior. We recast this technocratic understanding of representativeness as a problem of “racial misrecognition” in which racial group difference is obscured yet foundational for distributive transportation inequities and unsustainability. We linked 2008–2012 population and housing data to an apparent stratified random sample of 6107 household responses to the 2011 Oregon Household Activity Survey (OHAS) in a “sustainability capital”: the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. We detailed how the 2011 OHAS consistently overrepresented White households …

"Camouflaging" In Women With Autistic Traits: Measures, Mechanisms, And Mental Health Implications, Jonathan S. Beck

Theses and Dissertations

Autistic traits are associated with frequent psychological distress and everyday functional challenges. Some individuals with autistic traits “camouflage” these traits during social interactions by effortfully engaging in “typical” social behaviors. Camouflaging seems to be especially common in autistic girls and women. Emerging evidence proposes a role for camouflaging behaviors in poorer mental health and daily functioning. Furthermore, camouflaging efforts may delay receipt of a proper diagnosis and access to appropriate mental health care. Despite their clinical significance, camouflaging efforts remain difficult to quantify, and the mechanisms and impacts of camouflaging are poorly understood. This study aimed to compare multiple methods …

Analysis Of Social Unrest Events Using Spatio-Temporal Data Clustering And Agent-Based Modelling, Sudeep Basnet

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Social unrest such as appeals, protests, conflicts, fights and mass violence can result from a wide ranging of diverse factors making the analysis of causal relationships challenging, with high complexity and uncertainty. Unrest events can result in significant changes in a society ranging from new policies and regulations to regime change. Widespread unrest often arises through a process of feedback and cascading of a collection of past events over time, in regions that are close to each other. Understanding the dynamics of these social events and extrapolating their future growth will enable analysts to detect or forecast major societal events. …

"It Takes Less To Be A Man Nowadays": Exploring Persistence And Change In Masculinity Narratives Among College-Aged Men, Shelby Lynn Clark

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, a growing field of scholarship unpacks the concept of masculinity and its implications for gender and social hierarchy. Of particular interest are the ways in which hegemonic masculinity is perpetuated through the media and social discourse. The current study uses content analysis to highlight themes in the commodification of masculinity depicted in a series of Playboy Magazine’s “What Sort of Man Reads Playboy?” ads throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Conducting focus groups, I then use responses to these historical images and a contemporary equivalent to explore the persistence and evolution of portrayals of masculine ideals …

Migration And Mental Health In The Aftermath Of Disaster: Evidence From Mt. Merapi, Indonesia, Jonathan A. Muir, Michael R. Cope, Leslie R. Angeningsih, Jorden E. Jackson, Ralph B. Brown

Faculty Publications

Migration is a standard survival strategy in the context of disasters. While prior studies have examined factors associated with return migration following disasters, an area that remains relatively underexplored is whether moving home to one’s original community results in improved health and well-being compared to other options such as deciding to move on. In the present study, our objective is to explore whether return migration, compared to other migration options, results in superior improvements to mental health. We draw upon data from a cross-sectional pilot study conducted 16 months after a series of volcanic eruptions in Merapi, Indonesia. Using ordinal …

Creating New Metaphors For Women Engineering Students Through Qualitative Methods, Cliff Haynes

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study is to describe female students’ experiences in an engineering living-learning program using metaphorical analysis through a constructivist theoretical perspective. Extant literature uses metaphors from a negative viewpoint or a deficit model to describe the experiences of female undergraduates in engineering; however, new metaphors have not been used to describe the experience. This study aims to fill existing gaps in LLP literature using qualitative methods. Data from 13 semi-structured individual interviews (7 initial interviews and 6 follow-up interviews) serve as the primary data source. After conducting metaphorical analysis, I found five interpretive metaphors emerging: LLP as …

How Pennsylvanians Define Environmental Justice, Kayla Hofmann

Sociology Summer Fellows

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) defines an environmental justice area as any census tract that partially or wholly includes a 30 percent or greater minority population or 20 percent or more of a population living in poverty. However, little is known about how the average Pennsylvanian defines environmental justice, hindering our ability to determine whether the current definition is adequate. Using transcripts from nine listening sessions on the DEP’s tour of affected counties, I address 3 questions: (1) How do people define environmental justice? (2) What do people think are the most pressing issues in each county? And …

Effects Of Polygyny On Child Health And Determinants Of Birth Registration : The Case Of Nigerian Children, Uchechi Shirley Anaduaka

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

This thesis contains three empirical essays focused on the impact of parental socioeconomic characteristics on early childhood outcomes, namely health and birth registration in Nigeria. The focus is motivated by the growing body of literature showing the crucial role the former play in shaping early childhood outcomes. Nigeria is of utmost concern because of the significant differences in parental socioeconomic characteristics (e.g. polygyny is widespread) and high rates of poor child outcomes (poor health and low birth registration). Identifying the impact of parental socioeconomic characteristics can allow more effective policy interventions for achieving sustainable development goals: health (SDG target 2.2) …

The Public Library As Resistive Space In The Neoliberal City, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

With reduced hours, decaying infrastructure, and precariously positioned staff, local public libraries provide much needed services in cities devastated by inequality and slashed safety nets. In this article, I draw on ethnographic research of a small public library in a diverse, mostly working class neighborhood in Queens, New York. I show that in addition to providing an alternative to the capitalist market by distributing resources according to people’s needs, the library serves as a moral underground space, where middle class people bend rules to help struggling city residents. Although the library occasionally replicates hegemonic ideologies about immigrant assimilation, it provides …

When To Make The Sensory Social: Registering In Copresent Openings, Danielle M. Pillet-Shore

Communication

This article provides the first detailed empirical analysis of naturally-occurring videorecorded openings during which participants make the sensory social through the action of registering – calling joint attention to a selected, publicly perceivable referent so others shift their sensory attention to it. Examining sequence-initial actions that register referents for which a participant is regarded as responsible, this study elucidates a systematic preference organization which observably guides when and how people initiate registering sequences sensitive to both referent ownership and referent value. Analysis shows how choosing to register an owned referent puts involved participants’ face, affiliation, and social relationship on the …

The Experience Of Co-Teaching For Emergent Arabic-English Literacy, Anna M. Dillon, Kay Gallagher

The Qualitative Report

In this paper we explore teachers’ experiences of co-teaching within a new bilingual (Arabic/ English) model in public Kindergarten schools in the United Arab Emirates. The main objective was to understand teachers’ experiences with intercultural teaching for biliteracy in this context. We interviewed six pairs of co-teachers. These co-teachers represent six of the nationalities of teachers working in public Kindergartens in Abu Dhabi, thereby representing a cross-section of the cultural context of teaching in the reformed public schools. The data highlight teachers’ varied co-teaching practices and point to aspects such as classroom management and translanguaging as aspects of classroom practice …

Things Cis People Say: Mechanisms Of Moral Disengagement In The Justification Of Anti-Queer Communication, Jonathan M. Sahlman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Despite advances gained by LGBTQIA+ people the issue of discrimination against the queer population continues. Recent events surrounding comments made by alt-right leaders have continued the conversation regarding homophobia and transphobia. The followed study built on previous understandings of moral disengagement theory and communication. 15 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with queer students were conducted in order to explore the role of self-cognitive mechanisms and their potential justifications for anti-queer communication. Findings suggested that not only were mechanisms of moral disengagement present in incidents surrounding anti-queer communication, but the carried with them a range of personal and societal implications. This study offered …

Uni S A C Updates: Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology Newsletter, Summer 2019, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Sociology, Anthropology, And Criminology.

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Newsletter

Inside This Issue:
-- Fall 2018 Alumni in Residence - Katelyn M. Bries
-- 2019 UNI Outstanding Student Leader
-- UNI Purple and Gold Awards
-- UNI Honors Students
-- 2018-19 Student Admissions Ambassadors
-- 2018-19 Ethnic Student Promoters
-- Social and Behavioral Representatives (SABRs)
-- INSPIRE Student Research & Engagement Conference: Poster Presentations
-- Iowa Sociological Association Annual Meeting: Poster Presentation
-- Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting
-- CSBS Donald and Gudrun Fruehling Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
-- SAC Internships
-- Sociology
-- Criminology
-- Anthropology
-- Faculty Retirements
-- Sociology Endowed Scholarship Fundraising Progress

Personality Inventory Dsm-5: A Spanish Translation For Hispanics In The United States, Jessica Abigail Carmona

Theses and Dissertations

The Personality Inventory DSM-5 (PID-5) was created to measure personality pathology and help in the development of a dimensional conceptualization of personality disorders (Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson, & Skodol, 2012). It measures five maladaptive personality traits: Negative Affect, Detachment, Antagonism, Disinhibition and Psychoticism. The PID-5 has also garnered significant support for its hierarchical structure, five-factor structure across samples and translations, and its ability to predict variance in internalizing and externalizing disorders (Krueger & Markon, 2014). The current study builds on this literature by translating the PID-5 into Spanish spoken in Latin America and testing the replicability of the five-factor structure, …

Political Object Or Individual Subject?: Dominant Dutch Narratives Vs. Migrant Identities, Ashley Little

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research study analyzes the impact of public narratives in The Netherlands upon the individual narratives of second-generation migrant women in the labor force. Viewing narratives as on one hand, symbolic and rhetorical, and on the other hand, as pragmatic and structural, I attempt to draw a correlation between public narratives and individual narrative production, arguing that discourses and practices of discrimination originate—and often intensify—through the relationship between these two narrative modes. I hypothesize the ways in which both migrant and native Dutch narratives currently challenge, but also have the potential to challenge, this dually-produced and dually-reinforced discrimination narrative. Correspondingly, …

Constructing Professional Identities: Native English-Speaking Teachers In South Korea, Natalie-Jane Howard

The Qualitative Report

Responding to globalisation, a ubiquitous obsession with English has pervaded South Korea and led to the employment of tens of thousands of expatriate English teachers. However, native-speaking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers may be subject to marginalisation and acculturation difficulties as they navigate overseas employment contexts. Moreover, scholars question the legitimacy of their careers and challenge the bias for their native-speaker expertise. Against this contentious backdrop, this study explores how the experiences and beliefs of native-speaking EFL teachers both promote and hinder their professional identity constructions. Adopting a qualitative, interpretivist approach, interviews are mobilised to document the participants’ …

From Meaningful Work To Good Work: Reexamining The Moral Foundation Of The Calling Orientation, Garrett W. Potts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The calling orientation to work represents the seed that has germinated into the exponentially growing ‘work as a calling’ literature. It was first articulated by Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen, William Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven Tipton within Habits of the Heart in the 1980s. The following critical analysis of the ‘work as a calling’ literature, and of the moral foundation of the calling orientation more specifically, is intended for two particular audiences.

The first audience broadly includes an interdisciplinary group of scholars working within business ethics, management, organizational psychology, and vocational psychology, among other fields of study. Amidst these scholars’ …

Editor's Introduction, Jr. Aguilar

Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints

No abstract provided.

Forget The Olive Branch, What About The Bank Branch? An Examination Of The Relationship Between Financial Access And Community Crime, Marc D. Glidden

Theses and Dissertations

Previous literature has concluded that the structural characteristics of neighborhoods, namely measures of concentrated disadvantage, racial and ethnic heterogeneity, and residential stability, are significant predictors of the variance in crime within communities. Guided by a neighborhood approach, this study introduces a measure of access to mainstream financial institutions within the social disorganization theoretical framework. Specifically, this dissertation examines the relationship between access to banks and violent, property, and total crime rates within 3,039 counties in the United States. Findings indicate a significant association between bank access and community crime.

Intercultural Sensitivity Orientations Prior To Short-Term Study Abroad: A Qualitative Study On Prospective English Language Teachers, Emrullah Yasin Çiftçi, Nurdan Gürbüz

The Qualitative Report

Short-term study abroad programs can contribute to the multidimensional development of prospective language teachers. However, participants’ intercultural sensitivity orientations prior to the mobility period can significantly influence the quality and quantity of the outcomes gained from such programs. Therefore,in this qualitative case study, we explored the intercultural sensitivity orientations of a cohort of prospective language teachers from Turkey who prepared to study at three different universities in Italy. We also explored the participants’ perspectives regarding the potential contributions of short-term study abroad to their ongoing language teacher education processes. Following an interpretive analysis of qualitative data, our findings revealed that …

The Paradoxical Implications Of Deported American Students, Edmund T. Hamann, Jessica Mitchell-Mccollough

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

This book chapter (which has no formal abstract) uses the case of two children who had to leave the United States because their father was deported to raise questions about how US schooling does or does not anticipate and support students who will need to negotiate schooling in two countries.

Principals and teachers throughout the United States (and world) have students with transnational ties. Sometimes students were born in another country. More commonly, one or both parents were. Sometimes that means students and/or parents lack documentation, which creates anxiety and ambiguity in students’ lives that schools need to negotiate. Suro …

A Qualitative Exploration Of Teachers’ Experiences With Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Transitioning And Adjusting To Inclusion: Impacts Of The Home And School Collaboration, Chana S. Josilowski, Wendy Morris

The Qualitative Report

Although inclusive classrooms provide unique opportunities for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these students face barriers during the initial transition from self-contained classrooms (Sanahuja-Gavaldà, Olmos-Rueda, & Morón-Velasco, 2016). The purpose of this qualitative, generic study was to identify how home and school collaboration impacted the transition and adjustment of students with ASD to an inclusive setting. Using a generic qualitative methodology, we collected data from 16 teachers who responded to a series of open-ended questions about their experiences with parental engagement during the transition to inclusion for students with ASD. Three themes emerged; teachers indicated that when parents and …