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

Gender In Cultural History: Gender And Education, Dimitra Kalodimou, Maria Kapalika

Journal of Research Initiatives

The position of women in the oldest societies has often occupied the scientific community, which is a great reason to study it. Today's societies put tremendous effort into highlighting the importance of women's contribution. In this text, we will deal with the position of women in the recording of history, with women’s presence within the historical sources as well as the roles held in family business and education. In addition, the gradual changes regarding women's recovery in society will be presented and highlighted. The first steps to improve women's image started in Europe and continued worldwide. The critically studied articles …

Social Media And Society: An Investigation Of How Female Athletes Use Instagram, Kathleen Amore

University Honors Theses

Athletes increasingly leverage social media so they can share experiences first-hand, sell products, and promote their personal ideas and skills. Female athletes can become empowered through Instagram's ability to give a 'voice' to the object through captions, as well as its' ability to generate revenue through endorsements. Female athletes who find the most success on Instagram often post content that highlights their sexuality and personal life over their sport. Their success is found through a form of 'self-objectification', which can be seen as empowering and/or regressive to women’s sports. To explore this tension, my research project focused on the intentions …

Queering/Querying Educational Spaces: The Lgbtqia2+ Learning And Affirming Challenge, Jennifer L. Bonnet, Liliana Herakova, Tausif Karim

Feminist Pedagogy

Legislation regulating learning content and approaches seek to limit exposure to and consideration of non-cis-heteronormative ways of being and knowing (Sawchuk, 2022). Denial of access to a more difference-affirming curricula reinforces hegemonic cultural norms (Chen & Lawless, 2018). Research on the college experiences of LGBTQIA2+ identifying individuals indicates a generally chilly campus climate, recognizing that “colleges and universities have historically been shaped by and for cisgender, straight individuals” (Pryor, 2017, p. 36). Educators can play a key role in reshaping this reality by co-constructing affirming environments where learners can generatively engage with difference and grow their capacities for cultural responsiveness …

Historical Trauma: Literary And Testimonial Responses To Hiroshima, Mariam Ghonim

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of trauma is controversial in literature. While one may be able to come up with ways to describe trauma in fiction, representing historical trauma is a hard task for writers. Some argue that trauma can not be described through those who did not experience it, while others claim that, provided some elements are added, one can represent trauma to the reader. This thesis focuses on twentieth-century historical traumas related to a nuclear catastrophe and explores the different literary and testimonial responses to the catastrophic man-made event of Hiroshima (1945). In this thesis, Kathleen Burkinshaw’s historical fiction The Last …

Citing Seeds, Citing People: Bibliography And Indigenous Memory, Relations, And Living Knowledge-Keepers, Megan Peiser Choctaw Nation Of Oklahoma

Criticism

By turning the page or reading further, you are accepting a responsibility to this story, its storyteller, its ancestors, and its future ancestors. You are accepting a relationship of reciprocity where you treat this knowledge as sacred for how it nourished you, share it only as it has been instructed to share, and to ensure it remains unviolated for future generations.

This story is told by myself, Megan Peiser, Chahta Ohoyo. I share knowledge entrusted to me by Anishinaabe women I call friends and sisters, by seed-keepers of many peoples Indigenous to Turtle Island, and knowledge come to me from …

Trees And Texts: Indigenous History, Material Media, And The Logan Elm, Mark Alan Mattes

Criticism

Settler accounts of the Cayuga Native American Soyeghtowa (Logan), such as Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, interpret his famous mourning speech, “Logan’s Lament,” as the words of a melancholic, noble savage and vanishing Indian. This essay decolonizes settler accounts of Logan’s words and deeds such as Jefferson’s book by considering Indigenous relationships to a once-living memorial on Shawnee land in central Ohio, the Logan Elm, which nineteenth-century settlers apocryphally identified as the site of Logan’s speech. Drawing on scholarly work on Indigenous writing and historical media by Native American and settler intellectuals, as well as local …

You Are Cordially (Un)Invited: My Korean Femme Strategy And Aspiration For Survival And Queer Futures, Nahyun Kim

Masters Theses

You are cordially (un)invited: My Korean Femme Strategy and Aspiration for Survival and Queer Futures documents a series of ceremonies dedicated to the years I have survived. This book has branched from a project of the same name that consists of a durational installation, performance, and series of events. The project and book are an aspirational gesture to send off the part of myself–that had to compromise, comply, and negotiate with institutions–for a rebirth to live a life beyond survival.

As a book and project, You are cordially (un)invited is a culmination of my experiences as a Korean femme, using …

Bridging Empathy, Qianwen Lu

Masters Theses

As a jeweler, ally, and sympathetic witness to the traumatic stories of survivors, my work aims to support the process of reconstruction and reintegration for victims and the greater community. To move beyond isolation, resentment, and debilitating helplessness requires care and support. I want my jewelry to act as catalysts in the healing process by straddling both sides of the trauma-induced situation, to create greater awareness and empathy. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence shows that women are more likely to become victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or other forms of physical and psychological abuse in unhealthy emotional relationships. These …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.