Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Narrating The New Cold War: Investigating Chinese Cyber Propaganda And Sino-American Tensions On Bilibili, William G. Highfill

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis examines Bilibili, a Chinese video-sharing platform originally known for its anime, comics, and gaming (ACG) content, as a critical site for the formation and circulation of nationalist discourse in the context of a “New Cold War” between the United States and China. As ideological rivalry increasingly shifts from traditional state media and military posturing to decentralized digital platforms, Bilibili offers a unique case study in how propaganda evolves in participatory online spaces. Through a combination of digital ethnography and discourse analysis, this research explores how Bilibili’s algorithmic infrastructure, comment culture (弹幕), and remix-oriented design allow users to not …

The Current 'Ban-Demic': School Book Bans In The U.S., Barbara Perez, Jane Caputi

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay examines the alarming rise of U.S book. Our stance is grounded in our experiences as educators and academics in Florida, the state with the highest number of book bans and legislation that has significantly impacted education. Book bans infringe on freedom of expression, right to access information, = students’ right to education, and real harm to targeted communities (i.e., LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities), as the bans contribute to the ongoing marginalization and stigmatization of these communities. Diverse representation is key in literature and education. Banning popular culture texts from the classroom stifles critical thinking, social dialogue, and, ultimately, …

Pod 20th Anniversary Publication 2025, Project Open Door

Publications + Documents + Videos

RISD Project Open Door (POD) is celebrating 20 years and its commitment to supporting access to art education.

In early June community members gathered at Woods-Gerry to view work by current POD students and alums in an exhibition that featured paintings, sculptures, photographs and other works.

Professor Emeritus Paul Sproll, founder of the program, spoke at the June event about POD’s inception in 2005. “This show reflects the strong community behind Project Open Door,” he said. “Thank you RISD, thank you students, thank you alums and thank you supporters. This work is important, and I hope it will continue for …

Who Gets To Be A Child And When? The Pervasive Yet Contextually Shaped Nature Of Racialized Adultification Across Perceivers And Contexts, Kevin M. Summers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Racialized adultification is a pervasive bias in which individuals tend to judge Black children as older and more adult-like than White children of the same age. This racial bias is discussed across many scientific domains in addition to popular media, yet there is relatively little empirical work documenting its existence, consequences, and boundary conditions. In the current work, I aim to develop an empirical foundation that advances scientific understanding of racialized adultification and in turn contributes to a growing model that elucidates the conditions under which individuals are disproportionately likely to express this pernicious bias. In the current work, I …

The Spring 2025 Issue, Destiny Dehart, Laura K. Clark Hunt, Crystal Walker, Austin Bello, Lauren Nimon-Viola, Sarah Gonzalez

Fonds and Feathers

This issue, edited by Destiny DeHart, features “Advances in Storytelling” by Assistant Professor Laura K. Clark Hunt, Ph.D., “Evolving Storytelling in Libraries: Project Techne” by Crystal Walker, “Who’s Rewriting History” by Austin Bello, “Soldiers in Disguise: Women’s Stories from the Civil War” by Lauren Viola, “Once Upon a Map: Storytelling in Libraries with ARCGIS Storymaps” by Sara Gonzalez, “Mold in the Archives: How Bias Influences Stories” by Destiny DeHart, and interview with managing reference archivist Devin McGeehan Muchmore of the GLBT Historical Society. In addition, upcoming conferences are listed. A list of students who will graduate in December 2024 with …

An Auto-Criticism Exploration Of An International Transracial Adoption, Jessica M. Morganfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation explores the lived experience of international transracial adoption through the combined methodologies of auto-criticism and journaling. Using a first-person, insider-led approach, this study addresses four central research questions: (1) What experiences emerge when an adult adoptee reflects on their childhood as an international transracial adoptee? (2) How do identity development, cultural socialization, and experiences of racial and adoptive microaggressions intersect and influence an individual? (3) How does auto-criticism uniquely describe the international transracial adoptee experience? and (4) How might journaling serve as a research tool for data collection and analysis?

Daily journaling over a 30-day period functioned …

Culture And Environment: The Calling Lakes Ecomuseum As A Community Sustainability Initiative, Kace N. Anders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Located in Saskatchewan, Canada, the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum, CLEM, is a community-based organization focused on water management and sustainability. Ecomuseums are holistic organizations that occupy landscapes, are responsive to community needs, conserve in situ heritage, and incorporate sustainability along with community development. The ecomuseum movement came from a need for holistic heritage management that disengaged with conventional museology and created space for communities to engage with their heritage in ways that promote community identity. This thesis analyzes the Calling Lakes Ecomuseum and how it utilizes the ecomuseum concept alongside environmental sustainability. Both semi-structured interviews and place-based field observations were used …

The Improvement Regime: Public Trusts, Real Estates, And India’S Urban Futurities, Anwesha Ghosh

Articles

Over the last two decades, since scholarly writing on India witnessed an “urban turn,” numerous historians have analyzed the role of the improvement trust in the redevelopment of Indian cities in the twentieth century, most specifically those of Bombay, Calcutta, and Delhi. This paper revisits and reassesses some of their key arguments to suggest that rather than studying the “failures” of the individual trusts to foster sanitary built environments, we should pay attention to the contingent workings of the city trusts that were constitutively designed for such failures. Using a comparative analysis of the Bombay and Calcutta improvement trusts, this …

The Role Of Imagination In Archaeology: Linking Contemplation And Method At The Amache National Historic Site, Sami Zepponi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeology is both a science and an interpretative process, blending material discovery with imagination to reconstruct past experiences. This research, conducted through the 2024 University of Denver Amache Field School, explores the archaeological imagination and the creative and cognitive engagement that shapes historical interpretation. Using Amache, a WWII Japanese American incarceration site, as a case study, this thesis examines how material culture, landscape modifications, and reflection inform archaeological understanding. This study explores how imagination connects tangible findings to cultural narratives by integrating community-based archaeology, place and landscape theory, and contemplative inquiry. Findings highlight imagination as essential to archaeology, enabling deeper …

Exploring The Effects Of Africana Studies On Black Undergraduate Students: A Qualitative Case Study, Lanaya M. Butler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Particularly in the context of American K-12 schools, education has been manipulated to control—rather than liberate—students through the erasure and distortion of Black history, experiences, perspectives, and capabilities. Additionally, American schools prioritize memorization and obedience while failing to equip students with critical thinking skills. As a result, students are trained to become workers rather than innovators, worldbuilders, and change-makers. For nearly a century, Black educational critics have stated that these systems were designed to subjugate Black community members through dehumanization and enslavement of the mind. These critiques are foundational to the aims of Afrocentric education which posits the life experiences …

Pilgrimage, Trade And Empire: A Gis Investigation Of Pre-Hispanic Roads In The Ocoña And Chorunga Valleys Of Peru, Geri Evilla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines Inca imperial expansion into the Ocoña and Chorunga Valleys, through an investigation of precolonial roads and trails. It focuses on the Middle to Late Horizons (700 BCE-1534 CE), with specific attention to the last 100 years, when the region was occupied by the Inca state and experienced a rapid increase in population and architectural development. Data collected in excavations, and pedestrian, and drone surveys were used in geographic information systems, to map pre-Hispanic road systems. A combination of Least Cost Path and viewshed analyses were used to investigate land use patterns and tie this region into the …

The Embodiment And Experiences Of Gender Euphoria Among Transgender And Nonbinary Communities: A Mixed Methods Inquiry, Brendon T. Holloway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender euphoria is a critical aspect of embodiment for transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people that has long been overshadowed in academic research by deficit narratives and gender dysphoria. While gender dysphoria is the distress an individual may experience related to their gender, gender euphoria encapsulates the positive emotions a TNB person may experience because of positive gendered experiences. Despite community documentations of gender euphoria since the 1970s, academic research on gender euphoria has only recently begun to emerge. This three-paper dissertation advances this body of scholarship by exploring how gender euphoria is conceptualized, experienced, and embodied in TNB communities. Utilizing …

Sustaining Queerness: A Phenomenological Study Of Colorado Educators, Devani Lemmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to engage queer Colorado educators to explore how to sustain their identities as queer educators in a politically fractured state. By focusing on Colorado, I could assess the extent to which the legal protections afforded there adequately support educators in sustaining themselves. Additionally, the findings from Colorado had the potential to further illuminate factors influencing teacher sustainability and retention on a much larger scale. The questions for this research project were: 1) How are queer educators sustaining themselves and each other in an increasingly volatile political climate? 2) What, if any, factors impact queer …

E Ho’Omau Mākau, We Will Continue: The Living Sovereign Entities Of Contemporary Hawaiian Songs, Kēhaulani Lagunero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the relationship between contemporary Hawaiian mele (songs) and Hawaiian ea (sovereignty), focusing on how mele acts as sovereign living entities representing cultural resilience, identity, and resistance to settler-colonial influences. Through semi-structured interviews with Kānaka Maoli, participant observation at cultural events, and close analysis of mele, I identify that these songs are not only expressions of cultural memory, but also living embodiments of ea—sovereignty because they are alive, and they are alive because they are ea. Drawing from the frameworks of cultural survival, survivance, symbolic power, and defiant indigeneity, I explore how mele actively engage …

Chingonas In Charge: A Phenomenological Study Of Latina Educational Leaders In Colorado, Paulina Yvette Lerma-Banuelos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite comprising 76% of the U.S. teaching workforce (2017−2018), Latina women held only 8.5% of principal roles and 2.7% of superintendent positions. In places such as Colorado, where Latinos make up 15.1% of the population, this inequity highlights the pressing necessity for better representation. The present study used a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore the fundamental essence and attributes of leadership among Latina K−12 administrators in Colorado, with a focus on the concept of “chingona” and its transformative significance in their professional journeys. The name “chingona” was historically rejected by young Latina women because of connotations to being aggressive or …

Is She Being “Fast?”: Exploration Of African American Women’S Experience With Sexual Objectification, Alaigra V.R. Usher

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Issues of sexual objectification have been intertwined in America’s history since enslavement. This phenomenology study aimed to explore African American women’s lived experiences with sexual objectification and to understand the essential themes and conceptualizations that African American women attribute to sexual objectification. Through semi-structured interviews with a criterion sampling of African American women, the research sought to identify core themes surrounding sexual objectification experiences. In the results of this study, it was found that this population conceptualizes their sexual objectification experiences through seven themes: Earliest Sexual Objectification Experiences (SOE), SOE, Responses to SOE, Parental Protection, Reasons for SOE, SOE places, …

Survival Guide For Queer Families In Heteronormative Healthcare: Liberatory Consciousness And The Paradox Of Dependent Healthcare, A Critical Policy Discourse Analysis, Dwenna A. Holden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study I explored and analyzed how the queer experiences of an anonymous higher education institution in the western United States’ self-identified queer faculty and staff intersected with the discursive framing of the college’s dependent healthcare structure and documents. Within a critical paradigm I designed research around a high-density theoretical approach to weaving various branches of queer theory together with critical theory around policy and law in relation to queer bodies and hostile heteronormative policy environments. I arrived at solutions based in complaint, survival, and transformation. I used critical policy discourse analyses to interrogate the college’s dependent healthcare documents …

The New Right-Wing Populist: The Blonde “Mother Of The Nation”, Christina Charie

Political Science Undergraduate Theses

The rise of right-wing populism in European politics has come along side an increased presence of female representation in political affairs. What aesthetic decisions are being made by far-right female populist politicians? How do moderate right and left-wing women politicians differ in their presentation styles from populist women? While right-wing politics have gained traction in Europe before, this time women are the face of many right-wing populist movement, even though much of the ideology is rooted in misogyny and the presence of strong, masculine figureheads. With women taking center stage within these right-wing movements that are historically masculine, understanding their …

Kindling, Cosima Pellis

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

Meditation On Winter's Bare Trees, Reng Zhao

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

Young Boy And The Wallet, Isdaly Reyes

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

Mexican American, Isdaly Reyes

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

The Celestial Progenitors, Caden P. Ide

CLAMANTIS: The MALS Journal

No abstract provided.

The Resilience Of The Pare Traditional Pottery Industry In Tanzania During The Colonial And Post-Colonial Eras, 1900s–2020, Shakila Halifan Mteti

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper examines the resilience of the traditional pottery industry among the Pare women potters in Tanzania. It focuses on how the industry responded to local and global socio-economic and political dynamics from the colonial period in the 1900s through 2020. Specifically, it explores how Pare women potters have attained success, navigated challenges, and adapted to changing economic and social conditions. The study focuses on the Pare people of Usangi in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. It is based on in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and archival and written sources collected between July and December 2018. The study findings are threefold. …

Joker Forum Theatre As A Classroom Teacher: Qualitative Research Data., Nadarajan Thambu

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

The task of maintaining the focus and interest of students on the teaching and learning process in the classroom is still a challenge for teachers of Moral Education subject. Students who do not pay attention, cannot understand moral values, accept and show commitment to them. The failure of students to focus will also fail the effort to produce moral human beings. Meanwhile, the role of theater in the field of education is also undeniable. Therefore, a form of community theater named Forum Theatre has been used as a pedagogy of teaching Moral Education among preservice teachers. In the context of …

The Very Fine Line: Utilitarian Aesthetics And Threshold Politics In Now You See Me Moria, Nik Rye

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

Now You See Me Moria (est. August 2020) is an international socially engaged art collective that brings visibility to the inhumane conditions of the Moria refugee camp, aiming to influence European Union migration policies. This paper examines the collective’s work across digital and physical gallery spaces, analyzing the role of utilitarian aesthetics in both image and process, and situating the project alongside the migratory journey of a specific member. The resonance of this initiative, and the actions it has catalyzed, reveals a societal push to disrupt the contemporary art mainstream in favor of an emergent movement that privileges lived experience …

This Is Theatre: Deconstructed Repetition And Theatre-In-Education During Covid-19, Subbah Mir

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

This project report is a practical application of deconstructed repetition model, I devised by merging Augusto Boal and Baz Kershaw, in an undergraduate Composition Writing class in Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, U.S. As the facilitator Deconstructed repetition means cost-effective repetition of personal and local stories for introspection in order to engage the community members, address the oppression, and celebrate the local culture. The four stipulations of the models are: avoiding the Western canon (or hegemonic voice), making the audience(s) see direct and indirect oppression, circumventing commodification while maintaining audience interest, and celebrating local culture instead of downright criticizing it. …

Isto É Teatro: Repetição Desconstruída E Teatro Na Educação Durante A Covid-19, Subbah Mir

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

Neste artigo, discuto o uso do círculo de narrativas (Roadside Theatre, 1999) denominado como um "modelo de repetição desconstruída" para o ativismo comunitário, capaz de conectar os problemas pessoais dos alunos com as questões sociais/comunitárias. Iniciei este projeto com um curso síncrono online de Redação de Textos para alunos de graduação. Ao final do semestre, os alunos participaram dinamicamente do ativismo comunitário por meio da exploração de questões socio-pessoais, o que levou a diversas iniciativas empreendidas posteriormente pelo Grêmio Estudantil da universidade. Este projeto foi conduzido para testar o Modelo de Repetição Desconstruída desenvolvido como uma ferramenta eficaz de ativismo …

O Que Há De Tão Engraçado No Teatro Do Oprimido?, Jennifer Schaupp

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

Este artigo analisa meu workshop virtual da Conferência Pedagogia e Teatro do Oprimido de 2023, no contexto da comédia e da corporeidade. Considera as atividades que facilitei e suas origens, juntamente com minha percepção da reação dos participantes, para que outros educadores e facilitadores as adaptem às suas próprias experiências educacionais.

What's So Funny About Theatre Of The Oppressed?, Jennifer Schaupp

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

This article examines my 2023 Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference virtual workshop within the framework of comedy and embodiment. It considers the activities I facilitated and their origins along with my perception of participant reaction for other educators and facilitators to adapt for their own educational experiences.