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The Influence Of Covid-19 On Tobacco Racial Health Disparities: Testing The Differential Effects Of Covid-19 On Smoking Motivation Variables Across Black And White Smokers, Patricia F. Calixte-Civil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated persistent racial differences in access and quality of healthcare resources that result in disproportionately poor health outcomes for Black and African Americans, relative to Whites. Given COVID-19’s influence on racial health disparities broadly, examination is warranted on whether the pandemic has more specificallyinfluenced smoking motivation and, subsequently, tobacco-related health disparities. The goal of this study was to test whether COVID-19 related video content differentially primed smoking motivation (cravings, cessation self-efficacy, and motivation to quit) among Black and White smokers. I used an online research platform to host an experiment with a 2x3 between-subjects factorial design …

Educational Language Policy: An Examination Of Race And Language In Policy Discourse, Dionne L. Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Linguistic diversity is an integral thread in the tapestry of America. As such researchers how linguistic differences across ethnoracial groups can be understood as resources rather than problems. The aim of this study was to examine ideologies concerning race/ethnicity and language in the discourse of educational language policies that guide multilingual approaches to education. The design of this study was critical discourse policy analysis, and the framework was a combination of Critical Language and Race Theory, also known as LangCrit (Crump, 2014), and Raciolinguistics (Alim, 2016; Flores and Rosa, 2015). The research questions were: (1) How are ideologies about the …

Racial Differences In Perceptions Of Sanction Severity, Sarah L. Franklin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has consistently found an association between race and relative perceptions of incarceration severity. Black people view incarceration as less severe than an equivalent period of probation. However, few studies have examined why this relationship exists. The present study surveys a large sample of young adults to examine whether the observed relationship between race and incarceration severity can be replicated. In doing so, the study then considers whether constructs related to socioeconomic status, criminal system experiences, perceptions of legitimacy, and sanction attitudes explain the racial divide. Results indicate a significant relationship between race and incarceration severity, such that Black people, …

Racial And Ethnic Difference In Music Performance Self-Efficacy Among Undergraduate Students, George W. Shannon Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Musical self-efficacy is an area that has been studied in areas such as music performance (McCormick & McPherson, 2000; Zelenak, 2011) and music achievement (Zelenak, 2019). McPherson and McCormick (2006) conclude that the relationship between music self-efficacy and music performance is significant. With this understanding, the present study will determine if there is a significant difference by race or ethnicity in music performance self-efficacy among undergraduate students. Researchers have long reported the need for additional racially diverse studies in educational research with newer studies needed in music. Using the Music Performance Self-Efficacy Scale (MPSES), African-American, Caucasian, and Mixed responded to …

Constructing 'Child Safety': Policy, Practice, And Marginalized Families In Florida's Child Welfare System, Melissa Hope Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

‘Child safety’ has become a central concept of the modern child welfare system, an institution whose purpose is to protect children from abuse and neglect. What safety means and how it is best accomplished, however, are highly contested and characterized by definitional ambiguity, inconsistent bureaucratic interpretation, and operational variability. Situating this research within the anthropology of the state, the purpose of the current study is to develop a deeper understanding of the ways in which the state enacts power in matters of the family and childrearing through the child welfare system, casting a critical lens on the strategies used in …

Stressors, Resources, And Psychological Well-Being Among Working Black And White Caregivers In The United States, Maureen E. Templeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

By the year 2060 in the United States (U.S.), not only will the number of adults aged 65 and older double, non-Hispanic Whites (Whites), who currently constitute 77% of the older adult population, will constitute just slightly more than half of older adults. As the older adult population diversifies, so will their caregivers. Over 60% of informal caregivers of older adults (caregivers) are employed, and the majority of these are employed full time. Little is known about the unique experiences of working Black or African American (Black/AA) and White caregivers and non-caregivers in the U.S. This dissertation consists of three …

“Here Come The Crackers!”: An Ethnohistorical Case Study Of Local Heritage Discourses And Cultural Reproduction At A Florida Living History Museum, Blair Bordelon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the complex roles of power and heritage in the reproduction ofcultural and ethnic identities in the context of a local living history museum called Cracker Country. Throughout this thesis, I demonstrate how discourses of Florida heritage are constructed, reproduced, or contested in various ways among all the museum’s different communities of stakeholders. Using Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s (1995) theory of historical silences and expanding on Laurajane Smith’s (2006) notion of the Authorized Heritage Discourse, I explore the ways that heritage “works” at a local level, and the multitude of meanings it can hold within particular communities. I analyze the …

Dismantling Hegemony Through Inclusive Sexual Health Education, Lauren Wright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the process of developing a sexual health education curriculum that is not only tailored to the unique needs of foster-engaged young women, but also those who may experience further marginalization from other mainstream programs due to their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or their religious beliefs. In conjunction with the Adolescent Sexual Health Education and Research (ASHER) Program, I helped develop a sexual health education curriculum, "Choosing Myself," targeted toward foster-engaged young women and young women (ages 13-24) in the state of Florida. "Choosing Myself" is intended to be an inclusive program that empowers participants, improves their …

Blue Rage: A Critical Cultural Analysis Of Policing, Whiteness, And Racial Surveillance, Wesley T. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an interpretive project deploying critical media analysis and interpretive qualitative methods to examine televisual and cinematic performances of policing. I use interpretive qualitative inquiry to explore blue rage, policing, and whiteness. By highlighting the racial surveillance which undergirds policing, I analyze blue rage as a critical race concept that addresses the affective policing of racial resentment and racial solidarity among law enforcement. My media analyses demonstrate the ways that whiteness is operationalized through law and order and criminal justice. Analyzing cinematic and televisual depictions of the police and racist surveillance, I address policing—as a profession, as a …

¿De Dónde Eres?: Negotiating Identity As Third Culture Kids, Sophia Margulies

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sparked by David C. Pollock's (1988) concept of "third culture kids" (children of government officials and military personnel), this thesis uses autoethnography to examine "white-passing" Latinx identity and gender passing as it relates to individuals who identify as transgender to understand what it means to "pass" within these communication contexts. I situate the study at the intersections of queer, trans, and Latinx theories. Ultimately, I argue that the communicative and identity practices inherent to the liminal spaces in which third culture kids perform create the conditions for performances as transnational subjects. What the contexts of place and home are like, …

La Tierra Que Pisamos: El Tercer Espacio En La Narrativa De Jesús Carrasco, Christina Ahmed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Este estudio explora las diferentes manifestaciones del tercer espacio en la novela de Jesús Carrasco, La tierra que pisamos (2016), para mostrar cómo la narrativa es capaz de generar empatía en el lector. Un ejemplo de Historia alternativa, la novela narra la colonización de España por un Imperio imperialista. Los eventos se sitúan en un pueblo en Extremadura donde un indígena llamado Leva aparece en la finca de Eva, la esposa de un militar del Imperio. La interacción entre los dos personajes principales provoca un cambio en la mentalidad de Eva, ya que se hace consciente de cómo su país …

Race, Gender And Power: Afro-Peruvian Women’S Experiences As Congress Representatives, Sharun Gonzales Matute

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous accounts about the presence of women of African descent on Latin American legislatures outline Peru as an exceptional case. In 2013, Peru had three Afro-Peruvian women in its national congress, all of them former volleyball players. Compared to other countries where Black women were almost inexistent in legislatures, Peru was in a better position. Simultaneously, Afro-Peruvian women’s organizations and leaders denounce their marginalization from political spaces. This work seeks to explore the experiences of Afro-Peruvian congresswomen elected between the years 2000 and 2016 and their relation to political power. Intersectionality serves as a theoretical framework for this research because …

Selling White Masculinity: An Analysis Of Cultural Intermediaries In The Craft Beverage Industry, Erik Tyler Withers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to use the craft beverage industry as a case study in which to investigate how white masculinity is reproduced within consumer spaces. This study explores the roles that cultural intermediaries in the craft beverage industry play in the reproduction and contestation of white masculinity. Cultural intermediaries can be understood as tastemakers who play a large role in assigning value and legitimacy to products, practices and people within consumer industries. Intermediaries such as marketing and advertising firms, industry writers, and critics have been widely studied in the past. However, the day to day interactional work …

Ethnic Identity As A Protective Factor In Early Adolescent Youth Depression: An Investigation Of Differences By Race And Gender, Leah Bonilla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent mental illness is a major concern in the Unites States. The adolescent stage is a critical developmental period of physical and mental changes, thus it is important to understand protective factors associated with positive wellbeing. The current study aimed to explore: (a) the associations among race, gender, ethnic identity, and depressive symptoms among eighth grade adolescents, (b) to what extent are there differences in degree of depressive symptoms among youth based on race and gender, and (c) to what extent a strong sense of ethnic identity serves as a protective factor against the development of depression among youth with …

[X]Splaininggender, Race, Class, And Body: Metapragmatic Disputes Of Linguistic Authority And Ideologies On Twitter, Reddit, And Tumblr, Judith C. Bridges

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the language of “citizen sociolinguists,” everyday users of social network sites (SNS) who contribute to the discourses about language on Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr, platforms with distinctive user demographics and technological affordances. The data were collected through keyword searches for mansplain, whitesplain, richsplain and thinsplain, metapragmatic neologisms which are lexical blends of the verb explain and one of four social categories. Disputes of macro-level ideologies are revealed by users’ creative meaning-making strategies and metapragmatic awareness of micro-level texts and utterances. Making use of the linguistic practices of the SNS, as well as the concisely-compacted semantic and pragmatic …

Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophy And Reception: From The Origins Through The Encyclopédie, Dwight Kenneth Lewis Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diversity and the concept of race are, or should be, central concerns both for the history of philosophy and for our current political reality. Within academic philosophy, these concerns are expressed in the growing demand for minority representation within the canon, which is overwhelmingly white and male, especially in early modern philosophy. Furthermore, until now, historians of philosophy have not spent the time necessary to uncover various designations such as “Negro”, “Moor”, “Ethiopian”, etc., in early modern Europe, and from there to understand how these shaped philosophical reflections on human diversity. In my research, I relate Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. …

American Converts To Islam: Identity, Racialization, And Authenticity, Patrick M. Casey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Working within a social identity theory model, which posits that identities gain or lose salience depending on the situation and the actors, this study brings into focus the identity management of Americans who have converted to Islam. More specifically, this study of American Muslim converts seeks to understand how the authenticity of their religious identities is challenged and affirmed by others and themselves. Thirty-nine in-depth interviews were examined and interpreted using the insights of narrative analysis and racialization theory. The first finding is that although converts may tell a variety of different stories about how and why they converted to …

Opening Wounds And Possibilities: A Critical Examination Of Violence And Monstrosity In Horror Tv, Amanda K. Leblanc

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines contemporary horror TV, dissecting the ways it works both to subvert and uphold contemporary social standards about race, gender, class, and ability. This work attends to the moments in horror TV where graphic displays of violence and monstrous characters open up possibilities for innovative and progressive representation of historically marginalized people, as well as those instances that foreclose such potential. Horror TV shows blur the definitions of monster and human, suggesting that humans can be monstrous and that monsters can have humanity. Horror TV is a platform through which we see the coming together of a traditional …

As Good As It Gets: Redefining Survival Through Post-Race And Post-Feminism In Apocalyptic Film And Television, Mark R. Mccarthy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Concentrating on six representative media sites, 28 Days Later (2002), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Land of the Dead (2005), Children of Men (2007), Snowpiercer (2013), and one television series The Walking Dead (2010-present), this dissertation examines the strain of post-millennial apocalyptic media emphasizing a neo-liberal form of collaboration as the path to survival. Unlike traditional collaboration, the neo-liberal construction centers on the individual’s responsibility in maintaining harmony through intra-group homogeny. Through close textual analysis, critical race theory, and feminist media studies, this project seeks to understand how post-racial and post-feminist representational strategies elide inequality and ignore tensions surrounding racial …

Policing The Riverfront: Urban Revanchism As Sustainability, Jared J. Austin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An unnoticed shift is underway in the revanchist model of accumulation by dispossession (Harvey, 2005) that is rebranding the neoliberal reorganization of space and economic growth. I call this shift “Urban Revanchism as Sustainability,” following Mike Davis and Daniel Monk (2007). In this study, I describe how Tampa elites, led by Democratic Mayor Bob Buckhorn, use politically popular discourses of ‘sustainability’, ‘walkability’, ‘bike-ability’, among others, to coopt the rhetoric and symbols of social and environmental justice as cover for urban capital accumulation. I describe how in the wake of 2008 which devastated Tampa, and in the context of the subsequent …

Documenting An Imperfect Past: Examining Tampa's Racial Integration Through Community, Film, And Remembrance Of Central Avenue, Travis R. Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the Civil Rights Movement in Tampa, Florida through documentary film to recognize an imperfect past and visually reconstruct Central Avenue as a physical and Thirdspace site of remembrance located at an intersection of race and community. Motivated by an ethnographic approach and through community engagement, Tampa Technique: Rise, Demise, and Remembrance of Central Avenue is a 54-minute film that explores Central Avenue’s rise to prominence through segregation, its physical and symbolic demise as a racialized site of communal space, and how it is remembered through collective and public memory in the location it once occupied. Documentary film …

A Portrait In Black And White: An Analysis Of Race In The Adult Education Classroom, Tealia N. Deberry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult education is a reciprocal relationship between adult learners and adult education practitioners. As such, it is essential to understand the experiences of adult educators and adult education practitioners as they teach adults. This study focuses on how ideas about race and racism are examined in the graduate-level classroom and the adult learners’ experience as they focus on subject matter that challenges their assumptions and forces them to create new understandings about race. This study examines, through the portraiture methodology, the experiences of a White researcher and the adult learners engaging in dialogues about race in a CRT course.

The …

Pain And Physical Function In A Socioeconomically Diverse Sample Of Black And White Adults, Angela Sardina

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Musculoskeletal pain alters physiological function and these changes may be evidenced as early as middle age. Previous research has concluded that middle-aged adults are a high-risk group for chronic pain and report functional limitations similar to older adults. However, few studies have explored the unique individual factors (e.g., sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial characteristics) that may drive the pain experience; and more research is needed that examines the relationships between musculoskeletal pain and physical function, using objective performance measures, in a sample of racially and socioeconomically diverse adults.

Data from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span …

Black Girl Magic?: Negotiating Emotions And Success In College Bridge Programs, Olivia Ann Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews, this project explores the extent to which race, class, and gender shape the socialization that Black women receive about their emotions and attitudes in a college bridge program. It unpacks the ways that dominant emotion cultures can inform the emotional socialization practices of a college bridge program in ways that resist and reproduce larger cultural narratives about Black women. To operationalize this emotional socialization, I introduce a concept called emotional respectability, which suggests that emotional reactions and demeanor must always align with the larger emotion cultures and goals of institutions such as family and …

“Have A Seat At Our Table: Uncovering The Experiences Of Black Students Attending A ‘Racially Diverse’ University”, Diamond Briggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recently, the diversity rates at universities in the United States have been increasing (Ortiz-Frontera 2013). With more minorities enrolling into predominantly white institutions (PWIs), one might infer that this signals a major step of progression for the United States. However, it is essential to understand the experiences and challenges that minorities may face when attending these institutions. Understanding these challenges are important because they are often minimized and ignored due to the ambiguity of microaggressions. This can be harmful for Black students psychologically and may impact their self confidence in many ways. In many instances, Black students face many forms …

"What Are We Doing Here? This Is Not Us": A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Last Of Us Remastered, Toria Kwan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Video games are often written off as juvenile or frivolous, but they are actually vehicles of socialization and hegemonic ideologies. Because of this, video games are deserving of research and critique. In video games, women are often underrepresented or hypersexualized, while men can be hypermasculinized. Many times, racial and ethnic portrayals in video games paint the person of color as victims of violence, villains, or sports athletes, while white characters take the role of hero or protagonist. Heterosexuality typically goes unmarked and is considered the default sexuality, and homophobic sentiments and slurs are prevalent in the gaming community. Because game …

From The Panels To The Margins: Identity, Marginalization, And Subversion In Cosplay, Manuel Andres Ramirez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In investigating the ways social actors experience and interact with mass media texts, I examine how cosplay, as a performative practice of identity in relation to popular culture, enables social actors to subvert and reproduce marginalization towards minority status groups. Theoretical arguments apply a constructionist framework in order to examine the participants’ meaning making processes. The study addresses the following research questions: (1) what social function does cosplay serve for participants; (2) how do cosplayers perform race and gender; (3) how do cosplayers resist, negotiate, or reinforce race and gender-based marginalization? Drawing upon qualitative data gathered from observing two large …

Reification, Resistance, And Transformation? The Impact Of Migration And Demographics On Linguistic, Racial, And Ethnic Identity And Equity In Educational Systems: An Applied Approach, Rebecca Ann Campbell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using an applied anthropological approach focused on language, this study investigates the relationship between linguistic, racial, and ethnic identities and school resource access in the context of migration. This project examines how these identities are established, experienced, reified, and resisted by various school actors. Exposing power at its roots through a multi-level analysis, this research informs on how people negotiate socialization into particular identities, propelling them toward positions in school and society of varying opportunity.

Focused on two elementary schools in a central Florida county that has been and is undergoing demographic changes, this work offers applications for educational institutions …

Making A Place For People At A Wildlife Corridor On Chicago's South Side, Alexis Winter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What role do environmental conservation projects play in the transformation of American cities? How do these projects affect city residents? In this study, I ask these questions at the Burnham Wildlife Corridor, where the Chicago Park District worked with institutional and community-based partner organizations to engage city residents in the creation of a lakefront wildlife habitat and public nature area. Through ethnographic interviews and participant observation I explored how actors at various levels understand this changing landscape and their roles in shaping it. I situate the Burnham Wildlife Corridor project in the broader context of a state-level plan, the Millennium …

The Effects Of Racial Bias On Perceptions Of Intimate Partner Violence Scenarios, Batya Yisraela Rubenstein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how racial bias affects perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV). Public perceptions of IPV have been studied under numerous contexts to ascertain how characteristics of victim and the offender can affect these attitudes. A portion of this body of research has been dedicated to understanding the role of race in perceptions of IPV and a large portion of the findings have been mixed due to the interaction of biases and attitudes about race and IPV. Very few studies have looked at multiple forms of IPV in comparison with one another while also …