Communication Commons^™

Forum: Twenty Years Of Mcq: Forum Introduction, Kathy Krone

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In this issue we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Management Communication Quarterly. To do so we invited the previous editors to reflect on their experiences providing leadership for the journal. In what follows, each editor looks back on his or her vision for MCQ, how his or her hopes for the journal were realized (or not), and the challenges he or she faced during his or her tenure as editor. Management Communication Quarterly approaches its 21st year rooted in their collective experience of working to establish the journal’s reputation for quality, interdisciplinarity, and internationalization. Although its interdisciplinary roots …

Visibility As Power: A Historical Analysis Of The Boise Gay Pride Celebration, Jennifer Edwards

McNair Scholars Research Journal

This paper situates its analysis in a case study of the three watershed moments arising from the sixteenyear history of the Boise Pride Celebration. These moments reveal the impact that the tension between assimilation and liberation strategies have had in the birthing, changing, and shaping of both the Boise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community’s struggles and its successes in becoming increasingly visible. Interviews and archival research demonstrate that the Pride Celebration originated in, grew and essentially thrived from this tension proving it necessary to transform the Boise LGBT community from a fearful, invisible minority functioning despite a conservative …

Hate, Hegemony And Hooliganism: The Rise Of Far-Right Nationalism In Great Britain, Ben Sprague

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

This thesis seeks to examine the impact of far-Right political parties on the British political system. It cites relevant theories of nationalism and provides a brief historical background to frame the analysis of the present case study. Additionally, the work analyzes the British political system to help explain the inability of extremist parties to win a seat in Parliament. This piece argues that far-Right parties in Great Britain, despite their electoral failures and limited membership, have maintained political legitimacy by recruiting marginalized youth and embracing radical methods. These groups, moreover, could gamer more public support with increases in terrorism, levels …

Gender-Linked Stereotypic Content In Youth Magazines, Devon Cadwell Bazata

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

This study evaluates youth magazines aimed at or read by three different target audiences--boys, girls, boys and girls--and examines whether the magazines reinforce gender stereotypes, and whether the intended audience makes a difference in that reinforcement or lack of it. First, this study established a theoretical framework upon which the selection of the target age group for the sample was based. Piaget and Kohlberg's seminal work, and Gilligan and other feminist theory, is considered in the context of the results. Second, it defined stereotypic, counter-stereotypic, and gender-neutral attributes based on five previous peer-reviewed studies dating from 1957-1975, and confirmed the …

Family Stories As Indicators Of The Family Dynamic, Allison Clarkson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

An important element of the family unit involves the stories that are often told and retold. Although the collection of stories varies among families, the themes within these stories are sometimes common across different families. Within this research, certain patterns were shown to recur regarding these story themes. Furthermore, a positive relationship was found between families’ stories and the characteristics that are used to describe the families.

Framing Femininity: Media Coverage Of A Tennessee Mayoral Campaign, Katie Broderick

Honors Theses

In recent years, more women have emerged from both major parties and across all regions and disciplines to make their voices heard in the political arena. Slowly, the number of women in Senate seats and governor's mansions has inched higher, and there is a strong possibility that we will have a female presidential candidate in the next election. In 2007, 87 women are serving in the United States Congress. They hold 16, or 16%, of the 100 Senate seats, and 71, or 16.4%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In state positions, percentages are slightly higher: in …

Gendered Toy Catalog Advertisements: Made For And Geared Towards Children, Diana R. Paliuca

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

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Cyberfeminism In The Arab World, Dalia Al Nimr

Archived Theses and Dissertations

The Internet has become a viable source of news, information, entertainment, and social integration for people worldwide. The Internet is also a medium where gender identity operates vehemently. Feminists, in particular, hailed the medium as a domain where women can assert their identities without patriarchal constraints and can challenge their stereotypical portrayal in the media. But does the Internet provide such utopianism? A content analysis of 18 websites targeted at Arab women shows that the Internet is marred by the same gender stereotypes that have pigeonholed women for decades, circumscribing them in their domestic roles as housewives and mothers and …

Some Thoughts On China's Sexual Revolution: Sexuality And Social Change In Contemporary China, Sun Zhongxin

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The last two years saw several changes in the public discourse around sex and sexuality in China. So what are some of the most controversial sex-related topics to be raised in China recently?

Letter From The Executive Director: Queer Studies Goes Digital, Paisley Currah

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Google books, journals available only online, Wikipedia. With so much knowledge going digital, is print culture on its way our? While print probably won't disappear as a scholarly medium in the foreseeable future, it is important that CLAGS remain at the cutting edge not just in terms of the kinds of research we support, but in terms of how we disseminate that research. We are currently involved in several long-term projects to share digital resources with our membership and the community at large, expanding on our longstanding commitment to making print and analog materials available that are often not accessible …

Social Changes In South Africa: The Possibilities Of Public Journalism And Development Journalism, Margaretha Geertsema

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

No abstract provided.

Ladies On The Label: A Meta-Analysis Of Stereotypes In Advertising, Valerie L. Spears

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis explores the origins of modern-day racism and sexism by combining a meta-analysis with an in-depth historical examination of the Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker campaigns. The ten studies used in the meta-analysis were selected and analyzed based on criteria developed from the research question and literature review. The researcher made three major conclusions based on the meta-analysis results: 1) It is not only important that minorities are shown in media images, but how they are shown; 2) stereotypes can sometimes mold viewpoints about the stereotyped member(s) of society; and 3) the consumer psyche provides further evidence that viewing …

An Examination Of Everyday Talk In Stepfamily Systems, Paul Schrodt, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Jordan Soliz, Stacy Tye-Williams, Aimee Miller, Emily Lamb Normand, Meredith Marko Harrigan

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study explored frequencies of everyday talk in stepfamilies and the extent to which such frequencies of talk differed according to family relationship type. Participants included a parent, stepparent, and stepchild from 114 stepfamilies. Across relationship types, stepfamily members reported catching up, joking around, and recapping the day’s events most frequently and interrogating family members least frequently. Significant differences in frequencies of everyday talk across different relational dyads emerged for all three members of the stepfamily system. However, relatively few differences emerged in stepchildren’s reported frequencies of everyday talk with their stepparents and their nonresidential parents.

Flag Waving As Visual Argument: 2006 Immigration Demonstrations And Cultural Citizenship, Richard Pineda

Selected Works Temporary Series

During the 2006 immigration rallies and demonstrations, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters tumed out to protest proposed immigration legislation. Flag waving was a key element of these demonstrations, in which participants employed both the U.S. flag and other national flags, most prominently Mexican flags. In this essay, we examine how flag waving functions as a visual argument that offers possibilities for establishing cultural and national citizenship and creating a visual form of refutation. Specifically, we argue that anti-immigration advocates see foreign flags as visual ideographs that represent recent immigrants' failure to assimilate, immigrants' deviant cultural practices, and …

Lessons In Sex And Fascism: Dagmar Herzog's Pedagogy Workshop, Megan Jenkins

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

On December 4, 2006 Dagmar Herzog, Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, led a lively workshop titled "What's So Sexy about Fascism? And Why is it Important to Think About it in the Classroom?" as part of the CLAGS/CSGS LGBTQ Plans Pedagogy Workshop.

Minister Louis Farrakhan, "Million Man March" (16 October 1995), Jill M. Weber

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

An examination of Louis Farrakhan's controversial speech at the Million Man March in October, 1995.

The Regionalization Of Global News: A Case Study Of Cnn Interactive, Margaretha Geertsema

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

No abstract provided.

Gender Portrayal In J.K. Rowling's “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix”: A Feminist Rhetorical Criticism, Nicole Ackman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined J.K. Rowling’s (2003) novel entitled, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Although this novel has not yet been classified as a fairy tale, it does contain fairy tale elements. This study reviewed literature in the field of folklore, fairy tales, and feminism. Foss’ (2004) four-step feminist criticism model was employed to analyze gender portrayals in the novel. According to Foss’ model, the novel was analyzed for masculine or feminine perspectives of the world, effects on the audience, improvement of women’s lives, and impact on rhetorical theory. Although Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix …

The Regionalization Of Global News: A Case Study Of Cnn Interactive, Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

The Cable News Network is often used as the prime example of a global news service. With bureaus and correspondents all around the world, CNN crosses traditional national boundaries. However, in essence, CNN remains an American company through its ownership and its Atlanta location. It also follows a news style that is typically Wester. Yet, CNN has had much success with both its international broadcasting services and its online service, offered by CNN interactive.

The aim of thhis paper is to take a closer look at CNN's presence on the Internet. This project is theoretically informed by discourses of globalization, …

Language, Racism, And Ethnicity, Thomas Paul Bonfiglio

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

While ethnic prejudices can be expressed in and through language, they are not, however, intrinsically linguistic in nature. They are, instead, supralinguistic concepts that become disguised as linguistic ones and imported into the theater of language. The pathways that facilitate this importation have been made by the repeated interconnections between the concept of language and the concept of race. In other words, language in the service of racism and ethnocentrism cannot occur without conceptualizing language and race in similar ways. Accordingly, the identification of language with race is not possible without the genetic misprisions that create the myth of race …

Blogging The Other: Representations Of The Australian Islamic Diaspora, Judith Elund

Theses : Honours

Recent events have seen an increased focus on Islam and Muslims throughout the world. In Western nations, this focus has often turned into fear and the demonisation of an 'other' that is regularly misunderstood and misrepresented, further exacerbating tensions between the West and Islam. International terrorist activities, such as the London bombings of July 7, 2005 have seen an increase in fear of Muslims and of potential terrorism on our shores, ensuring Muslim issues have become a major focus in Australian news. Taking 7/7 as an example, this paper supplements recent studies in exploring how Australian news media position Muslims …

M/Others : One Lens, Multiple Maternities, Toni Wilkinson

Theses : Honours

This body of photographic portraits re/presents the maternal relationship as a significant one in a cultural economy than 'downgrades motherhood', and fails to adequately recognise the contribution of mothers to society, as they struggle to uphold self and family in contemporary life. Throughout this work, which fuses religious visual art principles and photographic documentary, a more complex, powerful maternal figure emerges than the singular, passive and restrictive example of motherhood, commonly portrayed in art history. I undertake a comparative analysis between traditional Madonna and child icons and contemporary female photographers involved with maternal themes, to highlight that certain photographs facilitate …

Communicative Predictors Of A Shared Family Identity: Comparison Of Grandchildren’S Perceptions Of Family-Of-Origin Grandparents And Stepgrandparents, Jordan Soliz

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

From an intergroup perspective on family relationships, the current study investigates family-of-origin grandparents and stepgrandparents to determine similarities and differences in communication and relational dimensions. Participants (N = 88) completed questionnaires on family-of-origin grandparents and stepgrandparent relationships. From the perspective of young adult grandchildren, the research explores the role of supportive communication, reciprocal self-disclosure, nonaccommodative communication, and parental encouragement in predicting a sense of shared family identity with each grandparent type. Results are discussed in terms of implications for intergroup research, grandparent-grandchild communication, and stepfamily relationships.

Rhetorical Counterinsurgency: The Fbi And The American Indian Movement, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In 2007, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Joseph H. and John M. Trimbach published a tell-all book to expose the crimes of American Indian Movement (AIM) and dispel contemporary myths about Bureau conspiracies against Indian activists. The book provides an insiders’ account of the agents’ participation in the investigation of AIM and attempts to correct what they characterize as popular revisionist history accusing the FBI of gross injustices against Indian Country. The agents argue that as far as AIM is concerned, in the halls of academia, “There is a market for blurring the historical lines between fact and fiction” (2007, …

Encyclopedia Of Gender And Technology, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Research

This encyclopedia compiles 213 four- to five-page entries making observations about the role of gender in human interaction with information technology and the IT profession. Intended as a preliminary research agenda encompassing essays on gender and IT education and the workplace, the volume contains many essays that simply survey struggles faced by women in many parts of the world who interact with the Internet or telecommunications technology.

Types Of Communication Triads Perceived By Young-Adult Stepchildren In Established Stepfamilies, Leslie A. Baxter, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Leah A. Bryant

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study was an analysis of the kinds of residential parent-stepparent-stepchild triadic communication structures expressed in interviews with 50 college-aged children from established stepfamilies. In an interpretive analysis of the interview transcripts, four communication structures were identified. In the linked triad the stepchild relied on indirect communication with the stepparent through his or her residential parent. The outsider triad was characterized by the stepchild communicating primarily with the residential parent with limited awareness of interdependence with the stepparent. In the adult-coalition triad the stepchild perceived that the residential parent and stepparent had formed a coalition, leading to cautious and distrustful …

The New Face Of Queer, The New Face Of Cuny, Shawn(Ta) Smith-Cruz

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The seventh Queer CUNY conference for LGBT students, staff, faculty, and alumni, took place at Brooklyn College on April 1, 2006. Students from all over the CUNY system of schools gathered to discuss, debate, and deconstruct what LGBT community is and what it might be.

Perceived Understanding As A Mediator Of Perceived Teacher Confirmation And Students’ Ratings Of Instruction, Paul Schrodt, Paul Turman, Jordan Soliz

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study tested two theoretical models of perceived understanding as a potential mediator of perceived teacher confirmation and students’ ratings of instruction. Participants included 651 under-graduate students who completed survey measures. Results of structural equation modeling provided greater support for the confirmation process model, whereby students’ perceived under-standing partially mediated the effects of perceived teacher confirmation on both teacher credibility and evaluations. Further, perceived teacher confirmation accounted for 64% of the variance in perceived understanding, and both confirmation and understanding accounted for 70% and 72% of the variances in teacher evaluations and credibility, respectively. Among the more important implications of …

Design And Play: Weblog Genres Of Adolescent Girls In Israel, Carmel L. Vaisman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Unique circumstances existing in the Israeli blogsphere have attracted many adolescent girls. In recent years, a growing number of weblogs belonging to adolescent girls are challenging blogging norms, creating a tension between written narratives and performance narratives that combine design and play practices. Existing weblog research has explored the connections between gender, linguistic features, and genre but has not examined visual blog genres, nor questioned the role of features inherent in weblog software in the formation of gendered blog genres and blogging norms. Based on a work-in-progress of a larger scope, I shall argue that design supportive features distinctive to …

Media Ownership Matters: Localism, The Ethinic Minority, News Audience And Community Participation, Kehbuma Langmia

Department of Strategic, Legal, and Management Communications Faculty Publications

The study’s goals were to explore patterns in news consumption in ethnic minority communities and to discern the relationship of that consumption to community participation. We interviewed 196 participants in three Washington, DC, metro neighborhoods. Participants were African-American, Latino, African and other ethnic minorities, 52% female and 48% male. About half the participants said they get their news from television, with Fox and NBC preferred. About a fourth said they read a newspaper. Those listening to radio (18%) overwhelmingly preferred a minority-owned station. Participants leaned toward believing the news did not help them to understand crime, rising costs of living …