Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Colonial Necrocapitalism, State Secrecy, And The Palestinian Freedom Tunnel, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Stephanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Secrecy and the use of “secret information” as capital in the hands of the state is mobilised by affective racialised machineries, cultivated on “security” grounds. Securitised secrecy is an assemblage of concealed operations juxtaposing various forms of invasions and dispossessions. It is a central strategy in the politico-economic life of the state to increase its scope of domination. Secrecy is used and abused to entrap and penetrate political subjects and entities. This article explores the necrocapitalist utilisation of secrecy embedded in the coloniser’s attempt to distort the mind of the colonised. Built from the voices of those affected by secrecy’s …

Black Feminism And Me/Maine Webinar, University Of Maine Alumni Association

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Video of the University of Maine Alumni Association's Black Feminism and Me/Maine Webinar.

The conversation was facilitated by Laren Babb who pursued a graduate degree in chemistry from the University of Maine. Around the table will be: Dr. Samaa Abdurraqib, Associate Director, Maine Humanities Council; Dr. Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology, Bates College; Dr. Leslie Hill, Professor Emerita of Politics, Bates College; Amara Ifeji, Director of Youth Engagement and Policy, Maine Environmental Association and National Geographic Young Explorer; and Kosi Ifeji, Bangor High School student and Youth Hub Coordinator, Maine Environmental Education Association.

The event was made possible with …

Gentrification, Amie Thurber, Amy Krings

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gentrification can be understood as the process through which geographical areas become increasingly exclusive, which disproportionately harms people living in poverty and people of color, as well as the elderly, families, and youth. As such, this article argues that macro social work practitioners should view gentrification as a key concern. Thus, to help guide macro interventions, the article begins by first defining gentrification and describing ways to measure it, while emphasizing its difference from revitalization. Second, the article explores causes of gentrification, including its relationship to systemic racism. Third, the article explores the consequences of gentrification on individuals’ and communities’ …

University Libraries Faculty Assembly - Racism Impact Statement & Dean's Response, Maya Hobscheid, Samantha Minnis, Annie Bélanger

Library Reports and Communication

Racism and white supremacy culture have a profound impact on nonwhite faculty in higher education and throughout the tenure and promotion process. This document is intended to acknowledge the impact of racism on the tenure and promotion process in general as well as in our specific context of Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries. It is not intended to be comprehensive of everyone’s lived experiences or of the effects of racism on all.

The Imperative For Climate Action At Portland State University, Stephen Percy

Office of the President Publications and Presentations

Portland State University President Stephen Percy announces the formation of the Climate Change Initiative.

Can Preference Policies Advance Racial Justice?, Amie Thurber, Lisa Bates, Susan Halverson

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mitigating the harms of gentrification to communities of color is a pressing challenge. One promising approach is preference policies that enable long-term residents to remain in or return to gentrifying neighborhoods. This mixed-methods study evaluates the City of Portland’s “Preference Policy,” which provides targeted affordable rental housing to residents displaced from a historically Black neighborhood. This paper draws on survey, interview, and focus group data to explore resident motivations, changes to well-being, and recommendations for improving the policy. Findings suggest preference policies can enhance well-being, and underscore the need for comprehensive strategies to advance racial justice in gentrifying neighborhoods.

Transforming Pete’S Initial Standards: Ensuring Social Justice For Black Students In Physical Education., Brian Culp

Faculty and Research Publications

Calls to transform the initial Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) standards to reflect social justice have garnered little attention. Recent events have magnified the racial injustices inflicted upon Black people in America and their ability to participate as full equals in a society influenced and characterized by white supremacy. Using critical race theory (CRT) as a framework, the authors examine the racial formulation of the historical and current installations of SHAPE America’s initial PETE Standards to illustrate the influence of white supremacy in PETE programs, the relationship to physical literacy, and the impact on Black students. After analysis, the authors …

Ouachita Expands Part-Time Campus Police Force, Mandy Halbert, Felley Lawson, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s Office of Campus Safety & Emergency Management has expanded its part-time police force to include members of the Ouachita community committed to building positive relationships with students and serving in a manner consistent with the Christ-centered principles of the university.

The new officers are graduates of Ouachita’s law enforcement training course, developed by Jeff Crow, director of Safety & Emergency Management at Ouachita, and certified by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training. They are Ouachita graduates Cori Gooseberry, Devin Price and Quantel Williams; current student Hayden Reedy, a senior communications & media/communications studies major …

Dr. Myra Houser Presents At Baptist International Scholars Roundtable, Julie Shands, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Dr. Myra Houser, associate professor of history at Ouachita Baptist University, presented her paper, “Baptists and Social Concern.” during the Baptist International Scholars Roundtable in August 2021.

"Dr. Houser has become one of the most prolific scholars at Ouachita,” said Dr. Chris Mortenson, chair of the Department of History at Ouachita. “Myra's ability to relate research interests to her faith—while also producing yet another presentation and book chapter—reflects very well on the Department of History. We are proud to call Dr. Houser a colleague and friend."

Houser chose to write on the subject after her work on the anti-apartheid movement …

Increasing Diversity In Leadership: Perspectives Of Four Black Women Educational Leaders In The Context Of The United States, Natasha N. Johnson, Janice Fournillier

CJC Publications

This paper is a collation of the vicarious experiences of four Black women, all senior-level educational leaders in the United States of America. Considering the predominance of White males in educational leadership, our paper furthers the conversation around increasing race-gender diversification in this realm. We employed the tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology, focusing on the intersections of race and gender, in the effort to challenge extant epistemologies manifested within this context. Using in-depth, timed, semi-structured interviews, participants reflected on their journeys, experiences, and perceptions as non-archetypal leaders in education. In highlighting contributors’ perspectives, our objective was to bring the matter of …

Experiences In Archaeology, Social Justice, And Democratic Principles: The 2016-2019 Archaeological Field School At The University Of Hawai'i West O'Ahu, William Belcher, Suzanne Falgout, Joyce Chinen, Robert Kalani Carriera, Johanna Fuller

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

From 2016 to 2019, the University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu conducted archaeological field schools at Honouliuli National Historic Site to teach our students basic archaeological skills. Because the site was the largest Japanese and Japanese American concentration camp on O‘ahu, the field school initiated a program related to social justice and democratic principles for the imprisonment of US citizens and legal residents based on racial and national profiling. The demography of O‘ahu created a special bond to the incarcerees’ stories and the students of Asian and Hawaiian descent. Through field trips, student discussion, and curriculum development, we focused on the …

The Trauma-Informed Equity-Minded Asset-Based Model (Team) The Six R’S For Social Justice-Oriented Educators, Srividya Ramasubramanian, Emily Riewestahl, Shelby Landmark

Mass Communications - All Scholarship

This paper describes the Trauma-informed Equity-minded Asset-based Model (TEAM) framework for social justice-oriented educators. We draw on trauma-informed approaches to illustrate how systemic racism as systemic trauma and normative whiteness as dominant ideology are embedded in the U.S education and media institutions. From an equity-minded perspective, we critique notions such as egalitarianism, colorblind racism, neoliberal multiculturalism, and abstract liberalism. Using an asset-based model, we urge educators to avoid deficit ideologies to frame marginalized communities. The TEAM approach offers the following “Six R’s” as strategies: (1) Realizing that dominant ideologies are embedded in educational systems, (2) Recognizing the long-term effects of …

Do Media Literacies Approach Equity And Justice?, Paul Mihailidis, Srividya Ramasubramanian, Melissa Tully, Bobbie Foster, Emily Riewestahl, Patrick Johnson, Sydney Angove

Mass Communications - All Scholarship

It is often assumed that media literacy serves to protect and uphold democratic practice and that media literate citizens are the best safeguards for democracy. However, little attention is paid to defining this practice and its relationship to ongoing inequities within democratic societies. In this essay, we argue media literacy operates from three core assumptions; media literacy creates knowledgeable individuals, empowers communities, and encourages democratic participation. The first assumption draws out an individual’s skills and critical thinking in media literacy practices. The second assumption focuses on the community aspect of media literacy, specifically which communities are best served by media …

Decolonizing & Indigenizing Lis, Heather Hill, Marni Harrington, Paulette Rothbauer, Danica Pawlick Potts

FIMS Publications

What does it mean to Indigenize and decolonize a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program? This paper outlines the process by which one Canadian MLIS program responded to the reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Library Association Indigenous Matters Committee that specify the implications and provide guidelines for best practices for librarianship and the information professions across Canada. In outlining the challenges of re-engineering our standard procedures, practices, and pedagogies, this paper provides a path forward for other MLIS programs looking to critically evaluate and develop their own programs.

The Robert Talbot Civil Rights Speaker Series Flyer_2021, University Of Maine Alumni Association, Greater Bangor Area Branch Naacp

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Flyer for the inauguration of The Robert Talbot Civil Rights Speaker Series featuring "Fighting Times" coauthors Amy Banks and Isaac Knapper.

Representation Justice As A Research Agenda For Socio-Hydrology And Water Governance, Melissa Haeffner, Dana E. Hellman, Alida Cantor, Idowu Ajibade, Vinka Oyanedel-Craver, Maura Kelly, Laura Schifman, Lisa Weasel

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose representation justice as a theoretical lens for socio-hydrology and water governance studies. An exploratory survey of 496 water sector employees in the United States revealed that self-identifying females felt more strongly discriminated against due to their gender and other social factors, compared to self-identifying males. Responses unveiled how macro- and microaggressions impede career pathways to leadership positions and, therefore, representation. We identify ways in which socio-hydrology can benefit from a representation justice lens by considering the following: (1) how power and politics shape the composition of the water sector and decision-making processes; (2) how available quantitative data do …

Renovations For Beryl Warner Williams Hall Email, Joan Ferrini-Mundy

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email from University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy to the University of Maine community regarding funding raising to support renovations of Beryl Warner Williams Hall with an additional $75,000 to raise.

Perceived Barriers To Black And Asian Solidarity: A Pilot Study Of Internalized Racial Oppression And Perspective-Taking, Josephine Wu

McNair Scholars Program

Cross-racial solidarity between Asian and Black communities in the U.S. needs increased mutual understanding. Research has limited knowledge of intergroup relations and how these groups perceive each other. Research suggests that one barrier is internalized racial oppression (IRO), but doesn’t consider IRO in intergroup contexts. This qualitative pilot study uses semi-structured interviews to identify patterns of themes related to intergroup IRO perspective-taking and perceived barriers to Black-Asian solidarity.

Campus Recreation Call For Artists, University Of Maine Campus Recreation

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Screenshot of University of Maine Campus Recreation webpage with a call for artists to design a banner to showcase Campus Recreation’s statement for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the New Balance Recreation Center and/or Maine Bound Adventure Center.

The Homelessness Research And Action Collaborative: Case Studies Of The Social Innovation Process At A University Research Center, Jacen Greene

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Purpose This paper aims to determine whether a combined set of process models for university contributions to social innovation can be effectively used to describe how higher education institutions facilitate and disseminate research for social value.

Design/methodology/approach The author applies Cunha and Benneworth’s (2013) social innovation process model, with additions from the Nichols et al. (2013) model of campus-community collaboration and the Jain et al. (2020) social value framework, to a pair of case studies at Portland State University about research projects on homelessness. Information was gathered through primary sources, observation and secondary texts.

Findings Applying the models to the …

Chancellor Messages_An Important Update For Ums Employees, Dannel P. Malloy

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email from University of Maine Chancellor Dannel P. Malloy regarding Maine's recognition of June Juneteenth as an official holiday for the first time in June 2022. UMS.

Fostering Information Literacy: A Call For Collaboration Between Academic Librarians And Msw Instructors., Sarah C. Johnson, Margaret Bausman, Sarah Ward

Publications and Research

Genuine collaboration between academic librarians and social work faculty in which information literacy is embedded in social work education is lacking. Drawing from the results of the authors’ 2016 quantitative study surveying academic social work librarians across the United States, this qualitative follow-up uses data from 27 semi-structured interviews concerning the prevalence and nature of information literacy instruction (ILI) in social work education, how ILI is introduced and sustained in social work curricula, and the alignment between ILI efforts with institutional goals, guidelines from accreditation authorities, and professional social work practice standards. The literature review engages the reader in a …

Creating Spaces For Meaningful Dialogue: The Human Library At Three Universities, Annette Alvarado, Barbara Ghilardi, John Jackson, Lisa Thornell, Susan Wardzala

LMU Librarian Publications & Presentations

The Human Library® is an event designed to create a safe and brave space for individuals to discover and share social identities and perspectives unfamiliar to their lived experience. The DiMenna-Nyselius Library at Fairfield University, Loyola University Libraries at Loyola University Chicago, and William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University each hosts a unique version of the Human Library event. In this poster, the authors give a brief overview of the Human Library and outline how they orchestrate meaningful dialogue on campus: starting with planning and collaborations with campus partners; facilitating individuals to connect at the event to hear …

Three Non-U.S. Perspectives On The Covid-19 Experience In Libraries, Sarah Ruslan, Edward Junhao Lim, Jennifer Aw Stubbs

UConn Library Presentations

This was an interactive panel presented at the Critical Pedagogy Symposium. Our presenters’ theme was their atypical work experiences across different cities.

• Jennifer shared her perspective as a privileged economic migrant (White American woman in Shanghai). Colleges and graduate schools have been online–successfully–for over a decade. Our students are not alone. This is the new normal and it is cool.

• Sarah shared her perspective both as a library student doing her fieldwork on a controversial topic during the lockdown in Singapore, as well as a library staff managing on-site student workers who live on campus while she worked from home. …

Engaging Conversations: Foregrounding Twitter Feeds In Library Guides As A Way To Critically Promote Discussions Of Social Justice, Anders Tobiason

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

Academic librarians have often been hesitant to foreground real time engagement with social justice in our public facing library guides. The guides, more often than not, serve merely to provide access points to “academic” materials and traditional news sources. Perhaps there is a different path. Driven by the events of the past year (though these issues are not new), I have been working on ways to point patrons towards the real conversations happening outside (and sometimes inside) academia that are missed when we rely on traditional news sources. The real critical engagement with social justice issues such as race and …

Advertising In The Volunteer Tourism Industry: Analyzing The Relationship Between Social Exclusion And Self-Versus-Other Benefit Appeals., Lyndsay Swanston

Honors Projects in Marketing

This study aims to analyze how consumers perceive advertisements in the volunteer tourism industry when influenced by social exclusion and benefit appeals. The authors examined feelings, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of consumers in reference to an international volunteer trip advertisement. Based on data from a sample (n=259), findings demonstrated that consumers who felt more socially excluded responded more favorably to other-benefit appeals, opposed to self-benefit appeals. An interaction effect was discovered when looking at the degree of sympathy that participants felt regarding the advertisements. Participants who were socially excluded felt more sympathetic after viewing the other-benefit appeal advertisements, whereas those …

Social Justice Attitudes And Health: A Cross Sectional Study, Edward Donovan

Senior Honors Projects

Background: Increasingly, social justice is being considered as a key factor associated with health outcome. In addition, there is growing interest in exploring perception of discrimination in healthcare settings. This study explored perceptions of social justice, health care discrimination, health care status and utilization of healthcare resources. The investigators predict a significant association between the level of social justice awareness and healthcare utilization based on the hypothesis that those who are cognizant of social inequities are more likely to be informed self-advocates in healthcare settings.

Methods: First, a survey was created based on a review of existing literature. The …

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …

New Name Announced For Umaine's Little Hall, University Of Maine Office Of President, Kenda Scheele

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Email message from the University of Maine Office of the President regarding the Finance, Facilities, and Technology Committee, part of the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, receiving a request from President Joan Ferrini-Mundy to change the name of C.C. Little Hall to Beryl Warner Williams Hall.

My Bonner Journey, Hannah Merges

Bonner Presentations

The mission of the Bonner Program is to transform the lives of students and members, their campuses, their local communities, and the world through service and leadership. The Bonner Program is designed to heighten the overall education students and members receive by asking them to engage in ongoing service work and helping them develop the experience, skills, knowledge, and values necessary to make that work meaningful and lasting. In this presentation, Hannah Merges describes the people and experiences which were most meaningful to her throughout her years in the Bonner Program at Ursinus College.