Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This study explored Black women's lived experiences as teachers in urban schools during the era of 21st-century education reform. It centers around the relationships between Black women teachers (micro), their working conditions in low-performing urban schools (mesa), and neoliberal education policies (macro) that affect their work. The theoretical frames were Black feminist thought and critical race theory. The research questions were as follows: first, what are the working experiences of Black women teachers of tested subjects in low-performing urban public schools and, second, how do socio-political factors affect their working conditions? The research design was qualitative and included narrative inquiry and life history. Key findings were leadership, teacher autonomy, camaraderie, and collaboration, and student behavior. The Black women of this study want better leadership, autonomy, a pathway that does not lead to principalship but out of the classroom, self-care, and wellness. The implication for social change is educational leadership that uses adaptive leadership and social justice leadership that requires leaders to have emotional intelligence, social-political awareness, and activism. Educational leadership must stop taking its cues from big corporations, politicians, and businesspeople. The practice of standardized testing as ruler of all things public education must cease because it negates the human experience. The implication for practice is to honor the experiences and voices of Black women teachers, retain current Black women teachers, and recruit new Black women teachers otherwise Black women teachers are on the verge of extinction. Innovation in public education must include new ways for students, teachers, and leaders to thrive in an ever-changing world. Future research needs to include more qualitative data from Black women teachers' working conditions and experiences through the lenses of critical race theory and Black feminist thought. This di (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lemuel Watson EdD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Sharon Holmes PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Education; Educational Leadership; Gender; School Administration; Teaching; Womens Studies

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2024, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

Black women face unique challenges based on the intersection of multiple marginalized identities often referred to as the simultaneity of oppression or gendered racism. The purpose of this qualitative study is to expand gendered racial microaggression research by examining the experiences of Black female graduate students at colleges and universities not classified as historically Black. This study utilized a Critical Race Feminism framework that centered the voices and perspectives of the participants and sought to answer the following research questions: RQ 1: How do Black female graduate students experience gendered racial microaggressions at colleges and universities not classified as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (non-HBCUs)? RQ 2 : How do Black female graduate students cope with their experiences of gendered racial microaggressions at non-HBCUs? Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 Black female participants who have attended non-HBCUs during their entire collegiate journey. A thematic analysis approach was utilized to analyze the data and identify patterns and themes. Three core themes with two subthemes emerged in relation to research question one: Isolated and Silenced (Only Black Person, Lack of Support), Common Stereotypes (Angry Black Woman, Jezebel), Permanence of Racism (A History of Racism, The Decline of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Two core themes with two subthemes were identified in relation to research question two: Identity Shifting (Fear of Consequences, Fear of Perpetuating Stereotypes), Community Building (Faculty, Administrators, and Advisors, Student-peers and Co-workers). A robust discussion of these findings is presented along with practical and theoretical implications of the study and recommendations for future gendered racial microaggression research.

Committee: Eric Parker (Committee Chair); Wanda Fernandopulle (Committee Member); Crissie Jameson (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Black Studies; Education; Gender; Higher Education; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, American Culture Studies

Recent research has examined how and why athletes engage in social justice activism, as well as the reactions and impact of such. Framed by feminist cultural studies and informed by Black feminist thought and intersectionality (King, 2018; Collins, 2009; Crenshaw, 1993), I explored the experiences of Black women athletes engaging in social justice activism. A feminist methodological approach (Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002) guided this inquiry to understand how Black women athletes define social justice activism, their experiences with social justice activism, and their motivations. These Black women athletes shared powerful stories about their activism and the challenges they faced. Twelve Black women athletes participated in semi-structured interviews. These athletes represented six sports at the professional and colligate level. Using open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) the higher order themes include activism and intersectional identities, everyday activism, challenges, and cultivating a better future. Activism engagement is deeply personal for these Black women athletes given their experiences of adversity and their prescribed status as outsiders within. Because of this status, their activism engagement is largely on a day-to-day basis whereby they recognize the power of speaking up and building social connections. They also use social media as a primary form of everyday activism. A lack of support at the organizational and individual level was reported as a major barrier to their activism engagement, particularly for athletes attending historically White institutions. The cultural expectation for them as Black women to address social inequities was another challenge. Ultimately, motivations driving athletes' activism include their fierce determination and ethic of care to ensure the next generation of Black athletes and Black peers and family members can live safely and freely. As such, these Black women represent a new wave of athlete activism in whic (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Vikki Krane Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Nancy Spencer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Decker Ph.D. (Other); Angela Nelson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lisa Hanasono Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Sociology; Sports Management

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2023, Higher Education

The primary purpose of this interpretative phenomenological inquiry was to uncover the lived experiences, both professional and personal, of Black female academic deans across Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2,000) served as a guiding theoretical framework in light of the unique experiences of Black women as a result of their intersecting identities. Three key findings emerged from the interviews with the study's participants. Together, these findings captured the essence of the lived experiences of the participants in the study. The first finding reflected both the underlining fatigue that Black female deans battled on a daily basis as they navigated constant assaults related to their race and gender as well as their resilience that defined their leadership in the face of such assaults. The second finding captured these deans' commitment to channel their leadership oversight towards holding institutions accountable for their inequitable and unjust philosophy and practices. And finally, the third key finding reflected Black female deans' struggles to reimagine the norms and standards of the academic deanship position to embrace historically under-represented members such as themselves.

Committee: Snejana Slantcheva-Durst (Committee Chair); Davida Haywood (Committee Member); Mary Howard-Hamilton (Committee Member); Penny Poplin Gosetti (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Black Studies; Education; Educational Leadership; Gender; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

Within the context of white-dominant workplaces, research shows that Black women experience various levels of visibility ranging from invisibility to hypervisibility. These variances often cause them to result in utilizing them as tactics to negotiate their identities to fit the organization's needs. This research explores this negotiation and the costs, benefits, and sacrifices that occur when Black women participate in identity negotiation. By analyzing their lived experiences through the use of critical participatory action research along with a critical phenomenology approach, this research frames the intersection between visibility, whiteness, and the impacts of experiencing a culture that promotes the need for Black women to give up pieces of themselves at the expense of their agency and authenticity.

Committee: Corinne Brion, Ph.D (Advisor); Edith Gnanadass, Ph.D (Committee Member); Pamela Young, Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Organization Theory; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, English

This project investigates the complementary and contradictory ways that Black women graduate teaching assistants' (GTAs) lived experiences inform their teaching efficacy (i.e. preparedness and confidence) and pedagogical approaches in first- and/or second-level composition courses. Through survey, focus group, and individual interviews, and using Black feminist frameworks, this project documents how Black women's bodies and practices have traditionally been read as disruptive, and I argue noisy in quiet academic spaces (re: spaces governed by legacies of inequity and racism). Similar to intersectional frameworks, I suggest that noise is a multivocal representation of belonging that challenges legacies of mislabeling, dehumanizing, and silencing Black women GTAs and their bodies within institutional spaces. In order to centralize a discussion of Black women GTAs' noise, I turn to the contributions of Black feminist rhetorical scholars, literacy scholars, and Hip Hop scholars and ground my research in the noise itself--a multiplicitous and polyvocal understanding of Black women GTAs' lived experiences and practices as teachers of composition. In this sense, I highlight how and when Black women GTAs utilize intersectional instruction to retool their noise by relating their pedagogies to their epistemologies, pedagogical approaches, and networks of support inside and outside of their current home institutions. I suggest this retooling reflects what I refer to as Black women GTAs' “pedagogies of noise”—teaching approaches that acknowledge their confrontations with oppression and cultivate cultural knowledge production on a historical continuum through composition instruction and curriculum development. Ultimately, Pedagogies of Noise helps to challenge some of the gaps in the ways the fields of Composition Studies and Writing Program Administration (WPA) talk about composition teacher training, and who those current approaches to training do or do not serve.

Committee: Beverly Moss (Committee Chair); Kay Halasek (Committee Member); Christa Teston (Committee Member); Valerie Kinloch (Committee Member) Subjects: Black Studies; Composition; Pedagogy; Womens Studies

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2019, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines the advocacy and journalistic work of civil rights activist and newspaper publisher Daisy Bates. It explores her ability to negotiate her black womanhood, while navigating the discriminatory practices in the South in the 1940s and 1950s. Bates and her husband founded the Arkansas State Press in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1941, which echoed the sentiments of the civil rights movement at the time. As this thesis demonstrates, Bates's journalistic advocacy mirrored the practices of northern black publications, while defying the traditions of southern race relations. Her journalistic style, characterized by militant sarcasm and provocation of both whites and blacks, came to cement her as a trailblazing black journalist in a region heavily shaped by blacks' oppression. More than being a black woman in times of white male preeminence, Bates defied the double burden of racism and sexism as she wrote stories that attacked white supremacy and accounted for racial injustice in the South. Through an assessment of her journalistic work, this thesis applies a historical research method to restore Bates's place in black press history and situate her within black feminist thought, as a radical frontrunner for women of color in the South in the twentieth century.

Committee: Michael Sweeney (Committee Chair); Aimee Edmondson (Committee Member); Marilyn Greenwald (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Black History; Gender Studies; History; Journalism; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2018, Educational Leadership

Little research exists that centers the experiences of African American women student affairs administrators in higher education. The challenges and barriers that exist for African American women student affairs administrators are complex and directly connected to the history of slavery, race and racism in the United States. Concepts such as mentorship, success, and leadership are situated in normative practices informed by White narratives and privileged vantage points. The aim of this qualitative study is to illuminate how the experiences of African American women student affairs administrators at predominantly White institutions support or contradict leadership models often used as frameworks for development and strategy. The research questions are as follows: What are the experiences of African American women student affairs administrators at predominantly White institutions in higher education as they relate to race and gender? How do participants describe reflecting on, considering, or implementing leadership models in their work as student affairs administrators? And how do the experiences of African American women within student affairs at predominantly White institutions reflect or problematize the Servant Leadership model? The research questions were answered using critical narrative to provide voice to a marginalized population. My dissertation challenges colleges and Universities to consider the impact of using White narratives to standardize behaviors and strategies across all social identities. The findings also urges universities to address environments that continue the oppression and exploitation of Black women student affairs administrators in higher education.

Committee: Molly Schaller (Committee Chair); Leslie Picca (Committee Member); Mary Ziskin (Committee Member); Michele Welkener (Committee Chair) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Studies; American History; Black History; Black Studies; Education; Education History; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; Epistemology; Ethnic Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Organizational Behavior

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, English

Drawing on Black feminist thought, queer theory, and queer of color critique, Touching History argues that Black women in the Post-Civil Rights era have employed diverse technologies in order to produce fictionalized narratives which counter the neoliberal imperative to forget the past. Black feminist and queer theorists have described the potential for artistic imaginings to address gaps in the historical record and Touching History follows this line of theory. Touching History examines an archive of Black women's cultural productions since the 1970s which includes novels, short stories, essays, experimental video film, digital music videos and visual albums. Reading across these diverse media and genres, this project considers how Black women have made use of the affordances of specific technologies in order to tell stories which may be fictional yet reveal “a kind of truth” about the embodied and affective experiences of the past. These mediated images and narratives serve as extensions of their bodies that push against static ideas of the Black female body. Whether it's the image in a film or video, or the digital avatar presented through social media, Touching History argues these representations are intimately linked to the corporeal presence of the Black female artist. Alongside technologies of the video camera and the digital camera, this project also considers other embodied technologies of expression including sadomasochism and the book and considers how these also provide a means for Black women to touch history. Examining the novels of Thulani Davis and Marci Blackman, the short fiction of Alice Walker, the experimental films of Cheryl Dunye, and music videos created by singers Erykah Badu and Beyonce, this project examines the expression of queer desires by Black women. In this project “queer” is not synonymous with gay and lesbian or same-sex desires, although it may at times be used to describe them. Queer desires in this project also include the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Martin Joseph Ponce PhD (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; Film Studies; Literature; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, ED Policy and Leadership

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the leadership experiences of four African American women college presidents serving at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions. Three main inquiries guide the research. First, how do African American women college presidents “make sense” of presidential leadership? In the same manner, how does being a “woman” and “of color” influence and/or inform their crafting of a presidential identity? Further, what are the strategies or mechanisms they employ or display, which enable them to “perform” the presidency?A triangulated, interdisciplinary framework, consisting of Black Feminist Thought, an invention of ethos and “performance” as theory, provides the study with its theoretical backbone. Methodologically, it borrows elements from traditional and critical ethnography, while relying on the techniques of interviewing and participant-observation. Both methods are used to solicit the personal and professional narratives and testaments of each woman. Initial findings from this study suggest that the four African American women “make sense” of presidential leadership by recalling familial expectations; being aware of their raced and gendered realities; entering into personal and professional role model- and mentorships; relying on faith; and, developing value systems. Despite the (mis)conceptions and perceptions documented generally in the research on Black women professionals, these women invent presidential identities and ethoi by identifying as change agents and committing to their vocational purpose. In the same manner, while they “perform” the presidency in the most “traditional” sense (i.e., writing and giving speeches), they also become their “performances” by employing numerous rhetorical strategies and mechanisms that have been historically linked to the African American female experience.

Committee: Ada Demb EdD (Advisor); Adrienne Dixson PhD (Committee Member); Jacqueline Jones Royster PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Gender; Higher Education; Minority and Ethnic Groups

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2007, Educational Leadership

While previous research has examined the experiences of Black women in academe, the current project seeks to determine how Black female faculty members experience teaching in the Black female body, specifically within the confines of the classroom. This project is launched first from examining the life of Saartjie Baartman. As a teenager, Saartjie Baartman was taken from her home in South Africa to London and Paris where she was physically, emotionally, and socially exploited by “researchers” who were finding ways to prove racial inferiority. She was named the “Hottentot Venus” by Europeans where she “danced” and performed exhibiting what “researchers” have termed her protruding genitalia, specifically her buttocks. Investigating her life and stereotypical images of the Black female body in the American Imagination provides a vehicle to examine the preconceived notions that students bring with them to the classroom. Saartjie Baartman, Mammy, Sapphire, and “Jezebel” are juxtaposed with the experiences of three Black female faculty members to illustrate the continued struggle to adopt more positive images of Black women in history and in popular culture. Through interviews and observations, three Black female faculty members from a Mid-western university were studied using Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 1998, 2000) and Performativity (Butler, 1990) as frameworks. Though these women experienced feelings of isolation and invisibility within academe, the classroom becomes a sanctuary where in they are reminded why they teach. They face resistance from students in the classroom, yet this space provides an opportunity to renew their ideas and their passion to produce critical thinkers and socially just learners.

Committee: Denise Taliaferro Baszile (Advisor) Subjects: Education, General

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2024, Business Administration

In most higher education institutions, White men and women have dominated senior academic positions and are viewed as more capable of serving as senior administrators than women of color. In comparison, the number of women of color leaders in predominantly White institutions is lower than in historically Black colleges and universities. For instance, women of color occupy 6% of executive roles at predominantly White institutions compared to 30% of White women leaders in the same institutions. These statistics, while disheartening, underscore the remarkable resilience and unwavering determination of women of color who continue to strive for these roles. The study involved a comprehensive review of the current literature to understand the research problem. A generic qualitative approach was conducted to gather data from 11 C-suite leaders at higher education institutions (HEIs). Data were collected via unstructured, open-ended interview questions and examined to provide six significant themes. The findings revealed that women of color aspire to be seen and heard as professional women and utilize successful strategies to maintain their roles. However, the persistent male and White women predominance in these positions is likely responsible for the underrepresentation of women of color in C-suite leadership roles at HEIs. The findings also proposed strategies for women of color to utilize in C-suite leadership roles at HEIs.

Committee: Courtney McKim (Committee Chair); Sherri Abernathy (Committee Member); Lori Salgado (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Business Education

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Urban Educational Leadership

There is little knowledge on how to best prepare urban school principals to succeed in challenging schools. There is even less knowledge of the experiences of African American school leaders, primarily principals and assistant principals in urban school contexts (Tillman, 2007). Most of the literature focuses on African American principals in general, not attending to the unique experiences of African American women principals in low achieving schools. There are many African American women principals who have been placed over these low achieving schools in a Midwestern City School District and who have had significant success in turning them around. This dissertation is a narrative portraiture study of three African American women principals who are leading or have led turnaround schools in a Midwestern City School District. Several themes emerged from the interviews of these women, such as changing culture, relationship building, accountability and ownership, not mention also passions, purpose, and destiny that they all said were crucial to the success that they have had in their school buildings. Their leadership was driven by their commitment to the well-being and education of all children. The theoretical framework of intersectionality was used in painting a portrait of each participant to showcase how each of their identifying personalities played a role in their development as a successful leader in their school. The results of this study have implications for educational policy and school turnaround practices in districts.

Committee: Anna Dejarnette Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Vanessa Allen-Brown Ph.D. (Committee Member); Linda Plevyak Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2018, College of Education

The underrepresentation of the African American female superintendent is disappointing and calls into question the reasoning behind such despairing amounts. In order to address that issue, one must examine the history of the African American female superintendent, recognize the barriers that she faces, and inquire about her lived experiences. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of African American female superintendents. The research answers the question of what are the lived experiences of African American female superintendents in the state of Ohio with an emphasis on their career paths, barriers, perspectives and successes. Black Feminist Theory and Critical Race Theory represent the theoretical frameworks for the research. The qualitative approach to this research was a phenomenological case study. Data for this case study were collected from four current African American superintendents in the state of Ohio. The participant presented a variety of reasons why she felt there are so few African American female superintendents in the state Ohio. The lived experiences of the participants in this study expounded the strategies necessary for overcoming barriers, facing challenges, or striving for success.

Committee: Judy Alston PhD (Committee Chair); James Olive PhD (Committee Member); Tanzeah Sharpe EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Educational Leadership; Gender Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Teaching and Learning

This dissertation reports on one case study, situated in grounded theory, of one teacher, her English Language Arts (ELA) classroom context, and three of her students. Interviews, a focus group discussion, observations, and artifact analysis provided evidence of how the teacher under study created a classroom space that was loving, held students to high expectations, and was relevant, responsive, and sustained her students' culture. The teacher and students in the study learned together in a cooperative community that centered student voice through creative writing and spoken work poetry. By the end of the school year, students had worked together to develop their voices, tell their stories, and were prepared to fight for equity for themselves and for their communities. This study supports critical pedagogy, culturally relevant/responsive/sustaining pedagogy, democratic education, and the powerful potential of an arts-based pedagogy for social justice. It contributes to qualitative research that seeks to humanize the institution of public education in the United States. Qualitative case studies are powerful narratives that can combat the status quo's application of dehumanizing Scientific Based Research to educational policies and positions. These research findings further theories that support grounding pedagogy in dialogue, democracy, inquiry, the arts, and social justice. The English teacher under study built a year-long curriculum centered on writing instruction that celebrated her students' home culture, affirmed their feelings about social justice issues, inspi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dean Cristol (Advisor); Binaya Subedi (Committee Member); Melinda Rhoades (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Theory

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2017, Sociology

ABSTRACT Frequent consumption of fast food, irregular condom use, high risk partnering, and heavy episodic drinking (HED) are risk behaviors that threaten both individual and public health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) emerging adults (18-25) and males are more likely to engage in these behaviors when compared to older adults and females. There is also evidence of variance by race as African Americans engage in more frequent fast food consumption and high risk partnering, while White Americans engage in more HED behavior and irregular condom use. This dissertation uses the Doing Difference framework to provide socio-structural context for these trends (West and Fenstermaker 1995). According to the framework, social constructions of race, class, and gender are structured at the macro level and reproduced dramaturgically at the interactional level. A review of the literature and an application of the Doing Difference framework led to the following hypotheses, when compared to all other intersections of race, gender, and sex: White American, feminine women consume less fast food, White American, feminine women use condoms less frequently, White American, feminine women have a smaller number of sexual partners, and White American, masculine men have the highest odds of engaging in HED behavior. Hypotheses were tested using data collected for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (ADD health). Results indicated that the impact of sex and gender on engaging in health risk behavior varies by race. While there is evidence that White American health is structured by male sex and masculine gender orientation, race itself appears to have the greatest impact on African American health.

Committee: Robert Peralta (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Gender; Gender Studies; Health; Sociology

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2017, Communication

Applying feminist media theory to the 2015 Spike Lee film Chi-Raq, this thesis explores portrayals of black-female power and sexuality. In three layers this thesis examines: the language used by and toward women of color, the gender roles and power constructs within the film, and finally the either/or dichotomous thinking associated with the four controlling images of Black womanhood, particularly the role of the Jezebel as a promiscuous and socially dangerous character. This thesis seeks to understand how sexualized portrayals of Black women, despite the power associated with their sexuality, are limiting and problematic.

Committee: Mary E. Triece Dr. (Advisor); Kathleen D. Clark Dr. (Committee Member); Kathleen Endres Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Media and Communication

In 2014, the leadership performances of National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner Adam Silver and National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Roger Goodell (both men who occupy White positionality), in response to two critical moments in their respective leagues, offered insight into prevailing racial and gender ideologies between United States (U.S.) professional men's sport, and ultimately, U.S. society. In the NFL, a domestic abuse incident between NFL star Ray Rice and his then-fiance Janay Palmer, two individuals who do not occupy whiteness, and in the NBA, racist comments made by then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers Donald Sterling, a man who occupies whiteness, required responses and disciplinary action from the commissioners. Utilizing critical rhetorical analysis as a method of textual analysis (McKerrow, 1989), this dissertation examines and critiques Commissioners Silver and Goodell's rhetorical performances as leaders in response to these incidents as well as the surrounding global news and sports media reactions to their decisions. Informed by concepts within critical whiteness studies (e.g., Nakayama & Krizek, 1995), intersectionality (e.g., Crenshaw, 1989; 1991), Black Feminist Thought (BFT) (e.g., Collins 1991; 2004; Griffin, 2012b; hooks, 2004), hegemonic masculinity (e.g,., Trujillo, 1991), and dialogism (Bakhtin, 1981; Baxter, 2011), this dissertation examines the intersection of whiteness and hegemonic masculinity within the commissioners' performances to explore how whiteness functions dialectically and intersectionally to secure its persuasive power as a strategic rhetoric. The analyses within the two case studies revealed two distinct dialectics: (1) rhetorics of postracism vs. critical rhetorics, and (2) rhetorics of honor vs. rhetorics of shame. Overall, this project extends understanding of how the rhetorics of whiteness work dialectically and intersect with the rhetorics of masculinity within the NBA and NFL via the rhetorical p (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alberto Gonzalez Dr. (Committee Co-Chair); Lisa Hanasono Dr. (Committee Co-Chair); Christina Lunceford Dr. (Other); Ellen Gorsevski Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Rhetoric

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Urban Educational Leadership

The influence of African-American Othermothers on the stability of children in their care has been documented in research as a long-standing tradition since slavery. When families were separated at auction, Othermothers would become “fictive kin” to the orphaned children. This tradition continues in the Black community today. The advocacy strategies utilized by present-day African-American Othermothers for their children's educational attainment had not been explored in current research. This qualitative study documents the advocacy behaviors of 12 economically-disadvantaged, African-American Othermothers and their quest to ensure that the children in their care receive a quality education through semi-structured interviews. The findings address three pertinent questions. 1. How did the 12 economically-disadvantaged, African-American Othermothers, living in an urban environment, advocate for the schooling needs of children in their care? 2. What were the schooling needs of child in the care of Othermothers who participated in the research project? 3. What supports did Othermothers utilize as they advocated for the schooling needs of the children in their care? Using Critical Race Theory and Black feminist thought as a lens through which to view the findings, the author explicitly recounts the experiences of the Othermothers through counter-storytelling, which yield several emergent themes such as identification of prevalent advocacy behaviors among the women, the impact of racism on their advocacy efforts, and the need to construct metaphorical bridges with the school to meet their child's educational needs. In semi-structured interviews, 12 African-American Othermothers share their struggle and overwhelmingly cite their dependence on their network of professionals and faith for support.

Committee: Mary Brydon-Miller Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Miriam Raider-Roth Ed.D. (Committee Member); Lisa Vaughn Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Womens Studies

This dissertation project theorizes the ability contract as a means for understanding the experience of women living with HIV in the United States. I understand the ability contract as the triad of labor-utility-predictability that is central to the construction of the liberal citizen-subject, extending the work of John Locke, Carol Pateman, Charles Mills and Shannon Winnubst. The theory of this project is rooted in my original field research; during the 2012-2013 academic year, I spent six months facilitating a reading group for women living with HIV. Together, we read popular memoirs written by women with what I have termed invisible episodic illness, such as lupus, early stage m.s., chronic depression and HIV. Participants in the reading group used these books as a catalyst for discussing their daily negotiations of labor, family and the medical industrial complex in relation to disability identity. I also conducted one-on-one preliminary and follow-up interviews. What I found was that my research participants all resisted a disability identification, despite many of them accessing disability resources. They also all closely connected their identity not to their current employment conditions, but to their prediction of how they will be able to work in the future. This prediction of becoming a wage-earner was the primary reason for their dis/identification with disability. What explains this close connection of disability with future labor? And what is the relationship between labor and disability at the intersection of gender, race, class, and (medical) citizenship? In order to address these questions, I developed a three-tier reading group research method; in my dissertation, I analyze life narratives of women living with HIV, both the narratives of the women in my group and published narratives; I also analyze the reading group reception to those life narratives; finally, I re-read social contract theory alongside American multiracial feminisms, disability the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Wendy Smooth PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Brenda Brueggemann PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Shannon Winnubst PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Epistemology; Ethnic Studies; Gender Studies; Health; Womens Studies