Digital Commons Network^™

Changing The Channel: How Queer Representation In Mainstream Media Influences Social Perceptions In Young Adult Viewers, Lillian Joy Myers

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the impact of queer representation in mainstream film and television on young adult viewers, with particular attention to how these media portrayals influence social perceptions and cultural understandings of queerness and LGBTQ+ identities. While queer visibility in mainstream media has increased over the past two decades, the quality and complexity of that representation remain generally inconsistent and infrequent. Drawing on sociological theories of representation and cultivation, along with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)’s Vito Russo Test as a guiding framework, this study explores both the quality and impacts of LGBTQ+ media visibility. The purpose of …

Experienced Latinx Urban Gardeners In San Jose, Ca, Offer Strategies For Climate Justice And Resilience, Claudia S. Damiani Fontana

Master's Theses

Low-income and underinvested communities will be disproportionately affected by climate change due to limited resources, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient support systems. Urban gardeners are responding to the need to adapt to new climate conditions while sustaining their food sources and cultural practices. Many have adapted thanks to local interventions led by the government and non-profit agencies. For this study, I partnered with La Mesa Verde (LMV), a gardening and food justice program that works with low-income Latinx families in San José, and I documented the contributions of experienced Latinx gardeners, especially those with agricultural backgrounds, to climate-resilient gardening in San …

One Nation Under Guard, Everett T. Glynn

Master's Theses

The rise of segments of the labor force devoted to functions other than production has received increased scholarly attention, particularly pertaining to the robust deployment of the police and criminal justice apparat in the neoliberal era. Critical perspectives align the rise of the securitization of society with political and economic transitions that occur within the contexts of changes to social inequality and crackdowns on social movements beginning in the 1970s. In a theoretical construction of the emerging concept of guard labor, this thesis finds that robust societal deployments of a form of functional labor used to entrench social inequality has …

False Starts & Finish Lines: Youth Sports, Coaching, & The Crisis Of The American Dream, John S. Lammert Jr

Master's Theses

False Starts & Finish Lines: Youth Sports, Coaching, & the Crisis of the American Dream examines how the American youth sports system reflects, reproduces, and at times resists the evolving contradictions of the American Dream. Drawing on a comparative analysis of institutional documents from public high schools, travel clubs, and recreational leagues, this thesis interrogates how youth sports have shifted from inclusive spaces of play and character-building to stratified marketplaces governed by the Athletic Industrial Complex (AIC). It argues that rising costs, performance pressures, and privatized structures have transformed access to sport—and, by extension, to the Dream itself—into a function …

Determinants Of Integration: Migration Difficulty, Mental Health, And Social Connections Among Eritrean Immigrants, Shewit Woldemichael

Master's Theses

This thesis explores how the experience of migration hardship affects integration outcomes of Eritrean migrants in the U.S. and the Netherlands. Using original survey data and the Immigration Policy Lab’s Integration Index (IPL-24), this paper investigated the intersection of economic, psychological, and social interactions that facilitate integration outcomes. This research finds that migration hardship doesn’t just make people’s lives more difficult; it breaks down the social ties and mental well-being that are essential for economic success measured by integration.

The Algorithm Of Inclusion: Homonationalism, Queer Advocacy, And Digital Marketing Of Un Ecosoc Ingos And Indian Ngos, Dewansh Chauhan

Master's Theses

Advocacy organizations have increasingly turned to social media as digital platforms become integral to contemporary activism, shaping public discourse and securing institutional legitimacy. This thesis examines the organizational communication of organizations that support marginalized sexualities within a neoliberal and homonationalist context. Employing Critical Content Analysis (CCA), the study analyzes a representative sample of 200 Instagram posts from 2024, comparing two international NGOs with ECOSOC status at the UN (Outright International and ILGA) and two national NGOs in India (Humsafar Trust and Naz Foundation). The findings reveal how homonationalist tendencies may manifest at the intersection of engagement metrics, identity-centric rhetoric, brand …

Unequal Shocks: The Heterogeneous Impact Of Earthquakes, Claire Marie James

Master's Theses

What effect does neighborhood wealth have on disaster outcomes and disaster induced migration? Using the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquake in Southern Türkiye and Syria as a natural shock, I examine how the short term migration response to building damage and earthquake exposure differs by average neighborhood home prices. Using a panel dataset of population by bing tile, from Meta’s Data for Good Project, I employ time series and cross sectional regression analysis. I find that wealthy neighborhoods are better able to retain population than non-wealthy counterparts.

Negotiating Migration In The Mediterranean: A Comparative Study Of Morocco And Italy’S Border Policies And Their Humanitarian Impact On Irregular Migrants, Shennel Ep Henries

Master's Theses

Serving as both a barrier and a bridge that connects Africa and Europe, the Mediterranean is today the focal point of global controversies around migration, where humanitarian interests balance against border policing and meet securitization policies. This thesis examines the questions: How do irregular migrants adapt, interpret, and maneuver around securitized Moroccan and Italian migration policies, and what do their strategies tell us about the relationship between humanitarianism and securitization in Mediterranean bordering processes? Drawing on qualitative evidence, including expert interviews with organization employees and volunteers in Morocco and Italy (Fondazione Solidarietà Caritas, Nosotras Onlus, and Caritas Maroc), field observation, …

Mothers Who Homeschool: Experiences In Rural California, Kiah Combs

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of mothers who homeschool

their children in the rural location of Shasta County, California (CA). This research was

guided by three research questions: 1) In what ways is the act of homeschooling a form

of resistance to existing power structures for mothers in a rural region in CA? 2) How

does the process of providing a homeschooling education for their children influence

mothers’ perceptions of themselves as confident and capable? 3) In what ways does

homeschooling allow mothers to offer their children an educational experience which

meets their unique needs …

Lack Of Access To Education And Economic Opportunities As Root Causes Of Youth Migration From The Western Highlands Of Guatemala, Alvaro Quinteros Gonzalez

Master's Theses

This thesis examines how the relationship between limited access to education and economic opportunities contribute to the migration of young people out of this region. The qualitative research addresses two main questions: a) What challenges do young people in the Western Highlands of Guatemala face in accessing the education system and employment opportunities? And b) How does the lack of education and economic opportunities influence young people’s decision to migrate? Three focus groups were conducted with young individuals from the western highlands, and six semi-structured interviews were held with stakeholders and organizations working in this region.

The thesis concludes that …

Tapestry Of Culture: The Power Of Storytelling Among Native American Cultures: The Search For History, Culture, And Identity, Maurysha Cuttino

Master's Theses

Storytelling is a centerpiece within cultures to remember the past, find faith, and establish comfort within a community setting. This thesis will explore how storytelling has become a means of entertainment and much more. This paper will focus specifically on how storytelling works for the inner workings of Elders in Native American communities, as well as how multifaceted storytelling can be understood in the importance of its culture and people. Further, we will see how these stories create moral lessons for communities and act as guidance for individuals. We will look at the way storytelling has evolved and changed with …

Cartoon Kinship, Kelsey Bell Quinn

Master's Theses

Most people view cartoons as mindless entertainment exclusively for children. They dismiss the genre as if it only contains zany and overzealous characters who deal with simple, predictable challenges, easily resolved by the end of the episode. The negative attitude towards cartoons—or seemingly anything animated—undermines the importance of the lessons and the themes many shows do impart on their viewers, regardless of their age. Shows like Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender cover a plethora of complex themes, but due to its status as an animated work, it has been disregarded as a show for children rather than being appreciated as …

The Prescribing Of Gender, A Scope On The Societal Ideologies Showcased Within Le Roman De Silence, Derrian Fernandez

Master's Theses

Culture is constantly evolving, its ideologies cementing themselves within our minds, shaping how we as a society guide ourselves through living in such. Social class, religion, gender, all are forms of identity that have a place, and a certain understanding and standing within our culture and society. Through this understanding of ourselves, we are defined, creating multiple forms of distinct expression to help differentiate our place further. A pope is expected to wear a certain attire just as a bride is expected to. The same ideology trickles down, creating demarcations of attire that subsequently ingrain themselves into our culture and …

Feral And Free: The Queering Of Motherhood In Rachel Yoder’S Nightbitch, Cassandra Haskell

Master's Theses

This thesis explores motherhood from a perspective that seeks to inform and challenge the patriarchal definitions of motherhood in order to simultaneously confront its restrictions and create new meanings from its institutionalized definition. The main text that this thesis analyzes is the 2021 novel Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, as well as the 2024 film of the same name, critiquing how it successfully queers motherhood by questioning, challenging, and defying the impractical expectations placed upon mothers by society. Some secondary scholars whose works that I utilize to support my argument are authors such as Audre Lorde, Jessica Calarco, Adrienne Rich and …

“But Where Are Those Good Old-Fashioned Values?”—The Racial Politics Of Animated Satire In Family Guy, Jordanne Greenidge

Master's Theses

Few animated shows have shaped American pop culture quite like Family Guy. Known for its rapid-fire cutaway gags and irreverent humor, the series has remained a television mainstay since its debut in 1999, despite frequent criticism and even two cancellations. Created by Seth MacFarlane and based on his 1995 student film The Life of Larry, Family Guy has built its reputation on pushing the boundaries of taste, especially when it comes to race, gender, and politics. Though often defended as satire, the show’s use of racial humor raises questions about its true impact: Do its portrayals of Black characters challenge …

The Adirondack Frontier: Reclaiming A Vital Role In Shaping The Nation, Peter Nelson

Master's Theses

The traditional version of Adirondack history from the revolutionary period to the middle of the nineteenth century, which portrays the region as unexplored primeval wilderness, is nineteenth-century romantic mythology. It ignores thousands of years of Indigenous habitation and misrepresents early Euro-American activity in the region as well. In fact, from the earliest days of colonial exploration of North America until the middle of the 19th-Century, New York's Adirondack region was a dynamic American frontier, as important in shaping the destiny of the nation as the Northwest Territory or, later, the West. Activities in the Adirondack frontier contributed to the decimation …

Doin' Time: Entertainment And Exploitation At Decommissioned Prison Museums In The United States, Jessi Robbins

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to explore how decommissioned prison museums in the US, such as Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary (BMSP), shape societal attitudes and understanding of the carceral system as a whole and the presence of systemic racism within by addressing three questions: (1) What histories do prison museums tell, and which are erased?, (2) How do objects displayed in prison museums reflect past and present racial attitudes toward the incarcerated?, and (3) Does visiting or working at a prison museum affect individual attitudes regarding the US carceral system? Grounded in James Scott’s (1992) concept of “hidden transcripts” and Michel Foucault’s …

Does Resilience Moderate The Relation Between Caregiver Behaviors And Post-Traumatic Symptoms In Young Adults?, Akila Uma Gopalkrishnan

Master's Theses

Exposure to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) is not an uncommon experience for children and adolescents. After exposure to adverse events, youth may experience significant maladjustment and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). As such, researchers continue investigating potential risk and protective factors contributing to youth post-trauma adjustment. Considering their critical role in children’s development, caregivers likely play a key role in youth post-trauma adjustment. However, the field lacks studies on caregiver behaviors following youth PTE exposure and on factors, such as resilience, that could influence how children respond to stress and caregiver environments. I aimed to evaluate: (a) how perceived caregiver …

Enhancing University Retention Through Faculty/Staff Mentor-Mentee Relationships: An Interpersonal Communication Approach, Emma Catherine Richardson

Master's Theses

This study investigates the role of interpersonal communication in faculty and staff mentorship and its impact on undergraduate student retention, focusing on struggling students at Louisiana Tech University. With a national retention rate of 68.2% and persistent disparities among underrepresented groups, improving student retention remains a critical issue in higher education. The research addresses a gap in understanding how communication practices, such as active listening, empathy, and constructive feedback, influence mentorship effectiveness. Guided by Interpersonal Communication Theory and Social Support Theory, this qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews with 12 undergraduate students. Thematic analysis revealed key findings: mentors who demonstrated empathy, …

Associations Among Shopping Methods, Diet Adherence, And Nutrition Knowledge Of Employed Primary Grocery Shoppers In Households With Children, Baylee Schneider

Master's Theses

Obesity is a prominent risk factor for chronic disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Obesity and chronic disease rates continue to rise, requiring a need for prevention and intervention efforts. The future role of dietetics is to provide treatment and prevention through holistic approaches, by understanding individuals’ habits that contribute to the onset of disease, specifically their food choices, grocery shopping methods, and influences that waver these selections. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between grocery shopping methods (online or in-store), Mediterranean diet adherence, nutrition knowledge, and food purchase patterns …

Investigating The Role Of Out-Of-School Experiences In Racial And Ethnic Identity Formation For Black Youth Within An Ecological Model, Maureen Burns

Master's Theses

Racial and ethnic identity formation is associated with psychological well-being and this is especially true for youth of color, including Black adolescents. Currently, there is a dearth of literature examining influences on this facet of identity during adolescents, outside of parental socialization and school-related factors. Participation in organized out-of-school activities has been associated with positive outcomes, such as social and emotional well-being, which, in turn, is related to identity formation. The goal of the present study was to better understand the relation between out-of-school experiences and racial and ethnic identity among Black adolescents. Participants included Black identifying adolescents, ages 14-19 …

Rethinking The Relationship Between Capitalism And Environmental Sustainability: Locating Nigeria Within The Globe, Chukwuebuka Emmanuel Madu

Master's Theses

The relationship between capitalism and environmental sustainability and how problems arising from this relationship can be resolved globally and locally is vital for those with economic and environmental concerns. The environment that provides human beings with essential survival needs has to be preserved if these needs are expected to be available for future generations while also being enough for the present generation of human beings. One obstacle to protecting the environment is climate change due to global warming. What is responsible for global warming that ultimately leads to environmental unsustainability? This study pursues this question by rethinking the relationship between …

Endocrine Responses To Two Distinct Foraging Contexts In The Bonobo (Pan Paniscus), Lauren Mitchell

Master's Theses

In gregarious animals, a social structure characterized by female dominance is relatively rare. However, bonobos (Pan paniscus), one of the two species most closely related to humans, are characterized by partial female dominance, with females forming close social bonds. In contrast, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), a close relative of the bonobo, are characterized by strong male-male bonding and social dominance with female chimpanzees lacking close social bonds. There is a lack of consensus concerning the reasons for these behavioral differences in Pan, specifically, the physiological processes responsible for female dominance in bonobos. The role of hormones …

Connecting Through Screens: A Case Study On Student Engagement In Online Esol Classes In The Post Pandemic Era, Meral Kacar

Master's Theses

The sudden shift to emergency online education during the global pandemic affected various academic fields, including English language teaching. While many schools faced challenges, some successfully implemented online educational programs. Despite the large impact of the global pandemic on education, there is limited research that examines the effectiveness of online ESOL programs with a focus on the key factors that contribute to student engagement. This thesis explores the factors contributing to effective online ESOL instruction, focusing on fostering engagement and improving teaching practices in the post-pandemic era. The study for this thesis employs an instrumental case study methodology, focusing on …

Building Foundations For Success: A Study On Aligning Expectations And Realities In College Dance Programs, Ashley Walker Anderson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research study was to take the information gathered from surveys and interviews with the participants and analyze the impact of the gaps between their expectations and realities, and the gap between the overall effectiveness and success of college dance programs in preparing students for their post-graduation goals. The goal of the researcher was to answer the following questions.

Q1 What factors determine where dancers attend college?

Q2 Are high schoolers making their college wish list based on prestige, faculty, performance opportunities, tuition cost, course requirements, career goals, or perhaps a combination of multiple factors?

Q3 Are …

Rape Beyond Fantasy: Exploring The Influence Of Booktok's Erotica And Dark Romance Literature On Young Adult Perceptions Of Consent And Boundaries, Teagan Bailey Fortune

Master's Theses

Advances in technology and media, particularly TikTok, have had a significant impact on the younger generation. BookTok, a community that emerged from TikTok, is a platform where users can promote, share, and discuss book recommendations, using “spice level” or chili emojis to indicate the rating of explicit content. While recommendations often focus on erotica and dark romance fiction, concerns arise when such content glamorizes and normalizes rape culture, especially for young adults (YA). The normalization of toxic relationships can potentially influence YA perceptions of consent and boundaries. This study explores how YA perceive rape culture and consent in erotica and …

Ephemeral Legacy, Allison Hall

Master's Theses

Recently, my thoughts have centered on the problem of legacy. How do we forge bonds with other humans? What happens on an interpersonal level when these humans pass away, or when we pass, and they continue in life? How do queer spaces consistently offer deeper phenomena of interpersonal legacies; how does death operate as generational catalyst? I am particularly interested in putting these questions in the context of queer spaces. In queer culture, kinship is formed in ways that break from typical western notions of kinship. Despite being incoherent to western notions of family, queer bonds are extremely strong (Bradway …

They Can't Know I Wanna Kiss Robots: Stigma And Audience Segregation In Fanfiction, Micah Arrow Callin

Master's Theses

Fanfiction writers have long faced public stigma, which emerged with the rise of fandom and, according to recent claims, may be lessening as fandom identities gain wider acceptance. However, the practice of fanfiction writers intentionally segregating their audiences remains a deeply embedded aspect of fandom culture, with limited understanding of its underlying motivations. The purpose of this study was to analyze the audience segregation employed by online fanfiction authors in order to understand why they choose to segregate their audiences, and specifically to determine the influence of social stigma on these choices, answering these main questions: Is there segregation between …

Are College Students' Grocery Shopping Habits Consistent With The Mediterranean Diet Guidelines? A Preliminary Report, Montana Grace Ayala

Master's Theses

The number of people diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes mellitus continues to grow. The Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce the risks of developing heart disease. Fruit and vegetable consumption is low across the country. Improving fruit and vegetable consumption for adults might start with improving intake earlier in life because it can influence better food habits. Following the Mediterranean diet at a young age can prevent chronic diseases from developing. It is well known that college students have diets that are not consistent with healthy eating habits and can be influenced by the need for …

Information About A Racial Demographic Shift May Influence Tolerance For Outgroup Contact, Yvonne N. Phan

Master's Theses

When exposed to information about a demographic shift towards a non-White majority in America, White individuals tend to prefer interactions and settings within their own ethnic group over minority ethnic groups. This behavior may suggest that future inter-racial dynamics in the U.S. could be characterized by resistance from White individuals. To understand how other racial groups respond to information about a racial demographic shift, I collected data on three measures of outgroup tolerance from a multiracial sample of students from San Jose State University’s participant database after exposing them to information about a racial demographic shift driven by a Hispanic …