Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

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 …

The Collegiate Black Space: Black College Students’ Use Of New Counter-Spaces For Support, Knowledge Production, And Organizing For Activism, Heather Streets

Doctoral Dissertations

Black collegians who attend historically white institutions continue to struggle with racism, microaggressions, feelings of alienation, minimal or improper advising, and an undue pressure to prove themselves (Bonner, 2010; Feagin & Sikes, 1995; Strayhorn, 2010). These barriers to success result in part due to a lack of support from the colleges and universities that they attend (Allen, 1992; Parker, Puig, Johnson & Anthony, Jr., 2016). With institutional benefits designed to benefit white students over students of color, Black students must find their own alternatives for collaboration and to provide support for their peers.

Many Black spaces can be defined as …

Picturing A Storm Center In The Far East: Geopolitical Image And Representation Of Korea In Early American Newspaper Visuals, Jihyung Kim

Master's Projects and Capstones

This Capstone Project explores the image and representation of Korea in early modern American newspaper visuals during the period when Korea and the U.S. first began to engage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The American newspaper visuals, which interact with headlines, captions, and texts, are represented with specific patterns and features in close links to the newspaper's geopolitical discourse production, specifically the “Far Eastern Question,” which was produced by western powers and Japan. The visuals were intended to show Korea as a dangerous and uncivilized place, “a storm center in the Far East.” Such geopolitical visuals in …

Through Critique And Beyond: Speculative Fiction As A Tool Of Critical Pedagogy, Syd Thorne

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field projects centers around the issue of hopelessness among teachers and students and examines the genre of speculative fiction as a potential tool for cultivating critical hope in the classroom and as an asset to critical pedagogy. Utopian pedagogy and critical pedagogy make up the theoretical framework of this research and project development. The research explores the use of speculative fiction in three areas: activism and identity, student engagement, and utopian performance. The review of the literature demonstrates that the use of speculative fiction in the classroom has the potential to engage students in conversations about social justice and …

A Decolonial Middle School Social Studies Curriculum: 19th Century U.S. Westward Colonization, Leah Chatterji

Master's Projects and Capstones

Social Studies education throughout the United States sustains settler futurity, white supremacy, and coloniality, as it rarely engages with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) hxstories and structural violence. For middle schoolers, this is especially troublesome as social justice pedagogies are minimal for this demographic. To shift this, this field project offers an 8^th grade decolonial Social Studies curriculum on 19^th century U.S. Westward colonization; this topic was intentionally chosen as it is an opportunity to disrupt settler epistemologies. It centers: Land; relationality; and collective liberation. It complements the California unit 8.8 standards, yet different grades, subjects, …

A Treacherous Journey Through Latin America: The Plight Of Black African And Haitian Migrants Forced To Remain In Mexico, Zefitret A. Molla

Master's Theses

The growing presence of Black African and Haitian migrants in Mexico poses a new set of challenges to a country that is already struggling to recognize the presence of Afro-Mexicans and where mestizaje still dominates the national discourse on race. Due to restrictive U.S. and Mexican immigration policies since 2016, many of these migrants have found themselves forced to remain in a country they had only intended to transit through on their journey northward to the U.S. Mexico has only recently taken the necessary steps to recognize its Afro-Mexican population which had been marginalized and erased from history. This paper …

The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers

Master's Theses

The rising increase of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a global problem. There are over 40 million internally displaced people globally, and 15.9 million are displaced in Africa. These displacements come into place due to war/conflict, corruption, massive human rights violations, natural disasters, urban renewal projects (at the hands of powerful nations such as America, China, France, UK, etc.), and large-scale development projects. According to UNHCR, refugees are people who have international cross-border. In contrast, internally displaced persons must stay within their own country and stay under the protection of their government, even if the government is the reason …

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 …

Mapping Out Our Space In Stories: A High School Curriculum For A Social Justice Tour Of San Francisco, Elena Ramírez Robles

Master's Projects and Capstones

How do youth engage with the spaces around them? In what ways might students connect their personal, lived knowledge to the politics and intricacies of space? The manners in which schools approach outside-of-school learning includes non-critical Place-Based Learning and field trips as optional material; however, doing so breaks the powerful relationship waiting to be explored between Critical Geography and Critical Education. This field project uses Henri Lefebvre’s concepts of The Production of Space and Rhythmanalysis as foundations to argue for the implementation of Critical Geography into high school curricula, and offers a 9-week high school curriculum to create a student-led …

The Colonial Marginalization Of Filipino And Filipino American Soldiers In The Us Army During World War Ii, Corey Joseph Tinay

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the structural paradigms in place within American society as multifaceted tools of colonialism and how they impacted the experiences of minority and colonized soldiers in the United States Army during the Second World War. The history is analyzed through the postcolonial lens, observing factors in place such as; denial of place in history, identity, and recognition of service. The research questions that this thesis addresses are as follows: What are the colonial implications in the experience of Filipino and Filipino American soldiers experience during the Second World War? Are colonial soldiers treated as more expendable than white …

Investigating The Self-Efficacy Awareness Of Black Female Technology Leaders, Marie Roberts De La Parra

Doctoral Dissertations

Black female technology leaders lack leadership opportunities, which affects their self-efficacy and is a crucial concern. Self-efficacy is based on the concept that an individual’s belief in what they can achieve influences their actions and how much effort they invest in the selected action. Self-persuasion can provide high or low self-satisfaction as a determinant for creating incentives for success or failure and converting thoughts and emotions to actions. Limited research has investigated the mindset, the thought patterns, and the self-belief undertaken by Black females in the world of technology. Despite limited amounts of research, data suggest that Black female leaders …

Employment Discrimination: An Efficacy Study Of African American Inequities In The California Utility Sector, Victor Baker

Doctoral Dissertations

Employment Discrimination: An Efficacy Study of African American Inequities in the California Utility SectorThe economic legislation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed a vigorous tool of law to address employment discrimination of African Americans and remedy economic disparity that unfavored African Americans. The energy utility industry served as the first Supreme Court defendant and loser of a Title VII employment discrimination challenge by a Black workforce. As a result, energy utility companies have served as the face of resistance to fair employment for African Americans despite the liberal popularity of diversity management programs. Prior …

Replanting A Wild Seed: Black Women School Leaders Subverting Ideological Lynching, Whitneé Louise Garrett-Walker

Doctoral Dissertations

Much race-based educational research is focused on teachers interrupting systems ofoppression in their classrooms, through methods such as curriculum and instruction, and preparing students to engage in the world (Alston, 2012; Bertrand & Rodela, 2017; Carpenter & Diem, 2013; Gooden & Dantley, 2012; Furman, 2012). I intentionally focus my attention on school leadership because while all stakeholders are responsible for maintaining school culture, as school leaders it is our responsibility to create conditions where the work of enacting social justice is expected in our schools. There continues to be a gap in educational research that deeply examines this level of …

Deported Veterans: The Unintended Consequences Of “Good Moral Character”, Jonathan Deras

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to argue that U.S. immigration policy, specifically the 1996 IIRIRA (also known as IIRAIRA), needs to change regarding the legal treatment of immigrant U.S. military veteran deportees due to the following concepts. The first concept is to articulate how the criminalization of immigration, and how the military system intersects to facilitate the Deportation of U.S veterans. A key concept in this analysis is the standard of “good moral character” set by the U.S. government that enlistees need to meet to be accepted into the military; this standard is also used against immigrant veterans during …

Our Stories, Our Voices: The Lived Experiences Of Black Families With Young Children During Covid-19, Devalin Jackson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black families raising young children during shelter in place orders and distance learning due to Covid-19. The study was conducted virtually through Zoom and Google form due to county shelter in place orders. Participants were recruited from the school in which the researcher worked. Through the use of virtual interviews, the five participants highlighted themes of reconnections, isolations, empowerment, family values and conversations. The families shared experiences of resilience and hope and brought thoughts of how these experiences could be highlighted in instructional and curriculum designs; especially during …

Miguel A. De La Torre, The Politics Of Jesús: A Hispanic Political Theology, Ramón Luzárraga

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Cuéntame: Narrative In The Ecclesial Present, Raúl Gómez S.D.S.

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

José In Egypt: Reading Genesis 37-50 With People On The Move, Jean-Pierre Ruiz

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Cultivating A Decolonial Feminist Integral Ecology: Extractive Zones And The Nexus Of The Coloniality Of Being/Coloniality Of Gender, Melissa Pagán

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

¿Dios Bendiga Whose América? Resisting The Ritual Theologizing Of Nation, Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Toward A Reimagined Theological Anthropology: Freeing The Excluded And Re-Envisioning Scenes Of Instruction, César Baldelomar

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Healing Lgbtq+ Juvenile Youth Of Color Through Indigenous Practices, Jennifer Alvarez

Master's Theses

My goal for this study was to explore the experiences of queer youth of color who have been in the juvenile justice system in relation to their mental health/wellness. Through semistructured interviews, the seven participants of this study have shared their testimonio of coming out, being involved in the juvenile justice system and having to engage with mental health services, I explore how queer individuals are mistreated and are placed on temporary methods of healing from their trauma. Utilizing the frameworks of Testimonios, Critical Race Theory and Critical Pedagogy, I bring forward the experiences that queer youth of color in …

Undocumented Asian Immigrants: Securing Higher Education And Cultural Citizenship, Ka Kui Lee

Master's Theses

This research investigates how undocumented Asian immigrants navigate the obstacles of higher education. It inquires how undocumented Asian immigrant students navigated the higher education process and how institutional actors influenced their college experience, revealing the intimate interactions between undocumented students and the institutional actors. The political economy of their college application process is understood through the frameworks of liminal legality, narratives, cultural citizenship, borders and boundaries, and governmentality of migration, all of which frame the process of the data analysis.

Through the interviews of college-graduated undocumented Asian immigrants and ethnography at a local high school in the San Francisco Bay …

Imperial Subjection And The Orientalist Gaze: Turning Asian Women’S Bodies Into Entertainment, Miriam Ahn

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the structural factors that provide meaning and space to performances where violence is served as entertainment. What are the structural conditions that turn gendered and racialized violent forms of display into enjoyment? By exploring the sex tourism in Thailand, particularly ping-pong shows, I will analyze aspects of international political economy and feminist studies to address forms of display based on the abjectness of the other. I argue that sex tourism in Thailand is not part of local culture but is upheld by imperial hegemonic perceptions of the colonized and gendered bodies. The perspectives of Orientalism, patriarchal systems, …

She Se Puede: Exploring The Career Development Of Latinas In The San Francisco Bay Area, Brittney Varela

Master's Theses

The professional identities of Latinas in the United States have undergone some major changes in recent times. As women and ethnic minorities, Latinas are a part of two underrepresented groups facing inequities in the workforce. This research focuses on the career development of ten Latinas in the San Francisco Bay area, with their stories and experiences publicized on a public podcast. She Se Puede podcast consists of ten episodes recorded at the University of San Francisco, discussing career development and major factors that limit the professional advancement of Latinas. This applied project was designed around scholarly research and in-person interviews, …

The Socio-Demographic Factors Influencing Ntca Immigrants’ Accessibility To Mexico’S Health Care System, Ken Nishikata

Master's Theses

Mexico’s geographical location has made the country play a centric role in trans-national migration from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) comprising Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. As a result, immigration has increasingly become a political issue for Mexico over the past decades^[1]. Before the eruption of the Central American crisis in the 1980s, Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala was recognized for its openness. However, such a tolerating status-quo changed as the number of NTCA immigrants entering Mexico increased upon the exacerbation of the crisis that placed thousands of individuals in exile. Indeed, the turmoil during the …

Centering Community Voices Through Children's Literature: Co-Authoring An #Ownvoices Picture Book For The Maine Migrant Education Program, Melanie Shelton

Master's Theses

Since its inception, the field of migrant education has been characterized by a tension between honoring the subjectivity of migrant families and positioning them as victims. This same tension exists in the analysis of children’s picture books that depict the daily lives of migrant farmworkers. In response to Eve Tuck’s (2009) call for a moratorium on damage-centered research in the field of education, this report describes the collaboration process between a representative of the Maine Migrant Education Program and a migrant

farmworker and her family to write, illustrate, and present an autobiographical picture book. Las aventuras, travesuras, y peligros del …

Identity, Activism, And Rap In The Filipino American Diaspora, Scott Cooper

Master's Theses

For close to two decades, an established network of Filipino American rap artists have developed on the West Coast of the United States. These artists share musical narratives exploring their working-class immigrant experiences as well as the impact of colonization in the Philippines. Outside of music, these artists often engage in community organizing and activism, but few scholars have explored hip hop's effect within these spaces. Recently, a younger generation of Filipino American youth actively make use of hip hop in community organizations and activist groups. This paper will specifically examine how the identity of 1.5 and second generation Filipino …

Residential Segregation And Rethinking The Imperative Of Integration, Ronald R. Sundstrom

Philosophy

In this chapter I consider the place of the topic of racial and ethnic urban residential segregation factors into political philosophy. I begin with a short history of residential segregation and the ghetto, and their role in systems of racial domination and oppression, and remarks on the general neglect of this topic in contemporary political philosophy, including in nonideal political philosophy, which proports to take on examples of real-world injustices and inequalities. I then examine, from the standpoint of liberal-egalitarian political theory, what segregation, as a con- cept, entails, and its harms to individuals, communities, and societies. Segregation in all …

Black Students, White Schools, And Racism: Exploring The Experiences, Challenges, And Resilience Of Black Students At Private K-12 Predominantly White Institutions (Pwis) Through Adult Reflections, Sade Ojuola

Master's Theses

This project examines the challenging racialized experiences of Black students who attended private predominantly white institutions (PWIs) during their K-12 education, with a particular focus on the long-term impact of those experiences. The existing literature contains valuable data about the experiences of Black students in predominantly white private schools. However, an important gap in the literature exists regarding the reflections and understandings developed over time by Black adults who attended predominantly white private schools. This field project aims to explore the beliefs that were borne of those experiences and how those experiences ultimately become interwoven into a Black student’s identity …