Social Justice Commons^™

Renegotiating Liminal Spaces: Catholic Nuns As Spiritual And Feminist Activists, Emily M. Lauletta

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to recognize the critical work being done by the women in two Sister-led organizations, Talitha Kum, and Network. Throughout this thesis, I make note of how the actions of these groups of nuns align with several values attributed to spiritual activism. Simultaneously, I discuss the complications that arise from doing social justice work within the confines of an institution that has perpetuated settler colonialism and white supremacy. My analysis is grounded in three theoretical frameworks; spiritual activist theory as articulated by Gloria Anzaldúa, Indigenous Feminism(s), and Womanism. In reference to the nuns' status as …

Finding A Voice: Overcoming Shame Through A Classroom Collective Exploration Of Vulnerability, Mary Catherine Lockmiller, Amy Armstrong-Heimsoth

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

In keeping with the call for greater justice and diversity within the occupational therapy profession, many educational programs are taking steps to infuse diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across their curriculum. In this paper, we will introduce the theoretical concepts underpinning the first assignment in a DEI curriculum thread in one entry-level occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) program, grounding it in critical pedagogy and exploring how it provides a first step to critical aptitude by providing space for an open-ended, reflexive dialogue about subjective experiences of internalized shame and marginalization. Students learn how to practice self awareness, understand shame culture, and …

Queer Survival Amidst Hiv/Aids, Covid-19 And Homelessness, Julia Young

Pitzer Senior Theses

The treatment and survival of a society's marginalized peoples reveal the true impacts of a pandemic. An analysis of homeless queer youth during the HIV/AIDS and SARS-CoV-2 crises lays bare the systemic failure of the United States government to provide equitable healthcare.

I compare the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics in queer homeless youth to demonstrate the dangers of disease moralization via a sociocultural analyses of disease stigma and responsibility politics. Utilizing syndemic theory I draw on the synergistic relationship between disease and illness to describe the unique challenges queer homeless youth face. A syndemic framework is applied to address common …

Are Hispanics Less Likely To Receive Vocational Rehabilitation Services?, Alberto Migliore, John Shepard

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

In the US, 16% of people with cognitive disabilities self-report to be of Hispanic ethnicity (US Census Bureau, FY 2020). However, among people with intellectual disabilities who received vocational rehabilitation services, only 11% (-5%) are Hispanic (N = 32,823, RSA911, FY2020).

A Critique Of Frederick Nietzsche's Philosophy On Law, God, And Morality, Rebekah Vaughn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Friedrich Nietzsche is the last of the modern philosophers. His philosophy has influenced fields such as literature, psychology, and ethics. Nietzsche’s philosophy on ethics is primarily what will be covered. Nietzsche wishes to sever the connection between western civilization and God. He sees that people may no longer believe in God, but they still follow Christian morality. Nietzsche argues for a new morality, one humanity will create themselves. His famous line “God is dead” is an expression of what humanity needs to do with God. Nietzsche then argues the Overman will take over humanity, leading towards a world with a …

The Isolated As The Revolutionary: How “Leftover” Men In China Challenge Heteronormativity, Ruwen Chang

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

In contemporary China, demographers estimate that 30 million men are single because there are simply not enough women in the Chinese population, and the 2020 Chinese census shows that there are 34.9 million more men than women. These men are called guanggun, which can be directly translated to “bare sticks/branches,” a slur that indicates a lack of marriage and sex. In this project, I demonstrate that guanggun’s singlehood marks them as the marginalized at the intersection of heteronormativity, patriarchy, globalizing capitalism, and pronatalist governmentality. In a highly heteronormative and patrilineal culture, guanggun are branded as abnormal/incomplete. However, because …

The Resiliency And Thriving Of Underrepresented Agricultural Educators: A National Mixed Methods Study, Caleb Michael Hickman

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Gay men in agricultural education do not have comprehensive support within the agricultural education profession. When gay men decide to become agriculture educators, they often keep their identity private. This national mixed methods study aims to seek if gay agriculture educators are resilient and thrive in rural communities. The thriving elements of spiritual influence, personal competence, peer support, and family cohesion were surveyed and analyzed using a resiliency lens. Findings include gay male agricultural educators thriving in a heteronormative profession. Recommendations include ensuring LGBTQIA+ teachers have a voice in agricultural education.

Narratives Of Gendered And Racialized Carework: Feminist Faculty Of Color Organizing During The Pandemic, Analena Hope Hassberg, Araceli Esparza, Lori Baralt, Sabrina Alimahomed-Wilson

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Inspired by feminist narrative and the Latin American tradition of testimonio, this paper is grounded in the lived experiences of the four authors as academics, mothers, and organizers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on women of color feminisms and theorizing anti-racist feminist understandings of motherhood as a political identity, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated challenges faced by parenting and caregiving faculty, especially those positioned at the intersection of multiple structural vulnerabilities. The COVID-19 tipping point presented both unsustainable challenges for parenting and caregiving faculty and opportunities for collective support and organizing as parents and caregivers. We participated in …

Facultas Marginem: Assessing Disability Data And Public Aau Universities’ Affirmative Action Plans For Systemic Barriers Facing Faculty With Disabilities, Joseph Carlton Barry

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation contributes to education equity scholarship produced by academics seeking to develop understandings of disability, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and how both are situated amongst faculty in institutions of higher education. As such, this dissertation centers on a study of public US universities belonging to the Association of American Universities (AAU). This study looks for institutional level associations between respective rates by which college and university faculty with disabilities (FWD) are employed, certain aspects of disability policy drawn from each institution’s 2020 Affirmative Action Plans (AAP), and various other instances of empirical disability data (EDD).

While this study contributes …

Archiving Feminist Truth In Trump’S Wake Of Lies, Julie Shayne

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article is about an assignment I do in one of my Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies social movement classes. I revised the assignment the first time teaching the class after Trump lost the 2020 election. For the assignment, students work in groups to research local feminist and gender justice organizations and deposit all of their original materials – recordings, photos, flyers, etc. – into a digital, open access archive I co-created several years ago with librarians and staff on my campus. In 2021 I had my students do the “post-Trump” edition where they researched local organizations about how their …

Positioning Women's Inclusion In Peace Negotiations: The Landmark Case Of The Philippines, Josephine Perez, Mira Alexis P. Ofreneo

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Women have historically been excluded in formal peace processes. While structural changes have pushed for women’s participation in peace negotiations, we locate the shift from women’s exclusion to women’s inclusion as enacted in the discursive patterns of talk. Using positioning theory as a discursive lens, we looked at how women’s inclusion was facilitated in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that reached the landmark Philippine peace accord of 2014. Positioning theory argues that every utterance is a speech act that ascribes rights and duties, in this case, the right …

Transforming Social Work Practice And Research: Examining Lived Experiences Of Black Male Veteran Students And Mental Health, Tay Robinson

DSW Capstone Projects

Mental health disparities amongst the African American/Black community are well documented in literature. Throughout history the African American/ Black community have dealt with unethical operating procedures and research studies. This capstone project looks at historical facts, the lack of Black male veteran specific research as it relates to mental health, lived experiences of Black male veteran students with mental health/treatment, and developing culturally appropriate approaches to increasing research and effective practices to better serve this community.

The second chapter and first product of this capstone project is a systematic literature review. This literature review focused on finding literature on African …

Symbolic Compliance Is Dangerous: Perceptions Of Sexual Assault And The Effectiveness Of Sexual Assault Prevention Programs, Anastasia Hicks-Hunter

Capstone Showcase

College campuses are considered safe havens for students, yet, sexual assault is a prevalent public safety issue for all students. Sexual assault is unwanted or non-consensual sexual activity that is inflicted upon the victim. Sexual assault survivors are put through a life-changing experience that causes negative holistic behaviors, which requires understanding, support, and legal action for them to achieve justice. In my research paper, I am exploring the perceptions of female college survivors of sexual assault and the effectiveness of sexual assault prevention programs.

The Political Implications Of The Evangelical Right’S Anti-Critical Race Theory Rhetoric, Elizabeth Howell-Egan

Scripps Senior Theses

Critical Race Theory (CRT), once an abstract principle used in academic circles, has exploded onto the national stage as parents fight against their children supposedly being taught its tenets. Through an analysis of key political and religious leaders, I discuss the right’s obsession with CRT in schools, where it came from, and its political implications.

The Lived Supervision Experiences Of Disabled Music Therapists, Emma Martin

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Within and outside of the music therapy field, there has been a recent push for more conversations and literature on social justice. However, disability has been largely left out of this dialogue. Disabled individuals have unique worldviews, and their voices as individuals and practitioners should be an integral part of social justice within music therapy. This study examined disabled music therapists' supervision experiences. All music therapists receive supervision during their education and clinical training, and many go on to supervise. Supervision therefore presents an opportunity to advance the profession by striving to understand disabled music therapists’ perspectives. The purpose of …

Discrimination Against Veiled Women In The West: Social Isolation, Amina M. Abdallah

Dissertations and Theses

This research examines the discriminatory practices faced by veiled women in the West that impede their integration into their local communities or lead them to feel socially isolated. Societal prejudice and, in some cases, the laws of the land often solidify this isolation of Muslim women and girls from the rest of the world. These victims of social oppression face discrimination based on multiple factors, such as their religion, race, and sex.

This study analyses preconceived notions regarding veiled women, incorporating evidence from seventeen qualitative interviews done with veiled Muslim women residing in the West, particularly the United States, United …

“No Matter Where You’Re From, We’Re Glad You’Re Our Neighbor”: Enacting Justice Initiatives And Community Formation In Faith-Based Organizations, Jenna M. Smith

Senior Independent Study Theses

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in the United States offer a variety of services and influence social dynamics within their communities, specifically in northeast Ohio. Churches, service agencies, and ministries often pursue immigration advocacy initiatives and ground their work in religious doctrine, using frameworks such as ‘hospitality’ and ‘welcoming the stranger’ to motivate their own initiatives and connect with uninvolved or antagonistic populations. Due to current climates of political polarization and dehumanizing rhetoric in immigration dialogues, this study seeks to analyze the ways in which religious actors define and enact community and explore the contributions of the groups in which they serve. …

An Exploration Of A Researcher-Instructor Partnership In Implicit Racial Bias Awareness And Mitigation In College Stem Classrooms, Jacqueline Johnson Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Seventy-six percent of all minority students who enter college with declared majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do not graduate with STEM degrees. Black students represent 40% of minority attrition from STEM. Implicit racial bias was indicated as a contributor to the challenges faced by Black students. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a researcher-instructor partnership brought awareness to and the potential for mitigation of implicit racial bias in course delivery and instructor interactions with Black students in STEM classes. A case study design was used over three phases to gather survey, observational, and interview …

Toolkit Of Methods For Feminist Participatory Action Research: Empowering Women, Transforming Systems, Trimita Chakma, Naomi Joy Godden, Kavita Naidu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This Toolkit was developed following a series of training workshops on Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) concepts and methods with Oxfam Cambodia’s Inclusion Project 2 (IP2) partners from Lao, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The training provided targeted capacity support and technical assistance to the IP2 partners to develop gender-responsive advocacy activities on water governance in the Mekong region.

This Toolkit was developed to provide guidance to IP2 partners on how to use FPAR methods in their ongoing activities and advocacy. However, FPAR is a process and is not issue-specific. As such, the Toolkit can also be used by communities, …

Shapeshifting Power: Indigenous Teachings Of Trickster Consciousness And Relational Accountability For Building Communities Of Care, Ionah M. Elaine Scully

The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal

Difficult dialogues are necessary work in order for communities to form coalitions, yet often these dialogues pose challenges for engaging in long-term work for social justice and systemic change. Power dynamics, microaggressions, and discomfort unlearning power and privilege can make long-term collaboration difficult. It is for this reason I discuss thinking of coalitions as communities of care and offer practical strategies for collaborating differently for sustainable action. Using Indigenous epistemology and methodology, Indigenous feminist and Indigequeer scholarship, as well as Indigenous land-based pedagogy and storytelling, I offer interventions using trickster teachings or trickster consciousness which I describe as comprised of …

Collective Healing To Address Legacies Of Transatlantic Slavery: Opportunities And Challenges, Scherto R. Gill, Garrett Thomson

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In this article, we show how pathways to justice and reconciliation pertaining to the transatlantic slavery should begin with collective healing processes. To illustrate this conclusion, we first employ a four-fold conceptual framework for understanding collective healing that consists in: (1) acknowledging historical dehumanizing acts; (2) addressing the harmful effects of dehumanisation; (3) embracing relational rapprochement; and (4) co-imagining and co-creating conditions for systemic justice. Based on this framework, we then examine existing collective healing practices in different contexts that are aimed at addressing legacies of transatlantic slavery. In doing so, we further identify challenges and pose critical questions concerning …

Beck, Koa. White Feminism: From The Suffragettes To The Influencers And Who They Leave Behind, Taylor Humin

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Ley Olimpia: Examining Policymaking Around Digital Violence, Andrea Alejandra Capella-Castro

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The topic of this thesis is policymaking and regulations around digital gender violence. This work intends to examine what methods effectively regulate and eradicate Online-Gender Based Violence (OGBV), a new type of Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Effective policymaking for the digital space has a significant impact on our society and especially on women as they remain the most objectified, attacked, and harassed on social media platforms. Therefore, social media needs an effective policy to address digital gender violence. Furthermore, the topic is relevant because policymaking around digital gender violence will advance the feminist movement’s fight and protect women and social media …

Femicides: The Other Growing Epidemic We Don’T Want To See, Natalia Gutierrez

Capstones

This report analyzes how gender-based killings is a growing topic within the feminist community of New York and Mexico City and how the use of the right terminology is essential to understand the scope of the problem. I worked for 18 months with the feminist community in both cities and the term ‘femicide’ came over and over in the interviews Femicide, how it is referred in the rest of the world, is the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female, and it is a growing epidemic in the U.S. and in Mexico. I interviewed more than 40 …

Multicultural Music Education: Preparedness, Perceptions, And Practice Among Virginia Elementary Music Educators, Benjamin J. Luna

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Benjamin Joel Luna, M. M.

James Madison University, 2021

Supervisor: Lisa M. Maynard

The purpose of this study was to examine the Multicultural Music Education (MME) practices of established (i.e. more than three years of music teaching experience) Elementary Music Teachers in the state of Virginia by examining their responses to a series of survey questions specific to the topic. Participants (N=18) were all current Elementary Music Teachers in the state of Virginia with more than three years of experience.

Participants were asked to use Likert-scale ratings for the majority of the questions but were also given the …

Demanding More: 4-H’S Diversity And Inclusion Efforts Are Simply Not Enough, Nicole Webster

Journal of Extension

Several youth organizations, such as 4-H, are reaffirming their commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace due to social and political events in 2020. Despite the national reckoning around civil rights, the author argues that racial and ethnic minorities are still not fully integrated into the 4-H culture. Addressing inclusion presents challenges; however, these can be better addressed when individuals realize the difficult conversations and actions needed to evoke change. The article concludes with a set of action items for the 4-H system, which focuses on investments, accountability, recognition, and transparency.

The Time To Talk Is Now: Race-Based Dialogue Among White Student Affairs Professionals, Imari Hazelwood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Enrollment of students of color (SOC) in higher education has called on student affairs professionals to design and implement programs and policies focused on diversity and inclusion (Mueller & Pope, 2000, 2003; Ellertson, Moore, & Marsh, 2007; Pope, Mueller, & Reynolds, 2009). White student affairs professionals need to develop cultural competencies about race to aid the development of students of color at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) (Mueller & Pope, 2001). Book clubs are one way to gather and converse about race and identity (Polleck & Epstein, 2015). The White Racial Identity Development theory (WRID) is a way to bring awareness …

Civic Engagement Through Theatre: Running A Brechtian Workshop In The Classroom, Margot Morgan

eJournal of Public Affairs

This study presents an innovative active learning technique to support the development of civic education: a theatrical workshop based on the dramaturgy of Bertolt Brecht. I argue that the Brechtian workshop can develop three skills necessary for effective civic engagement: perspective taking, collaboration, and critical judgment/self-reflection, and that these skills are directly tied to the three civic values of pluralism, community, and civic responsibility. Using qualitative data gathered in the course of teaching this workshop to two distinct student populations — a self-selecting group of students in a liberal arts environment and a group of students at a commuter campus …

Witnessing Anew: Human Rights Advocacy For Migrants At The U.S. Southern Border In Covid-19 Times, Ellen Maccarone

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In this paper I provide a case study of transnational migrant advocacy done by the Kino Border Initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly before the pandemic I spent a week with KBI for an immersion experience part of which focused on the ideas of human rights advocacy and witnessing. “Witness” in this context has both a spiritual/moral dimension and an experiential one that can form a foundation for advocacy. Using accounts of migrants to inform and humanize changed when interpersonal witnessing became impossible during the pandemic. This increased the levels of human rights abuses experienced by migrants and limited the …

Comic Books, Satire, And The American Police State: Lessons From The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, Jamie Michaels

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In the spirit of the #DefundThePolice and #BlackLivesMatter movements, protestors in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) declared sovereignty over 5½ city blocks. Emboldened by the potential for mass mobilization enabled by the COVID-19 pandemic protestors attempted to establish a racially egalitarian society that would exist without the police, the traditional enforcement mechanism of the white supremacist American state.

This paper explores how Alex Graham’s Dog Biscuits (2021) and Simon Hanselmann’s, Crisis Zone (2021) portray the ways CHAZ protestors utilized absurdity in the face of extreme violence to enact indiffernation—a unique affect comprised of indifference and determination. This affect …