Digital Commons Network^™

Art Imitates Life: The Representation (Or Lack Thereof) Of Black Women In Video Games, Bug Gadson

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

The key focus of this essay is to compare the representation of black women in media, primarily in television and film, to the representation of black female characters in video games. Using black feminist theory, this essay illustrates the treatment of black female characters in gaming. The particular and deliberate methods of writing black female characters in video games are used to highlight white video game characters and their narratives, instead of giving life and dimension to the black female characters themselves. The hostile and unsafe environments in gaming spaces are cultivated through upholding these harmful stereotypes of black women, …

Black Lives Matter In Teaching English As A Second Language!, Kristin Lems

Faculty Publications

The Winter 2020 issue of theIllinois Reading Council Journal published a special issue focusing on “action for equity,” with thoughtful articles and abundant family and classroom resources. This issue of the “wELLcome”column, which is dedicated to topics regarding English language learners (ELLs), continues in that same vein. In this issue, we place the spotlight on ELLs of African descent, their teachers, and their schools.

Black Excellence Initiative: Fostering Belonging, Kiku Huckle

Social Justice Week

The Black Excellence Initiative works to counter the endemic effects of racism, and to create spaces to cultivate well-being for Black students and communities by inviting Black speakers to campus who exemplify excellence in a variety of contexts. BJ Bell, Director of the Performance Attribution teams for the US and APAC regions at BlackRock, will discuss his work with local organizations and company initiatives that focus on financial inclusion and creating opportunities for underrepresented students of color. BJ also has worked extensively to encourage discussions around topics of race and inequality, and served on the expert review panel for Racial …

The Truth About The Southern Border And The History Of Anti-Black U.S. Immigration Polic, Keriann Stout, Miriam Lacroix

Social Justice Week

A presentation about the human rights violations taking place at the southern border against Haitian immigrants and how this situation fits into a long history of anti-Black immigration policies in the United States.

Against The Philosophical Project Of “Biologizing” Race, Anthony F. Peressini

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

This paper critiques philosophical efforts to biologize race as racial projects (Omi and Winant, Racial Formation in the United States). The paper argues that the deeply social phenomenon of race defies the analytic schema employed by biologizing philosophers. The very (social) act of theorizing race is already in an involuted relationship with its target concept: analyzing race must be seen as a racial project, in that it simultaneously helps to manage how race is represented in society and helps organize society’s resources along particular racial lines. Such biologizing projects are rife with moral and political dimensions and have …

Public Health And The Power To Exclude: Immigrant Expulsions At The Border, Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes

Faculty Scholarship

We are presently in the midst of a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, as Courts, and indeed the Biden Administration, are struggling to manage thousands of immigrants waiting to seek asylum in the midst of a global pandemic. Beginning in March of 2020, against the advice of public health experts, the U.S. Government closed the southern U.S.-Mexico border, disproportionately impacting would-be asylum seekers from Central America, who are now immediately expelled from the United States should they reach the border under a process known as “Title 42.” Not only do these expulsions lack a legitimate public health rationale, but they …

“Before The World Gets Them”: The Impact Of Racialized Parenting On Black Mothers, Mia Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the distinct practices Black women implement to protect their children from both actualized and anticipatory experiences of racism, as well as its effects on their mothering experiences, health and well-being, as well as how they manage the emotional and mental toll of their children’s experiences. Race plays an integral role in shaping mothering practices. More specifically, motherwork examines how Black mothers ensure the physical, mental, and emotional survival of their children in the face of micro-and macro-level structures that perpetuate racism and inequality. However, much is left to explore regarding the interconnectedness between Black women’s motherwork, linked …

The Tale Of Two Pandemics: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In A Blended Learning Environment Amidst Covid-19 And Racism Pandemics, Kayla Hostetler

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the sudden spread of COVID19 in March of 2020, schools in the United States were scrambling to figure out ways to educate their students and at the same time keep them safe. In many cases schools switched to online learning or at home packets. During the same school year on May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer. The video tape of his murder sparked protests across the country. His death showing how racism continues to plague American society. Students and teachers across the country were trying to process all of these events and navigate …

Immigration And Racial Justice: Enforcing The Borders Of Blackness, Karla Mckanders

Georgia State University Law Review

Black immigrants are invisible at the intersection of their race and immigration status. Until recently, conversations on border security, unlawful immigration, and national security obscured racially motivated laws seeking to halt the blackening and browning of America. This Article engages with the impact of immigration enforcement at the intersection of anti-Black racism and interrogates how foundational immigration laws that exist outside constitutional norms have rendered Black immigrants invisible. At this intersection, Black immigrants experience a double bind where enforcement of immigration laws and the criminal legal system have a disparate impact resulting in disproportionate incarceration and deportation.

First, the Article …

Pandemic Policing, Christian Sundquist

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bigotry, Prophecy, Religion, And The Race Analogy In Marriage And Civil Rights Battles: Responding To Commentaries On Who's The Bigot?, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most rewarding parts of writing a book is that it opens the door for constructive conversation with thoughtful and perceptive readers like the scholars who generously contributed to this book symposium. Their various essays touch on and offer powerful insights about the core concerns that I had when I wrote Who’s the Bigot? Learning from Conicts over Marriage and Civil Rights Law. They offer thoughtful empirical and normative observations and surface useful questions about important future investigations. Were I able to write a next chapter—or a sequel—all these commentaries would shape its content. As it is, I …

The Impact Of Local Demographic Change In The Contemporary United States, Christopher Maggio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Growing racial/ethnic diversity has undoubtedly made a major social and political impact in many localities across the United States in recent times. Various studies have addressed local reactions to this demographic change, most commonly highlighting backlash among the White population. This dissertation takes an in-depth look at the impact of these demographic changes on several key outcomes: the 2016 presidential election, White attitudes toward immigration policy, and perceptions of racism among racial/ethnic minorities that may emerge as a result of White backlash. These studies are careful to examine particular subsamples that may be more or less susceptible to backlash or …

Setting The Scene For Racism: A Burkean Analysis Of Twitter In The Time Of Covid-19, Jieun Son

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Social media platforms facilitate high-speed information sharing among digital technology users. But unregulated production of content across social media raises questions about the credibility of this content. During the COVID-19 pandemic, viral phenomena such as misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus have spread rapidly across the globe, prompting misunderstanding, bias, and, at times, extreme actions both online and off. This thesis examines how language choices in social media posts function as a mode of action that not only can misinform but can serve to target certain groups for bias during a time of crisis. Specifically, it uses Kenneth …

An Upstander Is A Person In Your Neighborhood: Children, Sesame Street, And Race In 2020, Gemma Yoo

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Educational children’s media, such as the program Sesame Street, may be the most accessible format for teaching young children about race and racism in the United States. Throughout its history, Sesame Street has attempted to confront racism through its diverse cast and, in the summer of 2020, by directly addressing the topic with children and families. However, both its passive representation and active discussion fall short of what is needed to confront systemic racism. This paper addresses Sesame Street’s past and present role as a leader in children’s educational media, and advocates that the program employ Critical Race Theory to …

Racial, Gender, And Sexual Imagery And The Black Queer Man: An Excerpt From “I Cannot Go Home As I Am: Exploring Identity In Black Queer Men At Yale In The Context Of The Hiv/Aids Epidemic”, Maxwell Richardson

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

Situated in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, Black queer men were and continue to be one of the most affected groups by the epidemic. Looking back as to why, it is very apparent that intersecting themes of racism, homophobia, and masculinity norms, among various other forces contribute to the difficulty many Black queer men had in accessing agency in the epidemic. Through oral histories, as well as analysis of primary source material from the 1980s, I examine the topic of racial, gender, and sexual imagery as it informs and impacts the Black queer male identity throughout this time.

Why Women Leave White Nationalist Movements: Exploring The Deradicalization Process, Julia Yingling

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

This essay aims to explore primarily why women leave white nationalist movements, and the possible role of gender in the radicalization and deradicalization of white women in white nationalist movements. This essay examines the narratives of three former white supremacist women - Angela King, Samantha, and Katie McHugh - and identifies patterns in their journeys. This study has a limited scope due to the small number of case studies available and needs further research. In attempting to connect different narratives of former white supremacist women in an under-studied area, I take the liberty to interpret their stories within the broader …

Muslim Girls' Experiences With Islamophobia, Sexism, And Anti-Black Racism In Ontario Secondary Schools: A Case Study, Sarah Halabi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This qualitative case-study explored the experiences of 20 Muslim girls who attended public secondary schools in Ontario, Canada. The main objective of this research was to understand how Muslim girls’ intersecting identities shaped their school, family, and community experiences. Drawing on anti-racist and postcolonial feminism, this study builds upon existing research conducted on Muslim girls by exploring how other categories of social difference, in addition to gender and religion, converge and influence their educational experiences.

The findings from this study uncovered the impact of racial diversity in Muslim girls’ school and community experiences. Namely, anti-Black racism was central to some …

Racial Microaggressions Against Black Women In The Workforce, Marie Della Thomas

Student Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates racial microaggressions against Black American women in the workforce. In addition, this study explores how racial discrimination on the job continues to be problematic for Black American women despite the long fight for racial equality in the past decades. It is common knowledge that all women, in general, must still fight for equal opportunities in the workforce; however, for this research, we will focus on Black American women. Based on survey statistics from this study, with 103 respondents of diverse nationalities, this research results show an uneven distinction in how corporations treat Black American women in the …

Aboriginal Health Consumers Experiences Of An Aboriginal Health Curriculum Framework, Petah Atkinson, Marilyn Baird, Karen Adams

Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin

Introduction

In settler colonised countries medical education is situated in colonist informed health systems. This form of colonisation is characterised by overt racism and contributes to the significant health inequities experienced by Indigenous peoples. Not surprisingly, medical accreditation bodies in these countries have mandated the curriculum include content relating to Indigenous peoples. However, what is absent is the Indigenous health consumer worldview of health care and their nuanced lived experience of the delivery of medical care.

Methods

Yarning methods, integral to Aboriginal peoples’ ways of understanding and learning, were utilised. A Yarning guide was constructed with Social Yarn and Research …

The Impact Of Structural Determinants On Pregnancy Intention And Reproductive Decision Making Among African American Women, Jill Strickland Denson

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACTTHE IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL DETERMINANTS ON PREGNANCY INTENTION AND REPRODUCTIVE DECISION MAKING AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN

BACKGROUND: Nearly half of U.S. pregnancies are unintended with African American women having the highest rates of unintended pregnancies and many of the poorest pregnancy-related health outcomes. Intersectional approaches are needed to better understand how intersecting oppressions effect pregnancy intentions in African American women’s lives. This study examined African American women’s intersectional identities related to pregnancy intention, experiences accessing reproductive care, and making reproductive decisions. METHODS: This mixed-methods participatory study used Group Concept Mapping (GCM) along with four questionnaires (reproductive history, Adverse Childhood Experiences, …

Presumed Illegal Microaggressive Experience (Prime): A Microaggression Targeting Latinx Individuals, Aldo M. Barrita

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the US, people of color (PoC) are consistently the targets of microaggressions, a form of everyday racism (Pierce et al., 1977; Chavez, 2013) manifested in brief, commonplace, daily slights and indignities (Sue et al., 2007). After the 2016 elections, Americans immediately reported an increase in social tensions across racial groups (Pew Research, 2017). Latinxs, in particular, reported a steep rise in experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination (Gomez & Perez Huber, 2019; Jones et al., 2019), particularly around the context of immigration status (Santos et al., 2021). No previous research, however, has explored the experience of assumed illegality based …

The Food Police: Food Stamps, Surveillance, And The Construction Of The Undeserving Hungry, Renee Renee Scampini

Theses and Dissertations

Hunger in America is produced through broader social and economic inequality and patterns of hunger are unevenly distributed across places and social groups. While 10.5% of all U.S. households experienced hunger, Black households, Latino households, households with children headed by either a single woman or a single man, and households in poverty faced substantially higher rates of hunger in 2019 (Coleman-Jensen et al. 2020). The Food Stamp Program (FSP), now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is the largest hunger relief program in the U.S. Acknowledging the racialized and gendered patterns of hunger in the U.S. is central to …

The Intersectional Race And Gender Effects Of The Pandemic In Legal Academia, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

Just as the COVID-19 pandemic helped to expose the inequities that already existed between students at every level of education based on race and socioeconomic class status, it has exposed existing inequities among faculty based on gender and the intersection of gender and race. The legal academy has been no exception to this reality. The widespread loss of childcare and the closing of both public and private primary and secondary schools have disproportionately harmed women law faculty, who are more likely than their male peers to work a “second shift” in terms of childcare and household responsibilities. Similarly, women law …

Git (Gender-Informed Trauma) In Black N Blue Boys / Broken Men: How Concepts Of Gender Restrict The Black Male Actor’S Creative Process And The Methods He Can Use For Creative Freedom., Tyler Tate

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how the black male actor’s creative process can be affected by historical and cultural constructions of masculinity connected to race, sexuality, and physical movement. My research on black men’s experience with gender identity finds that social and cultural forces lead black men to reproduce behaviors that mirror a prescribed masculine ideal through physical movement. This prescribed masculine behavior is typically coded in terms of stiffness or lack of expression. This study explores how self-imposed restrictions reiterated by social standards of masculine behavior limit the creative freedom in the black male actor’s creative process. Specifically, black male actors’ …

The Impact Of Racist Communication Practices (Rcp) On A Formerly Incarcerated Student Before, During, And After Prison, George Zaragoza

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Throughout this study I will discuss my personal experiences in the K-12 education system focusing on racist communication practices (RCP) that pushed me towards the school-to-prison-pipeline. My case is but a microscopic sample of what has been done to many incarcerated youths. Through a critical ethnographical approach, I will analyze my experiences by applying a lens in critical race theory to further explore how RCP impacted my transitions from school into incarceration and how these practices continued to follow me into higher education. This study includes an overview of the impact that punitive inhumane practices, particularly long-term solitary confinement had …

Child Life Specialists' Knowledge And Perception Of White Privilege, Renee Elise Jamar Lee

MSU Graduate Theses

This study’s goal was to understand child life specialists’ knowledge and perception of White privilege. The purpose of this study was to examine child life specialists’ understanding of White privilege and to obtain their perspectives on the impact White privilege has on patient- and family-centered care within the hospital setting. Through qualitative interviews, participants defined “White privilege,” shared their perception of “White privilege” and the impact it has on patient- and family-centered care, as well their personal experience with diversity and inclusion training. Additionally, participants created their own personal lists of unearned advantages as an exercise of awareness and acknowledgement …

Review Of: Understanding And Dismantling Racism: Crowdsourcing A Pathway Model In Appalachia, Matthew F. Hudson

Journal of Appalachian Health

The Journal of Appalachian Health is committed to reviewing published media that relates to contemporary concepts affecting the health of Appalachia. Examining Institutional Racism’s impact on health, career advancement and outcomes in Appalachian communities, impacts our ability to address and identify solutions to inform the fundamental framing of health equity. Dr. Matthew F. Hudson critiques the website: Understanding and Dismantling Racism: Crowdsourcing a Pathway Model in Appalachia.

Appalachia: Putting The "Critical" In Race And Crowdsourcing A Pathway Model On Institutional Racism, Lauri Andress, Keri Valentine

Journal of Appalachian Health

As the website Understanding and Dismantling Racism: Crowdsourcing a Pathway Model in Appalachia explains, we are seeking assistance in refining a pathway model that elucidates institutional racism from the unique standpoint of Appalachia. We think that Appalachia has a distinctive cultural toolkit that shapes its orientation on issues. Our goal is to use crowdsourcing to harness this unique Appalachian ethos to refine the Pathway model on Institutional Racism based on comments, edits, questions, and ideas left on the website.

"Divide, Divert, & Conquer” Deconstructing The Presidential Framing Of White Supremacy In The Covid-19 Era, Vivian Louie, Anahi Viladrich

Publications and Research

Based on the analysis of President Donald J. Trump’s social media, along with excerpts from his speeches and press releases, this study sheds light on the framing of white supremacy during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Our findings reveal that the triad of divide, divert, and conquer was crucial to Trump’s communications strategy. We argue that racist nativism—or racialized national threats to American security—is key to comprehending the external divisiveness in this strategy. When Trump bitterly cast China as the cause of America’s pandemic fallout and Mexico as the source of other key American …

The Wounded Storyteller In New York City: A College Professor’S Stories Of The Covid-19 Outbreak, Ting Man Tsao

Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine

The COVID-19 outbreak devastated my students at LaGuardia Community College in New York City, which rapidly became an early epicenter of the pandemic in spring 2020. Living in the city’s hardest hit neighborhoods, many students got infected, and others lost their loved ones, livelihoods, and the sense of security and hope.

But this deepening crisis was also a teachable moment. In our composition class, my students and I explored Arthur W. Frank’s classic illness narrative genres and connected them to our lived experiences of the coronavirus outbreak. In this creative nonfiction, I attempt to capture this learning moment by sorting …