Reading The Romance Reader: Booktok, Algorithmic Subjugation, And The Fight For Cultural Legitimacy, Emily Maranto Hill

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

This thesis examines the transformation of romance reader identity through the lens of BookTok, investigating how digital platforms grant cultural legitimacy while simultaneously subjugating community practices to algorithmic control. Romance readers historically developed emotional labor practices, counter-public formation strategies, and fan-driven meaning-making to resist decades of cultural marginalization. Through analysis of TikTok's platform attributes, user behaviors, and the viral Tillie Cole controversy, this study traces how BookTok converts these resistant practices into behavioral data optimized for engagement rather than authentic discourse. The research employs theoretical frameworks including Janice Radway's ethnographic analysis, Shoshana Zuboff's surveillance capitalism, Nick Srnicek's platform capitalism, and …

Chasing The Dream And Buying The Promise In A Conceptual Framework For Consumer Decision-Making, Casey H. Prentice

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The American dream is a concept that is echoed across our society, and while the data show Americans do not overwhelmingly believe in the dream, marketers continue to pair it and the issue of economic prosperity in their agendas. Through a novel framework that overlaps a deeply studied mass communication theory with a decision-making framework used in marketing, this paper demonstrates a new lens to understand how marketers identify strategies and tactics, build agendas, and make sales by touting the American dream. As separate entities, decision-making models and agenda setting theory are powerful, but together can create an environment that …

Brewing Solidarity: Rights Consciousness And Class Consciousness In Coffeeshop Organizing, Brishen Rogers

UC Law Journal

Almost ten thousand baristas have unionized since 2022 in cafes across the country. Their effort breaks with recent history in several respects. For example, baristas have used a novel “worker-to-worker organizing” model in which workers themselves—rather than union staff and leadership—design and manage campaigns. Also, while scholars and unionists have argued for decades that the National Labor Relations Board’s secret ballot elections process is a dead end, baristas have used that process quite effectively, winning over 85% of their elections against the major company involved. Through their organizing efforts, baristas have centered the issues and voices of LGBTQ+ workers and …

Identity And Representation In Contemporary Art: An Inclusive 400/500-Level Art History Seminar Course, Laura E. Franz

Theses

This project is an upper-level art history seminar addressing identity and representation – specifically related to race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality – in contemporary art. Primarily a discussion-based course, the course is focused on inclusivity and is highly structured, with weekly low-stakes assignments that provide students with ample opportunities to practice engaging with academic texts. Designed for students with varying levels of academic skills, it is built around current non-academic articles that students select via an online survey. Students then “unpack” the “big ideas” in each of the four chosen non-academic articles via a cluster of academic readings and videos …

Firing Through Adversity: How Women Ceramicists Sustained Stoke-On-Trent’S Pottery Industry Between The Wars, Zachary Carlson

Theses

Between the First and Second World Wars, the pottery industry of Stoke-on-Trent endured economic depression, material shortages, and social upheaval. Within this volatile context, women ceramicists such as Susie Cooper and Clarice Cliff emerged as central figures in sustaining, and redefining British ceramic production. This thesis examines how these artists transformed adversity into innovation through design, entrepreneurship, and leadership, arguing that their work both stabilized the industry and advanced a distinctly feminist modernism grounded in labor, creativity, and resilience. Drawing on feminist design theory, class and economic analysis, and material culture studies, this research situates Cooper and Cliff within broader …

Mitral Annular Calcification In Diabetes: Valvular Interstitial Cells, Antioxidant Therapy, And Tissue Engineering Approaches, Raleigh J. Keenan

All Theses

Mitral annular calcification (MAC) is a chronic, progressive, and degenerative condition that impairs mitral valve function and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The mitral annulus is a saddle-shaped, fibrous structure that is primarily composed of collagen and elastin. The annulus also contains interspersed lipids that are involved in cellular metabolism, as well as inflammatory and osteogenic signaling. These lipids increase the annulus’ susceptibility to calcification, under conditions that increase mechanical stress (hypertension) and promote atherosclerosis (diabetes mellitus). These conditions intensify calcification by promoting the activation of valvular interstitial cells (VICs), increasing fibrosis, and inducing osteogenic differentiation. Although it is …

Examining The Relationship Between Title 14 Code Of Federal Regulations (Cfr) Part 147 Maintenance School Aviation Maintenance Technician (Amt) Instructor Experience And Instructor Pass Rates For Airmen Certification Standards (Acs) Element Subject Areas, Richard Lyman Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative, correlational study examined the relationship between Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) instructor experience and student pass rates in 14 CFR Part 147 maintenance schools. Data were collected from February to August 2025 using purposive and snowball sampling, which yielded 67 complete responses. Instructor experience, measured in months of A&P-rated maintenance work prior to teaching, ranged from 1 to 684 months (M = 253.54, SD = 197.97). Student pass rates, defined as the proportion of students passing ACS element subject area courses, ranged from .52 to 1.00 (M = .95, SD = .07). Most instructors were male, White, over 50 …

Érase Una Vez En Tiempos Modernos… Colección De Relatos Reimaginados, Jose Rolando Rivera Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Esta tesis examina la reimaginación narrativa de cuentos de hadas en diálogo con leyendas urbanas, situados en países hispanohablantes y en contextos históricos específicos, como una metodología crítica capaz de transformar paradigmas culturales, visibilizar voces marginales y cuestionar estructuras hegemónicas. Desde un enfoque interdisciplinario que integra estudios culturales, psicología narrativa y teoría decolonial, se propone entender las historias como sistemas vivos que modelan identidades y configuran memorias colectivas.

La reimaginación se plantea como una forma de intervenir estratégicamente en los relatos heredados mediante operaciones como la deconstrucción, la excavación psicológica y la reubicación cultural. El estudio aborda, además, subgéneros del …

Using Artificial Intelligence (Ai) To Improve The Identification Of Gifted Students, Hamid Ahmad Almalki

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined teachers' perceptions of using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify gifted students. The issue is clearly relevant today; several schools continue to grapple with unfair practices and irregular assessment processes, most notably for culturally and linguistically different students. Conventional keys and expert opinion remain essential, but their limitations have been acknowledged. Newer research suggests that AI could actually improve the system by making it more efficient and able to pool data that originally surfaced biases. At the same time, issues of transparency, data privacy, and the ethics of decisions driven by AI remain unresolved. To gain an …

Thesis A Reimagined World Language Curriculum For Secondary Education-Does Culture Matter?, Florence Duncan

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The focus of this study is culture within the New Mexico high school world language

curriculum. Culture, as a topic, over time has evolved from near nonexistence to

becoming a fundamental element helping students derive multilingual and multicultural

understanding.

This study is an effort to reveal practices high school teachers use to teach, discuss and

evaluate cultural understanding. It uses qualitative interviews with high schools world

language teachers. Practices are evaluated against research findings and analyzed for

reliability and effectiveness. Findings will help with curriculum design for world language

application.

Overall, the study’s findings were positive. Interviewed teachers generally incorporate …

Disclosing That Which Has Been Made Invisible: Collective Ontological Inquiry With Vanessa Machado De Oliveira, Dorothy Cococinno Ladybugboss, Aiden Cinnamon Tea, And Aiden Senior, Raphael Borges, Witneiris Constanzo, Samantha Encarnacion, Kaley Klapisch, Carolyne J. White

Turning Toward Being: The Journal of Ontological Inquiry in Education

An unconventional and collaboratively written text begun as a Book Review that expands into a hybrid Book Review-Notes From The Field-Article as we sought to do justice to our encounter with three provocative books that elicit ontological inquiry inside and outside our classrooms, inquiry that challenges us, confuses us, confronts us to unlearn and loosen the grip of ontological constraints we were thrown into within modernity and our embeddedness within the everyday life. Our reading of these books elicits much needed hope for the precarious times we are living through with this earth.

Prosperando Con Otros: Paisajes Multiespecie Y Producción De Alimentos En El Caribe Colombiano, América Larraín

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Este artículo es resultado de un proyecto de investigación asociado a la producción de alimentos en una comunidad arhuaca en las tierras bajas de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Se describen algunas experiencias de la implementación del proyecto, destacando los aspectos relacionados con la articulación entre las técnicas derivadas de la agroacuicultura integrada y la cosmovisión arhuaca. Con este artículo, se espera contribuir a la reflexión sobre cómo las cosmologías indígenas se materializan en prácticas concretas, que en este caso específico podrían pensarse en el marco de lo que se ha llamado el Buen Vivir.

Women’S Experiences With Traditional Medicine For Treatment Of Cervical Cancer: A Qualitative Study, David Asakitogum, Lydia Aziato, Lillian Akorfa Ohene

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Background: Over 60% of patients with cancer in sub-Saharan Africa used traditional medicine for cancer treatment (Alegbeleye et al., 2020, Mwaka et al., 2020). The common predictors of traditional medicine use include being a female (Kristoffersen et al., 2022, Aboufaras et al., 2023). However, there is limited empirical information about the experiences of women with traditional medicine usage for the treatment of cervical cancer. The current study explored the experiences of women who used traditional medicine for the treatment of cervical cancer in Accra, Ghana.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative research design was used in this study. A semi-structured interview …

Dating In The Digital Age: The Effects Of Parental Rejection, Rejection Sensitivity, And Self-Esteem Among Gender-Diverse Gen Z, Crystal Currie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gen Z, the first digital-native cohort, faces unique challenges in forming romantic relationships, including heightened dating anxiety. While there is extensive research with previous generations on dating anxiety, self-esteem, and early rejection, no study has examined parental rejection, self-esteem, and dating anxiety collectively, particularly in consideration of gender diverse individuals and digital dating platform use. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine (a) predictors of dating anxiety and (b) whether parental rejection during childhood and rejection sensitivity influenced dating anxiety, as well as the role of self-esteem in mediating those predictor variables. The conceptual framework was the interpersonal …

Tributes, Nikki B. Carsi Cruz

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

Towards A Holistic Model: Transition Pedagogy In High School Enabling Programs. A Practice Report, Johanna Elizabeth Nieuwoudt, Angela Jones

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The release of the Australian Universities Accord Final Report in 2024 and call for contextually relevant pathways to higher education continues the widening participation agenda that was introduced more than 50 years ago in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Enabling education continues to contribute to targets with the evolution of high school enabling programs. It is imperative, as the Accord suggests, that these programs support successful transition. Such programs thus require a pedagogical model for transition. This practice report adds to emerging research on high school enabling programs by exploring how an enabling transition pedagogy (ETP), an adaptation …

You Can't Be Kind Of A Lesbian: Mass Media's Representation Of Bisexual Woman, Shannon Pappas

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

In the present day, many societal beliefs and ideas are cultivated through mass media messaging. This study aims to examine mass media’s representation of bisexual women, specifically in pornography, and how those ideas lead to harmful stereotypes. Television show characters and song lyrics depicting bisexual women were examined using cultivation theory. Analysis found much of the representation involving force or coercion, indecisiveness, hypersexuality, and group sex. Pornography is an integral space for people to explore their sexualities. However, bisexual videos tend to only depict hypersexual or violent fantasies. With over 80,000 people logging onto PornHub each minute, negative stereotypes of …

Community-Based Participatory Sound Play For Critical Holistic Learning, Shannon Perry, Emmie Pierce, Jon Vogt

International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education

This visual essay explores what unfolded during a month-long participatory sonic space in a community art gallery in the southeastern United States. We walk through the multiple sound stations we designed to provoke playful interactions and challenge dominant hierarchical binaries that often persist in gallery and art education space (e.g., artist/audience, instrument/non-instrument object, music/noise, culture/nature). While considering these various spaces we created for nudging visiting audience members to engage with diverse sonorous objects in becoming active musicmakers, thus becoming audience-participants, we also consider the concepts underpinning our design decisions. We conclude by considering how the living sound exhibit and participatory …

Cultural Synthesis In Iranian Graphic Design: A Fusion Of Tradition And Modernity, Maryam Mehrabadi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis examines Iranian graphic design as a politically embedded and semiotically charged field wherein visual form operates as a site of ideological negotiation, cultural memory, and symbolic resistance. Focusing on the works of Ghobad Shiva and Morteza Momayez, the study situates graphic design within the sociopolitical constraints of the Pahlavi monarchy and the post-1979 Islamic Republic. It argues that Iranian design practices cannot be understood outside the country’s enduring identity crisis—shaped by the unresolved tension between three coexisting cultural strata: ancient Persian heritage, Islamic civilizational identity, and Western modernity. Drawing on the work of Edward Said, the thesis also …

Black On Black Sounds: Music, Migration, And The ‘Nu-K Blak’ Identity Formation In Early 21st Century Britain, Monique Charles

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Examining literature on the under researched areas of Afrobeats and African migration to Britain, this article identifies significant internal shifts in the ethnic diversity of Black Britain —i.e., from Caribbean (predominantly Jamaican) to West African (Nigerian, Ghanaian) (ONS 2011). Interpreting literature and applying to the British context, it highlights how Afrobeats reshapes Blackness in Britain, particularly the incorporation of desirable Africanness through Afrobeats music. It argues that demographic and musical shifts in Britain result in a renegotiation of the Caribbean and US dominant 20th century Black Britishness — ‘UK Blak’ identity (as identified by Bradley 2013, Gilroy 1993 & Palmer …

The Influence Of Russian Folklore On Perceptions Of Female Heroism, Mariia V. Subbotina

Heroism Science

This article examines how Russian folklore traditions have shaped cultural perceptions of female heroism. The study addresses the limited attention given to gendered aspects of heroism, particularly “female” models, which are often linked to self-sacrifice and resilience, in contrast to “male” heroism associated with physical strength and risk. As the first stage of a larger project, this research aims to introduce the issue and identify key archetypes of female heroism. Based on an analysis of A.N. Afanasyev’s collection of fairy tales, three central archetypes of active heroines are identified: the Warrior Woman (Marya Morevna), the Wise Maiden/Enchantress (Vasilisa the Beautiful), …

Unpacking The Role Of Virtual Exchange In Promoting Student Well-Being, Mona Pearl, Kelly Tzoumis, Allison E. Hill, Spencer D. Sutherland

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Educational institutions and workplaces are grappling with the task of promoting the well-being of their students and employees. From 2021 to 2023, students from Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, The Netherlands, and the US participated in virtual exchange collaborations in the form of global virtual teams (GVTs) and were assessed pre (n=201) and post (n=251) their GVTs experience. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess changes in learner well-being from participation in GVTs. Based on the impact to student perceived well-being from the GVT experience, we found important results that can be useful for both employers and academic institutions …

Martial Arts Studies: A Commentary On The Exploration Of Consciousness In Modern Martial Arts, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The rapid globalization of martial arts has reconditioned how the beliefs, customs, and philosophies of traditionally based systems are interpreted and applied in modern practice. As contemporary scholarship struggles to accommodate the cultural histories, myths, and traditions that permeate the perception of martial arts in modern contexts, the focus of inquiry has shifted towards explaining cultural variations in practice rather than understanding the nature of self-awareness derived from self-practice. Consequently, the deeper meanings of martial arts as pathways to personal and transpersonal awareness are often invalidated in favor of objective and verifiable explications. In short, the role of consciousness is …

Patterns Of Teaching And Professional Development Practices In Brazilian-Finnish Transnational Education, Terhi Skaniakos, Tahani Z. Aldahdouh, Johanna Annala, Pauliina Alenius, Vesna Holubek, Leonardo Drummond Vilaça, Vesa Korhonen

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study investigates teachers’ professional practices during the delivery of a transnational professional development programme by one Finnish university for a cluster of Brazilian private universities. The objective is to identify local instructors’ patterns of teaching (teachers’ personal-professional qualities), which are conceptualised as approaches to teaching and self-efficacy beliefs, as well as participation in professional development practices (professional cultures and professional development activities). An online questionnaire was sent to the teaching staff of five universities and 201 responses were received and analysed. The most important explanatory aspect was self-efficacy beliefs, which formed the basis for categorising teachers into meaningful clusters. …

Transnational Networks Of Film Repetitions In East Asia : Proliferation And Limitations, Roman Kusaiko

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

A growing number of contemporary film critics, influencers, and audiences criticize film remaking, a tested and successful Hollywood practice. The main complaints are a lack of originality, overreliance on repeated titles, and an openly commercial nature. Despite criticism, film remakes have existed for decades and are a vivid and resilient form of recycling under new cultural and geopolitical circumstances. Contemporary film remaking reflects the impacts of globalization, transnationalization, and the rapid development of new media and digitalization.

Nevertheless, there is a tendency to theorize on film remaking, often relying on the dichotomy of the source and a remake or, less …

From Where I Stand: Linking Positionality, Epistemology, And Methodology In International Higher Education Research, Sanfeng Miao

Critical Internationalization Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Antecedents Of U.S. Information Technology Professionals’ Intent To Quit At The Beginning Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kristin C. Scott, Jiun-Shiu Chen, Mitchell Adrian, Son Mai

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

This study focuses on turnover intention (ITQ) of U.S. information technology workers during the spring of 2020 and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we evaluate a number of turnover intention antecedents not previously studied together, including job alternatives, global job embeddedness, job satisfaction, compensation satisfaction, role overload, and work–life balance. We use three first-order factors of work interference with personal life, personal life interference with work, and work—personal life enhancement. We analyzed data using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling. Results suggest no direct effects from pay satisfaction or role overload on ITQ and …

Beyond The Mic: Fostering Critical Consciousness Through Podcasting In A Social Foundations Of Education Course, Jacob Kelley

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This article contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning by examining the ways in which a podcast project facilitated the development of critical consciousness among pre-service teachers in an undergraduate social foundations of education course at a research university in the southeastern United States. It draws on data generated using semi-structured interviews with 10 pre-service teachers across two semesters of the course who completed the podcast project. Using inductive thematic analysis, I identified four themes in this case study: (1) Personal Experiences as Catalysts for Critical Consciousness, (2) Dialogical Learning as a Pathway to Critical Consciousness, (3) Grappling with …

Why Indigenous Children's And Young Adult Literature Matter

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

An Indigenous Feminist Reading Praxis For Imagining Anti-Colonial Futurities: Honouring The Spirit And Intent Of Katherena Vermette’S Writings, Jennifer Brant, Erenna Morrison, Jasmine Rice, Gayatri Thakor

Occasional Paper Series

We conceptualize Indigenous literatures as integral tools for supporting teachers on their journeys toward truth and reconciliation. As such, we intentionally offer our work as a pedagogical guide for introducing Indigenous Children’s and Young Adult Literatures (ICYAL) in secondary level English courses, asserting that the delivery of such works must be taught in ways that align with anti-racist praxis, acknowledge varied experiences of racism, sexism, and gender-based violences, and promote liberatory thinking. Indeed, while Indigenous literatures are excellent pedagogical tools to engage conversations about social justice and anti-Indigenous racism, they must be paired with key lessons that dismantle harmful, disrespectful …