This thesis explores the relationship between colonialism and the environment through a study of hurricanes in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Because hurricanes do not discriminate between international borders, they reveal much about the influences of political, economic, and social structures on vulnerability to hurricanes, hurricane preparation, and hurricane relief efforts. The Caribbean is a region that has been disproportionately impacted by hurricanes. It is also a region that has been wholly shaped by colonization. Prior to Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Caribbean, natives on islands like Puerto Rico and Cuba built and structured their societies around hurricanes and other catastrophes. Different aspects of colonialism altered the relationship between Puerto Ricans and Cubans and their respective environments. Though Puerto Rico and Cuba share incredibly similar histories, competing trajectories have emerged on both islands as they have undergone processes of decolonization and independence. An examination of Cuban and Puerto Rican history prior to Hurricane Irma and Hurricane María in 2017 provides a deeper understanding of the divergent histories of both islands. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that the legacy of colonialism continues to impact the identities and security of Cuba and Puerto Rico today.

The Hispanic population in central Texas tends to have low levels of civic engagement as compared to other groups in the same area, which leads to disproportionate political marginalization. Prior research has focused on characteristics of voters and nonvoters, but has failed to explore the lack of political mobilization among Hispanic voters. The purpose of this study was twofold; first to better understand the nature of Hispanic voters' political marginalization, and second, explore why participation levels are so low among this group. This general qualitative study applied critical race theory to explore the barriers perceived by Hispanic voters related to political marginalization that may contribute to low voter participation. Data were collected through interviews with 20 randomly selected Hispanic people residing in central Texas. Interview data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then organized into themes. The key research findings identified 3 themes that potentially explain low civic engagement; a general distrust in government, a deficiency of civics education in the public school system, and specific cultural preferences that may contribute to low levels of participation in voting and politics. Findings also revealed that there is little understanding of the voting process, and few public initiatives to encourage the Hispanic voter community to vote or otherwise engage in participatory democracy. Recommendations to policy makers to promote positive social change include increasing funding for civic education, and creating voter outreach programs. Policy makers and politicians should also seek out ways to build trust in the political process throughout the Hispanic community.

As a method of building relationships with the public, some police forces have integrated community members into the candidate assessment and selection process. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine the effect of integrating community evaluators as a new method in the assessment and selection process for police officers in a city police force. Media richness theory and general mental ability were used as a framework, and archival data from a large Midwest department of public safety were collected by filing two public records requests. Data from 2,510 police candidates were included. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using correlational and regression tests to examine rater agreement, subgroup differences (gender or race/ethnicity) in selection outcomes, and the predictive validity of a testing method as measured by academy performance with and without the integration of community evaluators. There was no evidence to suggest that integrating community evaluators into the assessment and selection process for entry-level police officers affected rater agreement or subgroup differences in selection outcomes. The findings from this study support positive social change by indicating that integrating the community into a structured assessment process did not impact selection outcomes as measured by gender, race/ethnicity, or academy performance, which may encourage public safety departments to build community relationships by inviting local residents to participate in the assessment and selection process for police officers. Other social change may include the effect that the integration of community members could have on applicant and community perceptions of the assessment and selection process for police officers.

Twenty percent of Hispanic nursing students at a west coast university are being dismissed from the nursing program due to repeated failures in nursing courses. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of Hispanic nursing students' experiences of successfully completing a nursing program, earning a baccalaureate of science degree, and passing the state licensing examination for registered nurses despite having failed a nursing course and having been placed on academic probation. Guided by Tinto's theory of academic integration, a descriptive phenomenological design was used to explore Hispanic nursing graduates' success experiences. Purposive sampling was used to select a representative sample of 6 Hispanic registered nurses who achieved success after academic failure in the nursing program. Data were collected through 5 face-to-face interviews and 1 telephone interview. Giorgi's steps for data analysis were used to create a meaning structure of the success experience. Findings from analysis of the data revealed that the general structure of the phenomenon of achieving academic success is a process that occurs in 3 distinct successive stages: despair, self-reflection, and change. During the self-reflection stage, a pivotal turning point was the recapture of the dream to become a nurse. These findings lead to the preparation of a professional development workshop that may acquaint educators with the stages of the success journey for students such as these, and may equip educators with knowledge and skills to intervene to support students through the stages of the success journey. Positive social change may result from educators effectively guiding nursing students to achieve their academic goals and successfully graduate from a nursing program.

Over the past century, the Japanese community in Peru has grown to be the second largest in South America. Their arrival and subsequent success in small businesses posed a threat to the Peruvian attempt to “whiten” their population. Because of this, racial conflicts arose between the Japanese and Peruvians, leading to the widespread “Yellow Peril” epidemic. Anti-Japanese sentiments caused immigration reduction laws and in the years leading up to WWII, tensions grew. During this time, the Japanese community remained ethnically close, maintaining transnational ties with Japan. This changed after the war, when their sojourner mentality changed to the permanence of Peru as a home. The community slowly built up to where they are today as a respected ethnic minority. They were able to do so because of the creation of a new pan-ethnic identity, Nikkei. This new identity allowed the Japanese population to adopt certain aspects of both their Japanese and Peruvian identities, both which at this point were becoming problematic to represent who they were. Identity formation of immigrants is a complicated process in which identities of the new country clash with lasting identities from their home country. The Nikkei identity allows for the Japanese to still maintain certain ties with Japan, yet not be constrained to being totally Japanese. During the process of assimilation into Peruvian society, the Japanese have come to rely on their new Nikkei identity as a way to distinguish themselves within Peruvian society, while at the same time resisting exclusion and marginalization.

This thesis addresses the influences on family size for Palestinian refugees in Beirut. It is based on ethnographic research done in a camp in Beirut over a three month period in which 24 women were interviewed to discern why they choose to have the number of children that they do. This thesis argues that changing nationalist ideals, declining economic status, and evolving women’s roles in the family contributed to the average decrease in family size.

This thesis explores the way in which it is possible to undermine dominant colonial power structures through the figure of the organic intellectual. In the context of this work, the figure of the organic intellectual is the Filipino American playwright, who creates characters and worlds that expose the fragmented identities of the postcolonial condition following both Spanish and American occupation. This thesis focuses on Han Ong and Ralph Peña, two Filipino American playwrights who are well suited to the role of instigating change because they embrace the cracks and fissures brought on from years of trying to reconcile disparate identities within an often insecure self and transform those disjointed regions into something beautiful, and above all, worth examining further. By creating works that allow literal embodiment of postcolonial discourse, Filipino American playwrights are able to articulate issues and foster awareness for all involved in the production of the play, whether it be through a performative or spectatorial perspective.

This study examined whether the demand for more educated science and engineering workers outweighed longstanding practices of discrimination in hiring in high technology industries and science and engineering occupations. The study focused on the effects of education on the distribution of employment and wages among four racial and ethnic groups (non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics and Asians), for the period 1992 to 2002. The main data used in the analyses came from the March Annual Demographic Survey. Multinomial logit analyses were used to determine the probabilities of employment, and ordinary least squares, non-parametric regressions and t-tests were used to examine wages. The analyses showed that education was more important in determining employment in S &E occupations, when compared to its effects in other occupations; and compared to race, other demographic and labor market characteristics. The effects of education were greater in S &E jobs in the high technology sector when compared to S &E jobs elsewhere in the economy. However, the effects of education varied with race, the level of education, and the industry/ occupational group under consideration in ways that suggest that both employment and wages continue to be influenced by correlates of race. Based on the findings, the study provides recommendations for policy and future research.

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

Recent studies have reported that African American couples in the military are less likely to divorce than their civilian counterparts. This dissertation was designed to document the experiences of African American military couples in order to understand the challenges they face while serving in the armed forces and the strategies they have used to maintain their marriages. A grounded theory approach was utilized to produce 12 main themes that categorize experiences of both the individual and the couple within the context of their respective military branch. Photo-elicitation was incorporated into semi-structured interviews with 10 couples to identify what they consider to be the important aspects of their marriage, the ways in which their relationships were impacted by the demands of duty, and their perspectives on the role that race plays in an institution that has been characterized as relatively race-neutral.