Cameras As Weapons Of Resistance: Refugees Disrupting The Colonial Narrative Through Photography,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Cameras As Weapons Of Resistance: Refugees Disrupting The Colonial Narrative Through Photography, Shannon Elder
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
This project analyzes the photography project “#RefugeeCameras”, where German photojournalist Kevin McElvaney gave disposable cameras to refugees to document their own experiences. The project includes close examination of the photography collection and considers the photographic depiction of landless people by other landless people in juxtaposition to the concept of the refugee as a ‘terrorist’. The examination of these images will reveal how photographs become a tool that can disrupt ideological stances that harm innocent people such as Islamophobia and fear mongering towards refugees that are deemed a threat by the Trump administration’s Executive Order, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist …
Bodies As Living, Twirling Sacrifices: Performing Black Girlhood, Liturgical Dance, And The Black Church Tradition,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Bodies As Living, Twirling Sacrifices: Performing Black Girlhood, Liturgical Dance, And The Black Church Tradition, Brianna Heath
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
The purpose of this study is to investigate liturgical dance in the black church tradition as a gendered space. I argue that black girls perform their sexuality as ascribed to hetero-patriarchal ideology—as preached within the black church—through liturgical dance. This ideology akin to politics of respectability separates the sacred from the secular which causes a tension. This tension shows up in the hyper-ness of liturgical dancing. This study discusses this by contextualizing liturgical dance within a history of black concert dance and embodied practices of resistance. This study frames liturgical dance within the black dance tradition, black feminist studies, and …
Who Benefits From Blackness? The White Compulsion For Capital,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Who Benefits From Blackness? The White Compulsion For Capital, Akira Milligan
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
This project will examine the change in representations of blackness and black character in commercially successful hip hop music through music videos directed by Hype Williams from 1995 to 2005. This research will use a womanist approach to address the significant historical influence of storytelling in the black narrative and how the emerging concepts of hypermasculinity and the degradation of the black body have seemingly become the new normal. These concepts largely contribute to the negative stereotypical perceptions of black identity that keeps black bodies marginalized because there is little diversity in the public representations of blackness while there exists …
Where The Ladies At? Examining The Visibility Of Black Women In Hip Hop An How It Reflects A Larger Understanding Of Black Womanhood,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Where The Ladies At? Examining The Visibility Of Black Women In Hip Hop An How It Reflects A Larger Understanding Of Black Womanhood, Danielle Wallace
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
No abstract provided.
Bringing The State Home: Neoliberalism In Global Models Of Public Housing,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Bringing The State Home: Neoliberalism In Global Models Of Public Housing, Nicholas Alfino
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
Global public housing authorities in state versus market capitalism take different approaches to provide housing for multicultural demographics. This capstone project looks at that of New York City and Singapore as case studies of ideologies of welfare, multicultural national identity and public policies representative of their political economies. With special attention paid the spatial relations of ethnic enclaves in both urban environments, focus is placed on a social, lived experience shaped by both 'productivist' versus 'cynical' ideology and privatization versus state authoritarianism. Each political economic system of welfare reaches from larger concepts of national and global economy to the local …
Yellow Tokens: From Racist Depictions To Token Minorities,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Yellow Tokens: From Racist Depictions To Token Minorities, Debra Kates
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
The project argues that the misrepresentation of Asians in film is a direct result of white supremacy. It researches the presentation of East Asian Americans in films as a result of the hegemonic ideology of whiteness, focusing on the standard of movie star perfection as a form of white supremacy, and includes films that have white men and women cast in lead roles, even when the story is uniquely Asian. Using the theoretical lens of whiteness studies the project analyzes examples from the American film industry from the past fifteen years.
Segregaytion: The Exclusion Of Black Bodies In Gay (Cyber) Spaces,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Segregaytion: The Exclusion Of Black Bodies In Gay (Cyber) Spaces, Kelvin James Stallings
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
Gay spaces such as bars, clubs, and cruising locations are intended for the socialization of gay men, providing a historical role in shaping LGBTQ communities. These spaces are thought to be protective against various kinds of discrimination from the outside world, however the maintaining racial segregation revealed. My project first contextualizes these historically gay spaces through historical accounts, and some personal narratives, by addressing issues of both racial segregation and sexuality of black homosexuals. The project moves from the historical gay space to contemporary spaces focusing on the social networking app, Grindr, which similarly maintains the white normative presence in …
Humanature Relations In Oman: Connections, Disconnections And Globalization,
2017
University Of New Mexico
Humanature Relations In Oman: Connections, Disconnections And Globalization, Maryam A. Alhinai
Communication ETDs
In this dissertation, I explore agricultural practices as a window into ecocultural communication. Using agricultural practices of villagers in Village G, Oman, as a case study, I explore the ways in which villagers and government officials conceptualize humanature relations and the forces that enhance and/or impede these relations. My specific goals for this study were: (1) to build an interpretive understanding of ecocultural orientations of villagers and officials in Oman and how they conceptualize their humanature relations; (2) to critically examine ideologies and uncover structural forces that enable/constrain humanature relations; and (3) to co-create community engagement work that honors the …
Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community,
2017
James Madison University
Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community, Anne M. Sherman
Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
On a campus where women make up a majority of the student population, it is especially important that female voices are heard and given a platform on which they can control their own narrative. I wanted to give those female-identifying voices that platform. I conducted a series of interviews to examine how college-aged female-identifying students feel about their identity and how they construct that identity within the climate of the JMU community. I was particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and ability. I asked each person to share their stories of times when they …
An Ideological Criticism Of Todrick Hall's Visual Album Straight Outta Oz,
2017
James Madison University
An Ideological Criticism Of Todrick Hall's Visual Album Straight Outta Oz, Rachel Moss
SCOM Undergraduate Research Conference
American entertainer Todrick Hall released his visual album Straight Outta Oz in 2016 in order to communicate his views on a wide range of topics from sexuality to family life. Hall used the video to advance challenging ideologies that discuss the harmful effects of the church on LGBTQ+ youth, problems the LGBTQ+ community face, the discrimination faced by black Americans, and pitfalls of the entertainment industry, with the purpose of forming a call to action for society to advocate for equality. By placing these themes into a medium popular at the time of release, Hall created a better chance for …
My Black Is Radical And Sensual: White Privilege And The Policing Of Black Women’S Body On Instagram,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
My Black Is Radical And Sensual: White Privilege And The Policing Of Black Women’S Body On Instagram, Alexis M. Franklin
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
This project argues that the overarching idea of white supremacy as well as Black pleasure politics disportionately alienates Black women from having the same freedom online as white women. In particular, this project analyzes the public commentary on two parallel sets of Instagram images, one of Beyonce and another of Kim Kardashian, as well as those of white women using the slutwalk hashtag and images of Black women who do not use the hashtag.
Paradoxes Of Violence: A Post-Colonial 'Gaze' On Chicago's Segregation,
2017
Columbia College Chicago
Paradoxes Of Violence: A Post-Colonial 'Gaze' On Chicago's Segregation, Zackary Rupp
Cultural Studies Capstone Papers
Although post-colonial theory was developed to examine the legacy of colonial powers, this project proposes that post-colonial theory can nonetheless fruitfully be used for a literary analysis of the Fair Housing Act to account for the typically non-colonial legacy of US segregation. Even though Chicago is not a city in the colonial context, the post-colonial discourse of violence, territorialization, and citizenship are useful tools for understanding the language in legislation that shaped American systemic segregation. Through a post-colonial lens, the research shifts the individual attention away from the marginalized offender and focuses on systemic othering that has shaped spaces suffering …
Standing Rock,
2017
Macalester College
Standing Rock, Markus Hoeckner
Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects
The documentary film Standing Rock is the culmination of a long-term project exploring contemporary Native American life and the continuing oppression Native peoples face in American society today. Following my previous video work with indigenous people and their efforts to preserve water and sacred sites in Minneapolis and St. Paul, I decided to travel to North Dakota to observe and document Native resistance to the latest transgressions against their land and sacred sites at the Standing Rock Reservation. Over several months of participant-observation and five trips to the sites of ongoing protests in North Dakota I attempted to learn more …
Connecting Beyond The Circle: A Restorative Approach In Co-Creating A Safe Space For Social Justice Education At Utec,
2017
SIT Graduate Institute
Connecting Beyond The Circle: A Restorative Approach In Co-Creating A Safe Space For Social Justice Education At Utec, Nikki F. Pelonia
Capstone Collection
“Social justice is both a process and a goal. The goal of social justice education is full and equal participation of all groups in a community that is [co-created] to meet the members’ needs. Social justice includes a vision of a community that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure” (Adams, Bell, & Griffin, 2007, p. 1). In the process, one is used to going straight to issues of social justice before connecting by building trusts and relationships. This Course-Linked Capstone in Training focuses on SIT Graduate Institute coursework from Training Design in Experiential Learning …
Higher Education: The Impact On Bosnian Women Who Came As Refugees To The United States,
2017
Boise State University
Higher Education: The Impact On Bosnian Women Who Came As Refugees To The United States, Belma Sadikovic
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
This study examines the impact college education has on Bosnian refugee women who resettled to the United States. The research findings help us better understand the effect higher education has on female students who came to the United States as refugees, their self-sufficiency and their overall integration into their new society. Using Kunz’s refugee theory and Bourdieu’s theory on social and cultural capital as a theoretical framework, the study explores socio-cultural factors that enable and constrain the ability of Bosnian women to navigate the facets of higher education, and how those factors affect their self-sufficiency and overall integration. The participants …
Media Erotics & Adaptation: A Comparative Textual Analysis Of Carmilla,
2017
Bowling Green State University
Media Erotics & Adaptation: A Comparative Textual Analysis Of Carmilla, Rebecca Wait
Honors Projects
This project is concerned with understanding the different ways in which Carmilla (1872), a gothic novella, and it’s 2014 web series adaptation differently approach the same basic narrative, especially with regards to their respective representations of individuals who identify as sexual and gender minorities. One of the major functions of importance in this study was to understand the temporality and cultural conditions, which lead to the perceived need for a postmodern adaptation of a pre-modernist text. Through textual analysis, the author compared J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872) to Jordan Hall's adaptation (2014). In this analysis, significant differences existed between …
Fantastical Body Narratives : Cosplay, Performance, And Gender Diversity.,
2017
University of Louisville
Fantastical Body Narratives : Cosplay, Performance, And Gender Diversity., Tiffany M. Hutabarat-Nelson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation aims to explore how the phenomenon of cosplay has been able to produce and sustain a diversity of gender expression due to its emergence from an activity-based community that emphasizes creative play. This creative energy is manifested through cosplay as an active, ritualized practice in which gender diversity is invited to be realized as a distinct possibility, resulting in a display of a full range of masculinities and femininities as well as crossplays and genderbend cosplays. I argue that cosplay can therefore be understood as a phenomenon that destabilizes the gender binary—its active practice promotes the production and …
Media, Borders, And Citizenship: Internationalization And Social Justice In An Undergraduate Communication Program At A Public University In New England,
2017
SIT Graduate Institute
Media, Borders, And Citizenship: Internationalization And Social Justice In An Undergraduate Communication Program At A Public University In New England, Kristi Mientka
Capstone Collection
Higher education in the U.S. is becoming increasingly internationalized, a process which is necessitated by the global economy and the increase in communication and mobility across borders. The process of internationalization has many effects on institutions, programs, faculty, and students. It also has many purposes, among them to improve students’ future employability and to foster understanding of social issues. The communication discipline, which encompasses a variety of studies ranging from media production to interpersonal communication, has seen the effects of internationalization. Those effects are evident in evolving curriculum and pedagogy that reflect the shifting dynamics of the media landscape and …
The Policy And Personal Motivations Behind The Endorsement Of Donald Trump By Four Evangelical Endorsers.,
2017
University of Louisville
The Policy And Personal Motivations Behind The Endorsement Of Donald Trump By Four Evangelical Endorsers., Benjamin F Hachten
College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses
When it comes to the political realm, evangelicals often support candidates whose moral values and stances on social issues align with their religious preferences. Given the coalitions between evangelical leaders and Republican politicians dating back to the late 1970s, the fact that evangelical leaders would endorse the Republican presidential candidate in the 2016 election cycle would not have been an issue of contention had that candidate not been Donald Trump, a man whose rhetoric and actions were, at times, antithetical to evangelical Christianity. Although many evangelical leaders denounced Trump and encouraged their supporters to do the same, some leaders of …
Barack Obama’S Rhetoric Of Hope For Racial Reconciliation: An Examination Of American Mainstream Media’S Framing Of That Message,
2017
University of Southern Mississippi
Barack Obama’S Rhetoric Of Hope For Racial Reconciliation: An Examination Of American Mainstream Media’S Framing Of That Message, Zainul Abedin
Dissertations
This study explored Barack Obama’s rhetorical message for racial reconciliation and the framing of that message by the American mainstream news media. The study investigated Obama’s messages in texts and sound-bites of the news media—The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. The research included Obama’s speeches on three major occasions from 2008 to 2014—(1) “a more perfect union” speech on March 18, 2008, in Philadelphia; (2) Washington speech on August 28, 2013, on the 50th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech; and (3) LBJ Library speech on April …
