In this thesis, I explore experiences with my identity, looking at the identity people have seen me as, who I've thought I was, and the identities my mother's and father's different family backgrounds suggest I should be. I have divided this discussion into three main areas: my complexion, the first time I became aware of racial differences while living on Stats Street in Las Vegas, and my stay at Fort Dix, New Jersey during Army Basic Training. I explore my complexion first because it has been the biggest factor in my own understanding of my identity. Because of my darker complexion. I've been mistaken as Mexican, Cuban, Filipino, and African-American, and judged (misjudged) accordingly. It has often branded me as a "trouble maker" and made me feel ugly and inferior to my white friends. In the thesis' middle section, I look specifically at my stay on Stats Street, in a lower income housing "project." During my stay there, all of my neighbors, except one, were African American. I felt a constant barrier between me and my neighbors because of skin color and the different ideologies and lifestyles I came in contact with there. Finally, I look at a period of my life when I was forced to live among a very diverse group of people. In the Army, I was seen as a kind of anomaly because I didn't fit into the naturally occurring groups that formed. Through my entire discussion, I attempt to present a metaphor for the ever-changing and ever-creating process of identity that I've seen myself go through and continue to go through: mending walls and tearing walls down. I present a notion of identity, and ethnicity, that is in flux for everyone, one that is constantly being constructed and deconstructed. I do not attempt to enter into the discussions on ethnicity in order to offer a way to approach ethnicity or multiculturalism, but I do offer my discussion here as a process of one Japanese-Hawaiian, Cherokee Indian man who is still searching for his identity yet has begun to understand, at least, his own process of identity. / Graduation date: 1996

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-65). Also available online.

In this paper I focus on the process of formulating an ethnic identity in the United States for individuals of mixed-ethnicity. My main question explores the complexities an individual with parents of separate and distinct ethnic heritages faces when constructing an ethnic identity in our society. American society is reaching a new reality where influences of not only mixed "race", but of an individual's multiple ethnic heritages can be recognized and discussed. Still, American culture has little patience with changing identities between contexts or with an ambiguous identity. Through the combination of research, interviews, and my own life experiences, I explore the many complex influences and conditions which shape an individual's mixed ethnic identity over time. My main informants are individuals whose parents acknowledged an evident and specific ethnic heritage distinct from one another. My informants are a combination of their cultural and biological heritage, leaving them with more flexibility how to construct their own ethnic identity, which may then change through time, based on their unique life experiences. As I traced the formulation of ethnic identity, for individuals of mixed-ethnicity, I found that it is not only shaped by how they see themselves, but also by how others perceive them. Ethnic identity begins with the individual's family heritage, cultural background, language, and personality and is then transformed by political, economic, educational, and other diverse influences of society, which unfortunately also includes prejudice, discrimination, and embellished stereotypes. / Graduation date: 2000

Using the 1979 Chicano Survey, this thesis examines three measures of ethnic identity as they relate to ethno-political attitudes and hypothesized structural determinants. While this study indicates that the three measures may each tap into separate dimensions of the self concept, it is determined that statement of interaction preference is the measure most suited to contemporary theories of ethnic identity. / Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008.

This dissertation uses a multiperspectival approach that analyzes production, text, and audience consumption to explore representations of gender and ethnicity in The Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) original program The Sopranos. I first present the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the continued critical and commercial success of the show. The hybrid genre of the show - an intermingling of the gangster and soap opera genres - proves particularly significant in its representation of gender and ethnicity. Both textual and audience analyses allow me to respond to the question central to this dissertation: Does The Sopranos reinforce or challenge hegemonic notions of masculinity, femininity, and ethnicity? My textual and paratextual analysis identifies the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity in the male characters, including the ways in which that hegemonic behavior leads to male violence, as depicted in the narrative, and reveals the performances of emphasized femininity and pariah femininities, class, and Italian/Americaness at play amongst the female characters in The Sopranos. Audience analysis reveals that The Sopranos broadly appeals to many Italian/Americans and self-proclaimed feminists, yet the vast majority of fans, particularly those who create fan fiction and frequent chat rooms, are drawn to the show for its violence, sexist imagery, and macho male characters. Thus, the multiperspectival approach of this dissertation proved particularly useful in determining that The Sopranos, in its entirety, ultimately repackages, but yet still reinforces hegemonic notions of gender and Italian/Americaness. / by Niki Caputo Wilson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Following the social unrest of the 1960s, social scientists in America began to examine the persistence of ethnic identity among groups previously viewed in terms of their assimilation into the dominant culture or their geographical and thus cultural isolation. In 1969 social anthropologist Frederick Barth published his seminal essay on the subject. Ethnic identity, he claimed, can persist despite contact with and interdependence on other ethnic groups.This thesis attempts to effectively combine data from both the ethnohistoric and archaeological records in order to better understand the ethnic identity of Zachariah Cicott, a 19th century fur trader living in the central Wabash Valley. At this time the French families living in the United States had managed to maintain a separate sense of being or ethnic identity.The architectural style of an individuals residence has long been regarded as a reflection of the occupant’s ethnicity. French colonists arriving in North America brought with them a distinct architectural style characterized by the use of hand hewn vertical logs. As French communities spread across the North American landscape this style changed in response to the environment and raw materials at hand. Three ethnohistoric accounts of Cicott’s house make a convincing case for the presence of French architecture at the Cicott Trading Post Site (12Wa59).Archaeological excavations at the Cicott Trading Post Site have provided further evidence for French architecture. Found in association with a linear concentration of limestone, which appears to be the partial remains of the house foundation, were several fragments of pierrotage, a type of French mortar.Taken in conjunction with the ethnohistoric accounts, this limestone foundation and the associated pierrotage may be seen to represent the remains of a piece-sur-piece structure. / Department of Anthropology

This thesis project explores Chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldúa's notion of a new mestiza consciousness, in which the marginalized ethnic American woman transcends her Otherness, breaks down the borders between her different identities, and creates a Thirdspace. Through the rehearsal and performance process, three ethnic American women employed Robert Scholes' model of textuality-the consumption and production of texts-as a framework to construct a new mestiza consciousness, and create a Thirdspace. The project set to determine what strategies were significant rehearsal techniques for encouraging the cast members to exercise textual power and claim a new mestiza identity, a Thirdspace. The results reveal four overarching factors involved in assuming textual power through rehearsal and performance in the production-building trust, having appropriate skills, assuming ownership and responsibility, and overcoming performance anxiety. The discussion addresses the direct link between Thirdspace and Scholes' notion of production of original texts.

Interest in a multiracial society has increased in recent years and including on racism and prejudice and in the propensity to stereotype out-groups. Theories on racism help explain the dominant group's prejudice toward subordinate groups. Yet they only explain why dominant group members stereotype subordinates or if the dominant group's propensity to stereotype is different from that of subordinate groups. Recent assimilation theories suggest that some minorities are assimilating with Whites but Blacks are not undergoing assimilation. Classic assimilation theory suggests that when a subordinate group assimilates with the dominant group then they will also take on the dominant group's values and beliefs, including their prejudices and propensities to stereotype. The use of racial stereotypes in support of the assimilation of a minority group has not been tested. Results from the LSAF national survey provide support for Asians to be assimilating with Whites. However, Hispanics do not appear to be taking on Whites' propensity to stereotype, contradicting the prediction that Hispanics are assimilating with Whites.

Drawing insight from ethnic studies along with cultural and human geography, the main focus of this thesis is to identify the cultural survival mechanisms of immigrants by using as a case study the framework of the Greek-Canadian unbounded ethnic community in South Florida. Greek- Canadians, being a twice-migrant group, first in Canada and later in the United States, reflect the challenges contemporary immigrants face in order to maintain their ethnic culture in this increasingly transnational environment. In the past few years, researchers have examined the impact of the spatial concentration of immigrants in large metropolitan areas with little attention centered on ethnic communities that lack geographic propinquity. In order to uncover the cultural survival mechanisms of this immigrant group, this study suggests looking beyond the traditional model. This new model of ethnic community is called `Culturescape.' This contemporary ethnic community not only meets the needs of immigrants but also aids their cultural maintenance and preservation. The use of the realism-structuration framework enables a multi-method research approach in order to examine beyond the level of events and to explore the mechanisms that generate the creation of unbounded ethnic communities. This study combines a number of sources that have been collected over a three-year period. Multiple indepth interviews with Greek immigrants were conducted not only in South Florida but in Montreal as well. Additionally, an on- line structured survey open to all selfidentified Greeks in South Florida was conducted. Field notes from many ethnic events as well as official documents and the Internet were utilized. This research reveals that Greek-Canadians constructed their culturescape as a strategy to maintain and practice their ethnic culture. Their culturescape functions as a traditional geographically bounded ethnic community; however, it is a reflection of contemporary global conditions. Based on this case-study, geographic setting does matter because it structures the way cultures evolve. When immigrants move to a new setting, a two-way process of cultural exchange inevitably takes place. Hence, the Greek-Canadian culturescape is as unique as the setting that creates it. / Geography / D.Litt. et Phil. (Geography)