Theory and Philosophy Commons^™

Care Ecologies Between Knots, Eliza R. Marris

Masters Theses

Discarded fibers like raw wool behave the way harm reduction does. Harm reduction resists stigma and works to move beyond assumptions and oversimplifications of substance use and addiction. Wool is irregular, complicated, and emotionally charged. It resists compression and maintains its own being even when pulled apart. Working with raw wool is in relationship with complexity, as is harm reduction.

At its core, harm reduction is grounded in thoughtfulness and empathy towards people, their lived experience, and its nuances. It is a witness to lives, memories, and imprints, acknowledging the entangled realities of addiction. Our detachment from fiber remainders, materials …

Integrative Synchronicity: Learning To Hold The Space Between, Kelsey M. Bogumill

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Just War Theory In The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins’S Critique Of Violence, Power, And Rebellion, Laila Hannum

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis applies just war theory to Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy, arguing that while the districts' rebellion satisfies the principles of jus ad bellum (justice in going to war), it systematically violates jus in bello (justice in the conduct of war) and jus post bellum (justice after war), and ultimately replicates the oppressive structures of the Capitol it sought to overthrow.

Drawing primarily on Michael Walzer's Just and Unjust Wars and on Brian Orend's ideas on post-war justice, this thesis traces the rebellion's moral arc across all three novels. Chapter One shows that the rebellion meets the criteria …

Marooned: A Western Frontier Dismal Swamp Narrative, Professor Meya E. Hargett

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

Marooned: A Western Frontier Dismal Swamp Narrative centers the erased figure of Samuel Mars, a lost Black station master whose movements through the Great Dismal Swamp have been excluded from dominant Underground Railroad cartographies. Here, the term “Marooned” refers not to abandonment, but to the maroon geographies of Black and Indigenous resistance encoded in land, lineage, and fugitive infrastructure.

Guided by Diasporic Maroon Memory Theory, Lineage as Method, and the Maroon Geographies Framework, this research reconstructs Mars’s trajectory through oral testimony, spatial patterning, and ancestral land memory. Rather than casting the Dismal Swamp merely as a site of refuge, this …

Young Adults And Early-Onset Psychosis: A Grounded Theory Study Of Experiences Of Identity Development, Katherine Hayden-Lewis, Deborah Rubel

The Qualitative Report

While identity development is a crucial task for young individuals ages 15-25, current research inadequately centralizes identity development in the context of first-time psychosis related to schizophrenia spectrum disorders. This study addresses the knowledge gap by exploring the grand research question, “How does a young person experience their identity development after the first episode of psychosis?”. Constructivist grounded theory methods influenced by critical frameworks were used to collect and analyze data with seven young adults engaged in first episode psychosis programs. Participants were young adults, between the ages of 19-24, that at the time of the study were enrolled in …

Black Somatic Liberatory Practices: The Africanist Aesthetic In Psychotherapeutic Movement Observation, Ebony Nichols

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

This critical ethnographic qualitative study explored Black body-based healing practices and coping strategies used to resist and titrate the impact of racism and oppression. It also examined how Black individuals use their bodies to regulate their nervous systems to heal and cultivate liberatory practices. Grounded in theoretical frameworks such as Black Psychology, African Indigenous Healing Systems, Liberation Psychology, and Critical Race Theory, this research investigated the intersections of Black Aesthetics, Psychology, and the body through the lens of the Africanist Aesthetic. The study employed interaction analysis and reflexive thematic analysis to analyze non-verbal and verbal data collected from two focus …

The Normalization Of Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Prerogative In Common: On The Emancipatory Potential Of Radical Mutuality Amid Sovereign Decisionism, Matthew Builes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In times of crisis, liberal democracies resort to authoritarian measures that undermine core democratic values. Dominant thought in the study of emergency-era law and politics appeal to a dichotomy of normal and exceptional times, to critique or justify the turn to sovereign decisionism. While this strategy seems clear-cut, the persistence of exceptional spaces and the crises that supposedly generate them challenge existing frameworks by blurring the line between norm and exception. This project explores the prospect of radical mutual aid, as a transformative response to the enduring crisis of modernity.

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Not Meant To Be Read: The Stories They Silence, The Resistance That Speaks, Cristina Onea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I trace the evolution of surveillance from overt state violence to the more insidious forms of ideological policing embedded in everyday life. Through lived experience, oral history, and critical autoethnography, I explore how surveillance moves through bodies, families, institutions, and memory—not simply as external control, but as internalized rhythms of fear, vigilance, and self-surveillance. I move between my father's life under Romanian dictatorship, my own embodied inheritance, and the contemporary struggles of librarians facing ideological suppression to reveal surveillance as a structure that persists through generations, mutates across contexts, and demands new forms of resistance.

I argue …

Bridging The Gap: Exploring The Intersection Of Formal Mental Health Services And Informal Social Supports In Bipoc Communities, Patrice D. Patton-Campbell

Dissertations

Despite growing awareness of mental health disparities, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities continue to face significant barriers in accessing culturally responsive mental health care. This dissertation explores the intersection between formal mental health services and informal social supports such as family, religious institutions, and community networks to understand which systems are more trusted, accessible, and effective for BIPOC individuals. Grounded in Urban Liberation Psychology and guided by decolonial and culturally responsive care frameworks, this qualitative study draws from focus groups and interviews with 33 participants, including both community members and service providers from the Chicagoland area and …

Embedded Roots: Exploring Healing Through Digital Storytelling: Application And Training, Joselyn M. Carvalho

Expressive Therapies Theses

This review examines digital and expressive storytelling in a clinical, community-based health center, focusing on its impact and relationship with trauma. Existing research has explored how digital storytelling serves as an intervention for addressing intergenerational trauma, trauma transmission, identity development, and social systems affecting youth. This community engagement project integrates these ideas with reflections from clinicians, exploring how clinicians' involvement in digital storytelling may influence care, confidence, and cultural understanding. Theories central to this research include Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and systems-based awareness maps, which help examine the broader systems that influence youth as they develop their narratives. The transmission …

A Creative Introduction To Narrative Therapy: Harnessing The Power Of Stories, Art, And The Person-Of-The-Therapist, Marissa Mueller

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

This paper describes a proposed graduate-level academic elective course for mental health practitioners in training. The course content is organized across a total of 10 class sessions. Topic areas include introductions to the theory and techniques of narrative therapy, including expressive art approaches, the importance of social justice work through collective narrative practice and liberation psychology, the construction and analysis of stories of self and personal myths, and a focus on developing the person-of-the-therapist. Each class session will review that week's lecture content, assigned readings, small and large group discussion prompts, and in-class activities. The course prioritizes centering student experiences …

Enduring Heroism In The Face Of Inequality And Injustice: Who Steps Up And Why?, Carol D. Ryff

Heroism Science

Enduring heroism defined as persistent efforts to confront inequality and injustice is the focus of this article. Six exemplars are considered: Harriet Tubman, Crazy Horse, Jane Addams, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X. Similarities and differences in their pursuits are considered and linked to the larger literature on heroism. They are also contrasted with enduring anti-heroes to elevate roles of virtue and benevolence in long-term efforts to correct societal ills. What motivates enduring heroism is a central question. A hypothesis put forth is that distinct dimensions of eudaimonic well-being – especially, purpose in life, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth …

Exploring Cultural, Health, And Technology Intersections: A Focus On Migrant Experiences, Merna Mina, Sahij Gill

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Despite the plethora of theories and frameworks addressing culture, health, and technology adoption, there remains a notable absence of a unifying theory that comprehensively encompasses all three aspects, particularly concerning newcomers. The Health Belief Model, for example, underscores individual perceptions and attitudes toward health yet fails to consider the intricate interplay between cultural factors and technology adoption among immigrant populations. The Healthy Immigrant Effect, which posits that immigrants often exhibit better health outcomes than native-born individuals, does not mention the role of technology on health outcomes. Acculturation theories, while shedding light on the adaptation process, often fall short of explaining …

Aligning With Adolescents: A Literature Review Of Art Therapy In Residential Treatment Programs, Olivia Moore

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Adolescents in residential treatment programs throughout the United States are a specialized population that demonstrate resiliency and hope every day. Many adolescents in these programs have experienced prominent levels of trauma that impact their ability to function in lower-level programs, foster homes, and in their communities. Residential treatment approaches may look like locked facilities with trauma-informed staff who provide programming options, mental health care, and safe living conditions for adolescents. Without strength-based approaches to treatment, this population may struggle to overcome their trauma, mental health challenges, and developmental needs. In this literature review, art therapy was offered to provide developmentally …

Music Therapy As A Support Model In Massachusetts Special Education: A Literature Review, Bonnie Diamond

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Mental health directly impacts student propensity for making academic progress in the public education system. For children with disabilities, it is especially vital to develop and implement techniques within special education that deliver personally tailored benefits. According to the United States Department of Education, music therapy offers highly effective support to a wide range of students within the school setting so that they may achieve academic success and be supported in their social/emotional development (U.S Department of Education, 2011; AMTA, 2021). In examining the multifaceted ways that music therapy can offer support within the structure of education and mental health, …

Knowledge Production And The Unthinkable: Weaving Stories Of Art, Gender, And Land, Christin Huntsman

Master's Theses

Colonialism is deeply and violently embedded in Western knowledge formation—dominant power structures produce epistemes that uphold and perpetuate colonial narratives. This kind of knowledge production forecloses other possibilities. Western discourse of truth becomes universalized to the point that other worldviews, other knowledges that do not conform to hegemonic norms, are suppressed or silenced. This thesis examines three areas of hegemony and erasure: art, gender, and land. First, the history of art clearly marks a delineation between Western elitist artistic masterpieces and non-Western ethnographic artifacts. Eurocentrism of art in the academy determines what counts as art and how art is categorized. …

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Portraits Of Hispanic And/Or Latino Leadership Development In The Military, Michael Lugo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The study presented denotes a continuous transition among the Hispanic and/or Latino demographics in the military and the cadet accounts of military inequality incidents while in the military (Cabrera et al., 2017; Eckel & King, 2004). To assist Hispanic and/or Latino needs based on demographics and environment (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Military leaders contribute to growing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable military force for all ethnic groups. The Department of Defense (DoD) is the most racially and ethnically diverse workplace in the United States (Daniel et al., 2022). Nevertheless, racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination in the military continue …

Peer-Led Mental Health Services On College Campuses: A Scoping Review, Anadja Tamofo

Social Work Theses - Archive

This scoping review explores peer-led mental health services on college campuses, focusing on virtual mental well-being support. It examines the implementation, effectiveness, and outcomes of these interventions, highlighting the pivotal role of peer supporters. The review identifies three key themes: the importance of structured implementation, the effectiveness of peer-led interventions in reducing stigma and improving outcomes, and the psychosocial benefits and challenges faced by peer supporters. Significant gaps remain in understanding how to train and support peer supporters effectively, especially in virtual environments. Addressing these gaps can enhance program sustainability, improve student well-being, and foster supportive campus environments.

Negative Psychology Of Anti-Semitism: Fear Of The Uncategorizable, Benjamin Strosberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anti-Semitism is a pervasive global issue, particularly prominent in the United States. Studying and defining anti-Semitism prove remarkably challenging for scholars, leading to inadequate understanding and exclusion from contemporary academic discourse and social justice initiatives. In this dissertation, I made the case that anti-Semitism is hard to categorize, stemming, in part, from the difficulty in categorizing what it is to be Jewish, which seems to be multi-form (a figure of thought, a race, an ethnicity, a religion, a nation, none of the above). In thinking about the difficulty in categorization, I constellated various instances of anti-Jewish practices across historical epochs …

Opportunity Discrimination: Resettlement Efforts Made By Ngos In The United States, Sarah Rauf

Capstone Collection

Social identity plays a key aspect in life. This research tests whether homogeneity between refugees and their host communities correlates to the immigration process and resettlement success. The analysis helps form a conclusion that people want to help those who look like themselves before those who appear more foreign. This is related to the central theories of social identity and prejudice stemming from stereotyping. Data collection comes from interviews with staff at a number of NGOs in the United States. The immigration and resettlement policies of these NGOs have been researched, and members were interviewed on the reformation of their …

Hoping As A Transformational Imperative In Puerto Rico: A Phenomenological And Grounded Theory Study Within Colonized Space, José Luiggi-Hernández

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the United States continues to restrict Puerto Rico’s self-determination and imposes oppressive institutions such as the Oversight Board, the people of the archipelago live in precarity and hopelessness. Limited psychological research on colonialism has focused on the detrimental impact of oppression and its influence on the development of fatalism and the inferiority complex. On the other hand, existing psychological theories of hope fail to describe how it is lived within the post-colonial context and to explain the ways in which this psychological phenomenon arises even in the face of systematic dehumanization. As Puerto Ricans show evident signs of hope …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Redefining Anger For Sexual And Gender Minorities Using Art As A Visual Voice, Kirsten Ranheim

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Art therapy is an increasingly popular approach for addressing trauma and anger in clinical settings. This literature review explores the connections between art therapy, trauma, gender, and anger, drawing on a range of studies and theoretical perspectives. Background is provided on the history of anger within the context of societal institutions, interpersonal power dynamics, psychiatric nosology, and social justice movements. The review concludes that art therapy is ideally suited as a trauma-informed approach to addressing anger in the therapeutic setting. This is due to the unique opportunities that art making provides for helping individuals express and process their emotions nonverbally, …

Steps Toward Healing From The Possessive Other: The Vital Role Of Fantastical Literature In Trauma Theory, Rebekah Izard

English (MA) Theses

Fantastical narratives such as fairy tales and magical realist literature utilizes fantastic and intangible spaces to unpack that which is often beyond the limitations imposed on our understanding by reality: the stunting experience of individual and generational traumas. This study aims to contribute to the current literary discourse’s understandings of fantastic literature and its subgenres as a tool for healing from trauma through the application of ontological notions of Selfhood and Otherness supplied by 20th century philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, and the notion of Orientalism by postcolonial scholar, Edward Said. The dialogue generated by these schools of thought provide a space …

Exploring The Link Between School Discipline And Restoring Relationships Using Restorative Conferences!, Derrick C. Bailey, Julia Bullock

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Participants will be able to identify the link between effective restorative conferences and school discipline. They will learn strategies that are effective for reactive and proactive conferences. Participants will analyze scenarios of actual conferences and prepare a list of things to avoid. Participants will learn how to use data to assess the effectiveness of their conferences and adjustments that may need to be made.

Indigenous Women In Active Drug Abuse Recovery: An Analysis Of Native And Non-Native Programs, Raquel J. Muñoz

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In general, much has been written on the experiences of prototypical women in drug recovery programs, however there is only a scarcity of research on the experiences of rural women of color in drug recovery programs. Very few Northern American cultures had experience with alcohol before the first wave of European settlers. Responses to intergenerational trauma faced by Native women include substance abuse, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal thinking, and more. Due to socioeconomic disadvantages drug and alcohol abuse tends to be a coping mechanism for many Native American women. Drawing on the narratives of ten Indigenous women who are …

Internalized Homonegativity And The Mental Health Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Individuals: An Integrative Treatment Approach, David Kearby

DSW Capstone Projects

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals (LGBI) have a higher rate of mental health disorders than the general population. The mental health disparities experienced by LGBI are positively correlated with higher internalized homonegativity (IH) levels, which impacts their functioning at the unconscious, cognitive, and interpersonal levels. Thus, effective interventions targeting the mental health of LGBI must consider IH's intrapsychic, cognitive, and interpersonal nature. An integrative psychotherapy approach addressing the mental health and IH of LGBI is needed to address the intrapsychic, cognitive, and interpersonal factors at play.

Product one of this capstone is a systematic literature review that identified psychotherapeutic interventions …