Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“There's No I In Team”: Student Athlete Identity At An Ncaa Division Ii University, Jovanah Arrington

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Student athletes hold a unique identity at colleges and universities all across the nation. They are tasked with the high demands and time constraints of being both a college level student and athlete. While there have been growing conversations about student athletes at Division I institutions, those pertaining to Division II student athletes remain minimal.

While student athletes have a great deal in common, they all come from different backgrounds that have contributed to who they are today. When arriving to college, these unique individuals are introduced to institutional power structures that constrain and control their identities and individuality. These …

Pornstars, Content Creators, And Sex Educators: A Discourse Analysis Of Gender, Sexuality & Resistance In The West-Coast Pornography Industry, Samantha Silver

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Given the ease of Internet accessibility, the porn industry increasingly provides a common socialization medium for conceptions of gender, sex, and sexuality. For my master's thesis, I interviewed 10 industry film and video actors to better understand the processes through which their experiences are created. Interviews provided the data for a discourse analysis that considers systems of power that shaped actor interactions and core definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality. Hegemonic constructions of gender, femininity, and sexuality are pervasive in the industry; however, the industry also provides an arena for transformative discourse and disruption of hegemonic ideals. This research is …

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 …

(In)Difference To Survivors: The Anti-Violence Comics Project, Henry Solares

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Sexualized violence prevention at the university level can sometimes leave out the perspectives and needs of marginalized groups. Ethics should always serve to temper any endeavors to work with marginalized groups. Any endeavor into the field requires methods and frameworks that serve not only the needs of the researcher but also the knowledge builders involved. Postmodern ethnography articulates a need for contesting a positivist understanding of knowledge through use of alternative methods like novelized fiction, autobiography, documentary, and visual art. In conjunction, intersectional theory forces us to consider our place as researchers and the larger power dynamics within our culture. …

We Break Our Bodies To Save Our Souls: Identity Construction Through The Participation In Flat Track Roller Derby, Torisha Stone

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

While sociology of sport has been growing steadily over the last few decades, with an increased focus on how sports participation allow for active identity construction, research on roller derby is incredibly limited. I argue that research on roller derby provides an important window for understanding gendered sports construction and participation. Derby also provides a space where identities are created through performance in addition to the creation of unique personas or in some cases primary identities. In this study, I conducted 15 semi-structured open ended interviews using non-probability and snowball sampling techniques of a rural roller derby league as well …

Aspirants And Interlopers: First-Generation, Underrepresented, Low-Income Master's Students, Jennifer Miles

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis is based on eleven interviews with seven students enrolled in a social science master’s degree program at a small public university in the Western United States (University of the Northwest - UNW). My analysis details the differences in pathways and educational experiences between first- and continuing-generation students in this program. I found that first-generation, underrepresented, low-income (FGULI) students expressed greater difficulty fitting into graduate school, greater doubt about their ability to ‘do’ graduate school, less comfort interacting with faculty, and less ease with the concept of graduate school and with conceptualizing themselves as graduate students than continuing-generation students …