Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Antioch Seattle: Counselor Education & Supervision

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of transracial adoptees of the global majority (BIPOC), focusing on their bicultural identity integration and its impact on mental health. During semi-structured interviews, nine participants shared their stories of navigating cultural and racial dynamics as adoptees in predominantly White adoptive families and communities. The findings revealed six core themes: (1) the Quest for Bicultural Identity Formation, (2) Cultural Integration and Adaptation, (3) Navigating Racial and Cultural Tensions, (4) the Role of Family in Cultural Integration, (5) the Importance of Community and Support Systems, and (6) Mental Health and Therapeutic Experiences, addressing the complex interplay of identity, mental health challenges, and the healing potential of culturally responsive therapy. This study underscores the need for increased cultural competency in adoptive parenting and mental health interventions to better support the unique experiences of transracial adoptees of the global majority. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).20

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2023, Leadership and Change

Of the roughly 3.5 million public school teachers in the United States, approximately 80% are White. In contrast, about 51.7% of the nation's students are African American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. This mismatch is expected to grow as the number of BIPOC students in our nation's public schools continues to increase. Studies have shown that strong positive relationships are essential for learning, but often, the relationships between White teachers and BIPOC students are strained at best, leading to poorer learning outcomes. The purpose of this Constructivist Grounded Theory study was to explore an understudied question: How do White teachers who have been deemed exemplary by educators and parents of Color perceive their relationships and experiences with BIPOC students in an educational system and a society that often marginalizes them? Open-ended interviews were conducted with 19 middle and high school teachers in Massachusetts. Dimensional analysis revealed Being-and-Becoming Across Difference as the core dimension. Five primary dimensions were identified: Reflecting, Relating, Embodying Humility, Affirming Culture, and Holding Hope. Results of this study suggest that significant changes are needed in the recruitment and hiring of White teachers and that pre-service and in-service professional development must support White teachers in far more robust and sustaining ways than currently exist. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/, and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu.

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2022, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

Latin American countries tended to access mental health treatment at lower rates than their non-immigrant counterparts. There appeared to be limited to no studies that focused on male Mexican immigrants. Most studies focused on mental health treatment engagement and barriers that fell under the proxy variable of the Latino culture. This could aid in researchers failing to understand specific Mexican-cultural aspects in their research. Therefore, this qualitative descriptive study aimed to describe the experiences of male Mexican immigrants who had immigrated to the United States and explore barriers to treatment engagement they encountered to experiencing depression. Being guided by cultural identity theory, this study collected data from six participants via semi-structured interviews, where male Mexican immigrants described their perceptions and experiences on treatment engagement and any identified barriers when experiencing depression. Four themes emerged from the dataset that included: (a) Mexican culture shapes experiences of depression, (b) depression is experienced as restrictive to daily life, (c) culture is a significant barrier to treatment engagement, and (d) family and faith assist in overcoming treatment barriers toward engagement. The results of this study highlight the importance of clinicians to examine cultural aspects of depression in their Mexican patients. Clinicians need to understand the role that family and faith play in depression and how culture can shape treatment engagement and the success of managing symptoms. This can assist them in building appropriate treatment plans that align with their culture versus that of mainstream society. Additionally, language alone is not the only alignment many treatment providers can offer. Aligning practices with the culture strengthens treatment plans by concentrating on the client's combined lifestyle, culture, and experiences. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura/antioch (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2018, History

Through the analysis of the primary sources of Saint Patrick, Gildas, and Bede I will show how the different communities living within the British Isles utilized Christianity, as well as their Roman pasts, to formulate ethnic and cultural identities during the early Middle Ages for the purposes of differentiation and unification.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Leadership and Change

This study focuses on the lived experiences of seasoned White facilitators of racial equity workshops to understand how they navigate the complexity of occupying a White racial identity while working to challenge the belief systems of white supremacy ingrained in themselves and others. Through applying Critical Race Theory as a framework to grounded theory methodology, this study examined whiteness as a sensitizing concept in micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis, situating this dissertation in the theoretical exploration of the multifaceted and pervasive nature of whiteness. Much of the research on racial equity work examines White participants in nascent stages of engagement, concentrating on the external behavior and impact of White race talk during conversations about race and racism. Applying dimensional analysis to 18 in-depth interviews of White facilitators, whose experience in racial equity work ranged from 7 to over 30 years, this study identified two co-core, interrelated dimensions of engaging on a learning journey to embrace the both/and. In addition to these co-core dimensions, four primary dimensions depicting the phenomenon of whiteness emerged from the findings: colluding with whiteness, stirring whiteness, unraveling whiteness, and interrupting whiteness. Through analysis of these findings, this study presents four theoretical propositions and a theoretical model representing variations of the social processes White facilitators move through to interrupt whiteness in themselves and others. The methodological exploration used in this study provides an opportunity to explore the fullness of what it means to be White and engage in racial equity efforts, potentially contributing to the literature on utilizing grounded theory as a process to explore social justice efforts. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser

Part I of the dissertation is comprised of a multi-movement composition featuring the erhu, and string orchestra. "Concerto for Erhu and String Orchestra" is influenced by my interest and continuous study of musics of the world. As a pupil of both ethnomusicology and composition, I seek the confluence of these disciplines as a result of my research, and therefore many of my works are influenced by non-Western music. The concerto follows this path. It takes influence from traditional and contemporary erhu repertoire, merging these influences with my own experience in Western music and creates an intercultural composition. This work not only features music of Chinese origins, but also features musical elements of African, Eastern European, Korean, Indonesian, and Brazilian music, as these are areas that I have focused on during my studies. My music is deeply influenced by my study of music from these different cultures and subtly weaves together references to these musics through my use rhythmic patterns, melodic tendencies, and harmonic relationships. Part II: We live in a globalized time in which there is a high degree of exchange of information and a rapidly increasing sense of collision of cultures, identities, and meanings. One arena where this is visible is new pieces commissioned from Indonesian composers by the Bandung Philharmonic, the first professional orchestra created in Bandung, Indonesia in 2015. The very nature of this project entails a high degree of consciousness on the part of the composers, who are aware of their Indonesian-ness and that they are writing for a historically Western ensemble. To what degree and how do these composers express their Indonesian-ness in their works and to what degree do they assimilate Western music and identity? The purpose of this document is to define a way of conducting intercultural analysis. This approach is sensitive to the emic meanings from each culture, but that eventually offers an etic readin (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2023, Educational Leadership

This qualitative study, limited to only three female participants and bounded by proximity, sought to provide a better understanding of how the social class background of teachers may impact pedagogy. Utilizing Crenshaw's intersectionality of identity lens and Bourdieu's Cultural Reproduction Theory, this research focused on a social constructivist interpretive framework to explore through the use of three in depth semistructured interviews how the class background of teachers may impact pedagogy. Data gathered from the semi-structured interviews was collected and inductively content analyzed to answer the research question: How does the class background of teachers from the middle class and working-class/poor impact their pedagogy? This problem of practice has relevance because many students of poor/working-class backgrounds continue to achieve at much lower levels than their more upper-class peers. Research in academia exists regarding social class as an economic construct and social class as culture; however, there remains a general lack of research involving teachers in K-12 schools exploring pedagogical beliefs and practices related to social class. Several pertinent ideas were revealed through semi-structured interviews with teacher participants. Teachers do have emergent notions of class beyond socioeconomic status but lack the knowledge to identify them as so. Judgements of people from lower social class backgrounds is present for all participants. All participants identify their first recognizable class-based experienced to be in an educational setting. Lastly, the selfidentified class background of teacher participants did impact their pedagogical beliefs and practices. Professional development designed to encourage teachers to think reflexively about their class-based assumptions and how they may unknowingly reinforce a negative view of the poor/working class that transmits the hidden curriculum of schools could have the power to effe (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, EDU Teaching and Learning

“Buying the blueprints: Investing emotionally and materially in the icy ideologies of Disney's Frozen” uses a cultural studies framework to examine qualitative data collected from interviews with Norwegian children and families, observations of public engagement with the Frozen films both in Norway and at EPCOT's Norway pavilion, and narrative analysis of the Frozen films. Discussions of indigeneity, national/cultural identity, and gender as they are represented in Frozen are situated within the Disney Princess film tradition and examined as social blueprints (Dorfman, 1983) that contribute to audience's constructed schemas. Through these themes, I illuminate the Disney brand's reliance on audiences' emotional engagement with narratives to subdue critique and invite material investment in physical and digital merchandise. “Buying the blueprints” also offers suggestions for critical, creative engagement with the Frozen films, exploring play-based restorying (Wohlwend, 2009)(Thomas & Stornaiuolo, 2016) as a potential site for critical media literacy practice.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2020, English

This paper looks at how social media, especially Instagram, is used by the Indian diaspora in order to reconnect with their cultural identities and form digital communities through shared experiences, memes, and online activism. I asked my participants, both content creators and content consumers, about their experiences using social media to navigate their own identities and positionalities. I look at how social media acts as a third space where Indians traverse their multiple identities. I found that people from the Indian diaspora use social media as a way to break away from societal and patriarchal norms, to celebrate achievements as a community, and to discuss various topics important to the community in a safe environment where their opinions are held valid.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts)

This dissertation explores the role of African media in shaping Africa's image through both the analysis of newspapers over the course of the 2014 Ebola crisis and an exploration of African films. This methodology redeploys aspects of Africa's (in)visibility in global politics and discourse on representation in geopolitics. Placing African film and media organizations at the center of analysis in this study is vital, as they add diversity of voices to the conversation about Africa's image in the media. The dissertation looks at how Africa is framed as perpetually “in crisis.” Specifically, the research engages analysis of African film and media depictions under the premise of crises to advance Africa's visual culture and representation. I am interested in exploring how coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in The Inquirer, a major English newspaper in Liberia, compares with that in the New York Times coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Likewise, I explore how African cinema frames and represents crisis through three films – Xala (Ousmane Sembene, 1975); Pumzi (Wanuri Kahiu, 2009); and Les Saignantes (Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2005). I argue that African films speak to the possibility of positive anticipated outcomes ignored by western scholars, and, therefore, possess the agency to decolonize minds. For instance, Pumzi and Les Saignantes offer an outlook on Africa's challenges and possibilities through newly imagined futures. Precisely, the selected films first address Africa's crisis in relation to the political, economic, and environmental struggle as well as gender discourses and, second, offer a prescription of development and progress. How do African filmmakers and media personnel, through their various creative works, reconstruct Africa's global identity? Finally, I advance that this research gives voice to how Africa frames crisis. This dissertation interrogates an unbalanced global power structure that has been typically Eurocentric. Taking an opposing pos (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Media and Communication

Despite the recent re-emergence of the athlete activist into public consciousness, activism among athletes remains non-normative behavior. However, because sport can be a powerful platform for social change, it is important to analyze experiences of the few athletes who identify as activists for social justice causes. As the first empirical study to explore how NCAA Division I student-athletes construct activist identities, this research contributes to knowledge on athlete activism and identity construction in sport by analyzing the student-athlete activist experience through participants' definitions of activism, their constructions and negotiations of activist identities, and barriers to activism. Drawing from interviews with 31 NCAA Division I student-athlete activists from across the U.S., and informed by the communication theory of identity and cultural contracts theory, this dissertation identifies five different conceptualizations of activism: activism as doing something, championing change, being authentic, speaking up, and public protests. Findings document changing notions of athlete activism and reveal nuanced forms of situational activism that do not rely on public expressions of resistance but rather arise from specific situations in athletes' everyday lives. Regarding identity constructions, six higher order themes emerged from the data: motivations for activism, enactments of activism, student-athlete activists' identity negotiations, relational influences, communal influences, and mediated influences. Data also revealed six barriers to student-athlete activism: strict regulation of athletes' schedules and lack of time, isolation from the wider campus community, stigma attached to activist identities, emotional exhaustion, team cultural norms, and institutional barriers. Participants indicated they engaged in activism that does not explicitly challenge institutional power and, by extension, relied on the intercollegiate sport system to create change f (open full item for complete abstract)

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Arts and Sciences: Communication

In this study, I sought to understand the parallel of Black identity and experiences in the context of Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In utilizing Cultural Contracts Theory, Identity Negotiation, and Communication Theory of Identity as its conceptual framework this study takes a grounded theory approach to exploring Black students' experiences at different race institutions and the extent to which they feel culturally supported. The primary aim of this study is to understand whether one institutional space provides greater opportunities for enhancing self-efficacy and/or affirmation for Black students than the other. The findings show that HBCU graduates gained a sense of confidence from their institution that made them less likely to conform or assimilate in contexts where ready-to-sign contracts are present. The findings also provide insights into higher education in America and reflect an initial exploration of the concepts of identity affirming spaces and identity fulfillment. African American Students, Black Students, Higher Education, Cultural Contracts Theory, Identity, Identity Negotiation, HBCU, PWI, Self-efficacy.

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2017, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Historically, African-Americans have had a heavy influence on the construction of American culture and—to a great degree—possess a subculture that is highly visible in creative fields such as literature, fine arts, fashion, music and dance. While the influences in these fields may be easy to decipher from the mainstream, it is not as easy to distinguish the presence of an African-American identity in Architecture. Some theorists and writers have interrogated this concept through evidence of African-originated forms and materials, while others have through the perception of space for the black body. It is clear, however, that signs of African-American cultural identity are evident in many communities throughout the United States, especially in urban environments. While some have a strong visible presence, such as graffiti that descends from hip-hop culture, others are more subtle and may not be identifiable unless bodies are present to imply or suggest space. These uses of space are products of a particular place and time; quite often through complex racial circumstances which many facets of black identity have been born out of. Architecture has had a significant connection with these circumstances. Often, marginalized communities inherit the built environment of dominant communities who have migrated to other areas. Typically, these groups—pushed into the margins of society—live in areas with limited available resources and consequently construct their own identities, usually through the creative reuse of materials and spaces available to them. The point of inquiry then becomes how identity is assumed and made manifest through this appropriation of materials and space. A uniform identity is not taken on by the marginalized group, but collective memories and shared experiences can define the identity of the group over time. The act of re-purposing space is also a type of resistance for many marginalized groups. For African-Americans in particular, evidence of thi (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Cross-Cultural, International Education

This study examines the shifts of international Muslim and former Muslim students' religious and/or cultural identity as they studied at one of two Midwestern universities. This study uses an inductive approach to analyze interview data for the purpose of answering the central question: What are the shifts international Muslim students are experiencing in regards to their Muslim and/or cultural identity? And, the following sub-questions are addressed: What is contributing to international Muslim students' shifts in Muslim and/or cultural identity? What are the implications of these shifts? Using a grounded theory approach, these questions are answered using inductively arrived at axial categories, which include independence, exposure, and questioning, and a central category of discernment. The categories resulted from the participants' data, and help understand what shifts international Muslim students are experiencing. Additionally, these categories help to understand what is contributing to these shifts, and what the implications of these shifts are. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted with international Muslim and former Muslim students who were studying, or had studied at one of the two chosen universities. These participants were selected as a result of their status as international students, in addition to their Muslim or former Muslim identities. The results of the study revealed that many of the participants did experience a shift in their Muslim and/or cultural identity while studying at one of the two Midwestern universities. Furthermore, the results showed that many of the participants' shifts in their Muslim and/or cultural identity, were a result of studying at one of the two universities. The participants who experienced a shift in their Muslim and/or cultural identity appeared to all share in a similar process, which led them to their shift. In this process, the participants had to consider what the implication (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2001, Arts and Sciences : Spanish

One means which communities have of preserving and legitimizing their national identity is by creating a cultural space defined by the existence of a literature which provides individuals with a shared imagined community. This study analyzes how the authors of early modern Basque texts, beginning with the first print text by Etxepare, articulate and preserve a space for Basque national identity. Chapter one provides a synopsis of the history of the Basque Country. Although a Basque nation state has never existed, on two occasions a semi-political unification was achieved. Basque was not enforced as a national language resulting in dialectical diversity nevertheless, certain uniformity was achieved due to religious texts written in the vernacular. With the formation of the Spanish modern state in the fiftieth century, the Basque provinces became a marginal space within Castilian hegemonic space. Chapter two analyzes definitions of nation and nationalism, emphasizing Anderson's and Bhabha's theories of the role of language during community formation. Among the variables of geography, history and tradition, language is essential in order for individuals to share an imagined community. Chapter three evaluates the works of Etxepare, Leizarraga, y De Axular, among others, who have advocated the speaking and preservation of Basque. Most writers develop strategies to work through their marginalized position; only a few use their position within the hegemonic sphere to support the subordinate language. The last chapter examines the circumstances that prompted the creation of the modern Basque nationalist movement. I affirm that centuries before the ideology formulated by Arana Goiri, a distinct Basque ideology already existed. I analyze how this modern national ideology is not parallel with the ideology of early modern Basque texts. The study concludes that early pro-Basque authors relied frequently on using the text's marginal spaces such as prologues and introductions in o (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Textiles and Clothing

This study proposed a model of ethnic consumer behavior by integrating enduring and momentary mechanisms of cultural identity salience. The study expected that bicultural consumers who enduringly identify with the ethnic or the mainstream cultures will prefer brands/products congruent with that identity, in spite of the momentary salience of the competing identity. Balanced bicultural consumers identifying with both cultures were expected to prefer brands/products congruent with the momentarily salient identity. The model and the eleven hypotheses were empirically tested among Hispanic consumers in Ohio through a two-session online experiment. The first session grouped consumers into three bicultural identification levels – Hispanic-identified, Balanced Bicultural and Mainstream-identified. In the second session, the three groups were exposed to two sets of either Hispanic or Mainstream cultural primes that momentarily activated or made salient one of two cultural identities. The primes were followed by two types of dependent measures that tapped consumers' implicit and explicit attitudes toward Hispanic and Mainstream apparel products and brands. The key propositions of this study were supported only in consumers' explicit relative attitudes (and purchase intent) toward Hispanic and Mainstream apparel brands. In line with the predictions, this study found that bicultural consumers who identify enduringly with one or the other (Hispanic or Mainstream) cultural identity are less responsive to cultural cues in the environment and are less likely to demonstrate significant preference shifts in response to cultural primes. However, the activation of one of the two cultural identities (Hispanic or Mainstream) in the minds of balanced bicultural consumers resulted in significant shifts in their attitudes and purchase intent such that responses were stereotypical to the activated or salient social identity in one counterbalance condition. Hispanic consumers' implicit attit (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Art Education

This dissertation is an arts-based, autoethnographic study, which investigates my adjustment to a foreign culture and social system and my growth in academia, as well as the use of artistic and self-reflexive methods in the research process. The primary personal goal for my research is to understand the changes in my cultural identity and self-perception caused by life-altering cultural changes. By critically re-evaluating my experiences I investigated the methods for studying identity, cultural production and approaches to diversity education. By studying my life on a personal level through photography and creative writing, I apply and propose inquiry methods that can further advance studies of identity construction and educational pedagogy. The main theoretical interest in this study is the intersection of artistic/creative behavior and systematic qualitative research practices through critical analysis of the involvement of alternative and artistic methods in the process of studying cultural identity. Founded in feminism, critical visual sociology and ethnography, advanced studies of visual methods, knowledge, and culture, as well as contemporary art theory, my study provides a model for using self-reflexive and artistic practices in professional development and diversity education. My research further develops the relatively new methodologies of arts-based inquiry and autoethnography, critical self-reflexive methods, and advances our understanding of the possible roles and uses of visuals in qualitative research. The methods used to study changes in my life situation, ideas, and self-perception, since leaving Finland to attend a doctoral program in Ohio, are photography, participant observation, photo-writing, memory work, photo therapy, critical essay writing, public display and discussion of my photographs and creative texts. My research findings support a critical pedagogy and curriculum that focuses on learning about cultural phenomena, artists, visual cultu (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2012, Psychology, Clinical

Research shows that there is a lack of documentation and understanding in the area of racial-ethnic identity (REI) development. One of the main concerns is that there is no widely accepted or used measurement for this developing construct in children. The purposes of this study were to examine (1) if the assessment of activity preferences and racial model influence can represent REI in elementary and middle school children; (2) if participation in cultural programming (CP) is associated with children's REI and their feelings toward member of their racial-ethnic group; and (3) if REI scores relate to cross-racial acceptance. To accomplish this, three measures (the Activity Preference, Racial Model Influence, and Cross-Racial Acceptance Tasks) were developed and presented, via PowerPoint presentation, to two treatment and four comparison groups comprised of 144 Black second-, third-, sixth-, and seventh-grade students who attended two neighboring predominately Black Dayton public elementary schools. The treatment groups participated in African dance and drumming workshops. Pre- and post-test data were obtained and comparisons between participating and non-participating students were made. Results support the notions that (1) REI in younger children may be absent or in an early developmental stage; and (2) overall, there is no relationship between REI scores and cross-race inclusion. Limitations of the study are discussed and future directions suggest that future studies include more sensitive measures and a stronger CP variable. Further, If REI develops in children, then the present approach to measuring REI could be useful in exploring an important component of children's social and emotional development.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Communication Studies

While the social production of identity is widely accepted, what constitutes “social” is often vague. In many discussions of identity production, media representations and discursive production are taken as all there is for a “social” production process of identity. This dissertation follows the constructive perspective that class identity is produced. It examines the identity formation of Chinese peasant workers through the industrial manufacturing processes using an electronics parts production factory in Shenzhen, China as a case study. It argues that materiality constitutes a crucial element of the social construction process of class identity. Specifically, I explore how social and physical spaces, as material forms of social production, participated into China's internal trans-local labor force formations and served to universalize the ruling class' desires through economic production activities and the connected everyday social reproduction activities. This study uses a synthetic theoretical framework that integrates Marxism materialist perspective and Marxian political economy with the importance of material and social spaces developed in geography. Such a synthetic theoretical framework forms an opportune vantage point for examining labor forces' everyday working and living activities within their social and material spatial contexts. In accordance with the theoretical framework, I use a spatialized Institutional Ethnography as the method to achieve the emphasis on the roles of materiality in the formation of class identity. The combination of the theoretical framework and method makes it possible to examine Chinese peasant workers' class identity formation through their daily spatially-mediated activities. With the theoretical framework and method above, my dissertation examined the wage formation process and the dormitory living of Chinese peasant workers to show how class identity is produced and how spaces, both material and social, are produced to par (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Cross-Cultural, International Education

This phenomenological study of six U.S. undergraduate students sought to capture the psychological and sociocultural experiences of reentry adjustment upon return from studying abroad in Africa and its relationship with identity. Emphasis was also placed upon understanding the value of the African study abroad experience. This study analyzed the reentry experiences of the participants from one public, Midwestern university who had returned from studying abroad for two to six weeks in either Burkina-Faso or South Africa. Findings illustrated the unexpected difficulties participants faced as they adjusted back to U.S. culture upon return. Participants reported feeling isolated and misunderstood by their family and friends and guilty for their own material items. A critical view of the U.S. media and values of materialism and consumerism were also reported. Cultural, ethnic, and American identities were all modified as a result of the study abroad experience. Appreciation for the host cultures' higher values for human relationships was also addressed. Thus, this study found that the participants experienced various degrees of personal growth and identity transformation while in Africa and it was the reentry process that made the participants aware of these newfound internal changes. As such, the reentry adjustment process illustrates the participants' psychological and sociocultural reactions to their awareness of these changes and often sparks a sense of identity conflict as the individuals attempt to navigate their way between their identities adopted in the host culture and readjustment back into the home culture.