Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Development With Identity Or Commodities With Identity? Lenca Craftswomen, Honduras' Cultural Identity Politics, And Global Economies Of Culture, Ana Hasemann Lara

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

Across Latin America ‘development with identity’ schemes are currently widely promoted by multilateral and aid organizations; schemes based on the commercialization of heritage, which increasingly focus on impoverished ethnic minorities. As part of this trend, the Honduran state’s discourse on cultural diversity reinforces the ‘heritage-making’ (patrimonialización) of cultural minorities, their identities, and livelihoods—particularly indígena women, under the auspices of multiculturalism. However, the on-the-ground reality for indigenous Lenca communities, specifically Lenca craftswomen, participating in such initiatives, remains with some of the highest indices of poverty and vulnerability in the country. Hence, the conditions under which ‘development with identity’ benefits local communities, …

The Politics Of Eternity: Public History And Monuments To Memory In Kings Park, 1902-1934, Anthony Critchley

Theses

The sacred sites of Gargatup (Mount Eliza) and Gooninup (Kennedy’s Spring) were revered by Whadjuk Noongar people long before the arrival of Europeans in Western Australia. Now part of the site of Kings Park in Perth, it remains cherished by today’s community for its botanic beauty and panoramic views. European traditions have replaced the Indigenous cultural heritage, most notably with the erection of war monuments, statues, and memorial plaques, amidst the herbaceous gardens and native flora. The first president of the Kings Park Board, Sir John Forrest, and his successor, Arthur Lovekin, envisioned that the Park would emulate ornate British …

Voces Of Little Michoacan: A Collective Narrative Of Resistance And Preservation Of Home, Ana Angel Avendaño

Doctoral Dissertations

This empirical study captured the ongoing community organizing, led primarily by Chicanas and young people in a Latinx community in the San Francisco Bay Area. This community has experienced historic neglect, inequities, gentrification, and economic displacement. Through muxersita portraiture, a critical qualitative methodology, with young people as co-researchers, this study captures the collective narrative of the community of North Fair Oaks through platicas, encuentros y acción. In the process, this collective narrative disrupts the negative impact of gentrification by providing a historical context of the contributions of Latinx in North Fair Oaks. This study uses a critical coraje framework; a …

Cultural Appropriation Or Religious Syncretism? An Analysis Of The “Tarot Of The Orishas”, Rachel Park

Capstone Showcase

A significant number of practitioners of modern alternative spiritualities adopt rituals, histories, and worldviews from at least one culture that is not their own. The widespread commodification of ideas and values enables the consumption of spiritualities much like the material goods that practitioners may also purchase. The power dynamics between those engaged in cultural appropriation and the group from which they appropriate influence the negative effects of appropriation. The hierarchical power structures of race, class, and colonialism characterize acts of cultural appropriation. Whether an act of borrowing is syncretism or cultural appropriation can often be determined by examining these power …

Facultas Marginem: Assessing Disability Data And Public Aau Universities’ Affirmative Action Plans For Systemic Barriers Facing Faculty With Disabilities, Joseph Carlton Barry

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation contributes to education equity scholarship produced by academics seeking to develop understandings of disability, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and how both are situated amongst faculty in institutions of higher education. As such, this dissertation centers on a study of public US universities belonging to the Association of American Universities (AAU). This study looks for institutional level associations between respective rates by which college and university faculty with disabilities (FWD) are employed, certain aspects of disability policy drawn from each institution’s 2020 Affirmative Action Plans (AAP), and various other instances of empirical disability data (EDD).

While this study contributes …

The Internal Power Of Chican@/Latin@ Youth, Marisol Ruiz, Lilia Chavez

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This is a qualitative study conducted by two researchers who engaged with Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). Researchers worked together to illuminate the process youth went through as they engaged in YPAR. Researchers uncovered that youth went through an external process (community awareness, discoveries, and creation) and internal process (internal conflict, discoveries, motivation) as they engaged in YPAR. This study documents how youth empower them-selves by engaging in YPAR through the sharing of their testimonio, accessing/acknowledging a nepantlá state, and finding their internal power through conocimiento and reaching a holistic healing space.

African American Male College Graduates’ Paternal Incarceration Experiences, Natassia Toxey Askew

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Various public polices contributed to the significant increase of parent incarceration in the United States among African Americans. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the perspective of African American male college graduates who experienced paternal incarceration during childhood and/or adolescence about the role of family and persevering to obtain a college degree by the age of 30. Utilizing a transcendental phenomenological approach to describe the essence of paternal incarceration as experienced by 12 participants, emergent themes were uncovered to build the characteristics of success relative to the role of family. The modified van …

Social Workers’ Perceptions On Partnering With Police To Address Violent Police Encounters Towards African Americans, Adrian Springfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research documents the pervasiveness of violent police encounters towards African Americans in the United States and importance of a multidisciplinary approach between social workers and police to prevent police violence. However, little is known about social workers perceptions and experiences on partnering with police to address violent police encounters towards African Americans. Informed by Tuckman’s group formation theory and Bell’s critical race theory, the purpose of this generic qualitative inquiry study was to explore social workers in the United States perceptions and experiences on partnering with police to address violent police encounters toward African Americans. Using semistructured interviews, data was …

Black Feminist Citational Praxis And Disciplinary Belonging, Bianca C. Williams

Publications and Research

What does a Black feminist citational practice look and feel like? This contribution to the #CiteBlackWomen colloquy focuses on two arguments: First, that Black feminist citational praxis is one of the major interventions Black women scholars contribute to the academy; and second, that anthropology’s neglect and erasure of Black feminist anthropologists relates to disciplinary (un)belonging. I explore how citation and “disciplinary belonging” influence hiring practices, doctoral training, intellectual genealogies, and what is valued as anthropological knowledge.

African American Women’S Body Image Perceptions And The Built Environment, Andrea Denise Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American (AA) women have a 54.8% overall obesity rate in the United States. This quantitative cross-sectional study’s aim was to determine what factors may have an impact on body image perceptions of AA women in Alabama and New Jersey. A gap in research this study addressed is sociodemographic and geographic differences that may impact obesity rates among AA women. The theoretical framework used for this study was the social cognitive theory. Secondary data were obtained from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Linear regression (LR) analyses results showed that none of the sociodemographic variables (education level, employment status, …

Social Workers’ Role In School Discipline Of Black Male Students, Teresa L. Cooper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School administrators enforce various forms of school discipline, including office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions, as strategies to maintain safe learning environments for students and staff. Over four decades of research indicate Black male students experience more consequences and receive tougher school discipline than their peers of other races. School discipline potentially causes adverse outcomes for students. Schools employ social workers to support behavior and academic needs of students. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore lived experiences of school social workers in their role in school discipline of Black male students. The theoretical framework used for this study …

The Changing Evaluations Of Black Skin, White Masks Throughout History, Paul Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Black Skin, White Masks, produced in 1952 by Frantz Fanon is an iconic piece of decolonization literature in which he speaks out against the physical, psychological, social, and economic effects of colonialism in Africa and evaluations of his work have continually evolved throughout the last 70 years. From 1952 to 1960, evaluations of his book was mostly confined in France, then in 1960 to 1968 his work was actively used in America as a guide on achieving political freedom for African Americans and analyzing the Civil Rights Movement and by 1990 onward, his book has been used to analyze …

Indigenous Language Revitalization: Success, Sustainability, And The Future Of Human Culture, Grace Lewis

Capstone Showcase

This thesis looks at different styles of Indigenous language revitalization programs and seeks to delineate the three most successful characteristics seen across differing designs in an effort to promote the presence of these characteristics in existing programs. The literature analyzed outlines three main schools of thought: first, that language-based education is the most effective program design, second, that language-based education is only effective if it is directed and driven by the community it serves, and third, that culture-based education is the most effective design. The data rejects the idea that one design is superior to another, and instead presents three …

The Value Hierarchies Of J.R.R. Tolkien And His Legacy: A Reimagining Of Fantasy Fiction And The Propagation Of Colonial Racism, Alexander Richburg

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

J.R.R. Tolkien’s impact on modern fantasy fiction is remarkable. However, while some of the changes to the genre ushered in by Tolkien’s work are positive, other aspects of his legacy are more problematic. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion are based on his colonial worldview. They are biographical in that Tolkien draws heavily from his life experience to tell his stories. The biographical influence manifests in a hierarchical representation of everything from trees and their ancestry to the elves, humans, dwarves, hobbits, and orcs that populate his fiction. The hierarchies are value structures and the …

Schoolhouse Rap, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Rap on Trial, the treatment of rap music as evidence in the American criminal legal process, is well-documented and increasingly scrutinised. Research has shown that – with little restraint – police, prosecutors, probation officers and judges use rap lyrics to investigate, prosecute and punish individuals. Less noticed is that a similar phenomenon is occurring in the American K–12 educational system, which disciplines school-age youth who participate in rap culture and sometimes refers them to the juvenile or criminal legal systems for additional punishment. This article describes and analyses a small set of identified cases of this scenario, demonstrating that rap …

Demonstratives In Nsélišcn ‘Montana Salish’, Aspen A. Decker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the Nsélišcn ‘Montana Salish’ demonstrative system. I propose that there are three features encoded in the demonstratives that I examined in this thesis: (i) proximity of the speaker in relation to the referent, (ii) common ground between the speaker and addressee, and (iii) visibility of the referent. I further propose that the Nsélišcn demonstrative system distinguishes three degrees of proximity: proximal, medial, and distal. Nsélišcn is a member of the Southern Interior branch of the Salishan language family. The data analyzed in this thesis was collected from native Nsélišcn speakers.

Community College Retention Initiative: A Qualitative Study On The Lived Experiences Of Black Males Entrenched In A Mentoring Program At One Associate-Level College In The Southeastern Region, Brandon Turnley

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the lived experiences of graduates of a Black Male Initiative (BMI) mentoring program at one associate-level College in the southeast region and the impact mentoring had on the participant's success at the college and its impact on obtaining their degree. Critical Race Theory (CRT) was the theoretical framework shaping the study, which acknowledges the centrality of race in every aspect of culture in the United States, including higher education. Three research questions guided this study (1) How do graduates of the mentoring program view their success with the program? (2) …

What Pandemics Teach Us About Servant Leadership, Kelly L. Bezio

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

This article seeks to understand what pandemics teach us about servant leadership. It analyzes two texts, which reflect on people of color’s experiences becoming servant leaders during such public health crises: A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, during the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793 (1794) and The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice (2021). These texts balance detailed depictions of what this leadership praxis looks like with trenchant critiques of how service, racism, and leadership tend to intersect in the United States. As texts that demonstrate the …

Pray And Play: The Impact Of Fellowship Of Christian Athletes Among Di African American Collegiate Football Players In Kentucky, Rasheed Flowers

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Participation in athletics provides student-athletes with opportunities to further themselves outside of athletics through academic assistance, educational opportunities and experiences, physical wellness, and personal/professional development. One often overlooked portion of this holistic development is spiritual development. As demonstrated in the name student-athlete, it implies a dual identity. Few student-athletes navigate multiple identities and a myriad of additional challenges in their collegiate journey than African American football student-athletes (AAFSAs). Spiritual development is vital for student-athletes; the literature validates that student-athletes growing in their faith may be better equipped to navigate the tension of multiple identity roles and cope with various circumstances. …

Global Cities And Covid-19: Stories Of Resilience And Fragility In Los Angeles, Edward J.W. Park

Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global cities. In particular, the paper revisits and updates the academic literature on global cities and focuses on the discussion of the resilience and fragility of global cities in light of an unprecedented global pandemic. By severely testing the strength and durability of the international flow of goods and people, the sweeping scale and intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic directly called into question the thick and complicated network of global cities that serve as modes for international trade and travel. The paper then draws on the impact of COVID-19 on …

“What I Have Learned About Ethnic Studies Is To Love Myself More”: A Look At Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy And Newcomer Students, Lan Nguyen

Master's Projects

Throughout American history, schooling has been used as a tool of settler colonialism, hegemony, and white supremacy. This process of utilizing schooling as a tool of domination has been labeled by theorists as “miseducation”. To attempt to combat the miseducation that students experience in their schooling, I implemented culturally sustaining pedagogy, which necessitates the maintenance and strengthening of students’ relationships with their cultures in schools. In my project, I focused on newcomer students, as immigrant students are often the most underserved population in schools, and also are the most vulnerable to assimilationist teachings. This project utilized classroom observations, student work, …

“Damned If Ya Do, Damned If Ya Don’T”: A Critical Narrative Inquiry Exploring The Gendered Racism Experienced By Black Women Housing Professionals In Higher Education, Shaniquè Jazmine Broom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Between 1999 and 2018, there was an 11% decrease in Black women staff and administrators at post-secondary institutions. This study utilized Black Feminist Thought and Sista Circle Methodology to uncover how Black women reflected on experiences of and coped with gendered racism at PWIs. Participants offered reflections on their relationships with Black women and men, white men and women, and students. Black women shared their reflections with discrimination and a deceptive institutional culture. Black women also discussed utilizing several coping strategies such as hyper-awareness, hypervigilance, enacting personal and professional boundaries, avoiding hypervisibility and engaging in personal and familial connections with …

Interrogating Whiteness In Graduate Education Culture: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Southeast Asian American Graduate Student Experiences, Lesley Nina Sisaket

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to understand the role that whiteness has in shaping the graduate education experiences of Southeast Asian American students in the United States. This study explores two research questions. 1) How do Southeast Asian American graduate students describe their graduate education? 2) How do Southeast Asian American graduate students describe concepts of whiteness, if any, throughout their graduate education? According to the experiences from six selfidentifying Southeast Asian American students, their graduate education experiences were described to be racially taxing, unchallenging, and isolating experiences. These findings stemmed from their graduate education experiences, which …

Self-Reclamation Through Death: Attaining Creoleness In Jamaica Kincaid’S The Autobiography Of My Mother And In Praise Of Creoleness By Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau And Raphaël Confiant, Phillip J. Jordan

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis makes the claim that Xuela, the protagonist of the novel The Autobiography of My Mother mirrors the principles of the essay In Praise of Creoleness by Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphael Confiant. These works, published nearly a decade apart address a process of identity formation in which specifically Caribbean identity features blend together in a fluid and complex way, the process of creolization. The essay, In Praise of Creoleness, can be seen as the manifesto of creolization, while Kincaid’s Xuela in The Autobiography of My Mother is the manifestation. Kincaid’s work presents an account of an individual’s …

Cherokee Abstract Artist Leon Polk Smith: A Convergence Of Traditions, Danielle Montanino

Dissertations and Theses

This paper analyzes how Leon Polk Smith's Indigenous roots and upbringing in Indian Country had a significant impact on his artistic practice in a time of discrimination and segregation in the United States. Through examination contextualizing his work within the history and political events of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations it is revealed how Polk Smith developed a formal language that could navigate both worlds and be viewed through a pure abstraction lens or a lens embodying his Indigenous traditions. In addition to his Indigenous philosophies, Mesoamerican Inca Nation’s cultural motifs further ground Polk Smith’s Indigenous aesthetic, and avant-garde …

Are High Levels Of Educator Bias Associated With The Disproportionate Discipline Of Black Students?, Melissa Ann Ramos

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Data on school discipline inequities have shown disproportionate numbers of Black students suspended and expelled compared to their non-Black counterparts. Despite the implementation of evidence-based solutions such as positive behavior supports and intervention, educator professional development, and restorative practices aimed at closing the racial discipline gap, little to no change has occurred. Critical Race Theory is used as a lens for viewing racial hierarchies as a socially constructed tool to oppress people of color. This oppression can be seen in various aspects of society and in education, especially in school discipline. It is fueled by biases, both implicit and explicit. …

Tourism Trails And Resurgent Pathways: An Exploration Of The Nexus Between Indigenous-Led Tourism And Resurgence Discourses Alongside Karajarri Traditional Owners Of The Saltwater Kimberley, Australia, And Beyond, Bobbie Chew Bigby

Theses

This research explores the intersections between Indigenous-led tourism and resurgence among Indigenous communities. Resurgence is understood as practices promoting connections with culture, Country (i.e. Indigenous lands and waterways), and community. The research utilises a comparative case study approach to specifically analyse the experience of Karajarri Traditional Owners (TOs) of the saltwater Kimberley region of northwestern Australia. Comparative examples are drawn from Indigenous-led tourism development by other coastal Kimberley Aboriginal tourism leaders, as well as from the author’s own Tribal Nation, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, United States.

The conceptual framework for this work is derived from the following concepts from …

Colonial Prehistories Of Indigenous North America, Mark A. Mattes

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

One of the most common inquiries received by Filson Historical Society librarians concerns the myth of Prince Madoc and the Welsh Indians. Of the myth’s many versions, the one most familiar to Ohio Valley History readers goes like this: Madoc, a Welsh prince escaping an internecine conflict over political rule at home, supposedly sailed to North America in the twelfth century. His force either landed at the Falls of the Ohio or made it there after landing further south and being driven north by hostile locals, possibly Cherokee people. Madoc and his contingent intermixed with Indigenous populations, whose fair-haired, blue-eyed, …

Getting Back: The Chiffons’ Sonic Reclamation, Hilarie Ashton

Publications and Research

Sixties girl group the Chiffons are famous for their soaring 1964 hit “He’s So Fine,” a song in turn remembered almost as often for its plagiarism by George Harrison than in its own right. Much of the rest of their catalogue, including the tremendous “I Have a Boyfriend,” gets shunted into historical and critical gaps that paint rock music history as controlled by men. In this article, I examine the Chiffons in their own right, reframing a story of well-worn sonic theft to center on the group it obscured, through and alongside interpretative contradictions, assumptions, and historical lacunae. I show …

We Made It. Now What? A Qualitative Case Study Exploring How The Transition Of Black Men To A Historically Black Community College Is Influenced By Orientation 101, Eric R. Agee Jr.

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A gap in achievement among Black men who pursue post-secondary education remains. Many Black men start their college education at community colleges, but little is known about their experiences at Historically Black Community Colleges (HBCCs). The purpose of this dissertation of practice was to gain insights into the influence of College 101, also labeled Orientation to College 101 (ORI 101), on the transition of Black men to an HBCC. I utilized a qualitative case study design. The main data source were 15 semi-structured interviews, which were supplemented with closed-ended student survey responses on the ORI 101 course evaluation and the …