Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons^™

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

It’S Not What You (Don’T) Eat, It’S What Eats You: Countering The U.S. Eating Disorder Master Narrative, Kelsea V. Schoenbauer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, affect approximately 20 million women in the United States (National Eating Disorders Association, 2022d). The dominant approach to studying eating disorders is based on the master narrative of biomedicine. The present dissertation examines the existing master narrative by investigating the meaning that women themselves ascribe to their eating disorder experiences. Drawing upon notions of embodiment, the present dissertation proposes narrative theorizing as an appropriate lens through which to view women’s narrative sense-making processes and employs narrative research methods. Using a modified version of McAdams’ (2008b) life story interview protocol, I …

Dna Ancestry Testing And Racial Discourse In Higher Education: How The (Re)Biologization Of Race (Un)Settles Monoracialism For Graduate Students, Orkideh Mohajeri, Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Anita K. Foeman, Bessie Lee Lawton

Communication and Media Faculty Publications

The recent proliferation of DNA testing in both popular culture and higher education calls to question whether such testing reifies race as a biological construct and, in particular, whether or not it disrupts or reinforces monoracial categorizations. Graduate students, who are often at a point in their educational journeys to further question and critique commonly held ideas, provide a unique lens through which to investigate discourses surrounding DNA testing. In this qualitative study, we analyze data from four focus groups with 22 racially diverse U.S. graduate students who had recently completed an ancestry test. We identify two specific discourses that …

Stories To Empower Our Communities: Promoting Diverse Lgbtqia+ Narratives In Picture Book Collections, Amanda Melilli, Alicia G. Vaandering, James W. Rosenzweig

Library Faculty Presentations

Do you want to move past marking that diversity checkbox and take your LGBTQIA+ collection development to the next level? As seen through the work of Diverse BookFinder, how historically underrepresented identities are portrayed in our collections is just as important as increasing the number of books depicting these identities. This presentation moves beyond asking if there is LGBTQIA+ representation in recently published picture books and instead explores the more complex questions of who is being represented, in what ways, to what extent, and why each type of narrative is important to children and their families. Join us to gain …

Fighting The Invisibility Of Domestic Violence, Yesenny Fernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Analyzing the invisibility of domestic violence in New York City as 32% of women in the city experience intimate partner physical violence. In this project, domestic violence refers to all different kinds of violence that occur in a home between all the members who live there regardless of whether they are intimate partners or not. The data focuses on all the daily calls received by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) regarding domestic violence related incidents such as physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual violence, or murder. Even though many …

From The Closet To The Campaign Trail: Navigating Disclosure Of Sexual Orientation In Campaign Media Content By Openly Lesbian Political Candidates In The Oregon 2022 Election Cycle, Bridget D. Volk

University Honors Theses

This qualitative study examines the strategies employed by openly lesbian political candidates in navigating the disclosure of their sexual orientation within campaign media content during the Oregon 2022 election cycle. The project uses Tina Kotek, a candidate for Oregon governor, and Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a candidate for Oregon House District 5, as case studies. The thesis comprises of four main sections, each focusing on a specific aspect of campaign media content: analysis of the biography sections on each candidate's campaign website, examination of two selected social media posts from each candidate, analysis of two television advertisements for each candidate, and a …

Who Am I?: How Natives’ Mental Trauma Develop During Precolonial And Colonial Eras As Seen In Achebe’S Things Fall Apart And Fanon’S The Wretched Of The Earth, Sophia D. Casetta

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Colonialism is a long, brutal process, where natives’ identities are uprooted as colonizers establish their influence in a foreign land. Consequently, through the exploration of the natives’ response to this upheaval throughout the precolonial and colonial eras, the psychological toll that is placed on the colonized is evident. Such mental trauma that is incited is explored in Chinua Achebe’s fictional novel Things Fall Apart, which unveils the slowly lost of the natives’ identities during the precolonial shift, and the non-fiction work of Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth that details psychological disorders of the colonized due to colonization. …

The Intersection Of Gender And Negotiation: A Comprehensive Look At The Literature, Kelsey England

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

According to the majority of literature it appears there are differences in specific advantages and disadvantages genders are exposed to in negotiations. This article aims to further introduce and break down the literature in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the intersections of negotiation and gender in regards to general negotiation practices, negotiations within the workplace, and what can be done to level the playing field in regards to disadvantages placed on certain genders. This article also addresses the remaining gaps in the literature and suggests where the research should move in future studies.

The Switch: Understanding The Perception Of African American Linguistic Repertoires, Alyssa Powell

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to conduct research to gain knowledge of the perception of African American adults who use standard English and African American Vernacular English or feel that they must code-switch between the two "languages. “The goal is to investigate the attitudes and ideologies that African American Adults have toward AAVE and what role the two "languages" play in their personal identity. This research will obtain a better understanding of how our use of language can influence our self-concept and identity. Cultural influences can influence our language and how we conceptualize who we are and where …

Celebrity Affect, Social Media Fandom, And Parasocial Interactions: A Thematic Analysis Of Fan Reactions To Kris Wu’S Sexual Scandals In China, Yan Zhao

Communication ETDs

In this thesis, the rise and fall of a popular Chinese celebrity, Kris Wu, provided the context to examine fans’ negotiation of parasocial and affective relationships in online interactions with the celebrity and other fans. On the basis of a thematic analysis of Chinese fans’ comments on social media before and after Wu’s arrest and conviction for rape and other sexual crimes in 2022, I highlight the fluidity of fans’ positive and negative parasocial interactions and emotional attachments to a celebrity. The analysis suggests how fans can prioritize their continued support and admiration for a celebrity above matters of morality …

Racism Without Race: The Racialization Of Middle Eastern And North African Students At U.S. Colleges, Hannah Mesouani

Dissertations

Although a growing body of literature covers the experiences of international students at U.S. colleges, the stories of those who do not fit into the U.S. racial schema remain untold. This study examined how Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) students understood their racial identities given the United States’ tense history with Islam and the MENA world. Using foundational texts on critical race theory, current scholarship on Arab Americans and foreign-born students, and facets of the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS), this study examined the experiences of MENA students who study amid a national backdrop of xenophobia and racialized Islamophobia. This …

Journalism On Forced Migration In Latin America: Recommendations From Experts And International Journalism Guides From A Qualitative Study, Gabriel Lotero-Echeverri, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez

The Qualitative Report

Wars, insurgent groups, dictatorships, and economic crises are the main reasons for forced migration. Displaced persons, asylum seekers, and refugees often face public stigmatization, as they are treated by the media as a social problem and, in many cases, seen as economic and social threats. This article presents the results of in-depth interviews with expert journalists and researchers from different Latin American countries on the phenomenon of forced migration and its journalistic coverage. Their recommendations are complemented by Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) of international guides on migration journalism. The findings highlight the need for training and awareness-raising in critical skills …

Teaching Intersectionality: Moving Between Theory And Practice, Janine Armstrong

Feminist Pedagogy

In this critical commentary, I reflect on teaching intersectionality in the classroom. By continuously shifting between theory and practice, students are able to understand and later apply intersectionality. First, I discuss how I introduce intersectionality through classroom discussion. Second, I highlight how the importance of self-reflection and analysis to aid in understanding. Lastly, I mention ways I incorporate intersectionality throughout the course.

Digital Waves: Communicating Feminist Movements, Shauna M. Macdonald

Feminist Pedagogy

Online learning provides opportunities for pedagogical growth and innovation. When tasked with teaching an undergraduate Gender and Communication class during a virtual semester (amid the COVID-19 pandemic), I sought ways to engage students through online technologies rather than working against or despite them. The Digital Waves (DW) assignment, one that asks students to research and then create digital representations of a particular “wave” of feminism, was one of several strategies I adopted; it quickly evolved into a favorite.

“Civil Dialogue” As Feminist Pedagogy: Engendering Material And Symbolic Movement, Sarah E. Jones

Feminist Pedagogy

In the United States, we are socialized to think in Western dualisms, and these patterns of communication characterize discussion of social issues. Consequently, discussion becomes debate and dominant approaches to inquiry are privileged over experience with persuasion being the end goal. Fostering agency, cultivating empathetic understanding, and facilitating critical thought are made more difficult—outcomes that are neither productive nor edifying in the college classroom. This original teaching activity resists hierarchical forms of debate in favor of visibility and solidarity in discussions of gendered violence. Grounded in principles of invitational rhetoric and provocation, the activity uses a “Civil Dialogue” format to …

Moving Students Toward Activism: Microblogging About Gender-Based Violence To Channel Emotion And Encourage Action, Janell C. Bauer

Feminist Pedagogy

For students in gender studies courses, a unit on gender-based violence can be jarring. However, faculty can reflect on how to help students engage their emotions to enhance their learning and participate in gender activism. Students also benefit through the opportunity to reflect on their feelings and engage their emotional experience as part of their learning. In this assignment, I share how I’ve used a microblogging assignment to channel students’ emotions about gender-based violence into action-oriented digital activism content.

Engaging Movement(S) In And As Pedagogy, Anne Kerber, Jessica M. Rick

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Drivers Of Meat Consumption In Norway: An Exploration Of Environmental And Sociocultural Factors, Paul Wilhite

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on meat consumption in Norway and issues needed to be addressed if it is to be reduced. This thesis aims to explore the sociocultural and environmental factors influencing meat consumption in Norway, a country known for its high per capita consumption of meat. By examining the historical, cultural, and economic contexts of meat consumption in Norway as well as the environmental impacts and ethical considerations associated with meat production and consumption, this thesis seeks to provide a nuanced understanding of the drivers of meat consumption in Norway. Following a brief outline of how these issues are to …

Breaking Me Down And Lifting Me Up: An Autoethnography Of Being A Black Autistic Woman Online, Morgan Harper-Nichols

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This autoethnography investigates the diverse challenges associated with being a Black, undiagnosed autistic woman coming of age on the internet, and examines how online experiences shaped my identity over the past twenty years. Early encounters with racism and cautious self-expression on platforms such as forums, GeoCities, Myspace, and YouTube are explored as my initial efforts to "fit in" in virtual spaces. I discuss how engaging with platforms like Instagram and Etsy enabled my participation in the gig economy while grappling with my pre-diagnosis social struggles. I also share how I navigate post-2020 experiences as a Black autistic online creator, how …

How Activated Self-Concepts Influence Selection And Processing Of Body-Positive Narratives, Melissa J. Robinson, Megan A. Vendemia

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Guided by the self- and affect–management (SESAM) model, the current study employed a selective exposure quasi-experimental design in which women (N = 381; M_age = 31.50, SD = 4.89) chose a narrative genre (romance or career) they would like to read, featuring a thin or large character with low or high body esteem, to examine individual differences that influence story selections and subsequent impacts on their self-concepts. Results indicated participants’ salient self-concepts pertaining to romance and career predicted story genre selection. Participants with higher BMI were more inclined to read narratives featuring a large character. Those who read …