Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Culture In The Home, Church, School, And Community: Norwegian American Youth In Norman County, Minnesota, 1870-1925, Brianna Rose Devalk

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Since the centennial celebration of Norwegian migration to America in 1925, historians have frequently reflected upon the creation of the Norwegian American identity throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet, while investigations on culture and identity continue to expand our understanding of Norwegian America, youth are still frequently left on the margins of focus. The voices of children and adolescents are frequently difficult to hear as they leave few written historical records for historians to analyze. Additionally, few scholars have explored the sources they have left as adults remembering their childhood due to the skepticism of memory. As a …

Sbms: A Visual Exploration Of Liberian Identity, Gabriel B. Tait

The Asbury Journal

This article explores the use of visuals by missionaries and social scientists to communicate their encounters in sub-Saharan Africa. It offers an alternative perspective by incorporating the Sight Beyond My Sight (SBMS) visual research methodology created by Gabriel Tait. SBMS is a participant research method that employs photography as a way to understand culture and identity. The implications of this body of work, and the method it provides, presents a much-needed contextual lens for missionaries, visual ethnographers, and general persons who are interested in communicating their contexts in partnership with the cultures they are encountering and impacting. The implication of …

African American English As A Predictor Of Ethnic And Ethnolinguistic Identity In Adolescence, Giahna L. Glasco

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s purposes were to provide support for the Social identity theory of African American English (Vietze & Glasco, 2022) and the meanings African American English (AAE) speakers assign to their dialect. The study was primarily based on Tajfel’s (1979) social identity theory that proposes individuals derive a sense of self from group membership. The qualitative analyses examined ethnic and language group memberships. Ethnic identity development (Phinney, 1992), and ethnolinguistic identity theories (Giles and Johnson, 1987) guided narrative and content analyses of Kiese Laymon’s memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir (Laymon, 2018). The sample included 21 African American English conversations …

The Real And The Digital: Female Agency And Resisting The Male Gaze In Lynn Hershman Leeson’S Works, Kelly Chou

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis focuses on three major feminist works by multimedia artist, Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941), that grapple with the construction and potential of female identity. Considering the works within the context of Laura Mulvey’s seminal text “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” this paper will attempt to elucidate how Hershman Leeson’s works have engaged with the male gaze and its social and cultural implications on female identity in visual spheres. This research demonstrates how Hershman Leeson’s efforts to understand the limitations and boundaries for women reflect the same phenomenons observed by Mulvey within “Visual Pleasure.” Rejecting this, Hershman Leeson also …

You Can’T Build A Canoe Online: Activism And Identity In Indigenous Taiwan, Adam King Hinden

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Republic of China is the current government occupying the island of Taiwan –– a multiethnic land that has been populated by diverse groups for thousands of years. Today, these groups continue to face a range of adversities on behalf of the colonial government. Further, the island’s internet is dominated by Western social media platforms that exclude native modes of communication. Through ethnographic surveys and interviews, this study explores how indigenous Taiwanese activists understand their own identities, strategies of activism, and relationships to social media platforms to interrogate dominant postcolonial frameworks. It comes to two separate yet linked conclusions regarding …

The Developing Maternal-Infant Relationship: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study, Jane Peters

School of Nursing and Midwifery Theses

Aim The study aimed to explore maternal perceptions and the use of knowledge relating to their infant’s mental health over time using qualitative longitudinal research. Background There has been a growing interest in infant mental health over recent years. Much of this interest is directed through the lens of infant determinism, through knowledge regarding neurological development resulting in biological determinism. Research and policy in this field are directed toward individual parenting behaviours, usually focused on the mother. Despite this, there is little attention given to maternal perspectives of infant mental health, indicating that a more innovative approach to methodology is …

Assessing Stress Biomarkers As Embodied Identity In Kentucky’S Green River Archaic, Anna-Marie Casserly

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

The primary goal of this bioarchaeology dissertation research is to investigate the relationship between evidence of social identity and indicators of biological stress in the Green River region of Kentucky during the Late Archaic period (5,000-3,000 BP). Utilizing a biocultural perspective, I examine the ways that aspects of identity and social organization are embodied through the experience of biological stress. This research explores how social differences influence the patterning of osteological stress markers in an Archaic population while problematizing categories of difference that are often naturalized in bioarchaeology, such as gender or age cohorts. In so doing, it contributes to …

Otavalan Women Weavers: Rethinking Gendered Labor And Crafts In Ecuador, Kaitlin Marie Zapel

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This research focuses on the gendered labor of craft production and distribution of Otavaleños, an indigenous group in the Imbabura Valley in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Otavalans are often described as a society of weavers with strong gender divisions. Households typically function as units of production, with tasks ideally broken down along gender lines. Women are generally depicted as secondary workers who do not weave the textiles that make Otavalans famous; however, they are generally perceived as being responsible for selling these textiles in the market. This research argues that current gendered labor relations in Otavalan textile production can …

Changing The Landscape Of Identity In Forensic Anthropology, Briana T. New, Bridget F.B. Algee-Hewitt

Human Biology

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Investigating Cultural Values And Educational Technology Adoption In Central Asia: A Case Study, Randall W. Gwin

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Although the adoption of new tools for communication and learning could reasonably be expected to influence culture, little is known about the relationship between cultural values and the adoption or diffusion of Web 2.0 technologies. This case study examines the way in which the cultural values of 59 teachers in four Central Asian countries influenced and were influenced by Web 2.0 technologies during five to eighteen months of online professional development. Data was collected through self-introductions, Likert-scale and open-ended prompts on initial and final surveys, online forum discussions, and capstone projects. This allows an examination of changes in the participants’ …

Catholic Education And The Idea Of Curriculum, Leonardo Franchi, Robert Davis

Journal of Catholic Education

Critical reflection on the curriculum offered in the Catholic school is a valuable addition to wider dialogue on the nature of education and schooling. It enables the Church’s educational agencies to offer a distinctive vision of education to the diverse range of students who freely participate in its educational ventures. In Catholic thinking, education is the study of humanity and its achievements. The curriculum of the Catholic school speaks to internal and external audiences and is a bridge uniting the Catholic worldview with other intellectual traditions.

The Formation Of Civic Conciousness Of The Youth As A Political-Technological Problem, Umid Norbekov

Mental Enlightenment Scientific-Methodological Journal

The formation of civic consciousness of young people is not a cyclical process. The fact that the civic consciousness of young people is a political process has become clear in today’s local and national, regional and global socio-political processes.Young people's civic consciousness is achieved through the use of deep and well-thought-out political methods and technologies, the preservation of national identity, identity, ancestral spirituality in young people in today's era of global information and communication technologies, the establishment of civic immunity. This article is based on the fact that the formation of civic consciousness of young people is a political process.

La Autenticidad Y El Yo: Un Análisis Sobre La Experiencia Urbana De Las Mujeres Indígenas En Ecuador, Madison L. Mcclellan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As research on the urban indigenous experience continues to expand, considerations of how indigenous populations understand, express and introspect upon their being indigenous in the city still proves an underexplored topic. The generalizing notion that indigenous persons are staticーin temporal, migratory and identity termsーcategorically conflicts with the growing trends of rural to urban migration patterns. Even more, deep-rooted indigenous-rural associations engender identity disorientations among indigenous women living in the city. The city becomes a space of self-confrontation and re-construction as indigenous women encounter questions of authenticity and shame.

Based in literature on identity, performance, authenticity and shame, this research considers …

Desde El Fuego Que En Mí Arde: Performance, Literatura Y Cine Afro-Latinoamericano Producidos Por Mujeres Afrodescendientes En Perú, Cuba Y Brasil (1960–2000), Elena Ekatherina Chavez Goycochea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines different films, literary, and performance art pieces created by contemporary afro-descendant women from Peru, Cuba, and Brazil after the sixties with emphasis on the most relevant works of Conceição Evaristo, Sara Gómez, Victoria Santa Cruz, and Lucía Charún-Illescas. I focus my research on the crucial role these artists played in the cultural identity formation of Latin America when inserting ‘race’ as a category of socio-political analysis and cultural production. How did their films, performances, and texts challenge national narratives and imaginaries after 1960? Although in the sixties, women improved their civil rights in different countries, the ‘mujer …

The Grid Elegies, Pamela A. Kallimanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Immigrants are a key component in New York City’s pandemic. Historically, New York is a city of immigrants and their children. In the latter part of the 20th Century, more immigrants arrived due to changes in migration policy. There was also an increased outmigration through second and third generations, which mirrors an economic trajectory seen in previous points in history, mainly in the 1970s. At that time, there was the lure of government policies – from federal mortgage agencies that graded white suburban areas as safer areas for banks to make loans than racially mixed urban areas, to road construction …

The Construction Of Identity Through Tattoos: A Semiotic And Performative Exploration Of Trauma, Erin Lionberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this current historical moment, tattoos and tattooing have become a glorified cultural phenomenon that has been thousands of years in the making. The idea that tattoos can be used to express one’s identity is not a new concept — various fields, such as anthropology, cultural studies, and sociology, have studied the relationship between tattoos and identity. In this dissertation, I explore the signification and performative aspects of Auschwitz concentration camp tattoos and 9/11 memorial tattoos, while also considering the changes in meaning and interpretation that occur within and throughout space and time. Chapter one introduces the topic and provides …

Wawasan Brunei 2035: A National Narrative Of Modernity In Traditional Normativity, Suyanti Adi Pawiro

International Review of Humanities Studies

Brunei Darussalam maintains its absolute monarchy system by integrating its well-established Islamic values into national ideology while calculating strategic plans to progress. Wawasan Brunei 2035 embodies collective national objectives that tie Brunei together as a nation amidst the future’s challenges. This pathway is viewed as a paradox of modernity and tradition. Using a qualitative method, this study provides perspectives on how Brunei Darussalam maintains its unique political stand in this fashion by looking into its formation of national identity and examining Wawasan Brunei 2035 as a national narrative. The study finds that Wawasan Brunei 2035 guides the nation and keeps …

Identity Transformation Through Substance Use Disorder Recovery: Introducing The Six Stage Model, Naomi Watkins, Austin Mcneill Brown, Kayce Courson

The Qualitative Report

Narratives of substance use disorder recovery experience can provide useful qualitative conceptual categories and novel theories about the way in which recovery is experienced by individuals. This information can better inform definitions, concepts, and supports for recovery processes. The current study reviewed 30 written personal recovery biographies which were contained within student applications to the collegiate recovery program housed in the Center for Young Adult Addiction and Recovery at Kennesaw State University. Using grounded theory methodology, common benchmarks, or topographic recovery features were revealed involving the evolution of identity as an inter-negotiated process throughout the addiction and recovery biographies (Charmaz, …

Presenting Selves And Interpreting Culture: An Ethnography Of Chinese International Tourism In The United States, Fangheyue Ma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I situate my dissertation research within cultural sociology, specifically the cultural phenomenon of international tourism, and social psychology, particularly the subfields of identity, interaction, and emotion. I conducted a qualitative study of participants in international package tourism and individual travelers, more specifically, Chinese tourists who travel to the United States. Main topics of exploration included tourists’ experience of their trips and package tours, how they interpreted American culture and compared it to their own, how they constructed and performed identities both as tourists and as Chinese nationals, their emotional experiences and how they made sense of an environment that they …

Legal Construction Of Nationalism And National Identity In The Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan, Zaina Siyam

Theses and Dissertations

Nationalism is an ideology that is not unique to one nation or one area, but it is a concept unique in the way it is defined. How it is defined and what it really is depends on where the definition is coming from. It is most important to post-colonial nations that relied and still rely on the creation of national identity and construction of an imagined community, in order to reach their liberation. Nations are imagined communities constructed through shared history, beliefs, traditions, and experiences that happen over different periods in time, between individuals that do not necessarily know each …

Placing God: Defining “Post-Christianity” For Contemporary Japanese Christians, Leryan Anthony Burrey

Master's Projects and Capstones

This work suggests that we consider a new, working definition of post-Christianity. This new paradigm is in response to Western Christian thought being too dominant a force that fails to take into enough account other global experiences— like those of Japanese Christians. These reflections are based on scholarly opinions claiming that Christianity is a “global culture,” and ultimately argues for more international inclusivity in Western Christian thought and institutions, especially regarding the Asia-Pacific. Moreover, this paper illuminates how iitoko dori allows Christian thought to peacefully coexist in Japan’s greater society. The research also explores specific Japanese cultural practices that make …

The 2020 Awakening: A Study On Exhibiting Topics Of Race And Identity In Mid-Sized Art Museums, Samantha Becker

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

After the many racial injustices that occurred in 2020, cultural institutions have been motivated to educate the public on historical and contemporary topics of race and identity. This project sought to analyze exemplary cases of exhibition production with topics of race and identity in mid-sized art museums. The goal was to provide a set of recommendations for exhibiting these topics to bolster community trust. Two museums were studied–the Montclair Art Museum and Newark Museum of Art–which revealed that the exhibitions at both institutions were relevant to contemporary issues, engaging to their respective communities, and educational for a wide range of …

Alaska Native Men's Voices: Tracking Masculinities Through Indigenous Gender Constructs, Charlene Aqpik Apok

Indigenous Studies

Alaska Native Men's Voices, an exploratory project, begins to make visible experiences of what it means to identify as an Indigenous male. Indigenous sovereignty includes practice of Indigenous gender knowledge systems. Self- determination of health and wellness by honoring relationships necessitates the affirmation of Alaska Native Men's voices. The complexity and diversity of Indigenous masculinity cannot be homogenized or made into one definition; these are not the goals of the research. This project aimed to articulate how Alaska Native men self- identify, what meaningful intersections of lived experiences can be drawn, and how do these inform healthy gender relations for …

Using Language Ideology, Social Positioning And Performativity To Assess Second Language Learning And Identity Transformation: A Qualitative Case Study Of Three Chinese Queer Immigrants In The U.S., Yih Ren

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to explore the directionality of the relationships between cultural identity, sexuality, ideology, and English learning. My study included three participants, and each represents a specific acculturating and immigrant group in the U.S., namely, international students, permanent residents (green card holders), and naturalized citizens. Language ideology and social positioning theory are employed to examine English hegemony and internalized oppression. I argue that English hegemony is ideological and reinforces further discrimination and social hierarchy; further, performativity provides a new cannon to view language production and acquisition as it shifts the emphasis from the technical processes of language acquisition to …

Can You See Me? Re-Centering Biracial Voices Through Chicana Intervention In Children's Literature, Andrea Putala

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Can You See Me? Re-Centering Biracial Voices through Chicana Intervention in Children’s Literature offers critical reflection on an applied research project: the writing of a children’s book that interrogates how introducing a complex theoretical concept would take form. Children’s media introduced in the home and the school are some of the biggest influences when it comes to identity and societal expectations. Unfortunately for students who are bi or multiracial, there has been a lot of erasure of their voices and experiences that do not help cultivate positive identity formations. Chicana feminists situated their voices, histories, and experiences within their …

Black American Identity Crisis: Culture And Christ, Celestine Job

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is a comparative and qualitive study of African American identity and Christian/Spiritual identity. The formation of each identity was presented by examining psychological and sociological, causes of The case for an African American identity crisis was supported by the psychological and sociological trauma experienced through the African American experience in American. The research showed that the historical effects of slavery and lawful subjection, exclusion from the dominant society indeed cause an identity crisis that has rippling effects even to today. The Christian identity proved to be the highest form of identity, as it is rooted …

Developing The Facilitative Health And Well-Being Tool: Freeing Writing, William O. Fogarty

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Research into processes of self, including self-concept clarity, identity, and meaning and purpose in life, has demonstrated that human beings that feel they know themselves tend to experience positive health and well-being outcomes, while people who feel they don’t know themselves tend to experience more negative health and well-being outcomes. These findings indicate that knowing oneself is essential. Thus, the facilitative tool I am creating with this Master’s Project, Freeing Writing, combines the power of self-knowledge and self-discovery with the healing power of expressive writing. In this manuscript, I synthesize the scientific research, Design Thinking process, and real-world experiences which …

Expressions Of Identity: Analysis Of A Funerary Mask From Roman Egypt (Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Ny, Inv. 19.2.6), Rachel Madison Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The object of this study is a painted plaster mask of an adult woman from Roman Egypt currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Inv. 19.2.6. The mask has been stylistically attributed to Meir, the primary necropolis for Cusae. This mask represents the social identity of the deceased woman, while also embodying how she was transformed into a divine being through mummification. Through an analysis of the iconography of this funerary mask, as her chosen form of self-representation, I will place the multiple aspects of the life of the deceased into social, historical, and religious context. This thesis …

Narrative Of Habitus Distinction: From Fantasy Of Identity To Competition Of Elegance——Centering On The Image Of People Subject To Identity Transformations In Modern Fictions, Daizong Yu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Sociological or anthropological list of the habitus of people are from different classes, focusing on the strategy and function of habitus distinction in social struggles from the perspectives of political culture, economic level, and intergenerational reproduction. In contrast, modern fictions depict different forms of struggles from the perspectives of perceptual experience, emotional change, and taste preference. The narrative of habitus distinction in modern fictions shows the obstinacy of old habitus, the fragility of new habitus, and the aggressiveness of habitus in the struggles of classification. Its insight and aesthetic interpretation provide not only a more precise way but also a …

Changing And Transitioning Name Narratives: The De.E.P. Standpoints Of Identities, Pauline C. Alvarez

Communication ETDs

The Changing and Transitioning Name Narrative project is a replicated study from the Name Narrative Project (2014) by Montoya, Vasquez, and Martínez. The changing and/or transitioning of names relates to a Decolonial Embodiment Process (DE.E.P.) that speaks to an internal process of how individuals break away from colonial powers. Furthermore, the study highlights nine (eight volunteers and the author’s) Name Narratives to investigate their realities that express an individual experience and shared standpoints. Importantly, the changing and/or transitioning of names is not an act to disrespect parents or name givers, but a profound self-love indication that is represented through materialize …