Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Work, Social Justice, And The Causes To Which We Are Called: Attitudes, Ally Behavior, And Activism, Brittanie Atteberry Ash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a profession, social work has codified within its ethical guidance and educational policies a commitment to social justice. While social justice is enumerated in several guiding documents, social work continues to lack consensus on both the meaning and merit of social justice (Abramovitz, 1993; Funge, 2011; Hong & Hodge, 2009; Specht & Courtney, 1995; Van Soest & Garcia, 2003). Due to the lack of agreement within the profession about the centrality and meaning of social justice, many educational practices, attitudes, and actions of those working within the profession may not align with socially just ideals that are codified in …

People And Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, And Heritage, Sarah Beals

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Old Tucson Studios is a theme park where film, tourism, and heritage all converge through the American Western genre. During national social change, Westerns increase in number to reflect national values and identity. Westerns that ally with landscapes and people are potentially the most powerful storytelling tool in mainstream media. My research shows that this paring of people and place creates a prevailing image in the audience’s memory. The results suggest that the current image of the West comes from films made between 1951-1970, despite there being newer Westerns. John Wayne and saguaro cactus are enduring images with historic, cultural, …

When Repatriation Doesn’T Happen: Relationships Created Through Cultural Property Negotiations, Ellyn Demuynck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the discourse of repatriation in connection to the Encounters exhibition held by the National Museum of Australia in 2015. Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander artifacts were loaned to the Australian museum by the British Museum. At the close of the exhibition, one item, the Gweagal shield, was claimed for repatriation. The repatriation request had not been approved at the time of this research. The Gweagal shield is a historically significant artifact for Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians. Analysis takes into account the political economy of the two museums and situates the exhibition within the relevant museum …

Educational Achievement, Engagement, And Persistence In Choctaw Nation: A Study Of The Success Through Academic Recognition Program, Suzanne Delap

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has developed a unique initiative to support academic achievement within their tribal territory. The Success Through Academic Recognition (STAR) program is an example of an Indigenously-developed approach to supporting students from grades 2-12, with the hope of promoting achievement, persistence, and engagement. To study the STAR program, a mixed-methods approach was employed to first analyze quantitative demographic and performance data collected from a cohort of high school students from 2014 to 2018. Next, phenomenological interviews were conducted within the same cohort, to describe the lived experiences of STAR students within the Choctaw community. The database …

Behind The Exhibit: Exploring The Processes Of Indigenous Rights Representation At The Canadian Museum For Human Rights, Madison Caroline Dillard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Focusing on the representation of Indigenous human rights at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this study examines how museums can represent, educate, and advocate for Indigenous human rights. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out at the museum in July 2019 and the literature on anthropology and human rights, decolonizing museum practices, and museums as spaces for human rights dialogue. The study shows how museums can change their history of racist and inaccurate representation of Indigenous people. Through extensive and “deep collaboration” between Indigenous partners and museum staff, Indigenous culture, history, and rights …

Manifestations: Displays Of Internal Beliefs And Perspectives, Manuel Ferreira

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims at better understanding and sharing the internal beliefs, influences, and insights of specific Field Museum staff in regard to exhibitions and the future of the Field Museum. It is people that make up museums and create exhibitions, and their beliefs not only influence and guide them, but also their institution and what they develop. Grounded in museum anthropology, and framed by new and critical museology, entanglement, contact zones, museum as method, and a queer mezclando (mixing) perspective, this research employs museum ethnography as a way of exploring relations and meanings among museum staff, beliefs, and manifestations. In …

Ayahuasca’S Religious Diaspora In The Wake Of The Doctrine Of Discovery, Roger K. Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

‘Ayahuasca’ is a plant mixture with a variety of recipes and localized names native to South America. Often, the woody ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) is combined with chacruna leaf (Psychotria viridis) in a tea, inducing psychedelic effects among its users. While social usage varies among Indigenous Peoples of South America, during the twentieth century new religious movements in Brazil began employing the mixture as religious sacrament. Additionally, various centers for ayahuasca “healing” have emerged both inside and outside of the Amazon Rainforest, frequently with the aim of helping people addicted to other substances. As interest grew, …

Drawing Identities: An Ethnography Of Indigenous Comic Book Creators, Melissa Ann Kocelko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the experiences of Indigenous comic creators when making comic books, and I aim to investigate the individual and communal motivations for creating comics. Representations of Indigenous characters and storylines have primarily been told through a white lens in mainstream comics. Within the past five years, this trend has shifted with increased academic and public attention on Indigenous comic books and the rise of comic conventions like Indigenous Pop X. I argue that these comics are acts of decolonization and self-determination where creators use comics as educational tools and as a form of cultural preservation by documenting Indigenous …

Sex, Love, And Masturbating: A Touchy Subject, Gabrielle Kaminsky-Bayer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of female masturbation has long been considered taboo and this has impacted the sparse research on female masturbation. In addition to the limited literature that exists on women’s reasons for masturbating in general, there are even fewer studies regarding the motivation for women to masturbate while in a relationship or how masturbating in a relationship impacts relational and sexual satisfaction. To date, there has been no study that specifically looks at early adult women (25-35 years old) in relationships that assesses the attitudes and behaviors of masturbation on relational and sexual satisfaction. Additionally, this paper was structured …

The Colored Pill: A History Film Performance Exposing Race Based Medicines, Wanda Lakota

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Of the 32 pharmaceuticals approved by the FDA in 2005, one medicine stood out. That medicine, BiDil®, was a heart failure medication that set a precedent for being the first approved race based drug for African Americans. Though BiDil®, was the first race specific medicine, racialized bodies have been used all throughout history to advance medical knowledge. The framework for race, history, and racialized drugs was so multi-tiered; it could not be conceptualized from a single perspective. For this reason, this study examines racialized medicine through performance, history, and discourse analysis.

The focus of this work aimed …

A Black Feminist Quare Interrogation Of Stud Misogyny In Black Queer Web Series, Taisha Mcmickens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this Black feminist-quare study is to analyze the relationship between misogyny and queer masculinity performed by “studs” in Black queer web series located on YouTube.com: Women of Atlanta TV, New York Girls TV, Choiices The Series, and The Best Friend. Studs are masculine-identified Black lesbians. Stud misogyny is tethered to histories of the patriarchal gaze on Black women’s bodies. This gaze exposes stud and femme queers to layers of violence challenging us to rethink masculinities outside of the colonial imagination. I employ a Black Feminist Quare theoretical framework to attend to stud’s embodied experiences, challenge …

Racially Diverse Adolescent Friendship Groups: A Phenomenological Research Study, Arielle Brooke Mottes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School psychologists and other school personnel are trained to engage in selfreflective and culturally humble practices to better serve an increasingly racially diverse student population. While most literature on cultural humility (CH) focuses on its development in professionals, this research study looks at its development in students experiencing the phenomenon of racially diverse friendship. Previous research has found there to be a significant relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and social competence. The intended purpose of this study was to explore the possible relationship between ToM and CH amongst high school students who are part of racially diverse friendship groups. …

Black Minds Matter: A Phenomenological Inquiry Examining The Prevalence Of Racial Trauma Among Black Doctoral Students, Jazmyne Markeeva Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Systemic and institutionalized racism is endemic to life in the United States and contributes to the daily marginalization of Black people. While the negative psychological and physiological effects of racism have been well-documented, the notion that racism can be experienced as a trauma is a newer theory. Racial trauma has been understudied and underappreciated, though it is a theory that clinicians should incorporate when working with Black clients and other clients of color. Exploring the ways in which Black doctoral students attending a predominantly White institution (PWI) have experienced racism is an essential contribution to the existing racial trauma literature. …

Antitrust In Times Of Information Technology: An Analysis Of Big Tech Monopoly Cases, Shamayeta Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The information technology industry is one of the most rapidly growing yet concentrated markets existing today. Big Tech monopolies and their increasingly anticompetitive behavior posits risks for competition, technological innovation and consumer welfare. This ranges from price discrimination, limiting consumer choices to the unethical use of data. The particular nature of information technology, with its network effects and negligible marginal costs, incentivizes and facilitates predatory market practices making antitrust analysis in this industry extremely complex. Certain schools of antitrust thought are more sensitive (namely the post-Chicago school) to these implications than others, though antitrust application is still lacking in both …

Beyond Interventions: A Case Study Of The Denver Art Museum’S Native Arts Artist-In-Residency Program, Madison Sussmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Denver Art Museum’s Native Arts Artist-in-Residency Program is an inter-departmental project dedicated to the collaboration between the museum, artists, and visitors. The residency and the physical studio were established to formalize artist involvement in the museum. There is no written mission statement for the program, but visitor engagement is central to the organization of the program and experience of the artist. This thesis explores the question: What can the experiences of the artists and museum professionals involved in the Native Arts Artist-in-Residency program tell about the residency’s contribution to critical museology and decolonization? Through exploring the definitions of critical …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Korean Adoptees’ Multiple Minority Identities, Jared Utley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the end of the Korean War, Korean children have been placed for international adoption due to their marginalized status in South Korea. In the United States, Korean children have predominantly been adopted to White families through transracial adoption (Bergquist, 2003; Lee, 2003). Transracial adoption describes the process of children being placed in a home where there are racial differences with one or both adoptive parents. Through international transracial adoption, Korean adoptees may undergo events that impact the salience and development of multiple minority identities, including: racial, ethnic, cultural, and as an adoptee. These experiences may be shaped by interactions …

“Dialogical Offense:” A Postcolonial Womanist Deconstruction Of The Colonial Experience Of African American Women Through U.S. Institutional Apparatus Known As Criminal Justice Policy, April Michelle Woodson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Black female experience in the United States is a colonized existence. This project’s analysis is specific to the North American U.S. geographic space and is not a diasporic project. Black women suffered from the greatest increase in the percentage of inmates incarcerated for drug offenses in the 1980’s and 1990’s which is the period of criminal justice policy formation and implementation on which this project is focused.

This project is uniquely situated in the overlap between womanist ethics and postcolonial feminist imagination and extends scholarship in both discourses by showing that there is an interwoven line between the colonial-to-contemporary …

Correctional Staff Attitudes Toward Transgender Individuals, Neilou Heidari

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Compared to the general population, transgender individuals face higher rates of victimization, violence, substance use, physical health issues, and mental health problems. Transgender people are more likely to face barriers in finding and maintaining employment and housing due to discrimination. As a result, they are more likely to participate in illegal economies such as sex work and drug distribution. These factors contribute to the overrepresentation of transgender people in jails and prisons in the United States. Specifically, 16% of transgender adults have been incarcerated, compared to 2.7% of the general population. While under custody, transgender individuals are at risk of …

From Field To Museum: Intergenerational Education In Public Archaeology, Nicholas Daniel Dungey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists have developed different curricula and methods within museums, classrooms, and field settings that engage the public in learning about the past. One realm of public archaeology that has received little research is studying how intergenerational education impacts engaging learners of varying ages with the past. Community collaboration and place-based education (PBE) have served as relevant topics of research for intergenerational educators. I incorporated intergenerational education methods at an archaeology summer camp at Highlands Micro School and at a temporary interactive exhibit at the History Colorado Center. I utilized surveys to determine changes in perception of archaeology that occurred between …

Black Finesse Amidst The Political Science Paradigm: A Race-Grounded Phenomenology, Janiece Zalina Mackey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, I develop a methodology that I call Race-Grounded Phenomenology (RGP). The scope of this study investigates how Black undergraduate students navigate the discipline of political science. An eclectic array of critical theories of race unveil the ways in which Black undergraduate students exhibit flair and tenacity, or what I call Black Finesse. The eclectic array of critical theories of race utilized in this study include critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and identity enactments. However, this study focuses on the Black student experience amidst the socialization of political science or what I call the political science paradigm. …