Digital Commons Network^™

Diasporic Challenges, Domestic Abuse And Patriarchal Norms Experienced By Migrant Pakistani Women In Australia, Safia Iftikhar, Shajimon Peter, Vicki Banham, Elizabeth Reid Boyd

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article examines diasporic challenges, domestic abuse and patriarchal ideologies that constitute unique diasporic lives of first-generation migrant married Pakistani women (MPW) in Australia. For this qualitative study, 21 MPW residing in Australia were recruited for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Results from the interpretative phenomenological analysis of data revealed the diasporic encounters MPW face in Australia and the influence of patriarchal ideology on their lives in navigating those encounters. MPW’s responses to patriarchal norms in their married lives fell on a spectrum, which include conformation to the norms of patriarchal familial structures on the one side and resistance and bargaining against …

'Coming Here, It’S Just Weird': 'Making The Familiar Strange' Through Exploring Experiences Of Sexism And Feminisms, Emilia A I Little

Plymouth Interdisciplinary Education Open Journal

This paper explores personal experiences with gender and how these experiences changed whilst attending university as an undergraduate student. The paper uses gender and feminist theory to guide a critical and auto-ethnographic exploration of personal experiences of a young woman within a patriarchal system. The paper uses journal excerpts to recount past and current experiences through feminist lenses. Through exploring gender theory, binary and performativity, personal experiences are validated and explained. The force of patriarchal oppression and privilege were illuminated as personal conceptions of gender were disrupted. The paper argues for much-needed feminist education in schools, centring around: avoiding the …

Midlife, Michael Sevcik

Poetry MFA Theses

Abstract

Midlife by Michael James Sevcik is a collection of poetry that explores issues of age, gender, sexuality, identity, desire, family, and loss within a predominantly domestic space while addressing broader social, cultural, and philosophical issues using a phenomenological poetics grounded in everyday experience. The collection is organized into three distinct yet interrelated “movements:” the first movement, “Anchored,” establishes an existential yearning amidst professional and amorous stasis and familial pressures. The second movement, “Liminal,” explores temporality and its relationship to place and memory. The third movement, “Renewal,” incorporates travel, family history, and art, transforming them into critical modes of aesthetic …

Pauline Style And A Biblical Theology, Andrew Whitney Perkins

Masters Theses

Advances in biblical linguistics, especially in the Greek of the New Testament, have provided a means for a better understanding of the text of Scripture. Advances in Greek lexicography, syntax, verbal aspect, discourse analysis, exegetical and hermeneutical methods, and the historical background behind the gospels and letters of the New Testament have greatly increased interpreters’ ability to determine what the text meant from both the writers and to the recipients of those documents. However, Christian theology, especially Systematic Theology, has remained mostly static, unaffected by these advances, and by a more accurate understanding of the biblical text. This thesis affirms …

“Flexing” And The Luxury Lifestyle: A Critique Of The “False Solidarity” Of Female Officials And Public Figures In Contemporary Indonesian Media, Wening Udasmoro, Leo Marai

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

This study aims to explore the practice of “flexing” and the luxury lifestyle as represented in the media both through the self-representation of female public figures on their social media accounts and through coverage by mainstream outlets. These figures include actresses, entertainers, and other widely recognized social personalities. The research is urgent given that the public display of wealth and opulence disseminated through the media generates a domino effect within society, particularly in shaping consumption patterns and fueling an increasingly pervasive culture of consumerism in Indonesia. The proliferation of consumerist culture both reflects and exacerbates social inequality in Indonesia, where …

Performing "Manly" Worship Music: Gender And Timbre At Mars Hill Church, Maren Haynes Marchesini

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Ten years ago, Mars Hill boasted fifteen campuses and 15,000 members. Amid mounting allegations of abuse and mismanagement leveled against founding pastor Mark Driscoll, the church famously collapsed, closing its doors at the end of 2014. Driscoll had built Mars Hill’s core brand around his opposition to the perceived feminization of the Christian mainstream, and appointing himself the “leader of a heterosexual male backlash” in the church and broader culture. While Driscoll’s muscular Christianity stands in a wide historical stream, Mars Hill long led the charge in establishing a youth-oriented, hipster brand of hypermasculine Calvinism. And while rhetoric and theology …

Gender, Class, And Code-Switching Among Tunisian Youth, Evie Mount-Cors

Tunisia and Italy: Politics and Religious Integration in the Mediterranean

This study investigates how gender and social class influence the frequency and motivations for code-switching among young Tunisians. Following the French Protectorate (1881) and subsequent Arabization policies in the late 20th century, Tunisian youth are faced with a complex linguistic environment. This paper posits that the enduring legacies of prestige and gender norms drive variation in the frequency and motivation behind code-switching among Tunisian men and women. Based on a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews, this research examines how these social factors shape the function and meaning of language choice in post-colonial Tunisia. The findings suggest that social class creates …

“He’S Here, He’S Not Queer”: The Indexical Potential Of Pronoun Use On American Drag Reality Television, Finn Verdonk , '26

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

When English speakers talk about drag performers, what factors impact the pronoun that is used? Pulling data from two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 4 and Season 14) and one season of Dragula (Season 5), this thesis attempts to understand the ways in which drag performers use pronouns in discourse about fellow drag performers. Building from Myers’s 2018 proposal that using he/him pronouns for drag queens can index shadiness or criticism, I expand her sample to see if her findings hold up over time and across franchises. I find that he/him pronouns on RPDR no longer index shadiness and …

Building Peace From Afar: Women-Led Peacekeeping From The Diaspora (Case Study: Afghanistan), Sveto Muhammad Ishoq

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

This case study examines the challenges, tactics and tools of Afghan women activists in the UK in their peacebuilding efforts for Afghan women and girls post-Taliban takeover. It shows how operating from exile, these activists employ innovative strategies to amplify Afghan women’s voices, advocating internationally and providing support despite facing complex security, funding, and community unity issues.

Building Peace From Afar: Women-Led Peacebuilding From The Diaspora, Elena B, Stavrevska, Sveto Muhammad Ishoq, Shadi Rouhshahbaz, Kay Soe, Briana Mawby, Carolyne Komen

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

Diaspora communities have long played critical roles in peacebuilding efforts in their countries of origin, yet the contributions of women within these communities remain significantly underexplored and underappreciated. This report seeks to address this gap by focusing on the unique roles, challenges and contributions of women in diaspora-led peacebuilding initiatives. Women in the diaspora — often navigating complex identities and facing distinct challenges — are vital actors in promoting peace, reconciliation and social change in their homelands.

Drawing on a comprehensive review of literature, research interviews, and detailed case studies, this report provides a nuanced understanding of how diaspora women …

Building Peace From Afar: Women-Led Peacekeeping From The Diaspora (Case Study: Iran), Shadi Rouhshahbaz

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

This case study examines how young Iranian women, at home and abroad, envision Iran’s futures, their role in change-making and the challenges they face. It shows how their aspirations reflect lived experiences and the limited civic spaces within which they champion change, and the difficult choices they face about leaving or staying, while their visions for Iran’s future transcend current insecurities, offering images of a more equitable society that may inspire meaningful, feminist-led transformation.

Constructing Gender Disparity Through Culture: A Socio-Pragmatic Study Of Impoliteness, Indirectness And Implicature In Igbo Female Degrading Proverbs, Uche Oboko Dr, Grace Ikechukwu

Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies

Igbo proverbs are valuable expressions that unravel linguistic idiosyncrasies and project the essential principles of life. This study examines the extent to which fifty Igbo proverbs that contain implicit impoliteness imports and implicature are used indirectly to demean women and create bias against them in the Igbo socio-cultural setting. In this qualitative research, the fifty Igbo proverbs were selected based on their contents from the five Igbo-speaking states in the southeastern part of Nigeria (Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo). The proverbs were translated from the Igbo language to the English language, interpreted, and analyzed. The analysis was conducted using …

The Influence Of Visualization Type And Gender On Multimedia Learning Performance: An Experimental Study, Ziji Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The widespread availability of multimedia learning resources, driven by technological progress, presents both opportunities and challenges in education. While these resources, often designed with animations to aid learning, their effectiveness in learning across STEM and non-STEM fields remains controversial. Besides, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to understanding how individual learner characteristics such as gender and spatial ability influence effectiveness of multimedia learning.

This dissertation examined the impact of visualization type and gender on learning algorithms (STEM) and Chinese characters (non-STEM) after accounting for the effect of spatial ability, focusing on learning outcomes and cognitive load. The fact that males …

Gender In Translation: How The Contemporary Bible Is Challenging Androcentric Language In Translation Through Gender-Accurate And Feminist Hermeneutical Lenses, Matthew T. Gennard

Masters Theses

This Thesis surveys the changing practice of gender-accurate translation from the late nineteenth century to the present, with special consideration for the three key principles of gender-accurate translation: Generic ‘he,’ androcentric lexemes, and pronoun substitution. These focus areas are derived from an analysis of the five translation guidelines produced during the late twentieth-century gender-neutral controversy. The loss of individuality when introducing pronominal interchange or the masculine representative hermeneutical lens has left scholars divided on gender-accurate practices. This study surveys the sociohistorical development of the feminist hermeneutical lens and the changing linguistic trends of contemporary language, which challenge androcentric assumptions in …

Bootmaking Before Bootstrapping: Patterns Of Grit And Slack In Multicultural Nonfiction Picture Books, Kristine Mensonides Gritter, Wing Shuen (Alice) Lau, Yaru (Sarah) Zhou, Jiang Pu, Munyi Shea

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This investigation reports the findings of a critical multicultural content analysis of recent-award winning Orbis Pictus (non-fiction) picture books. The analysis examines patterns of grit and slack strategies across race and gender for historical characters of color as they overcame boundaries and accomplished long-term goals. Findings suggest that the concept of “grit” is not merely a universal construct of an outstanding individual who lifts themself up by their own bootstraps but that systems are important in allowing an individual to succeed to overcome boundaries. The bootstrap myth can be contested by critical readers, even young readers of picture books, as …

Incarcerated Women: Gendered Rhetoric From The Outside And Reality Inside Prison Walls., Taylor Riley Geiser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how formerly incarcerated women navigate and resist gendered media portrayals through digital platforms, focusing on the “mad” and “bad” woman tropes that shape public perceptions. Drawing on feminist rhetorical theory—particularly Royster and Kirsch’s methodological practices and Ratcliffe’s concept of rhetorical listening—this study combines Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of mainstream headlines with Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) of TikTok content. CDA of media coverage surrounding Lori Vallow Daybell, Casey Anthony, and Andrea Yates reveals how language, imagery, and cultural logics sustain harmful binaries that portray women who commit crimes either as depraved or as excused by madness, obscuring the …

Educational Attainment Patterns Among Mena Adults: A Comparative Study Of Native- And Foreign-Born Groups In The Us, Michael Okyere

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines educational attainment patterns among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) adults in the United States, focusing on how nativity status, residential patterns, and gender shape these outcomes. Drawing on segmented assimilation and spatial assimilation theories, I analyze data from the 2018-2022 American Community Survey using ordered logistic regression models. Results indicate that educational attainment varies by gender, with MENA women consistently achieving higher education levels than men across all nativity groups, though this advantage varies considerably in magnitude between native-born and foreign-born subgroups. Residence in ethnic enclaves demonstrates a strong negative association with educational attainment among foreign-born …

Algerian Viewers’ Attitudes Toward Taboo Language: A Case Study Of Mourad Oudia’S Humorous Youtube Content, Amaa Naib

Jordan Journal of Applied Science-Humanities Series

The present research aims to investigate taboo language within an online setting. The study has two main objectives: (1) to identify the taboo language themes frequently used by Algerian comedian Mourad Oudia to create humorous content, based on Ljung's (2011) and Qanbar's (2011) classifications, and (2) to examine the impact of age and gender on Algerians' attitudes toward these themes. It focuses on exploring perceptions of taboo language across different generations in Algeria. The study employs a mixed-methods approach for data collection and analysis. To address the first research question, the initial step involved collecting primary data through content analysis. …

Multilevel Intersectionality And The Deployment Of Disability In Schools, Rachel Elizabeth Fish

Education and Child Study: Faculty Publications

Teacher perceptions of and decisions about students’ academic ability and behavior are key to the micro-level production and maintenance of inequality at the intersection of gender, race, and disability in schools, yet we know little about how these micro-level processes relate to meso-level features. Using an experimental survey design of 369 factorial vignettes, I tested for racial and gender differences in 276 teachers’ ratings of referral to begin disability evaluations—what I call the deployment of disability—across 115 Wisconsin schools with varying racial compositions. Findings show that teachers in schools with low proportions of White students were less likely to deploy …

Descending Asymmetry In Proximate, Mobile And Digital Care: Chinese Older People Grandparenting Across Distance Within China And Overseas, Catriona Stevens, Rachel Murphy, Yu Huang, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article juxtaposes cases of grandparents who provide care for their grandchildren in two broad types of migrant families: (1) families where some members have migrated from the Chinese countryside to larger cities and (2) families where some members have migrated from China to Australia. By examining the proximate, mobile and digital forms of their grandparenting care labour, this article demonstrates the surprising durability and stability of care repertoires across distance and class. Despite the great differences of their migration geographies and family resources, these families nonetheless all demonstrate remarkably similar repertoires of caregiving articulated with reference to similar cultural …

Do They Already Know? Level Of Gender Language Sensitivity Among Education Students, Bethany P. Villanueva, Azil Jane Guingguing, Bryan Abondo, Diane Deuna, Adelyne Abrea

Journal of English and Applied Linguistics

This study, conducted within a Philippine educational setting, assessed gender language sensitivity among education students. Completing two tests, the gender-neutral pronoun usage test and the gender-sensitive language test, 255 randomly selected first- and second-year students participated. Additional qualitative data was gathered through a focus group discussion. Statistical analysis using analysis of variance and Z-tests revealed no significant differences in the use of gender-neutral pronouns based on year level, program, gender identity, and preferred pronouns. However, a significant difference was observed in using gender-sensitive language based on year level and preferred pronouns. Overall, the respondents demonstrated a beginning level of proficiency …

Belonging, Identity, And Reintegration In India: Two Generations Of Us Women Return Migrants, Jenna Sikka

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines how generational differences among Indian returnee women shape their experiences of reintegration into Indian society, highlighting how migration and return are embedded in broader socio-historical, cultural, and gendered contexts. Focusing on two cohorts- women who migrated before India’s 1991 economic liberalization and those who migrated after- the study draws on qualitative interviews to explore how returnees navigate the tensions between values acquired abroad and the social expectations they face upon returning. The older cohort of returnee women, many of which were influenced by Gandhi’s ideals, often view their reintegration as a process of reconnecting with familiar values, …

Cinematic Abuse: A Critical Analysis Of Disney’S “Happily Ever After” In The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, And The Princess And The Frog, Erin Michelle Gough

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the manner in which three animated Disney princess films cultivate stereotypes and gendered behaviors consistent with domestic violence and thereby encourages viewers to accept and tolerate abuse against women. I argue that due to the dangerous, constricting, and sexist gender roles encouraged by the Walt Disney Corporation, films prime young girls and boys to react to social situations and encounters in a way that mirror the characters’ reactions. Because of the films’ entertainment value, most of the characters’ inappropriate, stereotypical, and often violent behaviors either go unnoticed or are passively accepted. The violence does not have to …

Experiences Of Low-Risk, Low-Need Participants In A Gender-Neutral And Inclusive Domestic And Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Program, Kenneth W. Robison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Traditional batterer intervention programs often prioritize male-perpetrator-female-victim models, thereby overlooking diverse relationship contexts and marginalized populations. Understanding participants’ experiences is essential for researchers, policymakers, counselor educators, and practitioners to develop alternatives to one-size-fits-all gender- specific strategies, which aligns with the call for more robust evidence-based practices. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative study, guided by van Manen’s framework, was to explore the lived experiences of low-risk, low-need participants who completed a gender-neutral and inclusive domestic and intimate partner violence intervention program. The research answered what essential themes emerged from the participants’ lived experiences. Data were collected from (n=8) participants …

Exposing Lived Experiences: Eudora Welty's Intersectional Approach To Writing And Photography, Caroline Mccutchen

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how Eudora Welty employs an intersectional approach in her writing and photography to represent the complex identities of elderly Black women in the American South during the Great Depression. Using intersectionality as a framework, this project analyzes how Welty’s work acknowledges the overlapping forces of race, gender, age, and class that shape her subjects’ lived experiences. While documenting adversity, Welty also highlights resilience, agency, and communal empowerment. The study focuses on Welty’s literary works “A Worn Path,” “Ida M’Toy,” “A Pageant of Birds,” and “Cindy and the Joyful Noise,” alongside her Depression-era photographs from One Time, One …

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 …

Cracking The Gender Code: Quantitative Insights Into Women's Code-Switching Strategies In K-12 Educational Leadership, Morgan Walker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women in K–12 education find themselves in the majority in the classroom but in the minority in administration positions. Social conditioning has led many to believe that men's characteristics more naturally align with strong leadership. Because of this discrepancy, women find the need to act in an inauthentic way to be perceived as more confident and capable leaders. Code-switching is defined as a transactional social tool utilized in instances of an imbalance of power and in the development of relations and practices that help members of a subordinate group cope with or resist the condition of subordination (Heller, 2020). This …

Dedicatoria - Reflections On The Fabric Of Privilege (Chelsey Dipasquale-Hunton, Pp. 7-9), Chelsey Dipasquale-Hunton

Intersecciones Hispánicas: Revista de Cultura, Literatura y Lingüística

Chelsey’s reflection, written in November 2023 for Dr. Nancy López’s Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Class for Social Policy course, stands as a profound testament to her intellect, compassion, and commitment to understanding the complexities of privilege and identity. In this deeply personal narrative, Chelsey examines the paradoxes of privilege she carried and the ways in which they intersected with her marginalized identities. Her words reveal not only her dedication to self-awareness and growth but also her unwavering commitment to fostering equity and understanding within her community.As an educator, colleague, and advocate, Chelsey embodied the principles of humility and responsibility. Her reflection …

You Tube Et Les Représentations De La Femme Dans Le Contexte Multilingue Marocain, Naima Wahbi

Dirassat

New forms of communication and expression have emerged through the participatory web and its numerous Digital Social Networks. This infutation is in a constant global progression. Our country has a total of 31.59 million Internet users, 63.4% of which are on social media.

This new digital discursivity has allowed them to express themselves anonymously on all types of subjects and also to openly broadcast their personal representations.

This article will examine how YouTube contributes to the broadcasting of women's representations. We also intend to highlight the correlation between the choice of language, the speaker's gender and the position expressed.

In …

What Is A Nation? Colonial Legacies, Identity, And Reclaiming In Métisse Autobiographical Narratives – A Case Study Of Sugar And Slate And Garçon Manqué, Thaïs Maëlle Autin

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

This thesis examines the question of national belonging in autobiographical narratives of second-generation immigrant métisse women. I study the similar aesthetic manner in which individuals with different regional and cultural influences grapple with concepts of identity, gender, racism, exile, and negotiation, and the way in which the authors anchor themselves in a broader familial and national heritage. I argue that such an enterprise can be understood as part of the alternative heritage wave, based on Andrew Higson’s theory. The texts put in question traditional understandings of nation. Doing so opens the possibility of engaging in a dialogue that expands the …