Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

Impact Of Childhood Trauma On Perceptions Of Health: Examining The Role Of Religiosity As A Protective Factor Among Black And African American Adults, Patrice Penrose

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Purpose: Childhood trauma has detrimental immediate and lifelong impacts on health. Black and African Americans experience higher rates of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) than the general population. Religiosity, a common coping mechanism for many who experience trauma, could serve to moderate the impacts. This study examines whether the importance of religion buffers against the impact of childhood exposure to PTEs on adult perceptions of health and assesses whether social support and/or coping mediate the relationship between religiosity and perceived health.

Method: This study analyzed data from 2,537 Black and African American participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to …

Science Sojourners: The (Un)Making Of Women Scientists From China To America, Jane Jia-Yin Wang

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Science is often imagined as a borderless profession in which knowledge, careers, and talent circulate freely across national boundaries. Yet scientific careers remain embedded within institutions that correspond to immigration regimes, geopolitical tensions, and unequal social structures. Drawing on 32 in-depth interviews with early-career Chinese women scientists trained in the U.S., this dissertation examines how globally mobile scientists navigate decisions about careers, migration, and everyday life between China and the U.S.

Rather than treating migration as a series of discrete decisions driven by labor markets or state policies, this dissertation argues that career and life orientations are fundamentally intertwined through …

Tooth Ablation And The Jōmon - Yayoi Transition In Japan, Laura R. Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

The Jōmon – Yayoi period transition in Japan is marked by many migrants coming through the Korean Peninsula into Kyushu, sparking changes such as the introduction of wet-rice agriculture to the native hunter-gatherer-fisher Jōmon population and decreases in tooth ablation patterns and percentages. Ritual tooth ablation, or the removal of healthy front teeth, is typically seen as a coming-of-age practice, with the Jōmon having a diverse amount of ablation patterns. In this study, I explored how the rates and variation of tooth ablation changed throughout Japan after the arrival of Yayoi migrants from the continent. After calculating ablation rates per …

Cultural Schemas Regarding Resilience And Strength In Blacks: Implications For Well-Being And Academic Success, Aniya G. Ashford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Culturally shaped strength-based coping frameworks among Black college students, particularly the Strong Black Woman Schema and John Henry’s Active Coping, are associated with responses to racism-related stress and academic pressure, yet the ways these internalized expectations interact with emotional regulation, perceived cultural norms, and academic functioning remain unclear. Prior research has primarily examined these constructs in isolation or focused on psychological distress or physical health outcomes, often relying on single-method self-report designs that do not capture how culturally embedded coping processes are reflected in lived experiences; as a result, limited work has integrated identity-based schemas, behavioral coping strategies, and narrative …

Symbolic Racism And Punitive Policy Preferences In The First Quarter Of The Twenty-First Century, Anthony T. Fulinello

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Despite the decay in the acceptability of explicit racism brought about by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, implicit racism may continue to inform individual decision making even into the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Utilizing data from 25 years of the General Social Survey, this study examines how indicators of symbolic racism, a form of implicit racism, impact punitive policy preferences among the general United States population using separate logistic regression models isolating each indicator, plus a full model, for each outcome. Punitive policy preferences were operationalized as support for increased spending on crime prevention …

Taking A Seat In The Circle: Decolonizing Gender Roles That Argue Against The Participation Of Feminine Bodies At The Big Drum, Juli Suzukawa

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The origins of the Big Drum can be traced back to the 1860s when Tail Feather Woman, a Dakota woman, had a vision of its creation as a tool of resistance. The Big Drum has since expanded and can now be seen at various Indigenous ceremonies and social events. However, there has been controversy regarding the participation of feminine and queer bodies. While reasons for this vary, it has also contributed to harm amongst Indigenous youths that have a more fluid stand on gender identity and may not conform to colonial “gender norms”. In this paper, I will explore how …

“How Far Do These Roots Go Down”: An Exploration Of Latinx And Latina Fans On Representation In Disney's Encanto, Noemi Nunez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In this dissertation, I examine how Latinx and Latina audiences engaged with and interpreted Disney’s 2021 Encanto, an animated film celebrated for its representation of Colombian and broader Latinx culture. While scholarship on Latinx representation in media has expanded, less attention has been given to how Latinx audiences themselves respond to narratives that are meant to represent them, particularly within fan studies. Focusing on both a broader Latinx fan community and first-generation Latinas in the United States, this project explores how audiences negotiate representation and recognition using Encanto as a media text that centered a Latinx story. Drawing from …

Rhetoric Of Opportunity: An Analysis Of Gullah Geechee Histories Through The Lens Of Counterstory, Xaria Arthur

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Counterstory as a method/ology has been used in a variety of disciplines to share experiences of individuals and communities whose voices have been historically silenced or suppressed. Utilizing this methodological framework, my study shares the stories of six Gullah Geechee descendants with ancestral roots in the unincorporated community of Nesmith in Williamsburg County, SC. Treating these minoritized and individual stories as experiential knowledge, I trace the counterstories as topoi to introduce and develop the theoretical concept that I call the rhetoric of opportunity, which refers to memories or stories that have come to motivate individuals toward or away from …

Cultivating Diversity In Sustainable Food Systems: Black Farming And Lived Experience In Rural Southern Ontario, Kadeem Jerofy Morgan-Adamson Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the lived experiences of Black food growers in rural Southern Ontario to understand how their perspectives challenge dominant narratives of rurality and inform broader discussions on food sovereignty in Canada. Grounded in postcolonial theory, the study highlights how historical dispossession and persistent inequities shape the access of Black communities to land and resources. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling within a community-based research framework, the study documents the barriers Black food growers face. These include limited land access, insufficient funding, inadequate training pathways, and experiences of racial isolation in rural contexts. …

"Just Let Your Soul Glo": Humorous Music In Black American Comedy Films, Drew Brady

Music Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I inspect ways in which music has been used to create humor and meaning in black American cinema. In doing so, I address gaps in film music scholarship, as music in comedy films and in black cinema are both neglected topics. I suggest that humor in these films arises out of a particular blend of musical irony, parody, and satire, the exact combination of which is contingent on various historical, cultural, and political factors. In order to track this trend, I analyze humorous music in eight films, each representing a unique manifestation of this tradition: Watermelon Man …

The (Non) Numeric Truths Behind College And Career Aspirations: A Quantcrit Analysis Of The Precarious Pathways For Secondary Students Of Color, Norma A. Marrun, Danielle Mireles, Jori S. Beck, Christine Clark

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This article explored the college and career choices of 963 students across six urban secondary schools in a large public school district in the Southwestern United States. A Quantitative Critical Race Theory, or QuantCrit, analysis was applied to expose the false narrative of number neutrality and the systemic racism that belies it. Findings demonstrate how the myth of meritocracy through education (as ‘the great equalizer’) is perpetuated when educators hold onto racist and ableist beliefs about who can pursue college, and ignore the structural disadvantages underlying the college and career aspirations of students of Color juxtaposed with the reality of …

Examining Challenges For Sociology Master’S Degree Students At California State University, David Ortuno

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to identify the lived experiences of CSU sociology graduate students pursuing a master’s degree. Seven sociology graduate students from six of the eight (75%) total sociology MA programs throughout the entire CSU system were interviewed. Their responses were designed to analyze the support systems and challenges they face while pursuing a master's degree, as well as to investigate whether their experiences correlate with or fail to correlate with the promises in the CSU mission statement, and to answer the study’s research questions and achieve the purpose of this qualitative study.

Four themes emerged from …