Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Chasing Dreams In Modern America: Can We All Still Reach The Stars?, Selina Osebre Yawson

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

Judges' Statement

"Chasing Dreams in Modern America: Can We All Still Reach the Stars?" is an excellent and timely examination of the American Dream during a time of political polarization and economic uncertainty. Yawson synthesizes systemic social critique with close literary analysis, applying a reading of Langston Hughes' poetry to address the current moment. Her unique selection of sources and well-reasoned call to action earned the paper an honorable mention.

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 …

Plantation Matters: The Black Production Of Space In Southeastern Louisiana, 1830 To 1912, Noura Jabir

Pomona Senior Theses

Taking one Louisiana sugar plantation as a starting place, I demonstrate how African-descended laborers created life-sustaining spaces within/beyond the death-driving plantation complex during and after slavery.

One Man Show/ Who Am I, Devin Baker

Dance (MFA) Theses

Historically, stereotypes of ideal masculine physiques and attributed qualities have led to discriminatory and exclusionary practices that adversely affect black queer men and how they show up in various performance and social spaces. As a result, black male bodies in these spaces have employed the alter ego as a tool to imagine themselves inside/outside these constructed masculinities. How can the alter ego aid in transcending dated notions of race and gender, beholden to black male bodies within concert dance? Through the intertwining of personal narrative and research rooted in psychology and gender studies, this work examines the alter ego as …

Creating An Ofrenda, Sara Hinojos

Open Educational Resources

You do not need to be Mexican to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). What you need however is a deep and thoughtful cultural understanding of the practice. This lesson plan teaches students what Dia de los Muertos is, the influence of colonialism (past and present), how mainstream media understands the celebration in the U.S., and how local communities honor the celebration. This approach is from a media studies perspective and a particular focus on art, specifically altar making or making an ofrenda. Writer, philosopher, tejana Gloria E. Anzaldúa details that altars are “‘the sanctuary of the …

“Hard To Rememeber, Then Hard To Forget:” A Qualitative Exploration Into The Attitudes And Lived Experiences Of Black People With Black Names, Destin L. Mizelle

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Naming practices within the Black American community are vibrant and deeply rooted in cultural traditions and shared values. Much like other ethnic groups, these names tell stories, reflect heritage, and connect individuals to their community, making each choice meaningful and significant. However, due to the systemic effects of anti-Blackness, Black Americans often have a complex relationship with their names. While previous research has primarily utilized quantitative methodologies focusing on the negative associations and consequences of having a Black name, this study aims to amplify the voices of Black people who possess Black names. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this qualitative study …

Revelations: Spirituality As Privileged Perspectivism In Magical Realist Distortions, Isabella Scala-Kazanecki

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the role of spiritual beliefs in the literary mode now known as magical realism in Cuban Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World (1949), Indian-Born British and American Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1988), and a lesser-known novel, Household Saints (1981) by Francine Prose, an American writer. The Kingdom of This World, itself the originator of the mode of magical realism, has allowed me to conclude with Carpentier that magical realism arises from “privileged revelations,” as he notes in the preface to his seminal book. But these revelations in magical realism are not necessarily always of the …

We Are All Mestiz(Ç)Os: An Exploration And Deconstruction Of The Myth Of Mestizaje/Mestiçagem In Mexico And Brazil, Michelle Garcia

CMC Senior Theses

Different from the United States, racial-mixing was permissible in Latin America throughout its history. Furthermore, race-mixing has been cemented into the national identities of LatAm states through Mestizaje, thus painting these states as racial democracies. This thesis examines the construction and maintenance of Mestizaje as a myth and sign for racial democracies as well as the racial disconnect created within those in “Mestizo” nations. This thesis contributes to existing literature by utilizing Mexico and Brazil due to their different socio-historical contexts. They will serve as case studies to evaluate the mechanisms that allow this myth to persevere. First, I will …

Transnational Legal Violence: Undocumented Women V. U.S. Immigration Law, Luis A. Mendoza

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how undocumented women, particularly Latinas, experience "transnational legal violence" within the U.S. immigration system. Transnational legal violence extends the framework of legal violence by identifying how immigration policies weaponize absence and distance across national boundaries, forcing women to choose between physical safety and legal recognition. The thesis is guided by a central question: What immigration system are migrant women, specifically Latinas, responding to?

The analysis rooted in the intersections of gender and citizenship reveals how immigration law remains rooted in coverture traditions that historically rendered immigrant women dependent on male U.S. citizens. For these women, deportation presents …

Truth, Reconciliation, And Neoliberalism: Remembering And Forgetting Pinochet’S Chile, Aimee Leigh Gallagher

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………..................4

III. Primary Documents and Headnotes.....26

IV. Textbook Critique……………….............36

V. Textbook Entry…………………………....42

Occupied Lands, Occupied Histories: Activist-Historians And The Red Power Movement, Elena Rose Paz Thompson

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay.............................4

II. Primary Document Collection......25

III. Textbook Critique........................37

IV. New Textbook Writing.................42

The Third Revolution: How The Haitian Revolution Redefined The Age Of Revolution, Cedric Rule-Becker

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay.................................2

II. Primary Source Documents............15

III. Textbook Critique...........................25

IV. New Textbook Entry.......................28

Sunrise In The Heartland: The Ahmadiyya Movement And The Foundations Of African American Islam, Hazel Videon

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

During the early 1920s, an immigrant missionary from colonial India named Muhammad Sadiq established headquarters in Chicago for a branch of Islam called the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam (AMI). The AMI became the first institutional expression of Islam in the United States to draw a significant number of American converts and was particularly popular among African Americans. Following the Second Great Migration, Black migrants to the urban Midwest sought new ways to express their identity, fulfill both spiritual and material needs, and resist racist violence. The AMI became attractive to them as an alternative to respectability politics and drew upon …

A Critical Narrative Inquiry Into The Experiences Of Latino Male Graduate International Students Attending A Pwi, Cesar Miguel Castellon Gort

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This qualitative study examines how Latino male international graduate students navigate identity, belonging, and exclusion within U.S. higher education. Although international enrollment has increased, the experiences of this student population remain largely invisible in research and institutional practice. Guided by Intersectionality and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit), this study investigates how intersecting dimensions of race, language, age, gender, and immigration status shape these students’ academic and social experiences. Using a critical narrative methodology, data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and identity web exercises with four participants. Employing story chaining to link individual narratives, four central themes emerged: 1) Racialized and …

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 …

Shades Of Discipline: A Narrative Inquiry Exploring Black Girls’ Experiences Of Colorism And Exclusionary Discipline Through The Lens Of The Domains Of Power, Tamika Reese

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Black girls are the fastest-growing group facing exclusionary school discipline, including suspensions, expulsions, and law enforcement referrals. National data reveals that Black girls are significantly more likely to be suspended than white girls, yet little research has explored how skin tone influences these disparities. This qualitative narrative inquiry examined the role of colorism in the discipline of Black girls by expanding on Patricia Hill Collins’s Matrix of Domination framework. Through the voices of five Black girls with varying skin tones and eight school leaders involved in disciplinary decisions, the study explored how the intersections of race, gender, and skin tone …

Islam, Memory, And Denial: Preserving Bosniak Identity After The Srebrenica Genocide, Alek Barović

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The role of the Bosniak Islamic Community in preserving identity and collective memory of the Srebrenica genocide remains a subject of ongoing debate among Bosniaks in Bosnia, the wider Balkan region, and the diaspora. This paper explores how Bosniaks perceive the Islamic Community’s efforts in shaping and sustaining post-genocide identity through religious, cultural, and educational initiatives. By analyzing narratives from survivors, religious leaders, and community members, this study investigates whether the Islamic Community is seen as a central institution in the preservation of historical memory or as one actor among many in the broader struggle against denial and historical revisionism. …

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 …

Cultural Model Of Indigenous Custom Marriage, Maria G. Stapleton

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines and documents the tradition of Indigenous Custom Marriage (ICM) practiced in a semi-rural community in central Mexico. The arrival of Spaniards to Mesoamerica during the sixteenth century brought new forms of marriage to the region, those of the Christian religion and of the Spanish crown’s laws. While these new forms slowly gained acceptance, the traditional pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican form of getting married has endured over the intervening centuries up through the present. This traditional form of marriage is not monolithic, but shows variation across the diverse ethnic groups, communities, and geographic regions of Mesoamerica. The community studied, Tlanalapa, …

Yes, Those Are My Biological Parents: Growing Up Multiracial In The United States, Angie Navejas

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

“Multiracial individuals are the fastest growing racial population in the United States” (Atkin & Jackson; 2021:305). Literature highlights how parents transmit culture through racial socialization, however there is a missing piece, the perspective of the children. This study sought to expand the existing literature to include children’s perspectives and how it relates to their multiracial identity formation. Recognizing the complexity of conducting research with children, a survey was administered to adults ranging from the ages of 18 to 35 years old. This resulted in a collection of data from their recollection of experiences and interactions with their parents or caregivers …

Feminine Felons: Violent Offenders' Intersectional Experiences In Twentieth-Century Montana, Cassidy Ann Vander Voort

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper explores the treatment of violent female offenders in Montana in both the media and prison system from 1900-1960. Women of all races faced gender discrimination from both the carceral system and popular media. Local newspapers sensationalized crimes committed by female offenders, portraying them as women who lived outside of the expectations of womanhood in the twentieth century. Newspapers and courts placed women into two categories: “mad/sad” female offenders, who received forgiveness for their crimes; or unforgivable, “bad” offenders. Crime did not determine these categorizations; instead, gender expectations of the white middle class shaped female criminals’ treatment. If these …

Workable Seams, Jackson Mills Smith

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In Jackson Mills Smith’s Workable Seams, readers encounter the stories, landscapes, and lives of rural Knox County, Indiana, from the oscillating vantage of a Hoosier boy raised with a Cajun sensibility. After relocating from Louisiana to the river bottoms of the crossroad state at a young age, the speaker gradually uncovers a local history only previously understood in fragmentary shards and fading glimpses.

Alternating between semi-lyrical embodied experiences and memories, documentary pieces in conversation with the state’s historical archive, and the retelling of exaggerated local yarns, poetry is a means of inquiry in Workable Seams. Topics range from …

Indigenous Access And Use On Private Land: A Toolkit For Heart Of The Rockies Land Trust Members, Ian James Craighead

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

"A Changed Understanding Of Our Present": Moby-Dick As Prophetic Ecological Activism, Katie Ann Schini

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Moby-Dick: Or, The Whale is a classic of American literature, spanning multiple genres and remaining culturally relevant nearly 175 years after its original publication. Though on the surface Moby-Dick reads as an adventure story of a man who experiences the whaling industry firsthand, Herman Melville’s text continues to invite new generations of readership through the framework of the twenty-first century climate crisis.

In this thesis, I position Moby-Dick as a text that can be used to understand our modern society’s current dispositions of ecological grief. My thesis operates at the intersection of three main literary critical theories: ecocriticism, affect, and …

America's Highest Stage: Utopians, Capitalists, And Trail Runners On Pikes Peak, Mitchell Morris

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Since ancient times, Pikes Peak’s prominence on the land has endowed it with prominence in the minds of all who have lived around it. This ancient dynamic was reinforced in the nineteenth century by the famed expedition of Lieutenant Zebulon Pike in 1806 and the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in 1858. Since then, the mountain has become a stage. Standing tall, visible from hundreds of miles around, and known from coast to coast, Pikes Peak is a platform that has attracted diverse historical actors to come and perform, elevate their endeavors to new heights, and demonstrate what they, and people …

Theopoetics Prothesis: An Exploration In Faith And Form, Elise Aleman, Elise Aleman

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My work is rooted in the biblical definition of faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Like the Bible’s layered complexity—its patterns, metaphors, and cultural references—faith is not merely intellectual but an active trust in what is unseen. It transcends knowledge, anchoring itself in conviction and hope. This intersection of theology and lived experience is at the core of my practice.

Theopoetics—a framework that fuses theology and artistic expression—shapes my approach, allowing faith to be embodied through form rather than merely explained. Two seemingly distinct bodies of work—one centered …

Weaving Threads Of Identity: A Qualitative Study On Reconnecting Indigenous Folx, Rachael L. Fuller

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This research is a qualitative phenomenological inquiry into reconnecting Indigenous participants’ experiences in how they navigate and integrate their cultural heritage, identity, and intergenerational experiences to shape their present and future lives. Previous literature examines characterizing Indigeneity, navigating multiple spaces, and culture as wellness. Rooted in Tribal Critical Race Theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine participants who self-identified as Indigenous. A thematic analysis highlighted six themes of reconnection: a) oppression, b) ancestors, c) belonging, d) barriers to reconnection, e) learning, and f) connection with community. This research makes a contribution to the growing Indigenous identity literature by providing an …

The Complex And Marginalized Experiences Of Bipoc Trafficked Women: An Examination Of Disabilities, Aces, Discrimination, And Racism, Jacquelyn C. A. Meshelemiah, Fabian Arroyo Rojas, Hannah Ruth Steinke, Marlene Carson, Justin A. Haegele

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences and multiple identities of disabled BIPOC trafficked women. The findings from this study help to identify a carousel of victimization experienced by disabled BIPOC trafficked women, starting with adverse childhood experiences, onto trafficking victimization that differed between Black and White women, and later while seeking services. These findings highlight the need for providers and researchers to think beyond monolithic identities and consider the intersecting ways in which various forms of oppression (ableism and racism) influence the experiences of disabled trafficked BIPOC women.

Pedagogical Idealism, Race, And The Specter Of Africa In Josefina Aldecoa’S Historia De Una Maestra And Donato Ndongo’S Las Tinieblas De Tu Memoria Negra, Parker Lawson

Funded Scholarship

This article examines two contemporary Spanish novels, Josefina Aldecoa’s Historia de una maestra (1990) and Donato Ndongo’s Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra (1987), to assess the status of pedagogical idealism and experimentation with particular attention to Equatorial Guinea. Where previous scholarly attention to Aldecoa’s novel focuses on the protagonist’s credentials as a progressive pedagogue, this article draws attention to Gabriela’s etapa guineana to argue that the text cripples under the weight of postcolonial analysis as regards race, religion, class, and language. Drawing the novel into comparison with Ndongo’s text, the article argues that Spanish colonial pedagogy flattened, or sought …

The Devil In The Forest: How Le Guin Subverts A Tired Trope, Andrew Debella

UKL: The Journal of Ursula K. Le Guin Studies

Scholars understand Ursula K. Le Guin's 1972 The Word for World is Forest as a critique of settler-colonial history, but no academic interest has been given to how this novel also comments on the American religious imagination. This article reveals that Le Guin's allegory to Vietnam replicates the 'devil in the forest' trope to expose how a religiously inspired good/evil dichotomy shaped xenophobic attitudes toward the Vietnamese during the 1970s. By tracing the depictions of Native Americans through American fiction and Captivity Narratives, this article further demonstrates how Le Guin’s novel deploys similar tropes to expose and critique their influence …