Social Justice Commons^™

An Exploration Of A Researcher-Instructor Partnership In Implicit Racial Bias Awareness And Mitigation In College Stem Classrooms, Jacqueline Johnson Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Seventy-six percent of all minority students who enter college with declared majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do not graduate with STEM degrees. Black students represent 40% of minority attrition from STEM. Implicit racial bias was indicated as a contributor to the challenges faced by Black students. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a researcher-instructor partnership brought awareness to and the potential for mitigation of implicit racial bias in course delivery and instructor interactions with Black students in STEM classes. A case study design was used over three phases to gather survey, observational, and interview …

Black Hearts Matter: A Comparative Study Of Sociodemographic, Clinical, And Psychosocial Characteristics In Black And White Persons With Heart Failure, Hannah M Anderson Hughes

Theses and Dissertations

Heart failure (HF) is a chronic, progressive, debilitating illness that disproportionately affects Black individuals, often leading to poor quality of life (QOL). Various sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics are related to QOL in patients with HF. Because most studies do not include representative Black samples or report findings from racial subgroup analyses, these relationships and any existing racial differences are not well understood. The purpose of this descriptive, comparative study was to explore the relationships among sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics and QOL in patients with HF and to determine if there were racial differences between Black and White individuals. …

A Thinking Person's Guide To Immigration And Environmental Racism At The Us - Mexico Border, Emma H. Kiefer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In recent years, more attention has been paid to the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border thanks in part to the strict immigration restrictions from the Trump administration, such as the family separation policy. Immigration remains a widely misunderstood issue and arguments against increased immigration are often laced with racist stereotypes and perceptions that find their roots in centuries of US policy, court cases, and administrative rules. Similarly, the concept of environmental racism can be difficult for the American public to understand when modern-day racism alone has become more insidious. Intersectionality, a concept coined by sociologist Kimberlé Crenshaw, asks us …

Viral Injustice, Brandon L. Garrett, Lee Kovarsky

Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic blighted all aspects of American life, but people in jails, prisons, and other detention sites experienced singular harm and neglect. Housing vulnerable detainee populations with elevated medical needs, these facilities were ticking time bombs. They were overcrowded, underfunded, unsanitary, insufficiently ventilated, and failed to meet even minimum health-and-safety standards. Every unit of national and sub-national government failed to prevent detainee communities from becoming pandemic epicenters, and judges were no exception.

This Article takes a comprehensive look at the decisional law growing out of COVID-19 detainee litigation and situates the judicial response as part of a comprehensive institutional …

Youth Systemic Advocacy And Collective Care Program Report, Kylie Wrigley

Reports accepted as research outputs

Climate Justice Union trained 13 diverse participants aged 12-18 across Noongar Boodja in systemic advocacy and collective care. The program was co-designed by CJU and 5 young people and delivered online over 7 weeks. It emphasised critical reflection, collective care and identifying climate (in)justice in our communities. Participants said they enrolled because they want to learn how to create change, and wanted to create that change by getting involved, learning skills and sharing them with their peers. This report provides an overview of the program, it's aims and why this program and more like it are needed. We report on …

Body Image Mediating The Relationship Between Personality Factors, Emotionality And Extraversion, And Psychological Well-Being In A Gender-Diverse And Queer Sample, Rachel Jones

Senior Independent Study Theses

Research has examined the relationship between personality factors, body image, and psychological well-being. Some researchers look at how the three variables interact and relate to each other. Previous research shows how different levels of Emotionality and Extraversion influence one’s body image and psychological well-being (Allen & Celestino, 2018; Kokko et al., 2013; Lie et al., 2015; Swami et al., 2008). One’s body image also influences their psychological well-being. Additionally, personality factors, such as high Emotionality and low Extraversion can lead to someone having worse body image and worse well-being (Allen & Celestino, 2018). In a questionnaire that was made up …

Imagining White Victims And Punishing Black Trauma: Whiteness, Anti-Blackness, Trauma, And Social Work In Canadian K-12 Schools, Christine Mayor

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study critically examined how whiteness and anti-Blackness structure Canadian school social workers’ understanding and responses to students’ expressions of trauma in K-12 schools. Very few studies have previously explored the damage that increasingly popular trauma-engaged school programs may be doing, particularly to Black students. Therefore, this study addressed the role that school social workers play in reproducing harm for racialized, and especially Black, students when implementing trauma-engaged practices.

This critical qualitative study used an innovative methodology combining fictional vignettes and semi-structured interview questions with Ontario school social workers (n=19). Data were analyzed using critical whiteness, anti-Blackness, and critical trauma …

“What If This Happiness Doesn’T Last Forever?”: Stressors Faced By Racialized Sogie Refugees, Moni Sadri-Gerrior

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Racialized refugees with diverse SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression) experience the unique intersection of racism, homo- and/or transphobia, and anti-refugee sentiments. As a result, this group (herein: racialized SOGIE refugees) often face poor mental health and well-being. The purpose of this study is to identify stressors faced by racialized SOGIE refugees in Ontario through the lens of Meyer’s Minority Stress Theory and Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory. The interviews from ten racialized SOGIE refugees and two service providers living in Ontario were taken from a larger study looking at the life trajectories of SOGIE refugees. Participants identified both explicit and …

"If We're Not Loud, We're Not Cared For": Empowerment In Transgender Peoples' Healthcare Experiences, Chase Valiant

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Healthcare plays a crucial role in the health and quality of life of transgender (herein trans) people. The experiences people have when accessing healthcare, can have significant effects on future interactions with the healthcare system as well as individual health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to gather insights into trans peoples’ positive healthcare experiences and health outcomes through the lens of empowerment. Fifteen interviews with trans men and trans women were drawn from a larger study of trans peoples’ experiences of discrimination. Thematic analysis was undertaken to identify key themes in the data. Experiences of empowerment were facilitated …

Critical Perspectives On Produce Prescription Programs & Us Federal Nutrition Policy, Alanna K. Higgins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Produce prescription programs, interventions operating at the intersection of food access and public health, are steadily increasing in number across the United States since 2010. I leverage key informant interviews, participant observations, and event ethnographies to form a four-year institutional ethnography of the implementation of produce prescriptions within West Virginia alongside a legal-policy archaeology methodology to understand how produce prescriptions have been institutionalized and funded within the US Farm Bill. While much of produce prescription program growth is attributed to an expansion of federal funding starting in 2014, this dissertation demonstrates that these programs and the federal legislation which has …

Speaking Up: School Climate And Language Politics In The Trump Era, Mneesha Gellman

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Identity politics are fraught. High school is a prime location where such politics play out and interface with state-dictated norms and values about acceptable social behavior. This article examines identity politics during the Trump era in two far Northern California high schools to better understand the impact on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students. I argue that while the Trump effect allowed hostility towards BIPOC people to be expressed more openly in general, schools can also be sites of resistance to culturecide—the killing of culture—that diminishes the role of minority ontologies and epistemologies in the formation of young …

Suffering To Save Lives: Torture, Cruelty, And Moral Disengagement In Australia’S Offshore Detention Centres, Jamal Barnes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Since Australia re-established offshore processing on Manus Island and Nauru in 2012, there have been ongoing reports that asylum seekers and refugees are being subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CIDT). People in detention have endured indefinite detention, inadequate provision of health care, and sexual, physical, and mental harm as the government attempts to ‘stop the boats’ and prevent deaths at sea. How can Australia continue to violate the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, while at the same time, promote its offshore detention policies worldwide? This article …

Trans-Forming Resilience Research: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis Of Resilience Research With Transgender And Gender Diverse Populations, Morgan Brooks

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Historically, much of the research pertaining to transgender and gender diverse (trans) health and wellbeing has been conducted in ways that are reductive, pathologizing and exploitative. Trans activists and scholars express concerns about how such research contributes to pervasive negative perceptions, stigma, and cisgenderism, reinforcing stereotypical, binary ideas of trans people as both damaged and dangerous, vulnerable and heroic. Ongoing negative media attention and harmful policy decisions rooted in these views demonstrate the importance of offering alternatives to these reductive, deficit-based narratives associated with trans people. In response, strengths-based research oriented around the construct of resilience is increasing; yet approached …

Adrift In Uncharted Waters: A Case Study Of A Muslim Family Involved With Child Protection Services In Ontario, Bibi Baksh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation sought to understand how Muslims experience mandated child protection services in Ontario within the Canadian (and specifically, Ontarian) socio-political context. Ongoing experiences of racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia within systems that intersect with child welfare, including schools and the criminal justice system, have compounding effects on Muslim families who are singled out politically and socially. Drawing from trends in child welfare literature, policy initiatives, and practices that consider the system’s impacts upon racialized peoples, this research contributes to the discourse by highlighting religious diversity as an under-investigated source of discrimination. Set against systemic challenges inherent in the child protection …

From A “Cheli” In Nepal To A “Khadama” In The Arabian Gulf Countries: The Local-Global Entanglements And Gendered Labour Migration Governance, Hari Kc

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation explores: In what ways does gender operate as a governing code in Nepal’s labour migration governance? This question is answered in three specific ways. First, it explores how the gender codes in the Nepali society conjoin global forces to create structural conditions for women’s transnational labour migration. Second, it examines how the Nepali state – within the regional/global geopolitics – embraces the gendered labour migration policy to produce, reproduce, and perpetuate the gender codes. Third, it explicates the ways in which women migrating for domestic work in the Arabian Gulf countries resist and subvert the gender codes while …

Exploring Climate, Wellbeing, Resilience, And Resistance In 2slgbtq+ Leisure Spaces: A Mixed Methods Study To Advance Inclusion, Tin Vo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Participating in queer sports groups, rainbow choirs, trans virtual discussion groups and other Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQ+) leisure activities can offer participants safety from societal heterosexism and cisgenderism and opportunities for community connection and peer support, as well as foster their overall wellbeing. Yet, transgender/gender nonconforming (TGNC), racialized, and/or disabled individuals, and those with other diverse identities are often marginalized in these spaces. Though researchers have studied exclusion within 2SLGBTQ+ leisure spaces, relatively little is known about how the climate of these spaces shapes social and mental health outcomes. Connected to …

An Exploration On The Barriers To Accessing Mental Health Services Among South Asian Youth, Oeishi Faruquzzaman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research in Canada and the United States has found that South Asians routinely underutilize mental health services, however research on the barriers experienced by South Asians is limited, especially research regarding the experiences of South Asian youth (Inman et al., 2014; Islam et al., 2017; Karasz et al., 2016). Through a series of semi-structured interviews (N=20) with South Asian youth between the ages 16 to 27 in the Greater Toronto Area, the present study explores South Asian youths’ experiences accessing mental health services and the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and service use. Thematic analysis of interview data reveal …

Toolkit Of Methods For Feminist Participatory Action Research: Empowering Women, Transforming Systems, Trimita Chakma, Naomi Joy Godden, Kavita Naidu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This Toolkit was developed following a series of training workshops on Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) concepts and methods with Oxfam Cambodia’s Inclusion Project 2 (IP2) partners from Lao, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The training provided targeted capacity support and technical assistance to the IP2 partners to develop gender-responsive advocacy activities on water governance in the Mekong region.

This Toolkit was developed to provide guidance to IP2 partners on how to use FPAR methods in their ongoing activities and advocacy. However, FPAR is a process and is not issue-specific. As such, the Toolkit can also be used by communities, …

Nā Pua Makani Wind Farm: The Shifting Winds Of Renewable Development In HawaiʻI, George Webster Ross Iv

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In 2015, Hawaiʻi set the most ambitious renewable energy portfolio goal in the nation by vowing to reach 100% renewable energy by 2045. Since then, many renewable energy development projects in Hawaiʻi have been met with strong community opposition, including the Nā Pua Makani wind farm (NPM) in Kahuku. The aim of this project is to analyze the process timeline of NPM to identify factors in the development process that contributed to organized protest, and to offer recommendations for improving the process. In order to get a full picture of the events throughout the Nā Pua Makani project’s timeline, my …

Spanish Translation And Psychometric Validation Of A Measure Of Acculturative Stress Among Latinx Immigrants In The Usa, Ria Grover, Kritzia Merced, Chimdindu Ohayagha, Isis Garcia-Rodriguez,, Oswaldo Moreno, Paul B. Perrin

Undergraduate Research Posters

BACKGROUND: In the U.S., the Latinx community is growing at a faster rate than any other racial and ethnic minority group. Members of this community have been found to experience a number of acculturative stressors after immigrating including xenophobia, racism, and discrimination. Although several scales have been created in recent years to measure acculturative stress in Spanish-speaking immigrants, they are long, do not have nuanced subscales, or have not been validated in an extremely diverse sample of Latinx immigrants.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to translate and psychometrically validate the Riverside Acculturative Stress Inventory (RASI) in a …