Social Justice Commons^™

Japan’S Military Transformation In Abe Era: A Revolution Or Something Else?, Ganesh Aji Wicaksono, Tangguh Chairil

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

After the World War II, Japan has been adopting a pacifist Constitution and established the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) for narrow self-defense operations. The JSDF are restricted from having offensive military weapons. However, Japan’s pacifism and restrained security policy have been evolving recently, especially during the term of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012-2020). The latest example is Japan’s plan to enable forward defense and counterstrike. This paper explores the transformation of Japan’s military through the revolution of military affairs (RMA) concept. The findings suggest evolutionary transformation of Japan’s military rather than revolutionary. The factors explored include international and domestic factors. …

Unveiling The Shadows: Exploring The Roles Of The Dark Web And Encrypted Messaging Apps In Facilitating Online Terrorist Networks, Eziho Promise Ogele

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The paper examines the pivotal roles of the Dark Web and encrypted messaging apps in enabling online terrorist networks. These platforms have become essential tools for extremist groups, empowering them to communicate, coordinate, and share intelligence securely. The Dark Web, a hidden portion of the internet, provides a secure conduit for terrorist organizations to emerge, operate, and coordinate activities anonymously. This digital haven enables terrorists to share resources, plan operations, and execute attacks as part of their secret operations strategy. Encrypted messaging apps, such as Telegram and WhatsApp, offer an additional layer of security, allowing terrorists to send messages anonymously …

Convergence Of Indonesia-South Korea Green Economy Strategy: A Case Study Of Hyundai Motor Group's Investment In The Ev Industry, Darynaufal Mulyaman, Dwi Agustina, Rudolf Davier Figo, Gabriel Alexander Mahameru Sipahutar, Abdullah Akbar Rafsanjani

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

Hyundai Motor Group's investment in the electric vehicle (EV) industry in Indonesia reflects the convergence of green economy strategies between Indonesia and South Korea. The study aims to analyze the contribution of Hyundai investment in the development of the local EV ecosystem, including technology transfer, supporting infrastructure, and its impact on the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The research method used is a qualitative study with a case study approach. The results show that Hyundai Motor Group's investment supports Indonesia's green economy policy, despite challenges related to dependence on natural resources and infrastructure. This research contributes to academics and …

Everyday Life In The U.S.: An Intersectional Approach To A North Korean Refugee Woman’S Identities, And Experiences, Lyounghee Kim

Communication ETDs

This dissertation examines everyday experiences of a North Korean refugee woman in the U.S., centering her narratives as sites of critique, resistance, and meaning-making. Grounded in Critical Refugee Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Intercultural Communication and framed by intersectionality, it explores how interlocking structures of power shape and are shaped by her life. Rather than focusing solely on trauma or assimilation, this study highlights her digital storytelling, faith, and mutual aid practices as acts of survival, dignity, and moral agency. Using a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach grounded in critical reflexivity, it thematically analyzes her stories to reveal how she …

Laying The Groundwork For Liberatory Expressive Arts Research: A Queer Review, Robyn E. Ginsberg

Expressive Therapies Theses

The goal of this thesis was to reveal the interconnectedness of disparate discourse across diverse disciplines and locate it within one queer domain. The intersection of (expressive) art and (community/participatory) action is a space within which queer collaboration can take place. It is a space that can accommodate and energize non-normative idea generation and exchange which can mobilize queer resistance to create societal change (Fernández & Fine, 2024; Rutten, 2016). By engaging with interdisciplinary literature and situating conceptual frameworks in dialogue this review provides a foundation for liberatory expressive arts research (LExAR) and practice. Key themes include: centering queer and …

Why Are Men So Obsessed With Pornography? Andrea Dworkin Was Right, Robert Jensen

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Under Siege Worldwide: Moving Beyond Limiting Notions Of Gender And Sexuality In Education Organizations And Leadership, Margaret Grogan

Education Faculty Books and Book Chapters

As 2025 gets underway in the United States, educators across this country, like in many others, are bracing for unprecedented opposition to their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies. Newly elected President Trump is rapidly dismantling many federal agencies, cutting off aid to foreign entities, and causing major apprehension across the globe. His stated agenda to eradicate progressivism echoes many other international ultraconservative and far-right movements, who applaud his authoritarian regime. To mount the best possible resistance to these disturbing developments, and, indeed, to expand and strengthen DEI work, this chapter argues for collective action across all the …

Exploring Dimensions Of Crystallized Identities, Candice L. Ruh

Feminist Pedagogy

For college students, learning about the components of identity can generate deeper knowledge about how personal and social identities differ, and how identities influence the way individuals experience socio-cultural systems and structures. The Exploring Dimensions of Crystallized Identities activity uses principles of self-reflexivity and dialogue to explore theoretical frameworks for practical application. This experiential activity is a facilitated dialogue driven by student involvement and is best suited for students in mid- to upper-level undergraduate courses. It encourages students to reflect on their and others’ identities, and to consider the social impacts of diversity in their lives.

Creating And Re-Energizing Communities Of Meaning Throughout A Course, Nancy A. Heise, Anum Ahmed

Feminist Pedagogy

We propose a feminist course approach wherein instructors build what Amie Macdonald (2002) called "communities of meaning" in their classrooms (p.120). Through an intentional focus on supporting students' 1) individual identities, 2) holistic well-being, and 3) epistemic "buy-in" to classroom content, students will connect more deeply not only to themselves and their classmates, but also to the course material. We suggest four community-building touchpoints as a starting point for instructors looking to integrate this course approach. We start with an activity to lessen awkwardness around first-day name pronunciation. We emphasize the importance of creating collaborative classroom expectations with students, and …

The Current 'Ban-Demic': School Book Bans In The U.S., Barbara Perez, Jane Caputi

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay examines the alarming rise of U.S book. Our stance is grounded in our experiences as educators and academics in Florida, the state with the highest number of book bans and legislation that has significantly impacted education. Book bans infringe on freedom of expression, right to access information, = students’ right to education, and real harm to targeted communities (i.e., LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities), as the bans contribute to the ongoing marginalization and stigmatization of these communities. Diverse representation is key in literature and education. Banning popular culture texts from the classroom stifles critical thinking, social dialogue, and, ultimately, …

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 …

A Seat At The Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist And Womanist Theory, Natasha M. Capers

Student Theses

“A Seat at the Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist and Womanist Theory” critically examines how curriculum, even when well-intentioned, can perpetuate harm by excluding the lived experiences of marginalized communities—especially Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ students. Using a real middle school immigration assignment given to the author's son as a case study, this capstone deconstructs the structural biases embedded in curriculum design and proposes a radical reimagining through the liberatory lenses of Afrofuturism and Womanism. Blending scholarly inquiry, personal narrative, and community-based interviews, this project offers a restructured assignment that centers joy, identity, and speculative storytelling as tools for educational …

The Algorithm Of Inclusion: Homonationalism, Queer Advocacy, And Digital Marketing Of Un Ecosoc Ingos And Indian Ngos, Dewansh Chauhan

Master's Theses

Advocacy organizations have increasingly turned to social media as digital platforms become integral to contemporary activism, shaping public discourse and securing institutional legitimacy. This thesis examines the organizational communication of organizations that support marginalized sexualities within a neoliberal and homonationalist context. Employing Critical Content Analysis (CCA), the study analyzes a representative sample of 200 Instagram posts from 2024, comparing two international NGOs with ECOSOC status at the UN (Outright International and ILGA) and two national NGOs in India (Humsafar Trust and Naz Foundation). The findings reveal how homonationalist tendencies may manifest at the intersection of engagement metrics, identity-centric rhetoric, brand …

A Movement In Process: The Effects Of Post-Dictatorship Politics On The Legalization Of Abortion In Argentina, Corinne J. Robbins

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Access to abortion is an inherently critical aspect of sexual and reproductive rights. That is to say that access to safe abortions is of equal importance to guaranteeing a person’s right to safety during the pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum period. This research primarily focuses on the trajectory of the legalization of abortion in Argentina after the end of the last military Dictatorship (1976-1983), the factors that impacted the movement, and how the movement is received in Argentina today. Argentina’s current administration has been unsupportive of the current abortion law, but past successes demonstrate that abortion rights activists in Argentina are …

Apocalypse As Utopia: The Exorcisms And Memorials Of Las Yeguas Del Apocalipsis And Queer Liberation In Chile, 1987-1997, Nicolas Poblete

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive history of the queer activist-art collective Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis (1987-1997) and their performance-based resistance to the Chilean dictatorship (1973-1990), cultural homophobia, and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Through art actions blending ritual, protest, and queer poetics, the collective redefined public space and national identity, envisioning a utopian queer apocalypse rooted in memory.

Queered Tradition: Disidentificatory Practices Of Queer-Affirming Religious Space, Amanda R. Peterson

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Responding to high rates of religious trauma in the United States, particularly for LGBTQ people, this study investigates the rhetorical moves made in protestant Christian spaces to consider what makes these spaces safe and affirming for queer people. Specifically, I consider the rhetorical impact these churches make through not only their space but also their liturgy and online presence, which informs the embodied experience of the space.

Through autoethnographic research, I look at three local churches—Metropolitan Community Church of Omaha, Urban Abbey, and Elevate Church–the first two queer-affirming and the third conservative. Findings show the various church elements negotiated with …

Language, Equity, And Power: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Student Conduct Policies At Unl, Mandi Laib

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis of student conduct policies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1977 to 2003 to examine how language reflects and reinforces institutional power structures. Utilizing Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory, this research investigates how conduct policies have historically marginalized Students of Color, LGBTQ+ students, and those facing economic hardship. Through a deductive coding process, themes such as institutional control, surveillance, and punitive framing were identified across four decades of student handbooks. While there are moments where student rights and restorative justice are acknowledged, these are often overshadowed by dominant discourse that prioritizes compliance …

Intersectionality In Tennis (Wta) Sports Media, Emily Stoner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This “applied knowledge” project investigates and observes intersectionality in tennis sports media via the women’s professional tour (WTA). Intersectionality in Tennis (WTA) Sports Media analyzes how intersectionality as a concept and social justice lens impacts and is impacted by media. By considering intersectional identities and their implications in sports media narratives and coverage, this piece displays some telling patterns and perpetuations.

At the professional level, tennis certainly does not garner the most profit or attention, but it provides a unique world of intersecting identities, cultures, geography and tradition. This work aims to shed light on the state of sports media, …

Internalized Homophobia In Midwestern Sexual Minorities, Charissa Farr

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Research into internalized homophobia in sexual minorities has identified several factors that tend to lead to higher levels of internalized homophobia. These factors are parental acceptance or rejection, religion, urban versus rural environment, and societal attitudes. There are, however, few studies that have been done on these factors specifically in Midwestern sexual minorities. Twenty participants that identified as non-heterosexual were interviewed for this study. Participants completed a short quantitative survey on internalized homophobia before being interviewed with questions that looked at the known factors of internalized homophobia as well as what they thought needed to happen for future generations to …

Waging War On Peacebuilders: Digital Sexual Violence As A Barrier To Peace, Abigail T. Connors

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Technology’s rapid advancement is quickly cultivating an online world that is becoming increasingly dangerous for women that participate in public life. This paper explores the ways in which sexual violence is used in online spaces to harass and abuse women peacebuilders and inhibit their peacebuilding work. It first dives into exactly how digital sexual violence is conceptualized in modern scholarship and academic works, then examines the different shapes that digital sexual violence takes, how digital sexual violence impacts women peacebuilders personally and professionally, and how digital sexual violence, when used against women peacebuilders, impacts global democratic efforts. It concludes with …

A Pedagogy Of Peace & Prose: Helping Students Engage With And Articulate Perspectives On The Plight Of Palestine Through A Tripartite Textual Analysis, Sydney E. Brammer

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

The Translucent Fortress: Improving The Design Of Rural Domestic Violence Shelters, Owen Baker Phillips

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Domestic violence is a nationwide social plague that effects millions of women each year and has increased in severity since Covid-19 (2020-2022). In the state of Georgia, 37.4% of women report experiencing some sort of physical violence by an intimate partner (NCADV, 2020). Severity and frequency of domestic violence increases drastically if the victim is living in a rural location. Qualitative studies conducted in Iowa, North Carolina, and Virginia all report that on average, women living in rural areas report 150% more domestic violence experiences at a higher severity than their urban counterparts and must travel on average 300% further …

Celibacy, Or Death, Ari I. Stanley

Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine

No abstract provided.

Casar Student Discussion Series #7: Censored Classrooms - Should Parents And Community Members Have A Say In Restricting Certain Books In Schools, Based On Factors Such As Religion, Age Appropriateness, And More?, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

Every semester, CASAR AUC holds miscellaneous student debates discussing the hot controversial topics in the US, Egypt and from around the world in hopes of raising awareness about these topics & broadening the perspectives of our students as they learn to engage in fruitful discussions as they share different opinion on the topic being deliberated.

On April 10th 2025, at this CASAR Student Discussion event #7 in light of the current book bans in the US happening from Trump's administration, we debated this question: 'Censored classrooms: Should parents and community members have a say in restricting certain books in schools …

Woman-To-Woman Marriage In West Africa: A Vanishing Tradition Of Power And Agency, Bright Alozie

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is an excerpt: Marriage in west Africa has played a central role in shaping aspects of society, and has evolved over time. While traditional heterosexual unions dominate discussions, a lesser-known but significant practice – woman-to-woman marriage – has existed for centuries. In my research, I examined this institution, which allows a woman to assume the role of a husband by marrying another woman. There’s evidence of woman-to-woman marriage in more than 40 societies across west Africa, including the Igbo of Nigeria, the Frafra of Ghana and the Dahomeans of present-day Benin.

Rupert Raj’S Written Acts Of Activism And Care Throughout The 1980s And 1990s, Mia Jakobsen

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

In researching acts of activism and care in Canadian queer and trans racialized history, I examined how Rupert Raj advocated and cared for other trans individuals through his writing in the 1980s and 1990s. He noticed that there were few publications for trans individuals so he created easily accessible methods to share vital information regarding research and support that would have otherwise been difficult to acquire. Raj’s writings shared vital transgender research, literature, and expertise from across the globe. He provided critical support to and for other trans men through his easily accessible publications and letters, serving as an information …

A Message From The Editors, Vicki L. Reitenauer, Rhiannon M. Cates

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

An introduction from the founding co-editors to the third issue of Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism: Volume 3, Issue 1: Writing-as-Activism in a Time of Destruction.

Painting Stories And Filming Change, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Contributions to Books

Mithila Art has helped illuminate various aspects of the relationship between gendered Maithil social roles and Maithil women’s narratives in connection with a feminist participatory action research project conducted primarily in 2016-2017 in and around the northern Bihari town of Madhubani. While participatory action research philosophically and methodologically attends to process as much as product, Mithila Art played a role in the process and product of making a documentary film and in our capacity to understand and communicate with varied audiences about shifting Maithil gender norms. The research and filmic project provided insight into the complex relationship among the stories …

Transgender And Gender Diverse Youth Navigating Relationships And Sexuality: Recommendations For Affirming Clinical Practice, Hannah Marie Coffey

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Healthy relationship development is critical for adolescents’ social-emotional wellbeing, and shifting social expectations and identity development in adolescence can be challenging (Kenny et al., 2013; Roach, 2018). This can be particularly complex for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth given the occurrence of identity development alongside navigating safety, access to affirming spaces, and limited availability of queer-inclusive education (Levitt and Ippolito, 2014; Xing et al., 2015). The positive psychosocial impacts of comprehensive sex education and the relevance of discussing relationships in therapy with adolescents situate mental health providers well to address some of the gaps in knowledge and access to …

Queer Advocacy For Palestinian Liberation, Andrew J. Joseph

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This paper is an examination of the ways that queer individuals have advocated for the decolonization of Palestine, and the ways in which tensions have arisen as a result of the intersection of the movements.