Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-212)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2008. / Title from screen (viewed on July 7, 2008). School of Social Work, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Carolyn J. Black, Margaret E. Adamek, Khadija Khaja, Phyllis N. Stern. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-205).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Women's and Gender Studies." Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-247).

Thesis advisor: Sherry K. Watt. Includes bibliographic references (p. 131-148).

No description available.

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / This study examined how adult African American women experienced learning at two post-secondary institutions in the Midwest; a diverse, urban community college, and a predominantly white research university. The study also considered how barriers, challenges, responsibilities, and support systems impacted their learning experiences. Gender, race and age were variables of interest, and three theoretical lenses; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule's Women's Ways of Knowing, McClusky's Theory of Margin/Adult Roles and Responsibilities, and Critical Race Theory were used to explore the participants' experience of learning. This topic was of interest due to the paucity of research conducted in the area of post-secondary institutions, with adult African American women in the Midwest. This study found that learners used active learning, linked their learning to their life experiences, encountered racism, experienced barriers; situational, institutional, dispositional, and information; utilized familial, instructor, peer and spiritual support systems, would benefit from career advising, and that career goal uncertainty was a common obstruction. The women participating in this research were determined, motivated and goal oriented, and served as role models for their children, sought education to improve their lives, and emphasized the importance of education to reach career and life goals.

Prior to the fall of 2011, only eight African American female playwrights had ever been produced on Broadway. In this context, the 2011-2012 Broadway season made theatre history when it featured the work of three black women playwrights: Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond, The Mountaintop by Katori Hall and an adaptation of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess by Suzan-Lori Parks. This project, which focuses on Diamond’s Stick Fly and Hall’s The Mountaintop as Broadway debuts of new plays, seeks to situate these works within a post-black aesthetic that rejects narrow and limiting constructions of blackness. This project also recognizes the significance of Diamond and Hall as female African American playwrights whose texts allow for complex representations of black womanhood, and proposes that the relationship between post-blackness and black feminism is fluid and permeable, allowing us to better understand both the meanings of blackness and the experiences of black women. / text

African American women (AAW) have the highest incidence and prevalence of obesity among all cultural groups in the United States. Understanding cultural factors which influence perception of body size and ultimately impact decisions by obese AAW to lose or manage their weight is essential in ultimately designing culturally appropriate interventions. Gaining insight into the core cultural perceptions and factors that influence acceptable body size is imperative to furthering scientific knowledge with obese AAW. Larger body sizes for women are often culturally accepted and perceived as attractive and desirable within the African American community. Self-definition and self-worth, concepts found in Black Feminist Theory, play a pivotal role in the perceptions that obese AAW have about weight loss and weight management. The interconnectedness of the two concepts provided a strong basis for this qualitative research design to examine how these concepts may influence perceptions of acceptable body size among AAW. The purpose of this study was to describe the cultural perceptions of weight and ideal body size with obese AAW from an emic or insider's perspective. A focused ethnographic perspective was used to describe obese AAW's cultural norms about perceived body size and describe obese AAW's self-definition and self-worth that relate to perceived body size. A sample of eight obese AAW was recruited for the study. Data collection included: (a) individual interviews; (b) participant observation; and (c) field notes. The overarching theme derived from the data was "I'm Ok with Me." There were four subthemes that supported the overarching theme. They included: (a) acceptance of heavier body size by others; (b) acceptance of heavier body size by self; (c) cultural foods that impact heavier body size; and (d) sedentary lifestyles that impact heavier body size. The overarching theme lays a foundation for nursing towards cultural competency with obese AAW. Future studies are needed to further evaluate perception of body size and how obese AAW culturally define themselves and define their self-worth in relation to perception of body size.

The purpose of the current study was to further our understanding of the subjective experience of middle-age African American women who are HIV+ and on highly active antiretroviral therapy, particularly how self-reported lipodystrophy (LD), levels of body dissatisfaction, body image quality of life, and engagement in disordered eating behaviors are related. Multiple regression, MANOVA, MANCOVA, ANOVA, and chi-square were utilized to test hypotheses. Results revealed that HIV+ and HIV- women did not differ significantly on their levels of body dissatisfaction or drive for thinness. When HIV+ women were examined in more detail a pattern emerged: women who self-reported fat hypertrophy had significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction, bingeing, but not purging, and dietary restriction and fear of weight gain compared to women who did not self-report LD. About 75% of the sample was overweight or obese, and when BMI was controlled for, these differences persisted for body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors for fat hypertrophy, but not fat atrophy. Overall, the findings indicate that the type of LD, specifically hypertrophy, is more related to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, than LD in general. Clinical implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.