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

The Cuban Missile Crisis: Civilian Response And Expectations, Celeste Nunez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

On October 14, 1962, an American U-2 spy plane flying over the island of Cuba discovered Soviet missiles being constructed. This discovery led President John F. Kennedy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro into a thirteen-day negotiation period to remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba. During this time, the world was the closest it had ever been to nuclear destruction, causing stress and anxiety to many worldwide, especially the American populace, who believed they were invincible in a home front attack. Throughout this thesis, I aim to examine the Cuban Missile Crisis and nuclear fallout through the …

College Student Utilizing Dating Apps During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sarah Boll

Communication Undergraduate Honors Theses

The following study explores the effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the initiation and development of human relationships. During the early days of the pandemic, governments forced shutdowns of businesses and workplaces, and public health officials created social-distancing and facial covering mandates to protect the health of citizens. However, long periods of isolation can foster negative emotions and feelings, such as loneliness, anxiety, and depression. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, humans have an innate need for love and belonging, but the health risks of contracting the virus and social-distancing enforcements significantly threatened the “normal” methods of satisfying this …

Caregiver-Child Conversations About Sex In African American Women, Hannah King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using grounded theory methods, this study examines the experience of African American women during their caregiver-child conversations about sex and the impacts of the conversations on their sexual attitudes. The process of these conversations begins with an unplanned topic and progresses further to identify six essential themes of these conversations: gender differences, race and religion, protective/emphasis on protection, lack of knowledge, withholding knowledge, and sex negativity/shame. African American women’s description of the process included feelings of shame and negativity towards their sexuality. Caregivers promoted positive messages about sex by having open conversations that advocated for equality between the genders, empower …

Authentically (Un)Real Assessing Vh!'S Basketball Wives And Its Violent & Colorist Portrayals Of Black Women., Wilma Denae Powell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does reality television serve as solely a form of entertainment, or could reality television also be maintaining hegemonic beliefs and reinforcing biased views of Black women? Since 2010, Vh1’s Basketball Wives has given audiences the opportunities to entertain themselves by watching women who are/were married to, dating, or are the mothers of children fathered by professional basketball players. Despite the show’s name, few members of the cast are currently married and audiences only get mere glimpses of the cast in motherly or marital interactions. So, what does Basketball Wives offer audiences who tune in to watch Black women for entertainment? …

The Lived Experiences Of Transmasculine Speakers: A Phenomenological Investigation Of Vocal Quality And Function In Relation To Gender, Micah Wylie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to learn how transmasculine individuals perceive the quality and function of their voices, and how those perceptions influence how they experience gender identity and communicate with others. This qualitative study adopted a hermeneutical phenomenological approach that involved using content analysis and thematic analysis to describe and interpret phenomena. This approach assumes that the researcher is not biased, but is a part of the world being studied and, therefore, understands the phenomenon by interpretive means. Saturation was achieved when all relevant information was introduced, and patterns of information had been identified. Sixteen interviews were conducted. …

“All Skinfolk Ain’T Kinfolk”: Attributions Of Race-Based Discrimination When An Ingroup Member Is The Perpetrator, Christin Alexandra Mujica

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most research addressing racial/ethnic discrimination is focused on instances perpetrated by White people or someone not of the same race or ethnic background as the target (i.e., outgroup discrimination). However, based on theories of ethnic identity development and internalized racism, it is possible for people of color to discriminate against people in their own racial or ethnic group. The current study used a qualitative approach to 1) understand what people of color believe about racism and discrimination broadly and based on the race of the perpetrator, 2) describe under what situations (e.g., race of perpetrator or overtness/subtlety of the act) …

The Dual Pandemic Of 2020: Rhetorical Analysis Of How American Covid-19 Elite Messaging, Enabled By The Monster Trope, Justifies Cultural Violence Against A/Aapi., Haley A. Hom

Honors Theses

On March 16th, 2020, President Donald J. Trump posted a Tweet: “The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airline and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!” (Yam). This Tweet marked the first public and recorded instance of the term “Chinese virus”, heralding the emergence of similar referents such as “China virus,” “Wuhan virus,” and “kung flu” for COVID-19. With a single, seemingly innocuous post, Trump opened the floodgates for an outpouring of hatred and blame pointed towards anyone perceived as an A/AAPI.

Breaking Things: Origins And Consequences Of Racialized Hate Speech On Facebook, Katherine Herrick

International Studies Honors Projects

This thesis seeks to bring attention to the ways in which the effects of hate speech--specifically racialized hate speech--transcends digital platforms. It will begin by connecting the phenomenon of racialized hate speech on Facebook to specific psychological tendencies that the company consciously amplifies for its own financial benefit. The first chapter interrogates the common narrative that violent rhetoric indicates a flaw in the platform’s design, instead arguing that proliferation of such content is encouraged by Facebook’s algorithm. From there, the second chapter examines what happens when a technology giant leverages human psychology for corporate greed. A true worst-case scenario, the …

Girl-Next-Door To Girlboss: Taylor Swift’S Online Evolution From Puerile Pop Star To Poignant Political Influence, Clare G. Daly

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Of all society’s public figures, the social-media-savvy celebrity is arguably the most powerful. Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has amassed one of the largest followings on the internet. In recent years, she has inspired fans to act upon sociopolitical issues via voter registration, letter-writing campaigns, and music. Her digital footprint is not without contention from a slow arrival to politics to white feminist attributes present in her messaging. Through close reading across four social media platforms, I found a shift in Swift’s social media activity. In her transition from a young pop star to a global influence, I concluded that “Swifties” will …

Miracles Happen: An Exploration Of Girlhood And Celebrity, Sarah Thompson

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, many children’s programs were about fame and featured female protagonists while being written and produced by men. Despite being written by men, these shows clearly interpellate a young female audience. “Miracles Happen” explores this media and considers what girlhood is and what this media is teaching its audience. The first chapter looks at Disney’s studio and its history on how it inserts itself into the private lives of children. This chapter also analyzes this history and makes connections to how these traditions are carried into shows meant for girls on the Disney Channel. It …

We Are More Than Just Spectators: Feminist Psychology Theory Applied To Sports Psychology, Victoria Wypych

Honors Projects in Applied Psychology

This study looks into the differences between females and male athletics. Since the creation of Title IV, equality in sports has developed more; but there is still not an even platform. Due to the 2021 NCAA basketball tournaments, it has become more evident that more work needs to be done to reach equality in the sports world. This study is going to compare the different levels of support in athletics of males and females via a survey questionnaire of athletes. A manipulative scenario will also be sent out regarding scenarios of male and female sports. This portion of the survey …

“A Woman ‘In The Snow Among The Clocks And Instruments’”: How Adrienne Rich Reimagined The Lives Of Women Astronomers, Ashley Q. Lear, Kayla D. Taylor

Student Works

In 1968, Adrienne Rich, the renowned feminist, poet, and author of Diving Into the Wreck and Of Woman Born, celebrated the career of Caroline Herschel and other women in the scientific community by writing “Planetarium.” The dedication reads, “Thinking of Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) astronomer, sister of William; and others.” At the time, Rich was struggling with her own experiences as a mother and wife to a fellow academic. Like many career women in the 1960s, her identities were often in competition with one another for her time and attention, and the additional obstacles that came with being a trail …

Scavenger Hunts & Photo Essays: Helping Students See Inequality In The World Around Them Through Project-Based Learning, Emily Cabaniss, Kylie Parrotta

Feminist Pedagogy

This paper outlines two scavenger hunt project-based learning approaches we have used with our students to help them see gender inequality around them and to think sociologically about it. The first assignment asks students to dig deeply into one-gender related issue or inequality that interests them in their immediate surroundings and to create a photo essay that says something about the nature, experience, consequences of, or reaction to that issue or inequality. The second assignment asks students to look broadly at the culture around them and to identify everyday examples of gender inequality by participating in a gender scavenger hunt. …

"It's Not What It Looks Like!": Motivations And Responses To Infidelity, Jessica C. Cochrane

Student Scholar Showcase

The topic of infidelity is taboo and often perceived negatively, however, it still occurs frequently. What motivates people to commit infidelity? How do people respond to infidelity committed by those they know? This paper takes the opinions of college-aged subjects into consideration through use of paper surveys to discover how young adults perceive infidelity; both why it gets committed and how they would respond to such an act. Subjects were grouped into sex, classification, whether they have committed infidelity or not, and whether they have been cheated on or not. The results that were found were not all expected. It …

Sex With Robots And Human-Machine Sexualities: Encounters Between Human-Machine Communication And Sexuality Studies, Marco Dehnert

Human-Machine Communication

Sex robots are a controversial topic. Understood as artificial-intelligence enhanced humanoid robots designed for use in partnered and solo sex, sex robots offer ample opportunities for theorizing from a Human-Machine Communication (HMC) perspective. This comparative literature review conjoins the seemingly disconnected literatures of HMC and sexuality studies (SeS) to explore questions surrounding intimacy, love, desire, sex, and sexuality among humans and machines. In particular, I argue for understanding human-machine sexualities as communicative sexuotechnical-assemblages, extending previous efforts in both HMC and SeS for more-than-human, ecological, and more fluid approaches to humans and machines, as well as to sex and sexuality. This …

Amjambo Africa! (April 2022), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In this Issue

Community updates .............2/3

Remembrance ....................... 4/5

Novruz celebration ...................7

Financial Literacy/Professional Development

Français ...................... 8/9

Iswahili ..........................9

Somali ......................9/10

Ikinyarwanda ........10/11

Português ...............11/12

Espanõl ...................12/13

English .........................33

Candidate Mana Abdi ........... 14

Legislative update ...................15

Skin bleaching ........................16

Paul Farmer .............................17

Jacob Lawrence at Colby .......18

Checking in with businesses .20

French renaissance .................21

Tips & Info

Covid 2 ................................2

Driving ........................30/31

Work permits ...................35

Health&Wellness ...............24-30

In 7 languages

Columns ............................32-37

New Voices columns ........34/35

Gashi/Roseline Souebele

Poems by Maya Williams

Factors Driving Changing Community Acceptance Of Gays And Lesbians In Cato Manor, Kwazulu-Natal, Isabella Van Der Weide

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Acceptance of LGBTQ people is an important and encouraging area of social progress. As attitudes change in South Africa and across the world, it is important to understand the drivers of change and how that change is experienced within communities. Using both semi-structured interviews (n=19) and collection of survey data (n=30), this study interrogated the factors that formed and changed views on gay and lesbian people among respondents from a community in Cato Manor, a peri-urban area near Durban, South Africa. About half of all participants reported an opinion change. Interview participants who experienced opinion change most commonly reported the …

Perceptions Of Race, Status, And Instructional Modality As Predictors Of Degree Attainment For African American Male Community College Students, Roderick C. Lewis Sr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given the large number of students who begin their college education yet never graduate, it is essential that, as higher education leaders and policymakers develop student success strategies, they consider the persistence and degree attainment dynamics of all populations. This study focuses on the problem of degree attainment from the perspective of male, second-year, African American, community college students. A qualitative narrative case study approach was used to ascertain their perception of race, status attainment, and instructional learning modalities as predictors of degree attainment. Accordingly, those perceptions were then evaluated to determine their utility as predictors of degree attainment. Six …

The Gay Agenda: Being Accepted In Children’S Media, Tiffany Wells

Honors College Theses

For many LGBTQ+ children, there is a lack of representation of their identities in the television shows they see growing up. We turn to objects, like television characters, to help “find our way,” which becomes limited for individuals who are part of the minority (Ahmed 1). When television shows reflect a variety of lived experiences, they can increase cultural competence in their viewers. While LGBTQ+ representation in children’s media has increased, it is still difficult to implement such representation. This thesis we will discuss three shows, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, and The Owl House, that have struggled with the implementation …

Vedantic Basis And Praxis Of The Integral Advaita Of Sri Aurobindo, Debashish Banerji

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The integral nondualism of Sri Aurobindo can be traced to the great pronouncements (mahāvākya) of the Upanishads and later commentaries. This study examines teachings on the Supermind (vijñāna) and the other four kinds of consciousness that define human reality: Matter (annaṃ), Life (prāṇaḥ), Mind (manaḥ), and Bliss (ānanda). Through Yoga and Tantra, one learns and embodies the pathway to the divine.