Ethnic Studies Commons^™

The Layers Of Trauma In Gisella Perl’S I Was A Doctor In Auschwitz, Tiffany Sidders

Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies

Contemporary trauma theory argues that trauma operates in a binary, linear fashion that represents healing from a crisis. As one of the foremost trauma theorists, Cathy Caruth situates trauma within a binary framework of either victim or perpetrator but does not fully account for victims who became perpetrators or those who perpetrated for survival—or for the survival of others. One example of such a figure is Gisella Perl. In her memoir I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz, Perl describes multiple layers of trauma that create a deeper connection to her emotions and her lived experience in Auschwitz. Unlike other …

Seeing Her, Wanting Her: Postfeminist Desire And Its Contradictions In Zendaya’S Magazine Covers, Sophia Shelley

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

This article examines Zendaya’s modelling evolution as a case study to explore how a postfeminist critique and psychoanalysis can illuminate the contradictory nature of women’s advertising. My analysis compares Zendaya’s covers in Seventeen (2012) and Essence (2020), emphasizing the stark differences in aesthetics, where Seventeen conforms to ideals of (white) femininity, and in opposition, Essence centres around Black femininity and desire. By situating Zendaya as both a gendered and racialized ‘other,’ the intricate dynamics of femininity, race, and age in media portrayals are made visible. I argue that Zendaya’s image is sold through postfeminist ideals of empowerment, choice, and sexuality …

Grieving In Doorways: A Critical Autoethnographic Exploration Of Embodied Knowledge Amid Shifting Reality And Radical Possibility, Holly Rae

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis is a critical autoethnographic exploration of embodied knowledge amid shifting reality and radical possibility. Beginning and ending with my own body, I explore how grief, as an embodied companion, offers wisdom and power in moments of profound change. Rooted in a methodology of slowness, rest, walking, and active listening, this work resists the extractive pace of modernity and instead invites building a relationship with grief and discomfort. This research is an experiment in co-creating knowledge with bodies and their intersectionality within systems that would keep us separate from knowing our embodied knowledge. As a location of research for …

A Journey To A Black Woman’S (Read Black Girl’S) Joy And Her Story Of Coming Home, Brittany Lauren Brock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is an auto/ethnography about the self-actualizing journey of reclaiming storytelling as my native tongue and my journey to joy. Throughout, using my story and the stories of so many others, I not only lay out the wounds (the pain, the loss, then the hope that comes) within the academy and outside in the world but I also use storytelling as a tool of healing—my tool of healing—to show how I wrote myself free.

When Black women (read Black girls) go through The Reckoning (the moment we realize something isn’t right with how we are perceived by others) …

Building Positive Gender Expressions Among Mexican-American College Students, Nezahualcóyotl Paniagua-Jiménez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the need for college programs to nurture and support positive gender expressions among Mexican-American college students. It does so through a historical and cultural analysis of gender identities and expressions within the Mexican community and how they impact the lives of Mexican-American college students. Additionally, it offers an exploration of potential practices and programs that support the development of positive identity and gender expressions, with a lens of intersectionality, to ensure students are allowed to critically explore and develop gender identities that move away from domination/subservience power structures and that are founded on their unique cultural background.

Romancing The University: Bipoc Scholars In Romance Novels In The 1980s And Now, Jayashree Kamble

Publications and Research

English-language mass-market romance novels written by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) writers and starring BIPOC protagonists are a small but important group. This article is a comparative analysis of how recent representations of diversity in this sub-set of the genre, specifically the character of the Black academic and the language of racial justice, compare with the first group of BIPOC novels that were published in 1984 (Sandra Kitt’s Adam and Eva and All Good Things as well as Barbara Stephens’s A Toast to Love). In Adrianna Herrera’s American Love Story (2019), Katrina Jackson’s Office Hours (2020), and …

From Patriarchal Stereotypes To Matriarchal Pleasures Of Hybridity: Representation Of A Muslim Family In Berlin, Rahime Özgün Kehya Dr

Journal of Religion & Film

Sinan Çetin’s blockbuster Berlin in Berlin (1993) is a Turkish-German co-production. In contrast to certain representational tendencies with German orientalism or Turkish occidentalism, it deconstructs the intersectional structures of migration, religion, and gender. The portrayal of religion in films about Turkish-German labour migration is a kind of cultural narcissism often projected into national cinema by denigrating the faith of the other and glorifying one’s own religion. However, perspectives at such intersections are critical and require sensitivity in filmmaking, as films can create prejudice or help build peaceful relationships around these sensitive issues. The paper employs discourse analysis in linking Derrida’s …

Post-Racism As Ideology: Character Construction And Placement, & Narrative Structure In Dear White People, Mphatso Kaufulu

Dissertations

My project looks at post-racism as ideology. Through my chosen text – the Netflix streamed television series called Dear White People – I examine the ways in which post-racism is persists through representational abstractions which reformulate race as largely sets of interpersonal and intercultural, person-to-person social problems rather that a more general condition rooted in institutional or structural social, political and economic arrangements which organize society and produce its cultural dispensation.

To do this, I applied some of Stuart Hall’s ideas – on identity, ideology and commodification – and Bonilla-Silva – specifically in the area of obfuscations or abstractions of …

The Yellow Qipao, Feibi Wang

Honors Projects

This is a creative project centered around the pre-production of a short film about queer Asian American Christianity and the research that went into it. The synopsis of the script written for the short film is a life in the day of Aspen. Aspen prepares for church and is indecisive of the clothes they want to wear, because they are gender non-conforming. They come out to their mom and there is conflict. My research going into this project consists of researching media representation of queerness, Asian American identity, and Christianity, and how the three identities intersect in Aspen’s life and …

Diversity And Multi-Cultural Education In The 21st Century: An Oer / Coil / Ztc Course Text, Oluremi "Remi" Alapo

Open Educational Resources

CLDV100 (Liberal Arts) Introduction to Multicultural Studies in the 21st Century: 3 hrs. 3 crs.

A study of what culture is; how it influences the choices we make; how to deal positively with conflicts that inevitably arise in working/living situations with people of diverse cultures. It is a course structured to raise multicultural awareness and fortify students' social skills in dealing with cultural differences. It includes an ethnographic study of cultural groups in the U.S.A. Through the study of cultural concepts, this course develops skills in critical thinking, writing, and scholarly documentation. Not open to students with credit in CLDV …

Properly Unhinged: A Collection Of Poems, Madison Everett

Honors Projects

This is a collection of poems that explores the identities I possess and am a part of. These identities include being half black and half white, clinically diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Generalize Anxiety Disorder, pansexual or bisexual or something altogether different (depending on the day), and cis gendered womanhood. I also explore what a poem is and what a poem is not, and how there is very little difference between the two. In a lot of ways, this is an exploration into myself and what it means to be within the world. What does it mean to …

A Look At Asian American Studies, Emery Mckee, Ryan Caragher, Emma Rohrer, Gabe Velazquez

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

Our Zine hopes to cover the multitude of topics discussed in our Intro to Asian American Studies class. Each section is based on a reading relevant to a specific subject covered in the class, whether that be the history of Japanese internment camps or the globalization of the Filipino workforce. After a deeper analysis of the history and tradition in each reading, our zine also focuses on the social, political, and intellectual significance of Asian American articles and stories. There are many significant facts and key ideas that truly speak for themselves on the issues and events being discussed along …

Introduction To Asian American Studies: Final Zine Project (5), Delaney Tax, Maria Zesbaugh, Ashley Montrezza

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

This zine allowed us to confront the ways in which colonization and its historical implications play into modern race relations. This is especially evident in the ways bodies are valued and devalued based on social location, birthplace, and racial appearance. Our weekly zines confronted the direct interactions between colonial violence and individuals, as well as their communities. We also worked to intentionally contrast this to the western construction of whiteness, and pulled from historical and modern examples of how whiteness has been weaponized against Asian communities in order to further marginalize them. Adjacency to whiteness, however, has also been used …

A Study Of Asian American Issues In The United States, Nicoline Pedersen, Krista Celo, Eden Stilman, Seren Ventullo

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

Throughout this zine you will explore a variety of obstacles that Asian Americans have faced in regards to their immigration and acclimation into American society and culture. Over the last century, individuals from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa have either migrated to America in hopes of a better life, or have been forced out of their homes due to war conflicts or as a necessity for cheap labor. Despite the means of their arrival, Americans have historically maintained an imperialistic outlook that America is the superior country. While the white American believes he is saving these transpacific countries from …

Asian American History And Politics, Rahaf Abdalkareem

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

Asian American Studies offers a scholarly avenue to discuss questions of racial inequality, domestic capitalism, and global imperialism. The debate also includes research on how Asian Americans of the first and second generations cope with adaptation and assimilation, in particular on their Americanization and active pursuit of higher education and prestigious professions in a community that still discriminates against them. In the United States, Asian American Studies focuses on the identities, historical and current perspectives of people and communities. Nationalism, migrants, Asian American masculinity, Asian American femininity, cultural politics, and media coverage are topics and concerns that are central in …

Peril, Pandemic, And Crisis: Asian American Studies, Alexis Desany, Carter Lawton, David Wiley

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

Hello and Welcome to our Zine!! We are so happy you stopped by! :) We were presented the opportunity to create a zine on Asian American studies through Josen Diaz’s ETHN course. Although this started out as a project, it became so much more to our group. We had the opportunity to explore different Asian American cultures, their history, and their influence on American culture and politics. This project allowed us to relate all of the historical readings from the Chinese Exclusion Act and the world wars to events that occur today. Over the semester, we developed our overall knowledge …

History, Culture, And Humanity: Contextualizing Modern Oppressions, Rosalyn Arvizu, Payton Asch, Thalia Petronelli

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

In our Fall 2020 Introduction to Asian American Studies class, small student cohorts were tasked with creating a zine page for the various concepts analyzed in class. We read many articles in relation to Asian American oppression, both globally and locally. This included topics such as the history of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the anti-Chinese movement, and the various racializations different Asian ethnicities faced. We read about the model minority myth and its prevalence after the Vietnam War, Korean War, and Cold War. Additionally, we discussed the militarization and radicalization of the United States' colonial projects in Hawai'i, Guam, …

History Of Asian Americans, Brittany Le, Christine Sivilay, Mollie Frager

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

For our History of Asian Americans project, we aimed to creatively showcase some of the important topics discussed in the readings throughout this course. Additionally, our group related these historical topics to modern day issues or personal experiences. This was particularly interesting due to the current events taking place this semester like COVID-19, BLM Movement, and the election. In our project, we strayed away from summaries and explanations as much as possible while still providing context. We aimed to use our creative and critical thinking to highlight certain underlying aspects of the readings we thought were important, but may not …

Bringing The Marginalized Into Conversations About American Raciality, Erin Kane, Keely Gaeta, Emily Norris

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

In this collection of analyses that explore the multi-faceted Asian American identity, we hoped to speak honestly about the Asian American condition. The Asian American condition is one of constantly being without a seat at the table of the American racial consciousness. This zine delves into Asian American identity through the lenses of history, psychology, and lived experience. The historical perspective of Asian American identity has been explored at the hands of the “benevolent” West. History is written by the victors. For Asian Americans, the victor has always been the United States meaning that the interpretation of their identity has …

Asian Americans: Life And History In The United States, Annalyn Boothe, Shuyi Jiao, Hailey Freitag

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

In this zine, we educate ourselves on the history of Asian Americans and reflect on how the past has shaped our present and continues to construct the future. With the exception of Ocean Vuong’s novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, all the texts we studied are academic. Generally, the academic texts discuss how one anti-Asian policy leads to further exclusion and/or oppression. These chronological examinations of Asian immigrants in the United States helped us recognize and critically investigate current social and economic tensions experienced by Asian Americans. In order to clearly illustrate the ongoing cause and effects of past polices …

Reflections On A Movement, Mark Bautista, James Estillore, Paolo Garcia, Nadia Mohebati

Ethnic Studies Student Zines

In this zine, we aimed to explore several texts and discuss their significance in understanding both Asian American history and politics, as well as the oral histories and experiences that are often forgotten. In addition to this, each topic covered in our zine investigates how these events throughout time have shaped and continually affected the Asian American experience today. Throughout our time dissecting these select texts on the topic of Asian American Ethnic Studies, the editorial team came to understand the significance of employing a framework of the Asian American plight in regard to how we process modern events. From …

“I’M Real I Thought I Told Ya”: Developing Critical Media Literacy Through U.S. Latinx Digital Media Representations, Solange T. Castellar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores how audiences engage with U.S. Latinx media representations through the practice of critical media literacy. I interrogate how media consumers construct critical media literacy through interacting with U.S. Latinx figures on digital media platforms, particularly on the social-media app, Twitter, and the user-generated video content platform, YouTube. Throughout this thesis, I argue that users on these platforms who engage with U.S. Latinx pop culture figures, like Jennifer Lopez and Belcalis Almanzar (Cardi B), read, digest, and comprehend a variety of multimedia images, texts, or videos, and that this engagement becomes an accessible form of critical media literacy, …

Undying (And Undead) Modern National Myths: Cannibalism And Racial Mixture In Contemporary Brazilian Vampire Fiction, Jacob C. Brown

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Contemporary cultural media illustrates the vampire as an important symbolic figure in the Brazilian imaginary. For example, in twentieth and twenty-first century Brazilian fiction, television, and political discourse, vampires have risen from their supposedly European origins as expressions of urban decay, comic excess, and government corruption in Brazil. Beyond these representations, I focus on three contemporary novels in which the vampire also plays a starring role. O vampiro que descobriu o Brasil (1999) by Ivan Jaf, Aventuras do vampiro de Palmares (2014) by Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro, and Dom Pedro I Vampiro (2015) by Nazarethe Fonseca stand out from other creative reimaginings …

Does Family Income Determine A Children Future Educational Attainment Level?, Diaisha T. Richards

Applied Economics Theses

Family income and education have been a major concern in a variety of researches, and as a topic in society. These two components are a major concern because they are known to be key elements in determining future success for an individual. Various studies investigated the significance, correlations and impacts these two factors have on one another. It is common for the amount of family income obtained to determine how much education one will receive in the future. This study focuses on testing the hypothesis that family income determines how much education a child will receive in the future. By …

Cultivating Chingona Power: A Study On The Chingona Identity, Celia Orosco Haro

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Mujeres across the country are claiming the Chingona identity and using it to cultivate their Chingona strength, feel empowered, and live for their own approval. A Chingona in this newly reclaimed use means a woman who embodies confidence, acceptance of self, reclamation of sexuality, siguiendo le adelante por su propio camino sin importarle lo que digan los demás, rejects social and cultural norms/expectations of women, and uses her strengths to empower and uplift others. Through the reclamation of this identity, these mujeres are moving beyond being hijas de la chingada to being Chingonas. This research highlights the Chingona identity …

How Do Native American Women Win Elections In Non-Native Districts?, Opalina Peralta

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In light of the recent tensions between Native American tribes and non-tribal elected leaders over such issues as environmental protection and treaty violations, caused in part by the United States' disproportionately Caucasian electoral representation, I aim to bring light the obstacles that Native Americans face in electoral politics. I analyze state legislative elections in which Native American candidates win. Using the data from the 2016 National Census and from University of North Dakota, Professor Mark Trahant. I hypothesize that the reason many Native American candidates win is because they are tied to non-native elements of the community. The two candidates …

Jenyffer Nascimento’S Epic Poetry Of Black Female Empowerment Jenyffer Nascimento: A Poesia Épica De Empoderamento Da Mulher Negra, Sarah S. Ohmer

Publications and Research

This article presents results of auto-ethnography, literary analysis, and fieldwork research to answer an underlying, perhaps unresolved, concern, relevant to this dossier: how can we produce an ethical dialogue as transnational Black Feminists, among Black Brazilian women, and North American Black women, in an ethical manner, while realizing that one may (not ever) be a part of the “carnival without you in it.” Fertile Earth/ Terra Fertil tells a long overdue epic story to an audience within the poetry: Black women, family members, other times a Black man, Brazil, white women, or “you,” undefined. Joy to pain to chaos, sensuality, …

Gender, Culture, And The Educational Choices Of Second Generation Hmong American Girls, Bao Lo

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Research on the educational achievement of racialized minorities and immigrants have largely discussed culture as either a deficit or an advantage for academic success. This paper explores gender differences in educational achievement and how the educational choices of second-generation Hmong American girls are impacted by racially constructed gender norms. In response to hegemonic and subordinated femininities, second-generation Hmong American girls pursue education to enter mainstream America and reject Asian ethnic culture and femininity. Gender equality is normalized and equated with White femininity and American mainstream culture while Asian femininity and ethnic culture is constructed and subordinated as “other”. This research …

The Willfulness Of A Missing Frame: Ahmed Zaki And The Politics Of Visual Resistance, Miriam M. Gabriel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ahmed Zaki (1949-2005) is one of Egyptian cinema’s most prominent leading actors, with work spanning three decades of critical films that informed a generation’s visual register of masculinity. However, the beginnings of his career were marked by public skepticism around his place as a leading actor due to him being “too dark” and “too poor”; as his career continued to flourish, those very markings of racing and classing Zaki because a foundation for increasingly stamping his public image with the “authenticity” of an Egyptian citizen. At a particularly neoliberal moment in the Egyptian economy, that of the early 80s, new …

An Epigenetic Clock Analysis Of Race/Ethnicity, Sex, And Coronary Heart Disease, Steve Horvath, Michael Gurven, Morgan E. Levine, Benjamin C. Trumble, Hillard Kaplan, Hooman Allayee, Beate R. Ritz, Brian Chen, Ake T. Lu, Tammy M. Rickabaugh, Beth D. Jamieson, Dianjianyi Sun, Shengxu Li, Wei Chen, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Maud Fagny, Michael S. Kobor, Philip S. Tsao, Alexander P. Reiner, Kerstin L. Edlefsen, Devin Absher, Themistocles L. Assimes

ESI Publications

Background: Epigenetic biomarkers of aging (the “epigenetic clock”) have the potential to address puzzling findings surrounding mortality rates and incidence of cardio-metabolic disease such as: (1) women consistently exhibiting lower mortality than men despite having higher levels of morbidity; (2) racial/ethnic groups having different mortality rates even after adjusting for socioeconomic differences; (3) the black/white mortality cross-over effect in late adulthood; and (4) Hispanics in the United States having a longer life expectancy than Caucasians despite having a higher burden of traditional cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Results: We analyzed blood, saliva, and brain samples from seven different racial/ethnic groups. …