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

State Of Unions: Politics And Poetics Of Performance, Lisa M. Tillmann Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

At the 2005 International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, the author delivered a poem and slide show, “The State of Unions: Activism (and In-Activism) in Decision 2004.” The performance processed the election in the context of her research community, a network of gay male friends—marginalized by sexual orientation but privileged by sex, gender expression, race, class, and education. Audience members offered mixed responses, some praising its provocative content, others criticizing the author’s position and tone, which some perceived as hostile, even as “gay bashing.”

Communicating Ethos At The Center, Kristen Hoerl, Mercedes Kolb, Ethan Gregerson, William Butler

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Tutoring center staff must communicate their credibility to effectively assist students. Ethos is a term used within the discipline of rhetoric to describe the process of demonstrating one’s good character and credibility. Based on the works of Aristotle, ethos is one of three devices or modes of argumentative support. Ethos refers to the character of the speaker, whereas logos concerns effective reasoning, and pathos relates to the use of emotional appeals. Although they are often considered separately, appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos may function collectively to persuade an audience. While a speaker’s prior reputation influences audience perceptions, the concept …

A Communication-Based Approach To Adoptive Identity: Theoretical And Empirical Support, Colleen Warner Colaner, Jordan Soliz

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The current study uses structural equation modeling to examine adoptive parent communication as it relates to adoptee adjustment directly and indirectly through adoptive identity. Using retrospective accounts of 179 adult adoptees, findings indicate that both adoption- (adoption communication openness) and non-adoption-related (parental confirmation and affectionate communication) parental communication are related to adoptive identity work and positive affect about adoption and birth parents. Preoccupation mediates the relationship between parental communication and adoptee adjustment. The current study integrates research and theorizing from identity, adoption, and communication literatures to develop a communication-centered conceptual model of adoptive identity development to inform future adoption research …

The Impact Of Criminalization Of Stalking On Italian Students: Adherence To Stalking Myths, Laura De Fazio, Chiara Sgarbi, Julia Moore, Brian H. Spitzberg

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Although behaviors that we today identify as stalking have occurred throughout history, the recognition and systematic investigation of stalking are quite recent. Italy’s antistalking law is fairly new, and factors such as cultural myths, stereotypical beliefs, and definitional ambiguities continue to cause problems in the interpretation and recognition of stalking among the general public. This study examined perceptions and attitudes of 2 groups of Italian criminology students at 2 different times, before and after the implementation of Italy’s 2009 antistalking law. The Stalking Attitudes Questionnaire (McKeon, Ogloff, & Mullen, 2009) was administered to samples in 2007 and 2010. Results revealed …

The Benefits And Risks Of Telling And Listening To Stories Of Difficulty Over Time: Experimentally Testing The Expressive Writing Paradigm In The Context Of Interpersonal Communication Between Friends, Jody Koenig Kellas, Haley Kranstuber Hortsman, Erin K. Willer, Kristen Carr

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

The overarching goal of the current study was to determine the impact of talking interpersonally over time on emerging adults’ individual and relational health. Using an expressive writing study design (see Frattaroli, 2006), we assessed the degree to which psychological health improved over time for college students who told and listened to stories about friends’ current difficulties in comparison with tellers in control conditions. We also investigated the effects on tellers’ and listeners’ perceptions of each other’s communication competence, communicated perspective taking, and the degree to which each threatened the other’s face during the interaction over time to better understand …

High School Adolescents’ Perceptions Of The Parent–Child Sex Talk: How Communication, Relational, And Family Factors Relate To Sexual Health, Amanda Holman, Jody Koenig Kellas

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This research focuses on how high school adolescents’ (n= 159) perceptions of parent– adolescent communication about sex, including communication frequency, parent–child closeness, parents’ communication competence and effectiveness, as well as the larger family environment relates to sexual risk-taking and permissive sexual attitudes. Findings show that perceived parental communication competence and effectiveness were the strongest negative predictors of adolescents’ permissive sexual attitudes and sexual risk-taking, whereas peer communication frequency was a significant positive predictor. In contrast with previous research, adolescents’ perception of parent communication frequency and family communication climate (e.g., conversation orientation and conformity orientation) was unrelated to adolescents’ sexual risk.

Chaos, Reports, And Quests: Narrative Agency And Co-Workers In Stories Of Workplace Bullying, Stacy Tye-Williams, Kathleen J. Krone

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study examined narratives that targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work experiences along with how co-workers were framed in these narratives. Three different narrative types emerged from their accounts: chaos, report, and quest narratives. Co-worker responses of support or lack thereof were related to the construction of various narrative forms and the level of narrative agency evident in target accounts. The study has important implications for the difference co-workers can make in a target’s ability to withstand bullying and narrate his or her experience.

The Future Will Require Learning How To Exist In A Multicultural Society, Vanessa Lopez-Littleton

UCF Forum

Why should I have to tell my sons to respect the police?

Introduction

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Latino Catholicism And Indigenous Heritage As A Subfield Of Latino Studies: A Critical Evaluation Of New Approaches, Elizabeth C. Martinez Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Posed through critical theory on "third-space," and a brief history of Latin American Studies, this article pursues analysis of recent interdisciplinary scholarship in English, to delineate the emergence of a new subfield in Latina/o Catholicism, connected to greater understanding of Indigenous legacy. The article also demonstrates the path of study toward creation of a themed academic issue.

Religiosity In Constitutions And The Status Of Minority Rights, Brandy G. Robinson

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Minority rights and religion have never been topics that are simultaneously considered. However, arguably, the two have relevance, especially when combined with the topic and theory of constitutionalism. Historically and traditionally, minorities have been granted certain rights and have been denied certain rights under various constitutions. These grants and denials relate to cultural differences and values, arguably relating to a culture’s understanding and interpretation of religion.

This article explores the relationship and status of minority rights as it relates to religiosity and constitutionalism. Essentially, there is a correlation between these topics and research shows where certain nations have used religion …

Immigrant Social-Economic Landscape Changes And Ethno-Racial Border Formation In Columbus, Ohio, David M. Walker Dr., Jack Schemenauer

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

In this study we analyze new immigrant gateways in the U.S. and the role African and Latino immigrants play in reinventing urban spaces while culturally and economically regenerating neighborhoods juxtaposed to orthodox city planning practices. Through this research we aim to further understand how urban space is produced at divergent scales in the era of heightened globalization. Through this understanding we analyze how the contestation over how urban space is used and consumed leads to distinctive forms in the production of urban space and the subsequent unintended formation of newly perceived cultural borders, often based upon race and ethnicity. Through …

The Representations Of Arab-Muslims Through The Language Lens, Abed El-Rahman Tayyara

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

The article examines the use of Arabic as a sociolinguistic marker in American films that were released around the time of the events of 9/11/01 and investigates the extent to which stereotypical factors have been continuing in the same vein as in the past. Specifically, this study is a textual analysis of the application of Arabic in five recent films: Three Kings (dir. David O. Russell, 1999), Hidalgo (dir. Joe Johnston, 2004), Kingdom of Heaven (dir. Ridley Scott, 2005), Syriana (dir. Stephen Gaghan, 2005), and Body of Lies (dir. Ridley Scott, 2008). The article demonstrates that …

Table Of Contents

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

No abstract provided.

Much Of Society's Unrest Caused By Barrage Of Negative Stereotypes In Films, Anthony Major

UCF Forum

Everybody has a perception about what the image of art should say – or not say – but few have an informed opinion. The power of the communicative arts transcends the mere power to inform. That power is used in film, television, newspapers, radio, art, magazines, music, theatre and the new social media network as a means of influencing and shaping attitudes by providing images and opinions.

Into The Red: A Look Into The Reasons Why Refugees Decide To Flee, Settle Or Migrate To And From Morocco, Fadeelah E. Holivay

Master's Theses

This research paper explores some of the main reasons why refugees and asylum seekers, particularly from sub-Saharan African countries, embark on a journey and decide to settle, flee or migrate to and from Morocco. Because of this phenomenon, Morocco has seen a 96% increase of refugees migrating to the borders of Morocco each year for the past three years. Many say that this astonishing increase of migrants choosing Morocco is due to such factors as: wars breaking out regionally across central African and Middle Eastern countries causing them to flee; Morocco being a culturaly diverse francophone country whose laws and …

Faith, Works, And Praxis: Emergent Post-Colonialism And The Catholic Church In North America, Alexander Odicino

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The personal papers of American Jesuit priest, Wilfrid Parsons, evince an international information war concerned with the praxis of "facts" pertaining to Mexico’s Church and state conflicts of 1925 to 1939. While editor-in-chief of the Jesuit weekly magazine, "America", (1925-1936) Parsons transformed the publication into the pre-eminent Catholic source of information about the "Mexican situation", consequently enabling him to coordinate the publication of "facts" with several other New York based Catholic publications. However, rather than speaking to strictly Catholic interests in the Mexican conflict, research has shown that, when analyzed as a focal point of information processing, the sources in …

The (Not So) New Normal: A Queer Critique Of Lgbt Characters And Themes In Primetime Network Television Situational Comedies, Robert Dallas Byrd Jr.

Dissertations

This analysis of primetime situational comedies feature LGBTQ characters argues that through heteronormative and homonormative constructions of sexuality, race, gender, and class, many LGBTQ people are rendered invisible in the mainstream. Through discourse analysis, the study describes how these programs work to normalize gay and lesbian identity, which then resembles the dominant heterosexuality, aiding in the advancement of white, middle class gays, who privatize sexuality and mimic dominant conventions of gender, race, sexuality, and class in the public sphere. This research is important in understanding the American public’s most recent shifts in public opinion on issues of marriage equality and …

Women's Health And Abortion Culture In China: Policy, Perception And Practice , Naomi Bouchard

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Since China’s implementation of the Family Planning Policy in 1973, much research has been dedicated to analyzing the effects of a policy that strictly controls the reproductive lives of a population now comprisedof 1.35 billion people. Analyses focus on the rise of abortions in China, now at an annual rate of at least 13 million, but offer little insight into the perceptions of the population in regard to China’s new abortion culture. This study aims to shed light on current perceptions through a range of in-person, qualitative interviews conducted in Kunming, China. The study is limited to a sample size …

Media For The Masses The Usage Patterns And Social Consequences Of A Mobile-Phone Based Citizen Journalism Platform In Madhya-Pradesh , Sarah Corsa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In a country as diverse and hierarchical as India, certain marginalized populations are bound to be excluded from the mainstream media. In particular, the adivasi and lower caste populations in rural regions receive either no representation or biased coverage. CGNet Swara, a citizen journalism initiative, seeks to remedy these disparities by utilizing cellphone technology to report and distribute news in the Central Gondwana region. Each citizen with a cellphone in his or her hand, regardless of religion, caste, age or literacy level, can disseminate information he or she sees as valuable by leaving a voice recording at a certain number. …