Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Artist Statements As Colectiva: Informed By Lived Experiences And Anzaldúan Theories, Christen Sperry García, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Alexis Marie Ramos

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

As visual artists, our ability to explain process and convey meaning in our work is very important. Our BFA and MFA studio art programs trained us to write clear, concise, and universal artist statements. We were encouraged to highlight the concepts behind our visual work and discouraged from including our personal narratives or employing Chicane or Latine bodies of knowledge. In response, we apply theories and methodologies by Gloria Anzaldúa to our artist statements. First, we offer a framework of testimonio, Borderlands theory, and autohistoria-teoría. Using the methodology of nepantlando, a creative doing of existing in-between worlds, we …

“A Couple Days In The Life Of What It’S Like In Washington Heights:” The Representation Of Latine Immigrants In Lin-Manuel Miranda’S In The Heights, Natalie M. Bowen

Undergraduate Research Posters

The United States of America is a nation built by and made up of immigrants, being home to one-fifth of all migrants across the world. Anti-immigrant prejudice and xenophobia have long defined the American people and national policy, but the target demographic is constantly changing to reflect current narratives and fears. In recent years, Latine immigrants have been a prominent topic of concern in American politics. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2021 movie musical In The Heights aims to celebrate the existence of immigrants in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in New York City. Using peer-reviewed scholarly sources and movie reviews, this comprehensive literature …

An Indigenous Sovereign Approach: Developmental Strategies And Guidelines For The Berger-Patawomeck Preserve Trail Network, Lauren N. Usher

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

This planning document serves the Patawomeck Tribe's cultural, environmental, and sovereign needs by providing research and recommendations to sustainably steward ancestral lands through integrated Indigenous and Western practices. The plan adapts sustainable design strategies to guide trail maintenance and activities within the Berger-Patawomeck Preserve, examining Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) alongside Western practices. A decolonized, sovereign lens guided the mixed research methods drawing on legal, regulatory, planning, and ethical frameworks to strengthen tribal health, education, and sovereignty. The research explores local ecology, Indigenous culture, and implementational strategies. The ecological findings document the Preserve's sensitive resources, including the Coastal Piedmont transition zone, …

The Path Toward Spiritual Activism: Queer Latinx/A/O College Student (Muxerista) Activism As Sites Of Resistance, Hope, Joy, And Futurity, Roberto C. Orozco, J. Audra Williams

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This study examined collaborators’ engagement in activism as sites of resistance, hope, joy, and futurity. We answer the following research question: In what ways do Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), or queer Latinx/a/o college student activists, envision and act on kinship and liberation in their activism? We conceptualize our response to this question through Anzaldúa’s (2002, 2015) concept of spiritual activism. Our data analysis articulates three main components of a spiritual activism practice for Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), which include: 1) engaging in forms of resistance through a queer and feminist world-making, 2) centering joy and love with and for each other as …

In Praise Of Dust, Hasler Gomez-Perez

Theses and Dissertations

A desire path is a physical manifestation of where a system has failed, but also where it has been refused, where a new path has been made. The wake exists in the post, it is not a singular, untethered event, but a subtle double entendre that lives in the post-death, but also in the pre-life—not a liminal limbo, but a superposition of dying and waking.

This collection was assembled and composed over the course of two years as I navigated my practice, myself, and others. Present here are my thoughts, my experiences, and in many ways my beliefs. IN PRAISE …

Dialogic Praxis And Racialized Embodiment In Art Education, Emily J. Hood, Sarah T. Travis, Kathy Brown, David Herman Jr., Injeong Yoon-Ramirez

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

In this paper, the authors discuss how conversations on racial embodiment can be dialogic praxis that builds solidarity and moves towards anti-racist pedagogy. For the conversations, the authors met via videoconference on several occasions to discuss their experiences on the topic of racialized embodiment from their varied sociocultural perspectives and considered implications for visual art teaching, learning, and research. They recorded the audio and video of these conversations and collaged portions of the transcripts of these talks together to present a single curated conversation that serves as primary content for this paper. The decision to “speak” this article into existence …

Glossed Over, Rebecca Oh

Theses and Dissertations

Glossed Over is a collection of interdisciplinary artworks exploring my Korean-American diasporic identity and how gender, queerness, religion, neurodivergence, and internet culture intersect within that experience. Through a blend of painting, woodworking, and sculpture, this installation carries the various elements of undefinable 한 (pronounced: han), a concept I attempt to define and contextualize in the Introduction and throughout this thesis. Each artwork operates through coded language, metaphor, and partial disclosure, offering space for the othered to find recognition through subtle cues and signifiers. Through Glossed Over and this thesis, I scratch the surface of my journey in reconciling generational trauma …

Feeling Foreign / Foreign Feeling: Affect In Southeast Asian Diasporic Short Story Collections, Francys Aerin Fortes

Theses and Dissertations

Affect studies have long been saturated with scholarship investigating the fluidity of emotions, though a larger turn in the field now prioritizes the felt experiences of marginalized peoples. Sianne Ngai’s work is one part of this turn that seeks to unpack the effects of oppressive systemic forces on Black, Brown, and queer bodies. Sianne Ngai reexamined the nature of emotions in her seminal text Ugly Feelings (2005), particularly concerned with how negative feelings are disproportionately felt by marginalized bodies as a result of conditions of obstructed agency, systems of power, and wage labor capitalism. Drawing from Ngai’s writing, this thesis …

Examining Sociodemographic And Clinical Factors Associated With Smoking Behaviors Among Black Breast And Gynecological Cancer Survivors, Ida M. Adeso, Jian He, Ashley Turner, Arnethea L. Sutton

Undergraduate Research Posters

Black breast and gynecological cancer survivors experience poorer outcomes than their non-Black counterparts. Although multifactorial, one contributor may be cigarette smoking behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify demographic, clinical, and social drivers of health (SDoH) factors associated with smoking behaviors in Black breast and gynecological cancer survivors.

We conducted a secondary analysis of survey data collected from an ongoing cross-sectional study. Summary statistics (e.g., means, frequencies) were computed for all factors of interest. Chi square test of independence, t test, and logistic regression assessed the associations between demographic, clinical, and SDoH factors (e.g., social support) and the …

Liner Notes On Black Trans Girlhood: Afrofuturist Affect & Black Popular Music As A Praxis Of Self-Fashioning, Shawn J. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Liner Notes on Black Trans Girlhood: Afrofuturist Affect & Black Popular Music as a Praxis of Self-Fashioning interprets Black musical performance in identity-making, with a focus on how music and Black trans identity intersect and informs Black trans girlhood. As such, Black trans girls render ourselves legible, i.e. understood without shame or judgment, by constructing our identities through the music by Black women we listen and dance to, or watch and sing. These musical connections affirm the possibilities of Black femme expression. This expression of Black femininity is due to what I call an Afrofuturist affect, by which I refer …

Book Review For Renegade Rhymes, Meng Ren

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

Renegade Rhymes delves into the personas, lyrics, and civic engagement of Taiwanese rappers, who leverage rap as a platform to navigate masculine politics, provide social critiques on Taiwan’s neoliberal economy and demanding work environment, and revitalize indigenous languages. Spanning from the post-martial law era spanning from the 1980s to the conclusion of the Nationalist Party period in 2016, Meredith Schweig focuses on the “old-school” generation of rappers, born between 1975 and 1985, whose formative years align with this pivotal historical period. Schweig begins by charting the history of Taiwan rap through interviews, examining three main threads: xiha, raoshe, …

The Spatio-Temporality Of J Dilla’S Sound Aesthetic, Masahide T. Kato

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

Book review

DILLA TIME: Life and After Life of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm by Dan Charnas (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022).

Review: We Were Hyphy, Lavar Pope

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

No abstract provided.

“Ain’T Nuthin Wrong With Being A Trojan Man”: Discourse On Safe-Sex In Rap Music, 1985-1995, Christopher D. Rounds, Kareem R. Muhammad

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

This essay methodically tracks references to safe-sex in rap music and analyzes their implications. Reviewing over 3,000 songs from 1985 to 1995, the authors found that the tone and messages of these references differed substantially. While many artists celebrated risky and indiscriminate sexual behavior– their work marred by a misogny and homophobia that often stigmatized persons living with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)– many other artists portrayed safe-sex in a positive light, either as a responsible approach to sexual behavior, or as a pragmatic tool of urban survival. These songs normalized the use of condoms, and educated listeners by raising awareness …

From Page To Stage To Lyrics Database To Page: Breakbeat Poets, Lyrics Databases, And The Textual Capacity Of Hip Hop Verse, Victorio Reyes Asili

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

As a multimedia artistic movement, Hip Hop is known for its contributions across the arts, from music to dance to graphic arts. However, Hip Hop is also a form of poetry, which we can call Hip Hop verse, and it is rooted in performance but also exists in the world as a textual art. While scholars have analyzed Hip Hop’s contributions to the world of poetry, there has yet to be a proper accounting for Hip Hop’s function as a textual poetry that is regularly consumed by Hip Hoppas. Accordingly, this study is focused on Hip Hop’s role as a …

Hip Hop At 50: Reflections From Our Students, Dana Horton, Lavar Pope, Travis Harris

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

Hip Hop transcends time and space, however, its confluence in the Bronx in 1973 is worth commemorating. During the celebration of fifty years of Hip Hop, the authors asked their students to reflect on fifty years of Hip Hop. In particular, the authors asked students to discuss why Hip Hop is still popular in 2023, as well as the direction the culture has taken. Students are at the forefront of keeping Hip Hop culture alive, and their contributions to our 50th Anniversary are valuable.

A similar question was asked in the authors' courses: “Hip hop started 50 years ago in …

Digital Place-Futures Outside A Colonial Metaversal Imaginary: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’S We Are Here Because Of Those That Are Not As Critical Digital Place-Craft, Luke A. Meeken

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

In this piece, the author analyzes a recorded digital walk through Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT, a digital archival place designed to contain, protect, and share the experiences of Black trans people. The author’s encounter with Brathwaite-Shirley’s work is contextualized and analyzed through critical and decolonial place lenses and digital materialist lenses. Particular attention is paid to the ways physical and digital places crafted in colonial contexts bodily habituate settler-colonial sensibilities. The author examines how the critical digital placemaking strategies practiced by Brathwaite-Shirley informed teacher and student place-craft within the context of a …

Black Women's Desire For Love And Connection: What Is Ref Debt?, Joyice Robinson Myers

Education Graduate Presentations

This developing study explores the dating experiences of millennial Black women with Black men, aiming to understand their perspectives and the challenges they face in forming romantic relationships. Drawing on data from eight unstructured interviews with cisgender, heterosexual Black women, this research identifies key themes related to intimacy, emotional well-being, and financial contributions within relationships. The concept of Relational, Emotional, & Financial (REF) Debt is examined, highlighting how historical and systemic factors continue to impact dating and forming Black relationships. Initial findings reveal that Black women navigate dating with concerns about relationship quality and emotional depth, influenced by systemic racism …

Moonshine Babies, Arghavan Heydareslam

Theses and Dissertations

Moonshine Babies is a two-screen film made of collage/cut-out stop-motion and live-action. It is a visual poem based on my journals from when I recently started living in the US as an outsider. The experience left me feeling divided between the empty present and memories of the past. suggesting that there are collective memories among a group of interconnected individuals that unite them within a single narrative.

There was a moment when I asked, "If you are your memories, what does it mean to be somewhere you have no memories of and no one has memories of you there?"

Memories …

Associations Between Childhood Trauma And Tobacco Dependence Among Latine Adults: Testing The Protective Effects Of Compassion For Self And Others, Camila Tirado

Theses and Dissertations

Tobacco dependence has posed a significant public health challenge in the United States and disproportionately affects Latine adults' risk of developing a variety of adverse health conditions. Childhood trauma is a recognized risk factor for dependence, overall health, and mental health concerns. Still, the influence of compassion for self or compassion for others in this context remains unclear. This cross-sectional study investigated the moderating effects of self-compassion and compassion for others on the relationship between childhood trauma and cigarette dependence among Latine adults. Data was collected through questionnaires assessing childhood trauma, self-compassion, cultural values and factors, compassion for others, and …

Notes Toward A Personal Afrofuturism, Jalen T. Adams

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is penned by a young adult who is generally confused about a lot of things regarding life, but has one singular focus that is perhaps larger than life—trying to find the bridge between a future already lived, and a past yet to happen. These are his findings so far.

Call For Me When You Get There: I'Ll Be Among The Crows, Jessica O. Tifase

Theses and Dissertations

I've always been intrigued by the ways in which the notion of flight has been used to describe the movement of Black people, both literally and figuratively. In many instances, flight performs as a double entendre, embodying multiple meanings: to escape or to transcend. The fluidity of its definition prompts a reflection I’ve been wrestling with as I move through the world: Are Black people in a perpetual state of flight?

In my thesis exhibition, Call for Me When You Get There, I use the precarious state of flight as a means to explore the complicated choreography necessary for navigating …

From House Party To World Dominance: Celebrating 50 Years Of Hip Hop: A Bibliography, Cassandra Chaney

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

In 2023, the culture celebrated the 50th birthday of Hip Hop. While there is an ongoing argument of when Hip Hop started, Hip Hop culture marked Clive “DJ Kool Herc” Campbell’s legendary 1973 party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, NY as the day to commemorate its humble beginnings. This work provides a bibliographical list of published articles, interviews, book reviews, forthcoming books, and live performances from various artists that made a major impact on Hip Hop. In particular, the bibliography highlights the mark that Hip Hop has made on fashion, the economy, language, and the unique contributions that …

Foreword, Courtney Terry

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

Foreword for volume 10 issue 1.

Nuff Love: From Me To You, Katherine S. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis exhibition, Nuff Love: From Me to You, explores the profound impact of diasporic memory on identity within the family structure, particularly for those who were born after immigration. This unpacking of memories is achieved through photographs, collages, and installations that reveal the distant and absent attributes that reside within the home. As a second-generation American of Afro-Jamaican descent, this thesis navigates how the dual identity becomes too complex and is never allowed to exist in a binary state. The constant state of in-betweenness between both cultures led to further questioning of selfhood beyond the Caribbean identity maintained by …

Frewayni's Garden: Preserving Tigrayan Culture During A Period Of Ethnocide, Gabrielle F. Tesfaye

Theses and Dissertations

The recent and ongoing genocidal war in Tigray, Ethiopia, has witnessed the destruction and looting of countless historical religious sites, ancient manuscripts, and artifacts, leaving Tigray’s remaining cultural heritage extremely vulnerable. Such cultural loss erases a shared understanding across generations, robbing them of their history and identity. My work contributes to the safeguarding of Tigray’s cultural heritage and collective memory, informed by literature on cultural preservation efforts in post-war societies, and a series of interviews with Tigrayans in the diaspora and in Ethiopia.

The outcome of this thesis is embodied in a series of distinct jebenas, traditional Tigrayan clay coffee …

An Arbitrary Aesthetic: Cultural Reproduction And Hegemonic Canonical Formations In The Western Theatrical Academy, Sim C. Rivers

Theses and Dissertations

Theatre as an artistic practice has often been celebrated as an art of and for the people, being a modality that in theory the common person has access to learn, explore and experience. In recent years I have become preoccupied with the growing rarification and privileging of this art form, particularly in how it is cognized and taught in the academic world. As such, I set out to investigate the mechanisms at work at levels structural, artistic, and personal that determine how theatre is taught and understood within the western academy.

This thesis seeks to examine and unpack the perceived …

It’S “Hip Hop,” Not “Hip-Hop”, Tasha Iglesias, Travis Harris

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

“It’s ‘Hip Hop,’ Not ‘hip-hop’” explains how two Hip Hop scholars, Tasha Iglesias and Travis Harris, collaborated to get the official academic spelling of Hip Hop changed from “hip-hop” to “Hip Hop.” While they were graduate students, they grew frustrated with reading numerous academic texts that did not represent Hip Hop in the same way the culture did outside of academia. Iglesias and Harris are Hip Hop and involved with the culture outside of the classroom. The clash between these two worlds led them to petition the American Psychological Association and eventually speak with Merriam Webster dictionary to change the …

Funk What You Heard: Hip Hop Is A Field Of Study, Journal Of Hip Hop Studies

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

The complete general issue of volume 9 issue 1.

Foreword, Travis Harris

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

Foreword to volume 9 issue 1.