abstract: ABSTRACT For many years, difference scholars, such as Cornel West, Iris Marion Young, and Janet Atwill have been reminding humanities scholars that if social equity is ever to be realized, difference needs to be reconfigured and reframed. As Janet Atwill puts it, "difference can no longer be the anomaly, the enemy, or the problem to be solved. Difference is the condition" (212). While these scholars insightfully recognize that difference needs to be accepted, welcomed and loved rather than merely tolerated, they have not sufficiently addressed the perceptual change that must occur worldwide if difference as an intrinsic underlying condition of human existence is to be embraced. This project provides a point of departure for carrying out such a dramatic epistemic change by arguing that hierarchical thinking, not difference, is the real agent underwriting societal violence and discord. Hierarchical thinking delineates a more appropriate critical space than does difference for social justice inquiry, invention, and intervention. This project also rhetorically theorizes the realm of intersubjectivity and provides two novel contributions to contemporary rhetorical theory: 1) privilege as a rhetorical construct and 2) the untapped inventional potential of the postmodern understanding of intersubjectivity. To illustrate the embodied and performative aspects of hierarchical thinking, this work draws upon the writings of Lillian Smith, a white southerner (1897-1966) whose descriptive analyses of the Jim Crow South allude to large systems of privilege of which Jim Crow is merely representational. Illustrating the invidious nexus of privilege, Smith's writings describe the ways in which individuals embody and perform practices of exclusion and hate to perpetuate larger systems of privilege. Smith shows how privilege operates much as gender and power--fluidly and variously and dependent upon context. Viewing privilege as a rhetorical construct, operating dynamically, always in flux and at play, provides rhetoricians with a theoretically important move that un-yokes privilege from specific identities (e.g., white privilege). When viewed through this more dynamic and precise lens, we can readily perceive how privilege functions as a colonizing, ubiquitously learned, and variegated rhetorical practice of subordination and domination that, as a frame of analysis, offers a more fluid and accurate perspective than identity categories provide for discussions of oppression, social justice, and democratic engagement. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2012

abstract: This social media network (SMN) study regarding youth of Saudi Arabia, focused on the effect of the SMN on youth with their families and their traditions. The significance of this study is to have an understanding of the effect of the SMN on the youths' families. Furthermore, recommendations were given from the perspective of the youth to help improve Saudi Arabian society using SMN. A total of 617 students from University of Dammam, ages from 18-24, have participated in the survey. The results of the survey showed that the effect of the SMN on the youth and their relations with their families are resilient in some aspects. However, the outcome of involvement with the SMN is obvious on other aspects as well, such as the gained ability of self-decision making and the ability to accept opposing opinions. Moreover, the research findings specific to women indicate that they are more active in the SMNs. The results also demonstrate women gained knowledge of their rights and gained freedom of speech. Finally, the findings led to a conclusion that there is potential social change in the Saudi Arabian society, even though the family structure is not changing significantly. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2012

abstract: By drawing from six oral histories of Mexican immigrant women living in Phoenix, Arizona, this thesis builds on the current literature on Mexican immigrant women living in the United States. Through an analysis of U.S. policies that spur Mexican migration to the U.S. and its simultaneous policies that dissuade and criminalize immigrant presence in the U.S., I highlight the increased level of migration through Arizona and the ensuing anti-immigrant politics in the state. By centering women in this context, I demonstrate the obstacle Mexican immigrant women face in the crossing and upon arrival in Phoenix, Arizona. In sharing the stories of Mexican immigrant women who overcome these obstacles, I challenge the portrayal of Mexican immigrant women as victims of violence and use the work of Chicana feminist theorists and oral history methodology to highlight the experiences of Mexican immigrant women adapting to life in the U.S. in order to expand literature of their unique lived experiences and to also contribute the stories of resiliency of Mexican immigrant women in the contentious anti-immigrant city of Phoenix, Arizona. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social Justice and Human Rights 2012

abstract: "The Globalization of Indigenous Women's Movements and The United Nations System (1992-2012)" is a comprehensive study of the globalization of indigenous women's movements that materialized in the early 1990s. These movements flourished parallel to other transnational social movements, such as International Zapatismo, the World Social Forum, and Gender as Human Rights Movement, yet they are omitted and remain invisible within transnational and global social movement literature. This study is an inscription of these processes, through the construct of a textual space that exposes a global decolonial feminist imaginary grounded in the oral histories of thirty-one international indigenous women leaders. The primary site for this study is the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), a venue where contact amongst indigenous women worldwide occurs annually at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City. This qualitative study uses decolonial and feminist methodology to examine in-depth semi-structured interviews, transcriptions of key speeches, plenaries and interventions made by indigenous women at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and other relevant international forums, and field notes compiled from my full-participant and participant-observation in international forums. My dissertation makes two claims. First, I argue that indigenous women have made formal gains within the UN System via an unprecedented process of simultaneously accepting, contesting and altering the structural opportunities and constraints present within the UN. These processes made it possible for UNPFII's actors and their key claims to be effectively integrated within the multiple agencies that make up the UN. I identify key Indigenous actors and trace their claims for social justice, which have transcended the domestic sphere to the global political arena. Second, I argue that, globalization has reconfigured transnational political spaces for indigenous women activists and that these UN advocates frame their claims for rights in a unique way, in a process that combines individual human rights as well as collective indigenous peoples rights. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Justice Studies 2012

abstract: This thesis examines the Mexican federal judiciary and the problem of corruption in this institution, particularly related to cases of drug trafficking. Given the clandestine nature of corruption and the complexities of this investigation, ethnographic methods were used to collect data. I conducted fieldwork as a "returning member" to the site under study, based on my former experience and interaction with the federal judicial system. I interviewed 45 individuals who work in the federal courts in six different Mexican cities. I also studied case files associated with an important criminal trial of suspected narco-traffickers known in Mexico as "El Michoacanazo." My study reveals the complicated nature of judicial corruption and how it can occur under certain circumstances. I conclude that the Mexican federal judiciary has become a more professional, efficient, and trustworthy institution over the past fifteen years, though institutionalized practices such as nepotism, cronyism, personal abuse of power, and gender inequalities still exist, tending to thwart the full professionalization of these courts and facilitating instances of misconduct and corruption. Although structural factors prevent full professionalization and corruption does occur in these courts, the system works better than it ever has before. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Justice Studies 2012

<p> Transnational networks are growing in prevalence and importance as states, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental organizations seek to meet climate change goals; yet, the organizations in these networks struggle between the global, technical and local, contextual sources of power, authority, and knowledge used to influence decision-making and governance. This dissertation analyzes these contestations in Pacific Islands climate change diplomacy and governance efforts by asking: i) What do <i>power</i> relations look like among the Pacific Islands&rsquo; networked organizations? ii) To what <i>authority </i> do organizations appeal to access sources of power? iii) What sources of <i>knowledge</i> are produced and reproduced by these organizations? and iv) How do these patterns fit within the <i>broader history</i> of the Pacific Islands and climate change? I draw from interviews, document analysis, event participation, and social network analysis of Pacific Island climate change diplomacy and governance. This examination leads me to propose the concept of "Climate Empire,&rdquo; which can be understood as the network of knowledge and communicative services that imagine, build, and administer the globe through a decentralized and deterritorialized apparatus of rule. </p><p> In the Pacific Islands, Climate Empire upholds technical bureaucratic and scientific approaches to overcoming climate challenges; however, the global spaces in which these approaches are produced are reconnected with the spaces of local resistance through data collection networks and efforts to relocalize knowledge. Thus, the local/global divisions found in diplomacy and governance in the Pacific Islands collectively produce and reform Climate Empire as organizations interact in the network. Further research is necessary to understand the extensiveness of Climate Empire, as well as to ensure the inclusion and empowerment of Pacific Island voices in climate governance for both justice and efficacy.</p><p>

<p> This basic qualitative study addressed one research question: <i> How do African American male leaders in predominantly white K-12 independent schools describe their strategies for navigating social identity?</i> The study utilized the semistructured interview format (Merriam &amp; Tisdell, 2016). The criterion-based sample (Merriam &amp; Tisdell, 2016) included 16 participants who identified as African American men who were in their second year or more of a role that reported directly to a white head of school in a predominantly white K-12 independent school. </p><p> The study was grounded in the social identity theory of leadership, which &ldquo;asserts that leadership is a recursive, multi-dimensional process that centers on leaders&rsquo; capacities to represent, advance, create, and embed a shared sense of social identity for group members&rdquo; (Steffens, Haslam, Reicher, Platow, et al., 2014, p. 1002). The research question aimed to understand how nonprototypicality (Hogg, 2001) affects the experience of leadership for African American men in predominantly white work environments and the strategies they use to navigate those experiences. The study also had foundations in Wingfield&rsquo;s (2007) concept of gendered racism, which acknowledges that the experience of racism is different for African American men and African American women because of the intersection of race and gender. </p><p> Key findings from the study included identity entrepreneurship (Steffens et al., 2013; Hogg, 2016) and assimilation (Hornsey &amp; Hogg, 2000) as less utilized strategies for African American men leading in predominantly white K-12 independent schools. The key strategy used by the leaders was the cultivation of allies and mentors. The study also found that the leaders exhibited a sense of pride in being nonprototypical leaders as well as having feelings of anger, frustration, and isolation that align with other experiences of African American men in the workplace (Chavez &amp; Wingfield, 2018). Participants discussed the role of direct reports, colleagues, and their own supervisors in helping them navigate nonprototypicality&mdash;mainly the need for their colleagues to invest in their own diversity education. Implications of the findings are discussed for the social identity theory of leadership and for the concepts of intersectionality (Collins, 2015) and gendered racism (Wingfield, 2007). </p><p>

<p> Foster care efficacy in the United States is examined in an analytical review of the literature. The question researched was whether or not the foster care placement system in the United States is conducive to the developmental needs of children with high risk factors. Participants included populations of children in foster care, foster parents, and children who had matured out of foster care, throughout the United States. The relating topics of the data analysis within the literature review are: developmental theory, stability, outcomes, continuing education, and foster parent training. Research suggests that many children in foster care, or children who are entering foster care settings, are diagnosed with a psychiatric illness. Support and emotional stability within a foster home for children was shown to have a significant correlation as to if there would be positive future outcomes. The KEEP program, (Keeping Foster Parents Trained and Supported), was found to be effective in correlation with not how often it is used, but with how well the caregiver understands how to implement the intervention. Further research into the impact of continuing training of foster parents after initial licensing, and the impact foster homes lacking in foster parent support pertaining to schoolwork, extracurricular activities and long-term educational goals , is suggested.</p><p>

abstract: Privilege is unearned advantages, access, and power reserved for a select group of people. Those that benefit from privilege manifest their power consciously and sub-consciously so as to maintain their exclusive control of the opportunities privilege affords them. The reach and power of one’s privilege rises and falls as the different social identities that one possesses intersect. Ultimately, if a society built on justice and equity is to be achieved, those with privilege must take tangible steps to acknowledge their privilege and work to end the unequal advantages and oppression that are created in order to perpetuate privilege. This thesis unpacks privilege through an autoethnographic examination of the author’s history. Through the use of creative nonfiction, personal stories become launching points to explore characteristics of privilege manifest in the author’s life which are emblematic of larger social groups that share many of the author’s social identities. The following characteristics of privilege are explored: merit, oppression, normalization, economic value, neutrality, blindness, and silence. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Justice Studies 2015

abstract: ABSTRACT The tourism industry continues to mature as many consumers are demanding more responsible and sustainable development. Mindfulness has been studied in tourism as a cognitive trait recognized by actively processing information through an acute sensitivity to an individual's environment and openness to new information. Mindfulness has been shown to predict behaviors related to tourism and recreation. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been extensively applied to understand human behavior. Despite TPB's extensive history in the social sciences, researchers continue to incorporate new social factors to explain behavior. This study employs an emerging psychological construct, mindfulness, into the TPB model as an enhancement to conceptual and empirical discrepancies. This study aimed to: (1) understand the presence of mindfulness among those who travel, and (2) test a hypothesized relationship between mindfulness and intent to be sustainable on vacation. The research seeks to answer - does mindfulness add to a traveler's likelihood to behave sustainably in a destination with active sustainable initiatives? The purpose of this study is to showcase emerging consumer traits, like mindfulness, to enhance visitor experiences through sustainability initiatives. A survey research method was employed to provide a broad, generalizable set of findings from a group of people who were planning a trip and may have visited a specific destination. This study partnered with Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau to access such a population. The survey was conducted with a self-administered online survey and 550 completed surveys were obtained. Behavior intention to be sustainable, in any visited destination, was regressed twice to address the research question. The first regression included original TPB independent variables (such as attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control). The second regression added the mindfulness variable. The mindfulness variable was found to be positive and significant in a general context. The model was tested for those who traveled to Sedona and mindfulness and actual behaviors associated with sustainability were strongly related. A traveler's perception of their ability to control behaviors had a significant role when paired with mindfulness. Results suggest the TPB model has availability to incorporate new consumer behavior traits to understand behavior intention. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2017