Arts and Humanities Commons^™

All Along The Ivory Tower: Black American Identity As Voiced By Poetic Youths, Jeremy D. Greene

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to help amplify and analyze Black American elementary student voice in a post-2020 world. Discussions and writings were conducted at the students’ charter school in spaces where students voiced what it meant to be a Black American youth through both verbal and written means. The current qualitative study focused on using discussions and creative writing to help participants make sense of their identity in their school, community, and the United States. This research provided students’ counternarratives regarding stereotypes associated with being Black American students and focused on how such spaces can positively impact …

Where Are All The African-American Women Superintendents In California, Oregon, And Washington State?, Toniesha D. Webb

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

There are many African American women in leadership positions such as Assistant Superintendents, Network Superintendents, Directors, Principals, Assistant Principals, and Coaches. There is a disconnect for African American women in leadership and the highest position of authority in a school district. This leads to the question, what are the barriers, if any, that are limiting the amount of African American Women in the far western states to transition into Superintendent positions? In the reverse, what supports did the women who are superintendents have in their leadership ascension? Finally, what structures need to be developed and formalized in order to facilitate …

Where Am I?: The Absence Of The Black Male From The E-Suite, Brian Bedford

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

According to current U.S. labor statistics, Black male executives are underrepresented in every major industry in the United States. Common impediments preventing Black males from occupying executive positions include workplace white supremacy, biculturalism, repressive structures, and disparate career development. Using critical race theory as a framework, this basic qualitative study investigated the experiences of eight male executives, five Black and three white, from various industries to understand their perceptions and perspectives on race and racism, and examined their workplace lived experiences to study why there are not more Black males in the e-suite. Moreover, strategies to increase Black male representation …

Television Viewing And Latino Stereotypes, Gustavo Rivera

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of a modern lifetime, television viewing accounts for a significant amount of information taken in by viewers. Within that consumption lies a potential problem. Viewers may learn erroneous messages about people and the world. Since television has characterized Latinos in ways that have emphasized cultural stereotypes, viewers may learn to perceive them in a corresponding manner. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 403 students from five universities and two community colleges located in Northern California. The respondents completed a seventy-one item questionnaire. Five key variables were utilized to measure relationships between them. The key variables …

Human Capital Formation And Return Migration Within Mong Communities In Rural/Semi-Rural Northern California, Chong Yang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This research uses computational grounded theory to explore the human capital formation and stay/return migration experiences of well-educated Mong adults living in various rural/semi-rural Northern California localities within Butte, Yuba, and Sutter Counties. Rural vitality is dependent on the return of these well-educated rural-raised adults. Out-migration of rurality’s best and brightest contributes towards a brain drain and the hallowing out of rurality’s human capital. Findings of this research is conveyed using two research articles examining two different points on the continuum of rural vitality. The first article examines 19 Mong adults’ educational experiences within their rural communities and college education. …

¡Con Ganas Todo Se Puede! Journeys Of First-Generation Latina Nontraditional Community College Student-Mothers / ¡Con Ganas Todo Se Puede! Viajes De Madres Latinas No Tradicional Que Son Estudiantes Primera-Generacion En Colegio Comunitario, Myra Gardea-Hernández

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Nontraditional college student enrollment in the United States is rapidly growing and is predicted to continue to increase. Similarly, female students are currently the majority student population on college campuses. Although numerous studies document college student experiences, few focus on first-generation Latinas who are student-mothers at community colleges. The purpose of this study was to explore the educational experiences of first-generation Latina nontraditional student-mothers enrolled at a community college in California to identify the ways in which grit (ganas) and mindsets influenced their success. This inquiry followed Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenology research process. Individual interviews of five Latinas were analyzed …

Chicanas Completing The Doctorate In Education: Providing Consejos De La Mesa De Poder, Sandra J. Castañón-Ramirez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study described four testimonios from Chicanas who have successfully completed a doctorate in education degree, both Ph.D. and Ed.D. The literature reviewed three important areas of study. The first is a review of the systemic challenges that Chicanas must hurdle; cheap labor, segregation of schools and neighborhoods, being silenced through English-only education, and deficit thinking. The second area of review focused on ways that Chicanas create strategies for success to overcome these challenges. The third was a review of the theoretical literature through a distinctly and relevant Chicana feminist lens.

Chicanas’ strategies for success were collected as testimonios. …

Minority Representations In Crime Drama: An Examination Of Roles, Identity, And Power, Megan E. Chatelain

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The storytelling ability of television can be observed in any genre. Crime drama offers a unique perspective because victims and offenders change every episode increasing stereotypes with each new character. In other words, the more victims and criminals observed by the audience, the more likely the show creates the perception of a mean world. Based on previous literature, three questions emerged which this study focused on by asking the extent of Criminal Minds’ ability to portray crime accurately compared to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s (BAU-4) report on serial murderers and …

Early Care And Education Testimonios At The Borderlands, Jennifer Torres Siders

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Latinas represent a large proportion of the United States early care and education workforce, and thus have the potential to wield significant influence over the growth and development of millions of American children. However, the voices of Latina early childhood professionals often are missing in both research and mass media. Instead, social, political, and academic frames cast Latinas as foreign regardless of nationality, uneducated notwithstanding expertise, and passive despite action and influence. This testimonio analysis draws on Chicana feminist epistemology to re-center the perspectives of Latina child care providers and reveal more authentic insights on how they understand and perform …

African American Faculty: A Study Of Their Experiences Related To Intercultural Competence At Predominantly White Institutions, Hervey A. Taylor Iii

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Underrepresentation of faculty of color in higher education is a phenomenon that has been studied and well documented by researchers for many years (e.g., Aguirre, 2000; Aguirre, Martinez, & Hernandez, 1993; Bair, Bair, Mader, Hipp, & Hakim, 2010; Chai et al., 2009; Collins, 1990; Turner & Myers, 2000). This issue is even more evident as it relates to the underrepresentation of African American faculty at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Many studies have addressed the underrepresentation of African American faculty at PWIs (e.g., Alexander & Moore, 2008; Bower, 2002; Brown & Dancy, 2010; Cleveland, 2004).

According to the United States Department …

The Impact Of Cross-Cultural Transition On Intercultural Relationships Using A Strengths-Based Approach, Kristen Naylor Calderon

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the ways in which intercultural relationships are affected by cross-cultural transition through the lens of the female experience. Specifically, this research examined (1) in what ways women felt that cross-cultural transition impacted their relationship, especially with regards to cultural values and male-female role taking; and (2) what kinds of benefits women experienced in their relationships as a result of moving across cultures with their partner. A total of 15 non-Chilean women in intercultural relationships with Chilean men were interviewed; all women had lived with their partners in her home country and then moved together to Chile.

Results …

Cultural Influence On The Educational Aspiration And Attitude Of Selected Chinese High School Students In Stockton, California, Eva Liang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It is thus the purpose of this study to explore the educational aspirations of a group of high school students whose ethnic background is Chinese with the intention of filling the gap in sociological research that has overlooked the Chinese community. As there are many opposing theories on the subject of aspiration, this case study of Chinese students seeks to clarify some of the theoretical perspectives and their problems. Moreover, any study of a minority group would inevitably expose some of the problems that the group faces. Once the nature of the problems is identified and understood, hopefully, solutions may …

Katherine Anne Porter : A Change In Her Mexican Perspective, Mario Paris-Fernandez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Katherine Anne Porter regards Mexico as her "familiar country." lndeed, Mexico in the art of this gifted American writer is more important than generally believed for, as William Nance says, "Mexico entered into her earliest work as both motivating force and subject matter."

Miss Porter has traveled extensively in Mexico and lived there on several occasions. Her highly developed artistic sensibility has allowed her to gain more than a mere familiarity with the country, its inhabitants, and its history. Naturally, her deep knowledge of the culture is reflected in her artistic production, part of which is devoted exclusively to Mexico. …

Slavery And Stratification, Lee Andrew Irving

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

My own experience as an American have led to questions concerning stratification of Negroes by Whites and Negroes by Negroes. What, if any, is the history behind these social distinctions, based primarily on variables such as race and skin-color gradations?

Evidence as to achievements by people representing all races and skin-color gradations is more available today than say, during slavery, because of better opportunities for all citizens of this country to become informed vis the mass media. What is there in history that lends basis to these ridiculous myths based on race and skin-color gradations? Could the institution of slavery …

Mexican-American Children In The Process In Acculturation, Elizabeth Ford Stone O'Neill

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The web of Mexican-American life is complex in its origins, its manifestations, and its degree of identification with or alienation from the dominant culture. A thesis of the length of this one can deal with all this complexity only in a superficial way. However, by a rather narrowly defined examination of a few children certain insights may be gained which could be used as a basis for generalization about other children of similar background, and perhaps even for some tentative generalizations about the problems of the Mexican-American community as a whole.

With this purpose in mind -- to inquire intensively …

Non-Delinquency Among American-Chinese Youth : A Pilot Study, Conrad Foo Mar

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It was the purpose of this study: (1) to examine the obstacles in research in the uniquely difficult area of sampling of the American-Chinese population and (2) to find out what descriptive approaches do not produce resistance, hopefully to suggest future research in this area and (3) to obtain historical and descriptive data which might offer, from a sample of both delinquent and non-delinquent American-Chinese youth, some clues to the rehabilitation of youthful offenders. Specifically, this was basically an attempt to obtain an available sample of both delinquent and non-delinquent American-Chinese youth for the purpose of identifying some of the …

The Chinese Community In Malaya, Singapore And British Borneo, Ralph E. Lierheimer

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The Chinese community in Malaya, Singapore, and British Borneo, as in all of Southeast Asia, is in the early stages of a radical change. This ethnic group, which already holds virtual control of the economy of these three regions, is now finding it necessary to also reach out for political representation, or even political control, in order to preserve its place in local society.

Such participation in local affairs constitutes a great change for a group which has always maintained an orientation toward China, socially and politically, wherever its individuals might happen to live. The process of change is bound …

The Class Structure Of A Minority Group In A Valley City, Marcus Asie Williams

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

There is an accepted principle amongst sociologists that all communities have some pattern of stratification. Since the Valley City Negroes, the minority group selected for this research. represent a community structure, some pattern of stratification is present. At the time of this study the specific nature of the class structure tor this community had not been identified.

Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this study (l) to delineate the social class structure of the Negro community of the Valley City metropolitan area in the year 1950~1951; (2) to show the relationships of membership in associations to class …

An Analysis Of Attitudes Of Members Of The Church Of The Brethren In The Pacific Coast Region, Merlin Leroy Clark

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between race attitudes and "denominocentrism, " and with certain social categories, e.g., age, social class, income, education, etc., in the Church of the Brethren in the Pacific Coast Region. If a relationship can be identified and analyzed, the results will be of value as tools in helping to understand, predict, and change human behavior. It might be further suggested that if there is a strong relationship between attitudes and certain social categories in the church, attitudes of the Brethren on these issues, and perhaps on many more, are, to …

A Survey Of The English Language In The Philippines And The Various Filipino Dialects And The Development Of Tagalog As A National Language, Vidal Serrano Mata

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This Master Thesis aims to discuss the language mix-up in the Philippines. Originally, the people speak different dialects because of the lack of interaction due to geographical isolation. The Spaniards brought Spanish to them, which became the official language of the government until the Americans came and made English the medium of instruction in the school.

The trouble lies in the fact that English-speaking-and-loving Filipinos want English only, Spanish-speaking-and-loving Filipinos want Spanish only, Tagalog-speaking-and-loving Filipinos want Tagalog only while non-Tagalog-speaking Filipinos are either indifferent or prefer their respective dialects. This is the uncomfortable mess created by the principles of democracy …

The Negro In California Before 1890, A. Odell Thurman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Because so little has been written concerning the Negro in California and because the dynamic and romantic sequences in the development of this country have always interested me, I have become interested in knowing what part the Negro, free and slave, played in this panorama of events. Were there Negroes with early expeditions? To what extent did they migrate to the West when "gold fever" had become a nation-wide epidemic? Did they find gold? Where did they settle? What did they do? What difficulty did they encounter politically, socially, and economically? These are questions that have filled my mind, and …

Poverty And Problems Of The Mexican Immigrant, Joseph M. Santos

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this introductory chapter is to make clear the intent of the entire study. First of all, no attempt is made at claiming any distinction for originality, as the information contained herein is gathered from books, magazines, newspapers, conversations with experienced business men and labor men, and some from personal observation.

The present unemployment situation causes many people to question our government's policy of leaving our "gates" open to Mexican immigration. Many are the figures that we hear quoted in an effort to bolster personal views on this problem. Dr. Manual Gamio urges a limitation placed on Mexican …

Intervention Of The United States In Nicaragua Since 1909, Louise Floyd

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The twentieth century is revealing a steady increase in the influence of the United States in the Caribbean region, both in politics and economic development. The arm of America has been gradually forcing out the European nations. Counting colonies and protectorates, the United States has under its supervision a greater Caribbean population than the population of the thirteen colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence. In trade the United States is the best customer of Central America and the West Indies. The region is one of the chief sources of our raw-materials imports.

The majority of the citizens …