American Studies Commons^™

Does Name, Image, And Likeness Increase Gender Inequality In College Athletics?, Aimee Christenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In June of 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted its first interim policy regarding Name, Image, and Likeness. From here, college athletes have been able to benefit from opportunities regarding their brand as an athlete. While this development has been historic in its expansion of rights to athletes, it highlights the inequities between male and female athletes. Title IX requires equal opportunity for male and female students. This research raises questions about whether NIL is increasing the disparity between male and female athletes. To answer this question, I looked at NIL data collected by Kyle Ems on the NIL …

Do Political Party Voter Contact & Gotv Efforts Increase Voter Turnout?, Cody Gunsalus

Political Science Theses and Capstones

While the disconnect between potential voters and those who represent them has grown, parties have spent billions of dollars and millions of hours on voter contact. My question is how effective is pre-election voter contact in increasing voter turnout? What party is most effective at voter turnout? Does the impact of voter contact differ based on education? Is it more effective depending upon age or gender? And how has it changed over time? To address these questions, I analyze National Election Studies (NES) data. The NES has surveyed the national electorate in every national election since 1948. Preliminary analysis has …

The Impact Of American Politics On Canadian Voters, Reilly Funk

Political Science Theses and Capstones

I analyze to what degree American political forces shape Canadian elections. Due to the unique economic and cultural relationship between the countries, U.S. political and policy changes impact the Canadian political landscape. I examine this relationship with a comparative study using the Canadian Election Study of the 2021 federal election. This data enables analysis of voter behaviour within a wide variety of voters. Tentative findings show that major political events within the United States, such as presidential elections and major policy shifts, have a major impact on election results in Canada. Canadian political parties consistently adjust their messaging strategies to …

Controlling The Narrative: How The United Daughters Of The Confederacy Shaped Collective Memory Through Romance Novels, Karie L. Cobb

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While existing scholarship on the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) reveals the immense influence the organization wielded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I assert that their legacy has had a broader and more insidious reach than previously believed. Through close analysis of two foundational romance novelists’ works published during the rapid escalation of the genre’s popularity, I contend that the rhetoric of the UDC shaped generations of Southerners as demonstrated through repetitions and parallels of the Lost Cause ideology found in UDC publications and sponsored materials within romance novels written by white Southern women who came of age …

Queering ‘Common Sense’: Using Critical Discourse Analysis Of Lgbtq+ Book Bans In Florida Public Schools To Unmask Heteronormativity, Talia Zito, Nicole E. Morse

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Historically, censorship of LGBTQ+ content in education has been rooted in socio-political efforts to marginalize non-heteronormative identities. However, even those who oppose censorship tend to frame their arguments around concepts like “age-appropriateness” and “protecting children.” Our Critical Discourse Analysis examines formal challenges to And Tango Makes Three in one Florida school district in 2022 to show how these concepts are deployed on both sides of the debate. The book, depicting a same-sex penguin couple raising a chick, faced objections under Florida’s HB 1557, a law designed to restrict discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Ultimately, the picture …

For The Purpose Of Instruction And Diversion: The Library At The South Dakota State Penitentiary, Lisa R. Lindell

Hilton M. Briggs Library Faculty Publications

The library at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls played an important role within the institution’s history and can serve as a lens into wider cultural dynamics. This article examines the development of the library and how its use reflected societal perceptions of reading. In connection to the library, it explores the introduction and influence of entertainment and educational programs at the penitentiary. Many historical insights about reading at the penitentiary come from the inmates who oversaw the library. Notably, the study discloses the committed efforts of these library caretakers in advocating for the transformative power of reading. …

Deuce Redemption: Grindhouse Cinema, Moral Panic, And Urban Renewal, Robert Brenner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

If you consult standard histories of the “redevelopment” of 42^nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenue, AKA “the Deuce,” you will read that it was filled with nothing but criminals and pornographers, that decent people avoided it at all costs, and the only way the block could be “saved” was by seizing it via eminent domain, evicting all the current tenants, and replacing them with Disney and its fellow entertainment corporations.

The purpose of this thesis is to offer a more nuanced alternative to these standard histories. I will argue that the Deuce was a lower-class, multiracial, queer entertainment …

Repositioning North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato): The New Security Dilemma On Trans–Atlantic Relations Amid Shifting Global Geopolitics, Daniel C. George, Indra Alverdian

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The shifting global geopolitics have led to a new security dilemma in Europe, especially in trans–Atlantic relations. NATO as the vanguard of the trans–Atlantic defense pact is faced with transitional conditions of non-conventional threats that return to conventional threats. Due to the shift in the new global order, these threats require a repositioning for NATO to counter the new security dilemma amidst shifting global geopolitics. By referring to the three asserted pillars–the return of conventional warfare on the European continent; a more assertive Russia in the European continent under Vladimir Putin; and the geopolitical of China's rise impacted trans–-Atlantic …

The History And Manifestations Of The Metaverse In Contemporary Literature, Marlon Semuel Contantin Kansil, Wanting Sun

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The metaverse, an interactive and immersive virtual world, has emerged as a critical theme in contemporary literature, significantly impacting narratives and character development. This paper explores the history and literary manifestations of the metaverse, investigating its influence on identity, space, and social interactions. We find that the metaverse supports flexible and individualistic identities, reshaping how characters and readers understand themselves. The digital space of the metaverse provides a dynamic setting for moral and emotional conflicts, enriching the literary aesthetics of space. Furthermore, literature plays a crucial role in both shaping and reflecting the concept of the metaverse, employing symbolism and …

Parents Who Make America Great Again: Identity Politics In Right-Wing Populist Discourses On Gender Ideology And Immigration, Alina Hechler

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

This dissertation explores how anti-immigration and anti-(trans)gender campaigns in the United States engage in an identity politics in which a group benefiting from heteronormative, white supremacist, and nationalist social structures discursively positions itself as an oppressed minority facing an elitist, oppressive, and parasitic establishment. While anti-transgender and anti-immigration platforms represent two distinct issues, they need to be situated within the broader context of right-wing politics. With a focus on the construction of parenthood, my dissertation juxtaposes these two forms of right-wing campaigns through a mixed-method approach by tracing the depiction of two parental figures that have recently emerged in right-wing …

Folklore And Region In Actual Play Podcasting: An Interview With Clint And Griffin Mcelroy, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth

Art Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the rise of "actual play" podcasts like The Adventure Zone, which use tabletop roleplaying games as a medium for storytelling. Topics include the show's engagement with Appalachian folklore, the emotional depth of its narrative themes such as memory and loss, and its representation of West Virginia's cultural landscape.

Introduction: Beyond Hollow Materialism, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Zada Komara

Art Faculty Publications

This introduction to the special issue, “Transformative Approaches to Materiality in Appalachian Studies,” provides theoretical background and examples that demonstrate applications of new material culture and materiality theory to key Appalachian studies themes. It offers new directions for the study of material entanglement in social relationships by reviewing the history of material culture studies in the Appalachian context, fundamental theoretical propositions emerging from the “material turn” in social theory, and examples drawn from ethnographic and archaeological research into the patterns of use of material culture in the timber country of West Virginia and coalfields of eastern Kentucky. Finally, this introduction …

Islamic Themes In Us Hip-Hop Culture, Anders Ackfeldt

Music & Performance in Muslim Contexts

Explores how Islam is produced in American hip-hop culture by both Muslims and non-Muslims

Islam has been a part of hip-hop culture since it sprang from New York’s street culture in the 1970s. Today hip-hop has evolved into a global artform with a diversity of Muslim Islamic discourses expressed. Using tools from the field of social semiotics, this book examines how Islamic themes feature in US hip-hop culture, maintaining a particular awareness that both Muslims as well as non-Muslims participate in their production.

Anders Ackfeldt analyses a collection of lyrics, sounds and images to show how Islamic themes are featured …

Nothing Short Of Superheroic: A Quantitative Study Of Lifetime Exposure To Superhero Comic Book Media As A Predictor Of Attitudes Towards Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion, Michael Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

This dissertation examined the relationship between lifetime exposure to superhero comic book media and attitudes toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Drawing on theories of identity formation—transitional objects, parasocial relationships, and cultivation theory—it investigated whether engagement with superhero narratives predicted DEI attitudes. Using quantitative methods, data from 499 U.S. adults were collected via Qualtrics. Two instruments were used: the Lifetime Superhero Comic Book Media Exposure Scale (LSES) and the Intolerant Schema Measure (ISM), which assessed prejudice across race, gender, sexuality, class, age, and religion. Multiple linear regression revealed that superhero media exposure significantly predicted ISM scores (B = 0.118, …

They Never Saw It Coming: Frames Of Intimate Partner Homicide On Crime Science Investigation (Csi), Tracy Sohoni, Julie Snell, Elizabeth Harden

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

While portrayals of intimate partner homicide (IPH) in news media have been extensively studied, research on depictions of IPH in television crime dramas has been largely absent despite the fact that crime-dramas have a wide audience and have been shown to have a significant influence on viewers' social attitudes.

Methods

We conduct a thematic content analysis of portrayals of intimate partner homicide across four seasons of the crime-drama Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and compare these depictions to research on common warning signs and patterns of IPH.

Results

Similar to research on news media, CSI depicts IPH in ways that …

Love Is Dead In The Restless West: Hippies, Manson, And California Culture, 1966-1970, Rebecca Allen

Scripps Senior Theses

Though an extreme aberration from most of the hippie counterculture of the 1960s, Charles Manson’s ultimately murderous cult arguably represents something particular about American culture in the late sixties, in which youthful hostility towards the status quo sometimes grew radical, and in the case of the Manson Family cult, extremely violent. By the mid-sixties, more and more young people began to feel alienated by a culture they felt no longer embodied their larger aspirations, and as a result, were drawn to the emerging counterculture that embraced alternative lifestyles that frequently clashed with the traditional sensibilities of their parents’ generation. After …

Hidden Wounds And Secret Scars: The Post-World War Ii Western As A Cinema Of Trauma, Maggie Sue Scanlan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this project, I consider the post-WWII Western film as a site that represents and navigates war traumatized American masculinity. Through a discussion of the significance of the Western as a national myth that speaks directly to American masculinity and nation-building through individual violence, I situate the genre as an ideal vehicle to reframe war traumatized masculinity and analyze seven Westerns through a threefold analysis: metaphoric (a cinema of trauma), psychoanalytic (the traumatic gaze), and therapeutic (recovery and reintegration). In Chapter One, I track anxieties and preoccupations signaling the cultural concern with war trauma in genres more routinely associated with …

Mirrors Of The Reel: Black Women's Identity In American Cinema (2009-2024), Melanie-Penny Harrison

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigates whether white supremacy structures, embodied in Hollywood’s predominantly white leadership, drive negative portrayals of Black women in 31 mainstream American films from 2009 to 2024. Employing a mixed-methods approach—quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis (QCA), and narrative methodology—I code portrayals for racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colorism, and internalized racism, classifying them as progressive (e.g., empowered roles), regressive (e.g., subservient stereotypes), or hybrid. Guided by Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, the analysis examines narrative structures, character agency, symbolism, and dialogue to uncover intersectional patterns (e.g., race, gender, class) across three periods: 2009–2013, 2014–2018, and 2019–2024. Across these periods, cultural …

Y’All Means All: Pro-Choice Abortion Activism In West Texas Post-Dobbs, Hannah S. Noblewolf

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In the spring of 2021, a six-week abortion ban passed by popular vote in the city of Westerburg, Texas. It had a civil enforcement mechanism, allowing someone to collect a reward of $2,000 if they successfully sued someone they reported for “aiding and abetting” abortion. The ban, called the Westerburg Sanctuary City ordinance, was referred to as “bounty hunting.” When the ban passed it became the template for the state-level Texas Heartbeat Act, which provides a greater financial reward for a successful civil suit, with a minimum of $10,000 plus legal fees. In the face of this ban, pro-choice activists …

Volume 11, Issue 3, Critical Currents And Pedagogical Shifts In Popular Culture And Pedagogy, Journal Dialogue

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Volume 11, Issue 3 of Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy: On Confronting Identity and Global Challenges through Popular Culture and Pedagogy.

Escaping The Pedagogical Cabin In The Woods, Tony Kemerly, Davis Ritenour

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The American educational system, because of its seemingly innocuous yet ubiquitous nature, has become, to borrow a term from Roland Barthes, naturalized. By being naturalized, it has become a system that has somehow slipped beneath the radar of the American populace and operates on an autopilot of sorts that allows it to employ practices that don’t necessarily have the best interests of its constituents at heart. Murray Rothbard (1979) argued that compulsory schooling is not guided by altruism, but rather a desire to coerce the population into a mold that is desired by those possessing power in society. This need …

Building Transferable Skills In An Interdisciplinary Science And Science Fiction Capstone Course, John D. Carrell, Robert G. Weiner, Alexandria Prather

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

College graduates are entering an ever-competitive workforce. Interdisciplinary course experiences are critical for developing analytical abilities and learning and these courses can provide valuable skills that will aid students beyond the classroom. These transferable skills include communication, teamwork, analytical and critical thinking, and creativity. To provide a unique learning experience and, through it, the development of transferable skills, the Honors College at Texas Tech University created an upper-level Capstone course titled “Superheroes, Super Villains, AI, Time Travel, and Film in Science and Popular Culture.” The class is an interdisciplinary look at science and science fiction taught by an engineering faculty …

Leaps And Bounds In Popular Culture And Pedagogy Dialogue: A Note From The Editor In Chief And Associate Editor, Anna Cohenmiller, Karina Vado

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Is Sexyy Red Minstrelsy, Or Are We Overreacting?, Malik Brizan-Reed

Capstones

This criticism piece explores the controversial female rapper Sexyy Red. It challenges negative perspectives about her persona, primarily based on respectability politics. It highlights Sexyy Red's ability to capitalize on a moment and business savviness. The article has themes of racial double standards and classism. Sexyy Red is more than the "ghetto Black girl," aesthetic. She's a mother and entrepreneur who is authentic to herself.

How Misogyny In Gaming Affects Black Women/Poc, Niccarri Allen

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This research query explores the gaming industry and how its misogynistic issues affect the Black community in its forums. Research has shown that there has been a suppressed issue of prejudice against women of color in many gaming spaces in the last 20 years. Video games, created for healing and interactive spaces for communities seemingly have normalized its harming nature to minority groups. My research will look into aspects of how gender bias and racism mix into the gaming industry and cause distress among its players. I will research how misrepresentation in the character personas in video games lead to …

Casar Auc Community Lecture: ‘Gender-Based Violence,Women And The Law In Egypt And The Us’, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

This engaging - AUC community only - special topics lecture discussed the social challenges and legal obstacles women face when discussing gender based violence crimes in Egypt shedding a comparative light on the US given the recent election results.

This event hosted Counselor Mohamed Samir Ahmed, Spokesperson of the Administrative Prosecution Authority (APA) in Egypt, Independent Lecturer in Political Science & Gender Based Violence Crimes.

The event was moderated by CASAR Assistant to Director & Adjunct Faculty Yasmeen El-Ghazaly.

This lecture was a collaboration between The Prince Alwaleed Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR AUC EGYPT ) and the …

Hans Holbein's Portrait Of Henry Viii: England's Own Personal Jesus, Amy Pitsor

Best Integrated Writing

Pitsor explores the possibility that Holbein’s late-stage change in the composition of the portrait from a three-quarter view of Henry to a frontal view held a motive to present Henry as the head of the newly established Church of England and as equal to the pope, and possibly to Christ himself.

La Falta De Los Supermercados En El Oeste De Dayton: Cómo Obtienen Los Estudiantes Comida Fresca En Los Desiertos Alimentarios (Un Ensayo Expositivo-Argumentativo, Catherine Iacobacci

Best Integrated Writing

After having learned about how poverty can affect children’s educational outcomes in one of her classes, Iacobacci wanted to learn more about how the issue affected the area where she lived and went to school. What she found out was incredibly shocking, and only furthered the idea that students are struggling with opportunity gaps, not achievement ones. Unfortunately, due to discriminatory loan practices from long ago, children from the 21st century are suffering physically, emotionally, and academically.

The Journey Within: My Travel Journel, Devonique Jones

Best Integrated Writing

This project is a multigenre research exploration that delves into Jones's personal journey of self discovery and growth during her first solo trip.

Investigation Of Ndv In Southern African Waterfowl Reveal Insightful Geographic And Biodiversity Trends To Help Contain The Virus, Lauren Goodwill

Best Integrated Writing

This study assesses the infection rates and trends of Newcastle disease in southern African waterfowl, a project carried out by Emily Murphy in Dr. Jeffrey Peters’ laboratory