Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Complexity Of Prostate Cancer Diagnosis In African American Men In The United States, Adam B. Sumlin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have identified higher incidence rates and mortality rates among African American men (AAM) diagnosed with prostate cancer than they have among urban African American men. This quantitative descriptive study was conducted to measure the association between advanced stage and grade of prostate cancer, demographic location, and prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels over a 5-year period in AAM and European American men (EAM) in rural versus urban communities. This study addressed 4 research questions concerning cancer grade, cancer stage, age, geographic location, PSA level, and the impact that each of these variables had on prostate cancer diagnosis in AAM in …

What Are The Perspectives Of Osteoporosis Screening Among Black Women?, Angela Alsberry Wilkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Osteoporosis is a serious disease which often brings pain, disability, hospitalization, and even death. An increasing number of studies have been conducted on the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in White women, yet a paucity of research exists to explain disparities in screening and treatment of osteoporosis in Black women. This narrative study describes the perspectives of Black women regarding individual barriers to osteoporosis screening. The purpose of this study was to better understand the perspectives of Black women regarding prevention of and screening for osteoporosis. Selections included purposive, criterion sampling of 10 Black women who were 50 years and …

Stigma And Hiv Testing Among African American Women In New Jersey, Mirriam Limage-Pierre

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American women are 18 times more likely to contract HIV than are European American women, yet they are less likely to be tested for HIV. Lack of HIV testing leads to late diagnosis and increased mortality from HIV-related illnesses. Based on the health belief model, this correlational study analyzed the extent to which HIV stigma mediated the relationship between perceived benefits or perceived severity of HIV and the uptake of HIV testing among African American women in New Jersey. A total of 93 African American women aged 18 and older who resided in New Jersey completed online questionnaires. Data …

African American High School Graduates' Perceived Academic Success Factors, Paula Williams Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A large number of African American students attending a low performing, urban high school in Tennessee demonstrated a lack of understanding in reading/language arts by scoring below proficient on the end of course (EOC) exam in reading/language arts. The purpose of this case study was to examine the perceptions of 10 African American graduates who scored proficient on the reading/language arts EOC exam to seek factors they associated with their academic success. This study was guided by Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory. The research question addressed the perceived factors that African American graduates associated with their academic success. Purposeful sampling …

Improving Patient Care Delivery In A Small Alaska Native Health Care Organization, Annette Cecile Siemens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Chronic diseases impose heavy burdens on the United States health care system, particularly among some ethnic/racial groups such as American Indian and Alaska Natives who experience higher incidence of these diseases than non-Native population. In an effort to improve the health status of its patients, the Ukudigaunal Wellness Center (UWC) partnered with the Improving Patient Care (IPC) Collaborative to implement changes designed to improve chronic disease care for Native Alaskans through intensive monitoring of screening for chronic disease and selected chronic disease outcomes. For this program evaluation, the units of analysis were the changes in health service delivery and the …

Caregivers' Perceptions Of An Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease In African Americans, Stanita Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is significantly more prevalent among African Americans than within the general population, but rates of early detection are lower in the African American community. Researchers have demonstrated that both pessimistic Alzheimer's-directed health beliefs, and negative perceptions of the effectiveness and the accessibility of medical care act as barriers to care seeking by African American family members of individuals with the disease. Recent research into causal judgments made by potential caregivers about individuals with undiagnosed AD suggests that gender bias and errors in attribution may constitute covert barriers to both lay and professional interpretations regarding the need for …

The Relationship Between Suicide Ideation And Adult Support Among African American Adolescent Lesbians, Latonya Jill Watters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The suicide rate among African-American youths has significantly increased in recent years. Studies have indicated that racism, sexism, and homophobia put African-American adolescent lesbians (AAALs) at high risk for suicide. Earlier studies recognized the importance of adult support for adults, but the relationship between the AAAL suicide rate and the level of adult support has never been formally studied. Based on social support theory, this survey study examined the relationship between adult social support and attitudes toward homosexuality (as the independent variables) and suicidality and hopelessness (as the dependent variables) in a convenience sample of 200 self-identified 13-to-19-year-old AAALs. Data …

“Yellow Crowfoot In The Pond,/Not Lotus, Not Lily”: Mapping The River, Mapping Voices, Pamela J. Rader

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This paper examines the prosody of Chin’s eponymous poem, "The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty," through an eco-critical lens. While it does not dismiss the hybrid cultural influences of the poem, it focuses on the ways the non-human agents, or the figures in the poem’s landscape, “speak.” Poetry, like the poem’s terraced gardens, traces tension between the controlling human forces experienced by the narrating female I personas and the natural world’s affective inclinations.

Domestic Violence In Lac Su’S I Love Yous Are For White People: A Sociological Criticism Approach, Quan-Manh Ha

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This article employs sociological criticism to examine domestic violence, parenting, and communication behavior in Lac Su’s Vietnamese American memoir. The book debunks the seemingly positive myth of Asian Americans as a model minority, substantiates certain negative stereotypes of Asian men, and challenges some of the classic Asian values that apparently have shaped the Asian American identity. I argue that Su’s memoir is a critique of structural inequalities, urban poverty, unemployment, inaccessibility to a support network, and the intersection between class, gender, and race in the contexts of war and its aftermath.

"Their Shadows Still Walk With Us": Mapping A Decolonial Cartography Of Struggle With Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa, Sandra Álvarez

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This paper maps a cartography of struggle to document the dynamic, living legacy of Menominee leader Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa and her contribution to the decolonial possibilities of transnational Indigenous feminism. I propose that mapping a cartography of struggle is a useful way for movements to consider how the past informs the present and future possibilities of resistance and decoloniality.

Este artículo traza una cartografía de las luchas que llevó a cabo la líder Menominee Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa con el fin de documentar su legado dinámico y vivo y su contribución a las posibilidades decoloniales del feminismo indígena transnacional. Propongo la …

A Higher Law: Transatlantic Revolution And Antislavery Radicalism In Early America, 1760-1800, Anthony Di Lorenzo

Dissertations

During the Age of Revolution, abolitionist ideas interacted with notions of liberty, independence, and equality. Although slavery often served as a metaphor, in opposition to freedom, it also had tangible meanings for the enslaved. This study traces the development of revolutionary beliefs that connected reformers and abolitionists across the Atlantic world, as well as the rise of conservative ideologies that divided them. Democratic politics, religious enthusiasm, and abolitionism converged in the late eighteenth century, with significant implications for antislavery efforts. The French Revolution, in particular, represented the culmination of radical Enlightenment ideals and emboldened democrats in the United States, contributing …

A Fire That Could Not Be Extinguished: Sovereignty And Identity In The Pokagon Band Of Potawatomi Indians, 1634-1994, Melisa Cushing-Davis

Dissertations

American Indian sovereignty and identity, the rights of political and economic self-determination and self-definition, have suffered numerous blows since the time of First Contact. Under the policies of various European nations, and finally the United States, indigenous residents of North America have struggled to maintain political independence, as well as cultural and social integrity, while adapting to changing conditions over which they found themselves, most often, to have little direct control. Such is the history of the Potawatomi people. This dissertation examines the historic responses to these continuing challenges of one band of Potawatomi, the Pokagon of southwestern Michigan. It …

The Influence Of International Education Travel On African American High School Students’ Intent To Study Abroad In College, Vankeila Simmons

Master's Theses

There is very little research exploring the factors that affect minority, more specifically African American, students’ intent to study abroad. Furthermore, most research concerning study abroad participation focuses on higher education institutions. There is a gap in current literature on high school students of color participating in global education. This study seeks to provide an explanation and understanding of how early exposure to international education travel may impact African American students’ intent to study abroad in college or select a major with an international aspect. Through a qualitative case study this study focuses on 11 Southside College Prep High School …

The Problematical, The Cave, And The Maya: A Theoretical Discussion And Ethnoarchaeological Investigation, Haley N. Austin

Senior Independent Study Theses

This project concerns itself with the theoretical framework and application of ethnoarchaeological research methods in the Maya region. Following an in-depth discussion of ethnoarchaeology and its theoretical locus within archaeology as well as the transformations it has seen in recent year, the current work focuses on the following source- and subject-side cultural groups and phenomena: cave use at La Ventana and La Ventana Campana by Maya peoples from the Suchitepéquez and Sololá Department of Guatemala in comparison with Problematical Deposit 21 at Tikal, Petén, Guatemala. The purpose of this work is not only to investigate the case study mentioned above …

The Color Of Memory: Reimagining The Antebellum South In Works By James Mcbride Through The Use Of Free Indirect Discourse, Janel L. Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the use of interior narrative techniques such as free indirect discourse and internal monologue in two of James McBride’s neo-slave narratives, Song Yet Sung (2008) and The Good Lord Bird (2013). Very limited critical attention has been given to these neo-slave narratives that illustrate McBrides attention to characterization and focalized narration. In these narratives McBride builds upon the revelations he explores in his bestselling memoir, The Color of Water (1996, 2006), where he learns to disassociate race and character. What he discovers about not only his mother, but also himself, inspires his re-imagination of the people who …

A (Dis)Assemblage Of The Gallery-Growlery, Levester R. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

A (dis)Assemblage of the Gallery-Growlery exhibition and writing presents itself as a site of a morphological exploration of language, sound, and objects in tandem with the irreducibly venting black expression. Venting, the black expression never seeks wholeness within objects or language itself for it is a thing-in-itself. Its presence affords critical reception to a residue of delimiting forms. All growls eschew verbal objects for the manifestation of pure phonetics. A growl in a gallery is the growl. The growl resounds through the physicality of the objects and gallery. Also, it unwinds the object-among-objects as the phono-present stretches the discursive …

Antithetical Commentaries On X, Y And The Disruption Of Being, Eva Rocha

Theses and Dissertations

Through discursive essays and poetic narrative, Antithetical Commentaries on X, Y and the Disruption of Being explores the tenuous relationship between modes of measurement and the struggle for human relevance in the post-contemporary digital age. In the introductory essay, “Not the Feather, but the Bird”, I give an overview of the inherent problems of object-oriented ontology, and how it relates to aesthetics and social issues of our times. In the Developmental Overview, I detail how I developed my installation approach and techniques, particularly with regard to the three-way dynamic of the artist:work:viewer relationship and how it can encourage …

Black Feminist Discourse Analysis Of Portrayals Of Gender Violence Against Black Women: A Social Work Dissertation, Avina Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored media discourse of gender violence against Black women in Black contemporary films. Four Tyler Perry films were examined using a novel, qualitative and analytical framework: Black Feminist Discourse Analysis. Discourses that were studied include, but were not limited to: portrayals of gender violence and victims, character dispositions and interactions, stereotypes, relationship dynamics as well as portrayals of race, gender, sexuality and religion. The use of new and existing controlling images based on systems of race, gender, sexuality and religion were revealed in a transitional and systemic model. Common themes across the films are provided. This research closes …

Embera Drua: The Impact Of Tourism On Indigenous Village Life In Panama, Amy Lethbridge

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This case study examines the experience of residents of the Indigenous village of Embera Drua, Panama with 20 years of tourism. It addresses the lack of Indigenous voices in tourism literature by telling the story of Embera Drua through the lens of the villagers themselves. The study uses a mix of ethnographic observation and narrative inquiry and finds that the experience of Embera Drua mirrors the experience of other Indigenous villages offering tourism around the globe, particularly the impact of lack of community capacity on management and growth of such tourism initiatives. Findings of this study are relevant to the …

Racial Integration In One Cumberland Presbyterian Congregation: Intentionality And Reflection In Small Group, Carolyn Smith Goings

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Negative attitudes toward racial minorities and consequent maltreatment of non-Whites continue to be a crisis in America. The crisis of racism is still realized in phenomena such as residential segregation (Bonilla-Silva, 2014), health disparities (Chae, Nuru-Jeter, & Adler, 2012; Chae, Nuru-Jeter, Francis, & Lincoln, 2011), and in the not-so-uncommon unjust arrests and imprisonment of persons of color (Alexander, 2012). Improvement in race relations through the development of meaningful cross racial relationships in racially integrated settings is one avenue that may lead to reduction of racism (E. Anderson, 2010; Fischer, 2011; Massey & Denton, 1993). Christian congregations are common settings in …

Cruising The Borderlands: Queer Latinx Creating Space In Lowrider Culture, Elisia I. Campos

Senior Independent Study Theses

This ethnographic and interview-based study explores how queer Latinx lowriders create community through art, such as The Q Sides, an exhibition of photographs by Vero Majano, Kari Orvik, and DJ Brown Amy. Both lowrider culture and the queer Latinx community are marginalized communities that are often silenced, ignored, and not included in historical preservation or well documented. Lowrider culture and the queer Latinx community have largely been explored separately, such as ethnographer Ben Chappell and interdisciplinary scholar Michael Hames-García. My Senior Independent Study project examines the unique intersection of the queer Latinx experience in lowrider culture in the context of …

Pre-1900s Chinese Placer Mining In Northeastern Washington State: An Archaeological Investigation, Lindsey M. Evenson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The lack of organized historical and archival documentation regarding the pre-1900s Chinese placer miners in northeastern Washington has left the historical and archaeological records fragmented. Documentation of the Chinese placer mining activities in the region is poor, at best, and the scars left on the landscape by these miners are often inundated by the damming of the Columbia River (and other major waterways), or the sites are heavily eroded and damaged. The available historic and archival data has been organized and synthesized to create an historical context regarding the pre-1900s Chinese placer miners in the region. Furthermore, archaeological sites previously …

More Than Stone And Iron: Indigenous History And Incarceration In Canada, 1834-1996, Seth Adema

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, and Inuit) history as played out in Canadian prisons. It argues that in the prison, processes of colonialism, decolonization, and neocolonialism took place simultaneously. In the nineteenth century, the prison was built as part of a network of colonial institutions and polices. It was imagined, designed, and built by representatives of the Canadian state alongside other colonial institutions, drawing on similar intellectual traditions. It maintains the imprint of this colonial origin. Prisons also became arenas for Indigenous cultural exchange and cultural creation, which in most cases subverted the logic of the prison. This …

Host Community Narratives Of Volunteer Tourism In Ghana: From Developmentalism To Social Justice, Danielle E. Lediard

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

It is evident from the research around volunteer tourism that local perspectives are sorely lacking. Instead of the focus of research being on the communities that volunteer tourism is meant to help, the emphasis remains on the experiences of the volunteers. Although many researchers identify the lack of attention directed towards host communities as a problem, there remains a lack of research in this area. The importance in the existing research, then, remains on the ‘us’ in developed countries instead of the those in developing countries that volunteer tourism is meant to help. The primary objective of this research is …

Holding Canada Accountable: An Evaluation Of Canada's Compliance To The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples, Jackson A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Compliance of human rights norms requires the application of pressure from a multitude of directions and levels. It takes individual advocacy, micro-system/organizational/community-level pressure, and macro-level pressure from other nation-states and international organizations and governance bodies. This MA study focuses on the mechanisms employed by the United Nations to monitor the compliance of signatory nation-states to the standards established in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), with particular focus on Canada. A crucial goal of this study is to translate the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNSRRIP), James Anaya’s, findings on the …

National Crises And Moments Of Laughter In ‘Second Interregnum’ South African Drama, 2001-2014, J. Coplen Rose

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation analyzes Anglophone South African dramatic critiques of national crises in the post-apartheid moment. Focusing specifically on the years after Nelson Mandela’s retirement, it examines some of the country’s prominent plays produced between 2001 and 2014. This was an important period of social and political change in South Africa, described by drama theorist Marcia Blumberg as a second interregnum where acts of reconciliation or disaffection were staged frequently (“Reconciling” 140). I build on Blumberg’s temporal model by extending her framework to account for recent events of national significance leading up to, and including, Mandela’s death in 2013. In addition …

Native Survival And Success In Higher Education, Daniel Orr , '16

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Towards Trialectic Space: An Experiment In Cultural Misunderstanding And Disorientation, Clive Barstow

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper presents a praxical model of collaboration between artists in Australia and China in which the misrepresentation and misinterpretation of language (Ang 1997) within Homi Bhabha’s (1990) thirdspace theories are examined. To avoid the polarities of othering (Dervin, 2014), I adopt Henri Lefebvre’s model of cumulative trialectics (1991) as a new thirdspace that more accurately represents the complexities of modern day geographies and hybrid communities by extending the binary analysis of the past and present and beyond the real and the imagined. Trialectics expand our understanding beyond physical geographies by suggesting a cerebral space that searches for new meaning …