<p> This dissertation explores the role of critical service-learning from the perspective of urban community members. Specifically, it examines the counternarratives produced by Black women community gardeners who engage in academic service-learning with postsecondary faculty. The study focuses on this particular group because of the women's deep involvement with grassroots organizing that reflects their sense of self and other community members, as well as their personal and political relationships to Detroit, Michigan. Given the city's economic disparities rooted in racial segregation, structural violence and gender oppression, Detroit is a site of critical learning within a postindustrial/postcolonial context. This intersectionalist approach to service-learning is likened to bell hooks's concept of homeplace, a site of resistance created by Black women for the purposes of conducting anti-oppression work. Integrating community member interviews and the author's autoethnographic account to dialogically co-construct meaning, the study employs the womanist epistemological tenet of multivocality through connections to place, community, and activist praxis. Presenting Black female cultural expressions and life stories illustrated in the data, the study identifies holistic community-campus partnerships as those that emphasize environmental insight, cultural representation, reflexive relationships, and collective action. The dissertation has strong implications in service-learning research and practice, advancing an ethos of responsibility that provides a space for unheard voices to speak and for relationships among community members and academics to reflect a model based on solidarity as opposed to traditional paradigms centered on charity. </p>

<p> The increased diversity of students at community colleges makes support and retention of Black women instructional faculty critical. Black women instructional faculty&nbsp;may&nbsp;feel like imposters, receiving messages of inadequacy, despite their achievements.&nbsp;If so, such feelings may impede their ability to serve students and to thrive more generally in their roles.&nbsp;Until now, the question of whether or how Black women faculty working in community colleges experience the imposter phenomenon had not been asked. </p><p> Through 23 in-depth, one-on-one interviews, this qualitative study explored and assessed the presence of and success strategies utilized to counter the imposter phenomenon or other challenges experienced by tenured and tenure-track Black women instructional faculty members employed at California community colleges. Findings revealed contentment and job satisfaction. While participants were familiar with and had experienced the imposter phenomenon, there was a general absence of the phenomenon in their current roles due to positive on-campus relationships with colleagues and students. Microaggressions from colleagues and students related to appearance were reported, but these challenges were mitigated through established mentors and allies and a strong sense of cultural and personal identity. Established expertise and participation in professional development were also strategies that helped participants to navigate, persist, and thrive in their work environments. </p><p> Recommendations for policy include increased state funding for community college faculty members to participate in off-campus professional development training. Practice recommendations include interpersonal skills training for new department chairs and best-practice discussions among continuing department chairs throughout the year. Recommendations for future research include replicating the study in other states and among adjunct faculty in California.</p><p>

<p> Thousands of Black women in America are experiencing upward mobility, defined for the purpose of this study as moving into a higher socioeconomic status than one&rsquo;s parents, guardians, or whomever raised them. As research indicates, these women may experience the strain of upward mobility more acutely than men or those of other races, given their identities as both women and racial minorities. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore Black women&rsquo;s journeys of upward mobility, and to contribute to what we know about their experiences, specifically, any shifts in their perceptions of self resulting from upward mobility. I explored the ways that Black women conceptualize changes in their socioeconomic status alongside potential changes in their identity <i>following</i> a change in socioeconomic status. The sample included ten self-identified African-American women who self-identify as upwardly-mobile. The primary methods of data collection were in-depth interviews, focus groups, limited email exchanges during member-checks, and field notes. Evidence from this study suggests that a part of upwardly-mobile Black women&rsquo;s socialization in Black families and communities was recognizing that their identities had been <i>overdetermined</i>, or determined for them, by others in those communities. The women were expected to be hyper-performers, meeting and exceeding high expectations. Being a hyper-performer would position them for success in new spaces where a different value system prevailed. A critical part of maintaining their sense of self as they pivoted between these differing value systems was, in fact, recognizing that their identity had been <i>overdetermined</i> again, this time by people who did not share the communal, Black values under which they had been socialized. <i> Redetermining</i> their identity for themselves would mean reframing their expectations of themselves and others, and finding ways to attend to their mental, spiritual, and emotional needs in lieu of having ample culturally-sensitive models from which to draw inspiration.</p><p>

<p> This study is an analysis of comments left on the Instagram posts of Black female celebrities, particularly those within Hip-Hop. This analysis put the comments in conversation with Patricia Hill-Collins&rsquo;s theory of the new racism as well as previous scholarship concerning the jezebel stereotype and imagery. Previous research concerning the jezebel stereotype, including Hill-Collins&rsquo;s work Black Sexual Politics, limit their analysis to traditional mass media outlets, including television, news, film, and music. This study was intended to interrogate social media&rsquo;s function as a form of mass media and to analyze how the jezebel stereotype can be seen in interactions therein. A data set of 800 comments, 200 each from four subjects, was created and coded using a grounded theory approach. It was found that all four subjects of the study were associated with the jezebel stereotype, but the commenters&rsquo; responses to the individual women were markedly different along axes of motherhood, class, and status within Hip-Hop. Two significant code families were created through grouping codes together according to place and method of occurrence: Bodily Motherhood and Othering &amp; Affiliation. Within Bodily Motherhood, it was found that pregnancy and motherhood are not only antitheses to the jezebel stereotype, but the subject must be forced back into the jezebel status through regulation of the physical body as well as pejorative acknowledgement of motherhood. The second code family of Othering and Affiliating speaks to the commenters&rsquo; acknowledgement of subjectivity for some of the women, but not all, as well as how the commenters attempted to Affiliate themselves with two of the subjects even though they were relegated to jezebel status. Through these results, this study determined that social media and the interactions within are indicative of the new racism described by Hill-Collins even though they do not function within a traditional mass media platform; the results also show that the jezebel stereotype and those who participate in its evolution work constantly and consistently at all points of a woman&rsquo;s life to relegate her to such status. Through engaging with how the jezebel stereotype, an example of intersectional oppression, functions in current day society, we hope to open possibilities of scholarly thought and actionable change. By acknowledging the methods through which women are successfully fighting or owning the public&rsquo;s perception of them as jezebel, we acknowledge that Black women are neither passive participants in their lives nor passive victims of a racism that attacks their body and attempts to steal their agency.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation outlines the literature and methods used to create the Women&rsquo;s RAISE Circle, a culturally-specific intervention for Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in a university or college setting. The term <i>Asian American/Pacific Islander women</i> is used to indicate inclusivity of women from all of the AAPI ethnic communities. The acronym RAISE represents the rationale and purpose of the circle: &ldquo;<i> R</i>eclaiming our <i>A</i>sian American/Pacific Islander <i> I</i>dentity for <i>S</i>ocial justice and <i>E</i>mpowerment.&rdquo; Thus, the RAISE Circle provides a space for AAPI women to voice their concerns related to experiences of racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. Included activities also seek to promote an exploration of personal and interpersonal experiences with intersecting identities and engagement in difficult conversations about oppression, power, and privilege. As an empowerment group, the RAISE Circle aims to help participants feel empowered to bring their concerns to the broader community and continue working for social justice for AAPI people. This dissertation includes the RAISE Circle Facilitator&rsquo;s Handbook and Primer, indications for use, limitations, and implications for the future. </p><p>

<p> In 2012, 1% of the African American women who enrolled in an undergraduate engineering program four years prior graduated, amounting to 862 African American women graduating with engineering degrees. This qualitative study, anchored in interpretive phenomenological methodology, utilized undergraduate socialization with an overarching critical race theory lens to examine the manner in which African American women in engineering, such as the 862, make meaning of their experiences at predominately White institutions. </p><p> The findings of the study are important because they corroborated existing research findings and more importantly, the findings in this study emphasize the importance of faculty and institutional agent support, self-efficacy leading to motivation, academic achievement goals and the development of science identities. These factors were significant to the persistence of African American women in this study. Moreover, this study&rsquo;s findings suggest that these factors must work in concert to be most effective. The findings demonstrated that students need to develop relationships with faculty, administrators and peers. The administrators provide access to resources that assist with persistence and peers are needed for group work and academic support. The faculty relation is most important because the faculty members provide access to information, research opportunities, grades and research and industry contacts. The research also found that the women carried the responsibility of developing and nurturing the relation with the faculty. </p><p> Moreover, all of the African American women in the study acknowledge racism and sexism however, they responded to these deterrents differently. Some of the women were negatively affected while others chose to ignore the deterrents. However, with the presence of these obstacles, the study validated the notion that these African American women in engineering had a strong sense of self-efficacy which provided a foundation for the women to possess science identities: research scientist, altruistic or disruptive. With these identities, the African American women sought to engage their scientific knowledge further in graduate school, the workplace and altruistically to improve upon society. </p><p> These findings produce implications for policy and practice, suggesting that engineering colleges commit to transforming academic environments to reflect an atmosphere that is inclusive and supportive of racial and gender differences. This transformation should encompass pedagogy, curriculum, composition of faculty and student populations as well as the academic culture, allowing for a more welcoming and supportive atmosphere, where African American women can persist without concern for proving themselves because of their race or gender.</p>

<p> My main research questions explore how contradictions of unity, organizing structures, gender, sexuality, citizenship, class, and ability are addressed within Filipino leftist organizations that utilize dialectical materialist theory. I also ask: How have US-based women of color feminist and queer of color theory impacted Filipino nationalist frameworks in the US? How do they also remain at odds with one another? I interviewed 21 NYC-based activists and organizers involved in anti-imperialist Filipino organizations the summer of 2012. I also used participant observation as an active member of study groups, educational workshops, and a town forum. </p><p> My central framework explores conflict as contradiction using Mao Tse-tung's "On Contradiction" and the Haitian concepts of balans and konesans. In doing so, I examine how hard-lined leadership has impeded dialogue. I also interrogate how sexism, transphobia, masculinist organizing structures, and neoliberalism impact women, trans, queer, disabled, working class, and undocumented organizers&mdash;particularly those with overlapping identities of marginalization. "The Movement's" familial dynamic, combined with the value of <i>utang na loob,</i> creates hierarchies that cause some members to feel both silenced and guilty. I name these feelings as indicators of invisible emotional labor "for the sake of the movement" that lead many members to eventually leave their organizations. Their departures raise questions of sustainability. Lastly, I ask how the Fil-Am Left can draw strength from its familial dynamic but still address hierarchical issues that mirror societal hierarchies of oppression.</p><p> Applying work by Patricia Hill Collins, Audre Lorde, and other women of color, along with feminist grounded theory and sociological movement theory, I highlight three strategies that New York City based Filipino organizations have taken within the past ten years. I argue that organizations have recognized problems with sustainability and are creating their own interventions as theory-producers. Organizers' relationships to the National Democratic movement in the Philippines shape both the creation of interventions and how they respond to new ideas. Drawing on Arlie Hoschchild's concept of "stalled revolution," individual behaviors lag behind organizations' formal ideological shifts. Thus, they are works in progress.</p>

<p> Research on race and sentencing is increasingly moving beyond racial category analyses to include more subtle attributes such as skin tone and facial features. In keeping with this progression, this research examines the extent to which convicted offenders' Afrocentric facial features interact with sex in order to create longer criminal sentences for stereotypically Black males and females. A random sample of Black and White males and females currently serving prison sentences in the state of Oregon were selected for inclusion in the study. A preliminary regression analysis was run in order to determine the effect of broad racial category on sentencing length when controlling for offense characteristics, offense history, and extralegal factors. Additionally, photographs of a sample of 110 Black males and 91 Black females were rated for strength of Afrocentric facial features by undergraduate students. These ratings were averaged to create an Afrocentric rating for each Black individual in the sample. Regression analyses were then conducted for Black individuals in order to determine the effect of Afrocentric facial features and sex on sentence length. Results suggested that although broad racial category is not a significant predictor of sentence length, Afrocentric facial features interact with sex to produce longer sentences for Black males, but not Black females, with stronger Afrocentric facial features. Individuals with the fewest Afrocentric facial features were excluded from the analysis in order to limit the potential misperception of racial category by judges. These findings are consistent with current understandings of feature-trait stereotyping, as well as the focal concerns perspective regarding judicial decision-making. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2243. Adviser: Cara A. Finnegan. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 281-303) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1583. Adviser: Angharad Valdivia. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-234) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.