Digital Commons Network^™

Forming A Global Citizen: Personal Development Through Study Abroad, Anna L. Reiter

Honors Thesis

This literature review examines key benefits of studying abroad, while investigating which elements most contribute to students’ overall success. Current literature suggests that benefits of studying abroad include, but are not limited to, second language acquisition (SLA), identity formation, and intercultural competence. The degree of which each is improved depends on a multitude of variables. SLA improvement is explored via consideration of students’ baseline proficiency level, degree of receptivity of the host country, and length of the study abroad program. Students’ identity formation is explained through the three bases of identity: person, role, and group/social. Finally, intercultural competence in study …

Social Connectedness As Experienced By Black Christian Women At A Predominantly White University, Halle Christina Miller

Honors Theses

This study examines the lived experiences of Black women attending a predominantly white Christian university and explores how they navigate social connection and belonging in this context, highlighting identity relevant experiences and intersectionality in layered identities. Literature demonstrates, social connection and belonging is an important aspect of well-being. This study serves to advance or extend theories relating to social connection and belonging by examining in particular the role that identity plays in belonging, specifically considering intersectionality and layered identities. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with three Black women who were currently enrolled in the university. …

Art Therapy: Mechanisms Of Change And Identity: A Heuristic Study, Kirsten O'Loughlin

Art Therapy Counseling Final Research Projects

The aim of this arts based heuristic study was to uncover emergent themes through an intensive immersion in clay work to deepen my own embodiment and understanding of my identity as an art therapist in training and artist. As I moved through the immersion process, I experienced several mechanisms of change often theorized as reasons why art therapy works. By experiencing these mechanisms of change on a personal level, I have strengthened my ability to understand how these mechanisms work and their potential effects on clients. This has led to a better understanding and acceptance of my identity and the …

The Relationship Between Communicative Confidence And Identity In Everyday Life For People With Aphasia, Karina Escobar

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders Undergraduate Honors Theses

Aphasia is primarily a neurological language disorder, which can also affect cognition, attention, and executive functioning skills. In recent years, researcher has taken an interest in understanding quality of life for people with aphasia, specifically communicative confidence, social relationships, and identity. The aim of this study was to determine how communicative confidence and social relationships affect a person’s identity, as well as the importance of therapy groups. We designed and used confidence and independence survey scales pre-aphasia, post-aphasia but before attending aphasia therapy groups, and post-aphasia and after having attended aphasia therapy groups. We also asked clarifying questions based on …

Polyamory - The Multiple Complexities Of Multiple Partners, Vianna Isbister

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploration of the relationship between polyamory and how polyamorous people communicate about their relationship dynamics. Drawing from six individual interviews and one focus group, the author compares key language that appears in previous research to the language created by the study participants. Utilizing grounded theory for the analysis, results indicate that the language choices of sexual identity, sexual orientation, and/or relationship model are not sufficient for singularly encompassing a poly experience. Findings indicate that individuals who identify under the umbrella of consensual non-monogamy (CNM) may use the term "polyamory" to describe their own relationship dynamic or …

Developing Augmentative Systems To Assist Both Irish L1 Users And L2 Learners, Muireann Nic Corcráin

The Quiet Corner Interdisciplinary Journal

Background and context:

The period of not being able to attend school during the pandemic has been challenging for both students and educators from an education, communication, connection and relationship perspective. Furthermore, it has been argued that there has been an even greater challenge for students with specific and additional education needs, including those with who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems to communicate effectively. The availability of AAC systems for students for whom Irish is their first language and for L2 learners of Irish has been limited to date and is an additional challenge. Notwithstanding this however, ongoing …

Between Faith And Nation: The Complexities Of Jewish Identity In Interwar Austria, Sarah E. Townsend

Honors College Theses

During the period between the First and Second World Wars, the people of the newly established Austrian Republic faced many changes: the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Habsburg Monarchy, economic hardships during and following the First World War, and the question of German ethnic nationalism and unification with Germany. The question of national identity was relevant to the entire Austrian population and Austrians had to make an important decision about their nationality: Austrian or German? For Austrian Jews, the dilemma was more complicated. Zionism promoted the idea of Jewish statehood and a solely Jewish identity. This thesis explores the …

Modern Cognitive Operations And Hybrid Warfare, Yuriy Danyk, Chad M. Briggs

Journal of Strategic Security

Concepts of cognitive warfare and operations are explored in the context of hybrid warfare, including how cyber technologies promote greater asymmetric opportunities for influence, control, and undermining of one’s adversary. Research areas are analyzed in the interconnection with hybrid cognitive operations. The purpose of the article is to study the features and theoretical and applied substantiation of cognitive actions in cyberspace and through cyberspace and their possible consequences within the framework of hybrid conflicts.

Belonging On Stage: Theatre As A Practice Of Belonging For The Syrian Diaspora In Turkey, Asma Hedi Nairi

Regards

This article is a preliminary research focusing on the role of theatre as a belonging practice for the Syrian diaspora in Turkey. Based on a qualitative and narrative research methodology, the work analyzes the experience of the Theatre Scene group and their performance of the play Outside the Flock. Building on the belonging conceptual framework presented by Yuval-Davis (2006), the work offers an overview of how theatre served as both a space and a practice of belonging for the Syrian diaspora. It contributes to the growing scholarship on diasporic arts, highlighting the specificity of the Syrian theatrical experience.

Résumé …

Bridging The Cultural Divide: A Single Case Study Exploring Connections Between Multi-Cultural Education, Identity, Self-Esteem And Leadership, Amy Britton

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This qualitative single case study explores connections between multicultural education, identity development, self-esteem, and leadership. The study focuses on the lived experiences of a lifelong learner, educator, and leader in higher education with the pseudonym, Rachel. The interview with Rachel traced how she experiences diversity within her academic experiences as a learner and her professional experiences as an educator and leader.

Being Multicultural In The Workplace, Fiorella Morales

Dissertations

As the workforce becomes increasingly diverse and organizations elevate their efforts to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), it is critical to engage in a deeper investigation of the experiences of multicultural individuals at work. In this qualitative study, nine multicultural individuals were interviewed using a sociological lens to gain their perspective on the relationship between their identity and their work experiences. The primary research questions that guided this study were: (a) how do multicultural individuals influence the workplace? In turn, (b) how do their workplace experiences affect their identity and sense of self? Data was coded and …

Control Of Cultural And Bodily Reproduction: The Denial Of Autonomy In The United States, Peru And Globally, Anna M. Schloerb

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Statement of Purpose:

This project seeks to look at the ways the state and hegemonic devices of power control cultural and bodily reproduction. It asks the question of how this control inhibits people's reproductive autonomy, cultural identity, language, and generational knowledge transmission. I offer specific examples of how this control has functioned in the US, with immigrants, Indigenous, Black people and other marginalized groups. My grandmother is from Lima, Peru and because of that connection, and the inspiration of this piece, I wanted to use the 1990s-2000s Sterilization in Peru as a case study of hegemonic control happening more globally. …

Systemic Functional Grammar: Material Process Analysis In Efl Textbooks For Palestinian Refugee Children, Dania N. Hadid, Anne Mccabe, Nadine Riachi Haddad

Al-Kīmiyā

Texts in English language textbooks for Palestinian refugees were analyzed for the types of verbal process expressed within the clauses of the texts, as well as for their concomitant participants and processes, using the system of transitivity from Systemic Functional Linguistics. The focus was on texts which present references to Palestine whether as participant type or location. The material process and its corresponding participants were analyzed experientially and semantically to explore the experiences through which the Palestinian context is presented in those texts. It has been observed that the semantic connotations of the process presentations are limited to specific themes …

Pachuquismo E Identidad Nacional Imaginada En Los Estados Unidos Y México En La Década De 1940, Isabel Saavedra-Weis

Hispanic Studies Honors Projects

Pachuquismo was a counterculture born in the barrios of East L.A. in the 1940s. Mexican-American youth created their own social group defined by specific clothing (zoot suits), music fusions (mambo and swing), and linguistic dialects (caló). However, on both sides of the U.S. and Mexican border, pachucos had a poor reputation. In the U.S., mainstream media portrayed pachucos as juvenile delinquents and domestic threats. In Mexico, pachucos were mimicked and heavily criticized for their Americanization. In this essay, I identify how U.S. and Mexican mainstream media reacted to pachucos, and what those portrayals can tell us about the imagined national …

Becoming American(?): An Auto-Ethnographic Inquiry Of An Ecuadorian(-American) Family’S Identity Formation In The Face Of Long Island Whiteness, Tabitha Andrea Benitez

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the methods, reasons, and strategies of identity formation within an Ecuadorian(-American) family living on Long Island, New York. This autoethnographic research combines family interviews and the author’s own experiences to investigate identity on three prongs: Latinidad, Spanish and English language usage, and honoring and creating homes. Latinidad is both a panethnic term that is assigned to Latinos living within the United States, but is also an identity that is individually practiced by those who identify as Latinos. I investigate the link between Spanish, English, and identity formation to dislodge the supposed link between language and Latinidad. By …

Home Language Policy And Identity In Multilingual Families In Ouagadougou, Inoussa Malgoubri

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Language functions as both a social practice and an identity marker through which communities express themselves in arts and literature. It is intrinsically linked to culture and, by extension, identity. Consequently, "losing one's language is equivalent to losing one's identity" (G. Kedrebégo, 1998, p. 181). In an era where English serves as a lingua franca and colonial legacy languages remain the official languages throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Indigenous African languages are at risk. This collective qualitative case study aims to explore how parents navigate language choices as they strive to preserve their identity while ensuring their children are well-prepared for a …

Approaching Venezuelan Migration From The Borderland: Dynamics And Identity In La Guajira, Colombia, Dalton Price

Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies (JOLLAS)

Based on an ethnography in the Colombian border state of La Guajira, this article argues that ethnographic research can challenge defaults to methodological nationalism, stark binaries be-tween host and migrant communities, and a framing of Venezuelan migration that flattens the complex realities of individuals in these borderlands who have extensive ties between both Colombia and Venezuela. This article begins by characterizing this border region, describing the relevant history of La Guajira and contemporary dynamics that help situate this specific Venezuelan migration flow. After, I describe the complex identities that form in these borderlands and what exactly “Venezuelan” looks like in …

Disability Identity In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Letters, Jackson Fields

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on letters written by British Romantic author Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who wrote about his chronic illness during the period of emerging modern ideas of disability. Coleridge’s letters are valuable to readers in the twenty-first century because they enable us to track the formation and negotiation of Coleridge’s disability identity. As one of the most important thinkers and authors in the English language, Coleridge has a lot to teach us about how one can understand their illnesses, medical authority, and the influences of disability on friendships and social roles. This thesis considers Coleridge’s letters to his loved ones …

Negotiating Intersectional Identities In The Music Culture Of The Deeper Christian Life Ministries In Nigeria, If-Not-God Moses

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity is the largest religion in the world with a population of over two billion. More than ever before, the rapid growth of this religion is getting more diverse due to a great variety of doctrines and practices that it accommodates. From the inception of Christianity, music has been prominent and a powerful bedrock of its religious worship. This thesis, underpinned by the paradigm of sound as a social structure as espoused by Steven Feld, examines the intersectional identities in the music culture of the Deeper Christian Life Ministries (DCLM) in Nigeria. This research aims to fathom the musical functions …

Globalization And Loss: Place, Displacements And Binary In Olu Obafemi’S Wheels, Jonah Caleb Monday

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

One of the central mantras of globalization, from the purview of the West and other self-acclaimed first world countries, is the need to take progressive and innovative ideas and thoughts to third and fourth world countries for all-round economic, political, social, and intellectual development and reinforcement. This very idea of globalization, by contrast, engenders displacements of identity and place and this has formed the core of critical reflection in postcolonial ecocriticism; that is, the idea of achieving a global community, from a western ideological construct, implicitly accounts for the depletion of the natural environment. Therefore, globalization becomes double critique since …

Anishinaabeg Niizh Manitoag: Asha Amaa, We Were Always Here, Jacqueline F. Nobiss X

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ANISHINAABEG NIIZH MANITOAG:

ASHAA A’MAA, WE WERE ALWAYS HERE

Abstract

This research is an in-depth exposé of Anishinaabeg knowledge surrounding niizh manitoag, two-spirit ways of knowing. General collections of two-spirit writings and contributions in the past thirty years uncovered a noticeable gap in the research around Anishinaabeg's two-spirit knowledge, stories, and teachings.

Using Indigenous research paradigms, this knowledge base posits a unique theoretical, conceptual framework identified as an Indigenous Relational Theory. The theory delineates a way of knowing and understanding Anishinaabe niizh manitoag, two-spirit identity. The Indigenous Relational Theory consists of four models, Relational Cultural Model, Relational Identity …

‘We Are People Of The Islands’: Translocal Belonging Among The Ethnic Chinese Of The Riau Islands, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Riau Islands Chinese are an anomaly in the study of Chinese Indonesians. For one, while many of their ethnic Chinese counterparts in other parts of Indonesia can no longer speak Chinese due to the New Order regime’s assimilation policy, Chinese languages are alive and well in the Riau Islands. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2017–2018, this paper seeks to understand the Riau Islands Chinese’s cultural resilience and sense of belonging as a borderland ethnic minority. I argue that long-standing inter-Island and cross-border mobilities and cultural flows with Singapore have been central to the maintenance of Riau Islands Chinese …

Translanguaging, Multiliteracy, And Sociocultural Dynamics: Exploring Diasporic Identity And Belonging, Seongryeong Yu

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This ethnographic study delves into the language and literacy practices of immigrant children in a public elementary school setting. The purpose of the study is to understand the role of multiliteracy in their learning, their ability to connect with the curriculum and instruction, and their sense of belonging within their peer groups, classrooms, and home countries. To explore how these children utilized their linguistic and cultural repertoires to engage in language and literacy activities in different contexts (Kwon, 2019), the study focused on 10-year-old students from various linguistic backgrounds, including Korean and Chinese students in a United States classroom. Through …

"I Just Want To Be Me, Authentically": Identity Shifting Among Racially And Ethnically Diverse Young Adults, Aerika Brittian Loyd, Dulce Wilkinson Westberg, Lenisha Williams, Marisha Humphries, Alan Meca, Julie Carmen Rodil

Psychology Faculty Publications

Identity shifting represents a common but complex social, behavioral, and cognitive phenomenon. However, some forms of identity shifting originate in response to structural, institutional, and interpersonal marginalization enacted on lower status groups, such as people of color in the United States. The current study investigated ways young adults from diverse ethnic/racial groups discussed shifting to fit in with White Americans (a dominant group) in the United States and their own ethnic/racial group (a minoritized group) and elucidated self-reported motivations for shifting. Participants consisted of 764 young adults (ages = 18–23) recruited from two large public universities in the Southeast and …

Organizing (Eternal) Identity And Identification: An Upward Glance Into Religious Institutions, Casey M. Stratton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation disrupts at least two religious spaces: First, scholars religiously adhering to (social) scientific norms, and second, people identifying with religious organizations (i.e., churches). First, we begin constructing a theoretical lens using poststructural ideas offered by Foucault, Derrida, and Bakhtin to read and disrupt (religious) discourse. Second, we complicate organizational identification as a concept, deeming it fixed and fluid—a paradox within religious discourses that endorse Truth and Perfection. Here, we draw from the communication constitutes organization (CCO) approach. Third, we further curate the lens by applying poststructuralism, identification, and CCO in a specific context: The Church of Jesus Christ …

Nice Girls, Wild Women: The Call Of The American Wilderness And Feminine Rejection Of The American Dream, Alice Paige Dillard

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Reflecting the inherently patriarchal nature of the colonization that birthed America as a nation, the American landscape English settlers sought to subjugate became connotated with the female gender through English colonial writing. American westward expansion gained greater allure than the overt appeal of conquest and agrarian industry when her untamed western landscape was likened to images of an unspent virginal bride or the breast of a nurturing mother. Thomas Morton likens the colonies of Maryland and Virginia to the Biblical figures of Leah and Rachel in his poem “New English Canaan” to demonstrate their equal worth as English colonies, though …

Mathematics Anxiety: Identity Work In A Gifted Prospective Elementary Teacher’S Mathematics-Related Personal Narratives, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr

Teacher Education

Previous studies have focused on negative physiological sensations and psychological emotions of mathematics anxiety experienced in real time. Similarly, prior research has noted that prospective elementary teachers (PSTs) may experience such feelings of distress while learning to teach mathematics in their teacher-preparation programs. Mathematics teacher educators have sought to reduce elementary PSTs’ mathematics anxiety by improving their mathematical content knowledge and discipline-specific pedagogical knowledge. But why might mathematics anxiety persist even after elementary PSTs have successfully completed such teacher-preparation coursework? Our case study of a female elementary PST, identified as gifted, illustrates how mathematics anxiety, when reinforced by personal narratives …

The Role Of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi In The Formation Of Ukrainian National Identity, Iryna Krasnodemska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the main statehood ideas and views of the socio-political and Church figure, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi’s contribution to the struggle for the establishment of an independent, united Ukrainian state. The impact of the Metropolitan’s activity as the hierarch of the Greek Catholic Church on the Ukrainian national spiritual revival in Ukraine (at the end of the 19th to middle 20th century) is clarified as the solid foundation which was laid by his ecumenical ideas. The judgment of A. Sheptytskyi regarding the necessary prerequisites for building a strong, independent Ukraine, and his ideas about reforming state authorities, the Church, …

Challenging Epistemologies Of Objectivity Through Collaborative Pedagogy: Centering Identity, Power, Emotions, And Place In Teacher Education, Camille Ungco, Rachel S. Snyder Bhansari, Manka Varghese

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

In this essay, we discuss how we have attempted to counter the ongoing dominance and (re)inscription of White supremacist, ableist, and settler colonial ways of knowing and being within an elementary teacher education program (TEP) through a consideration of identity and power, emotions and place-based pedagogy. Our approaches indicate means for regenerating and expanding upon marginalized epistemologies in TEPs, challenging curricular epistemicide, while our stories also indicate that these approaches and related ways of knowing are intertwined with our own identities, histories and felt experiences as well as challenges to our enactment of this work.

Becoming Culturally Proficient Qualitative Researchers By Crossing Geographic And Methodological Borders, Corinne Brion, Carol Rogers-Shaw

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This article explores how novice researchers develop a scholarly identity as they cross geographic, cultural, institutional, identity, and methodological borders throughout their studies, experiencing insider, outsider, and in-betweener positions. It hypothesizes that researchers become more culturally proficient through their fieldwork and self-study. The autoethnographic narratives address the social justice issues encountered by two early career researchers who increased their cultural proficiency and self-awareness as they moved across multiple cultural contexts. By shifting back and forth between insider, outsider, and in-betweener, the researchers became more culturally proficient, developed their voices as researchers, and practiced inclusivity by amplifying marginalized voices. Their self-reflective …