Using jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991) as its primary example, "Seeing (for) Miles" attempts to build on a growing discourse related to the intersection of jazz, race, and visual / material culture that has heretofore largely ignored the role of consumption. Davis' numerous decisions to spend money on expensive things and/or have them custom made, insisting these things be seen by others, and overseeing his image in advertisements are a reminder that famous musicians often found themselves straddling the line between being consumers and objects of consumption. Following Davis on both sides of that line also necessitates following him on and off the stage, in the eye of his fans as well as the general public. Each of the chapters of this dissertation seek to understand how Davis negotiated this variety of viewpoints as a musician, consumer, and African American via his colored trumpets, tailored suits, sports cars, an expensive home, and instrument advertisements.;The decisions Davis and others made with regard to their positions as consumers and African Americans reflected back on a longer history of black interaction with the marketplace while positioning themselves within existing debates concerning racial equality, jazz's status as high art, and the merits of capitalism as a catalyst for democracy. at the same time, their careers as public performers, status as celebrities, and the increasing presence of the visual mass media ensured that their consumer-related decisions reached bigger and wider audiences than ever before. In such a context, the marketplace can be understood as having constituted a unique venue in which black jazz musicians performed a variety of roles relative to their musical and racial identities. Understanding the ways Davis and others negotiated this process allows us to shed light on a relatively unexplored aspect of jazz culture while also suggesting ways in which racial and musical identities continue to be impacted by visual / material culture in modern society.

The professionalization of blogs has elevated blogging to an organizational field whereby bloggers develop a legitimate career path. For many minority women bloggers, the transition from being traditionally employed to managing a one-person digital enterprise is often met with racial and gender imbalances created by nontraditional modes of work. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of how African American women bloggers described their lived experiences with managing a one-person digital enterprise and the implications of their racial and gender identity within this nontraditional mode of work. To address this gap, a transcendental phenomenological method was used to collect data from African American women bloggers. This study was framed by 3 key concepts focused on African American women bloggers: Brydges and Sjöholm’s concept of personal style blogger, Martinez Dy et al’s concept of women digital entrepreneurs, and Gabriel’s concept of Black female identity online. Data were gathered using 9 virtual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the modified Van Kaam method. Eight themes emerged when answering the research question. The findings of the research showed that being an African American woman blogger means conducting entrepreneurial activity, working towards financial solvency, being proud of racial identity, and creating and delivering content as a blogger. Results gleaned from this transcendental phenomenological study may help promote social change by bringing awareness to policymakers on the issues of equity, access, and opportunity for marginalized populations who seek to become digital entrepreneurs.

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The purpose of this research was an analysis of the implementation of the federally mandated undergraduate desegregation criteria. This research looked at the development of policy at the federal level, and the subsequent response by the State of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.;Virginia Commonwealth University was selected for this study for two reasons: (1) Virginia Commonwealth University is located in an urban setting which has the largest black population in the state, and (2) this institution has the largest target (identified by the state) of black enrollment than any other public senior institution in Virginia.;Retention strategies were used to measure the implementation of the federal criteria at the institutional level, and the Institutional Integration Scale was used to measure the minority student's academic and social integration with the institution.;It was hypothesized that: There is no statistically significant relationship between the perceived integration of minority and nonminority full-time freshmen students at Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition, several policy questions were addressed: (1) Do the minority retention programs developed by Virginia Commonwealth University incorporate the successful retention elements identified by the retention literature? (2) Do at least half of the freshmen minority students utilize the retention programs? (3) Do the responses of minority students to the Institutional Integration Scale reflect the minority student's participation in the retention programs developed at VCU? (4) Do the federally mandated undergraduate desegregation criteria set forth a policy that will help institutions develop minority retention strategies while meeting the complexity of student retention? and (5) Do the retention strategies outlined in "The Virginia Plan" provide public senior institutions with examples of successful retention programs or identify variables most likely to affect minority student retention?;In conclusion, there was insufficient evidence from the survey to reject the null hypothesis. The content analysis, however, revealed that the federal undergraduate desegregation criteria lacked elements of successful policy development. In addition, the federal policy lacked direction for the development of retention programs, and a clear understanding of higher education in general.;Policy must be succeeded by better policy built upon the preceding policy, rather than viewed as an end unto itself. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).

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