<p> Through employing critical narratives, this qualitative study examined the experiences of Black women who utilized their scholarship and activism to address campus climates at a predominantly Chicanx Latinx institution in Southern California. Six Black women&mdash;two faculty, two staff, and two students&mdash;participated in the study. All participants were active with Ethnic Studies (Pan-African Studies), the campus Cross Cultural Centers, and Black Student Union student organization in some capacity. Literature on the three areas focuses on the history of and ongoing struggle to exist, significance to campus life, and meaning in the lives of marginalized and minoritized communities. The study used three frameworks: Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Black Feminist and Black Womanist Theory to analyze the critical narratives of the women. Findings revealed Black women integrate community issues into their professional and personal lives, experience rare moments of being celebrated, and must contend with intentional efforts to silence their voices and activism. This study, informed by the Ethnic Studies politics of higher education, contributes to this field by identifying how Black women activists contribute to the moral and ethical leadership of campus climate conversations.</p><p>

Multiracial children constitute one of the fastest growing racial groups in the United States. However, biracial children, in particular Black-White biracial children, often are not recognized in the educational system. For instance, the current classification of Black-White biracial students in the state and federal educational systems is not disaggregated and does not allow for analyses of educational outcomes for this population. Not only is this population invisible in state education data, the demographic data at the school level often fail to represent this population. Not acknowledging multiple heritages dismisses the identity and experiences of students who are multiracial and thus symbolically negates a part of who they are. Additionally, multiracial students may be classified in a single category by administrators for the purposes of schools and funding. This study offers the perspective of administrators and current state and federal policies on this issue as applied to Black-White self-identified children and describes the complexities and relevance of addressing multiracial policies in educational systems. An ecological theoretical framework is used to explore four research questions in this area. Data were collected from seven school district administrators across Oregon through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Relationships in the data between responses and procedures from the seven sampled school districts are examined. Results suggest that across the seven school districts in this study, implementation of the policies and procedures of racial and ethnic categorization varied substantially. Furthermore, even though this revised race and ethnicity reporting policy was in part created to more accurately represent the multiracial population, it may actually be obscuring the multiple identities of these students. Detailed policy implications are discussed in further details in the Conclusions chapter.

<p> Guided by the overarching theoretical and conceptual framework from Latina/o critical race theory (LatCrit), funds of knowledge (FOK), and pedagogies of the home, this qualitative study explores the experiences of eleven Mexican immigrant mothers as they raise their K-12 grade children in the United States. This study centers the experiences of the participants as they utilize their funds of knowledge, the pedagogies of the home, local resources, and networks to provide opportunities to advance their children academically. Drawing from an asset-based perspective, this study positions the mother as the primary source of transmitting cultural knowledge to her children. This research describes how Mexican immigrant mothers define their role within the family structure and explores mother-daughter relationships. Further, the study identifies the challenges participants endure while raising their first generation Mexican-American children, and the ways in which they use community resources and local networks as forms of support. The data reveals the participants use of FOK through <i> consejos, respeto</i>, and dialogue to promote higher education expectations and aspirations for their children. Lastly, based on data analysis, this study expands on the conceptual framework of strategic mothering by theorizing strategic (Mexican immigrant) mothering.</p><p>

<p> Using the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity, this qualitative study examined the influence the News Feed function of Facebook had on multiracial community college students. Entering college at a time when racial identity development is heightened and social networking sites have changed the college experience, multiracial students are constantly engaging with peers. As multiracial students receive messages about their racial identity on social media, there is a need to understand the role these platforms have in shaping how multiracial students understand their identity. </p><p> Interview and audio recording data from seven community college students was organized along three main themes: participants&rsquo; use of Facebook, cultivation of News Feed content and intentional (re)actions to information, and overall influence on multiracial identity. Participants experienced negative emotional responses when reviewing race-related content and felt racially inadequate as a result of content from monoracial peers. Recommendations relate to student affairs practice and higher education policy.</p><p>

This thesis does not adhere to “traditional” academic criteria which I feel tends to be rigid, constrained ways of regurgitating knowledge. It is not easily digestible, nor is it something that offers concrete answers. Rather it is a critical understanding of many of my experiences in the last four years of education, with a specific focus on the most recent events that have unfolded in my personal and academic life. This thesis is a journey. It is by witnessing communities in New York City, Bolivia, Tlaxcala, Mexico City, Chiapas and Southern California that continue to struggle and hope in the face of neoliberal, power-hungry nation-states, that propels me forward and brings me hope and a renewed sense of consciousness as to where I want to go.

abstract: The history of research in Indigenous populations is deeply problematic. Power imbalances have led Non-Indigenous researchers and outside institutions to enter Indigenous communities with their own research agendas and without prior consultation with the people and communities being researched. As a consequence, Indigenous scholars are moving to take control and reclaim ownership of the research that occurs in our communities. This study, conducted by a Pueblo researcher with Pueblo leaders, investigates their definitions of and perspectives on research. Eleven semi-formal interviews were conducted in 2017 with a subset of tribal leaders from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. Results show that Pueblo leaders define research using action words such as compiling, gathering, or looking for information to determine a cause or to find out more about a situation. Leaders state that research is “inherent to our beings” and gave examples such as “singing to plants,” “knowing when to plant and hunt” and sustaining our cultural ways as Pueblo activities considered research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2018

<p> Ethnic identity is a major component of the psychological development and well-being of adolescents and adults. In the United States, immigrants are often tasked with balancing their minority culture and a dominant White American culture. This study used the two-dimensional Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) Model to illustrate progression toward an integrated ethnic identity, in which individuals identify with and integrate their minority ethnic group and the dominant group. An integrated identity is achieved at the Integrative Awareness status of the R/CID Model. Individuals at this status are found to possess more psychological resources to cope with psychosocial crises as compared to other statuses (i.e., Conformity, Dissonance, Resistance and Immersion, Introspection). </p><p> The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) dataset was used to identify three patterns of ethnic identity over ten years, with each pattern capturing varying proximity to an Integrative Awareness status. Participants were all children of immigrants, either 1.5 or second generation immigrants themselves, and had self-identified their ethnic identity at two points over ten years. Each self-identification was categorized as (1) American, (2) Racial/Panethnic, (3) National Origin, or (4) Hyphenated, and was representative of a particular status in the R/CID Model; that is, American was representative of &ldquo;Conformity,&rdquo; Racial/Panethnic of &ldquo;Dissonance,&rdquo; National Origin of &ldquo;Resistance and Immersion,&rdquo; and Hyphenated of &ldquo;Integrative Awareness.&rdquo; Next, a participant&rsquo;s change in self-identification over ten years was labeled as either a change Toward Integrative Awareness (e.g. from American to Hyphenated), a change Away from Integrative Awareness (e.g. Hyphenated to American), or Static (i.e., no change in self-identification). Toward Integrative Awareness, Away from Integrative Awareness, and Static were the three patterns of ethnic identity development. </p><p> Direct discriminant analyses were conducted on a group of participants (n = 2,528) from the CILS dataset to test whether discrimination experience, knowledge of native language, self-esteem, level of education, importance of ethnic identity, and family cohesion distinguished between the three patterns of ethnic identity development. Results revealed two discriminant functions, which in combination, significantly differentiated the three patterns. Correlations between the predictors and ethnic identity development patterns for all children of immigrants in the sample were evaluated. Of all the predictors, discrimination experience had the strongest relationship with the ethnic identity development patterns when the entire sample was considered. Children of immigrants who experienced more discrimination across ten years tended to move Toward Integrative Awareness. The contribution of predictors in distinguishing between the three patterns varied by gender in that both discriminant functions significantly differentiated the patterns for women but not for men. There was also variation across generational status with discriminant functions being significant for 1.5 generation immigrants but not for second generation. No such variation was observed among Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and White racial groups. Results provide insight into the normative ethnic identity development of immigrants and suggest a need for more research and theories that highlight the nuanced experiences of female immigrants and 1.5 generation immigrants. </p><p>

<p> This dissertation assembles a case study of Iranian immigrant families in the United States conducted in the northeast. This work addresses the transnational diasporic global identity of second-generation Iranian-Americans. The literature reflects on the exile experience, concluding that Iranian identity is a disputed problematic issue. I argue hybridity pens the migratory process, building links and relationships at the material and cultural levels from the sending and receiving countries. To reveal these connections, I use the funds of knowledge/identity approach to demonstrate how families reach self-understanding and communicate that understanding to others. By examining Persian culture and traditions, this approach sheds new light on the cultural transformations and cultural preservations valued among the second generation. The study shows that complex webs of factors continue to be at work in the shaping of the sociocultural dynamics of Iranian-Americas.</p><p>

abstract: Embodied Continuity documents the methodology of Entangled/Embraced, a dance performance piece presented December, 2011 and created as an artistic translation of research conducted January-May, 2011 in the states of Karnataka and Kerala, South India. Focused on the sciences of Ayurveda, Kalaripayattu and yoga, this research stems from an interest in body-mind connectivity, body-mind-environment continuity, embodied epistemology and the implications of ethnography within artistic practice. The document begins with a theoretical grounding covering established research on theories of embodiment; ethnographic methodologies framing research conducted in South India including sensory ethnography, performance ethnography and autoethnography; and an explanation of the sciences of Ayurveda, Kalaripayattu and yoga with a descriptive slant that emphasizes concepts of embodiment and body-mind-environment continuity uniquely inherent to these sciences. Following the theoretical grounding, the document provides an account of methods used in translating theoretical concepts and experiences emerging from research in India into the creation of the Entangled/Embraced dance work. Using dancer and audience member participation to inspire emergent meanings and maintain ethnographic consciousness, Embodied Continuity demonstrates how concepts inspiring research interests, along with ideas emerging from within research experiences, in addition to philosophical standpoints embedded in the ethnographic methodologies chosen to conduct research, weave into the entire project of Entangled/Embraced to unite the phases of research and performance, ethnography and artistry. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.F.A. Dance 2012

abstract: Este trabajo examina la producción literaria y cultural chicana/méxicosudoesteña de las distintas épocas coloniales del sudoeste: la época colonial española (1521-1821), la época colonial angloamericana (1848-1965) y la época poscolonial (1965-presente) para ver hasta qué punto siguen vigentes los legados coloniales dentro de un contexto contemporáneo. Avanzamos la hipótesis que, de la larga residencia histórica y geográfica de las personas hispanomexicanas en el sudoeste, se han producidos textos simbólicos donde se registran dos o más discursos residuos cuyo origen es una ideología dominante. El capítulo 1 plantea y detalla la hipótesis, reseña los numerosos estudios existentes, describe el marco teórico y da la división en capítulos. En el capítulo 2, se da de manera detallada el método crítico: la definición del colonialismo clásico según la teoría de Mario Barrera, la relación colonizador/colonizado aportada por Albert Memmi y los conceptos del tercer espacio híbrido, el mestizaje y el imaginario decolonial asociados con la época poscolonial como ofrecidos respectivamente por Homi Bhabha, Rafael Pérez-Torres y Emma Pérez. El capítulo 3 ofrece un análisis de la época colonial española vía dos obras nuevomexicanas: el poema épico Historia de la Nueva México (1610) de Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá y el drama Los comanches (c.1779) de anónimo. El capítulo 4 trata la colonización angloamericana en las obras The Squatter and the Don (1885) de María Amparo Ruiz de Burton y Dew on the Thorn (escrita en los 1940; publicada en 1997) de Jovita González de Mireles. El capítulo 5 examina la época poscolonial vía la obra Los muertos también cuentan (1995) de Miguel Méndez. Una lectura de la literatura chicana/méxicosudoesteña revela la presencia de varios personajes típicos asociados cada uno a una diferente época histórica desde el conquistador español hasta un mexicano recién inmigrado, quienes no han podido evadir la correspondiente presencia de un grupo dominante u colonizador. Con base en una investigación de las cinco obras seleccionadas, se muestra cómo las relaciones coloniales se forman y se transforman y luego se manifiestan en un contexto contemporáneo, desplazando por ende nuestro entendimiento de las relaciones coloniales como un simple proyecto binario de dominación y subordinación. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Spanish 2013