Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Policy and Leadership

The history of multiculturalism and multicultural education is not understood, although many scholars have written about it, especially in recent decades. The reason is that the historical interpretations of these prominent subjects begin by assuming a priori and partisan definitions and then construct historical narratives based on these definitions. The historiography of multiculturalism and multicultural education therefore suffers from the historical fallacy of presentism. This dissertation addresses the problems in the historical literature by providing an evidenced account of the history of multiculturalism and multicultural education. This unexamined evidence is the historical usage and meaning of the terms multicultural, multiculturalism, and multicultural education since their introduction into the American vocabulary in about 1907. The meaning of multicultural in the 1930s can only be what people in the 1930s meant by multicultural, not what people in the 2010s mean by the term. The patterns and trends in the historical usage and meaning(s) of multicultural, multiculturalism and multicultural education will then be analyzed in light of the intellectual, social, political, economic, and educational developments of the time. Through this evidenced approach, the dissertation will provide sound historical understanding that will contribute to educational theory, research and practice by explaining the current panoply of meanings of multiculturalism and multicultural education that exists today.

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2014, International and Comparative Politics

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Western European democracies embraced multiculturalist public policy (MCPP). This was in an effort to address and accommodate the minority rights of immigrants who found their way to Europe during its post-WWII labor force recovery. By the mid-1990s, there was a backlash against such policy and movement towards integrationist values. This has been exacerbated in the wake of radical Islamist terror attacks like those of 9/11, the London 7/7 bombing, and the Paris Metro Bombings of 1995. Attention has been focused on the threat, incidence, and causal factors of homegrown jihadism within Europe. The research presented here will analyze the degree of MCPP adopted in specific European Union member states and their incidence of radicalization in an effort to determine the strength of the relationship between the two.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Art Education

This study is a critical analysis of the context of image examples for the multicultural art education portion in a Fine Art textbook, which is currently used in South Korea for 5th and 6th graders. The purpose of this research is to evaluate how multiculturalism is represented in the text. To this end, this research focuses on ethnicity construction: how politico-economic contexts and cultural representation of ethnic arts have influenced the content of the textbook. Postcolonial multiculturalism is designated as a theoretical framework and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodological framework for this research. Through CDA, I understand invisible beliefs and cultural identities that people share by paying attention to power, ideology, and intertextuality that are infiltrated in language. The findings revealed that inside/outside the Fine Art textbook promotes the pedagogy of South Korean ethnicity construction through postcolonial multiculturalism, which disrupts the idea of multiculturalism. The government is involved in narrating South Korean ethnicity and its visual art forms in a traditional artistic format. This seems to be a response to the political context where this competitive particular culture is desired and promoted to engage and respond to both opportunity and crisis in the global economy. The top-down narrative affects the image examples in the book, a national curriculum, and the entire process of the textbook production system. Recommendations are provided, including ways in which educators can encourage their students in deconstructing the myths of South Koreanness.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Spanish and Portuguese

Barrio Chino de Lima (Lima's Chinatown) and Bairro "Oriental" da Liberdade (Sao Paulo's Japantown) represent orientalization and touristification experiences in Latin American metropolises. The Asiantowns' urban development is the result of national urban policies targeting Asian populations in Lima and Sao Paulo called ethnic cleansing and ethnic touristification. The ethnic cleansing policy was carried out through the displacement of Asian residents, exemplified by the demolition of Callejon Otaiza in 1909 (Peru) and the evacuation of Rua Conde de Sarzedas in 1942 (Brazil). The ethnic touristification policy was implemented through the political alliance between Lima's and Sao Paulo's local politicians and the Asian economic elite from the 1970s onwards. The Orientalist tourification process in Peruvian and Brazilian Asiantowns was shaped by two primary waves of urban renovation: the first, marked by the inauguration of the Chinese and Japanese Gateways under the influence of developmental ideologies by Latin American military regimes in the 1970s; and the second, characterized by the intense architectural Orientalist renovation and gentrification driven by the neoliberal ideologies since 1990s on. Thus, the contemporary tourist experience in Lima's and Sao Paulo's Asiantowns is almost exclusively through the commodification of Asian culture. Using a mixed-method approach that combines urban ethnography, historical archive research, and social media analysis on digital platforms, I conduct a comparative and panoramic study of Orientalized ethnic enclaves in Lima and Sao Paulo from the 1880s to the 2020s. I integrate theoretical approaches from urban sociology and anthropology, comparative race and ethnic studies, media studies in Latin America, and tourism studies. My argument is that the historical transformation of Asian urban communities into tourist and gentrified Orientalist urban areas reflects a shift in the imaginaries about Asian populations in Lat (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, East Asian Languages and Literatures

This thesis argues for the training of volunteer instructors working in Japanese language and culture classrooms across Japan to become able use a performance-based pedagogical approach with the aim of improving the overall linguistic and cultural competency of foreign-born residents living in Japan in the interest of having them become full and equal participant members of their local communities. The pedagogical approach supported in this thesis seeks to directly connect the methods being practiced in Japanese language and culture classrooms in local communities to the ultimate aims of helping foreign-born residents become participant members of their communities as stated by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), among others (MIC, 2020; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), 2023; Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA), 2019). To accomplish this, this thesis will offer a model for a specific training workshop in which volunteer instructors can be introduced to and given example models of a performance-based approach to acquiring linguistic and cultural competency based off of the Performed-Culture Approach (PCA) (Walker & Noda, 2000), and in which volunteer instructors can be given opportunities to practice participating in performance-based lessons themselves, gaining first-hand experience and receiving detailed feedback from a presenter experienced in this pedagogical approach. The performance-based pedagogical approach proposed here aims specifically to address the underlying cultural and social assumptions of the learner and aims to afford interactional opportunities between the learners and instructors, which is understood to be necessary for their socialization into the local ways of behaving and communicating. Through lessons based around identifying the underlying elements of context (see Appendix A) that inform proficient speakers in combination with active emulation of video models, volunteer inst (open full item for complete abstract)

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

In this dissertation, I used an exploratory research approach to examine White psychology trainees' affective responses to race-related material and how they relate to trainees' self-perceived levels of multicultural competence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Participants completed self-report instruments about their experiences and identities, their affective responses to racial content, and their grasp of facets of multicultural competence. Significant correlations were found between affective responses—specifically White guilt and negation—and multicultural competence. The relationship found between White guilt and multicultural competence may speak to the power of guilt to motivate trainees' pursuit of insight and knowledge and may also reflect attunement to relevant issues given participants' choice of profession and depth of training. Negation's relationship to multicutural competence was also significant; the role that avoidance plays in negation may also lead trainees to avoid the implications of race in their multicultural training. I delve into other significant findings in the paper's discussion. While statistically non-significant findings cannot yield definitive insights, I speculate about factors that possibly contribute to the weakness of some predicted associations. Relationships found in this study suggest the importance of exploring White guilt and negation during professional training, while non-findings offer opportunities for future studies on how racial affect may (or may not) relate to trainees' grasp of material pertaining to their education and careers. 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, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences

Counselors must be equipped to support clients who have histories of interpersonal trauma (SAMHSA, 2014a). Interpersonal trauma often involves experiences of powerlessness (Finkelhor, 1986), and counselors can risk retraumatizing trauma survivors by misusing or neglecting power (Sweeney et al., 2019). Therefore, it is essential that counselors understand clients' experiences of power within the counseling relationship. However, there is a paucity of research exploring the client's perspective of power within the counseling relationship. The purpose of this qualitative dissertation was to explore how adult women with histories of interpersonal trauma experience power within the counseling relationship. This constructivist grounded theory study (Charmaz, 2014) included semi-structured interviews and follow-up emails with 29 participants during concurrent data collection and analysis. Data analysis led to the construction of seven categories and one core category. Categories are sorted via the Corbin and Strauss (1990) model, leading to two contextual conditions (Sociocultural Mental Health Factors and Prior Experiences of Power), one causal condition (Choosing Counseling), two action strategies (Advocating for Needs and Assessing for Safety and Fit), and two results (Reclaiming Power and Reliving Disempowerment). The core category summarized all other categories and answered the research question: participants experienced power within the counseling relationship by Practicing Personal Power in Connection with Others. Analysis also included comparing the grounded theory to Relational-Cultural Theory. Findings illuminated implications and recommendations for counselors, educators, supervisors, leaders and advocates, and researchers.

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

This study examines and utilizes Critical Race Theory to understand how pedagogical training fails to train educators in recognizing and countering racism in standardized testing and General Equivalency Diploma (GED) preparatory courses. Black students continue to have the lowest pass rates in GED test performance based on a study of race and ethnicity, and this study examines a potential connection between the lack of critical pedagogy in GED preparational courses and the practices of GED teachers to address persistent inequities that add to race-based disparities. This research inquiry contributes to closing the race gaps in GED test scores for Black students by incorporating GED preparatory testing using critical pedagogy and multiculturalism to offer solutions to the ongoing and persistent failure rates in high-stakes testing. Examining educational disparities must include countering the lack of multiculturalism and anti-racist pedagogy in the GED test and preparatory courses. Existing studies of standardized testing examine educational disparities; however, insufficient research correlates failing high-stakes testing outcomes to the lack of anti-racist and critical pedagogy in curricular content, instructional teaching methods, and educational materials. The potential failure associated with utilizing high-stakes standardized testing has correlated implications of the need to examine the content of the test, the pedagogical training of the teachers, and how students' racial identity influences the outcomes. The GED preparation courses prepare individuals to pass the GED test, which allows individuals to pursue higher education degrees that could potentially lead to a higher quality of life, especially for marginalized communities. It is essential to examine alternative strategies to address the unique needs of Black students through analyzing critical pedagogical approaches that Freire states will challenge learners to analyze power structures and patterns (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis, Youngstown State University, 2023, Department of Psychological Sciences and Counseling

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the applications of principles of learning and operant conditioning to solve important social problems. ABA is commonly used as a treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As with any therapy, matters of cultural awareness and diversity are important to therapeutic rapport and acceptability. Recently, researchers in the field of ABA have started to describe and investigate the impact of cultural variables in ABA. To date, no summary or systematic review of these articles have occurred. Systematic reviews are important for bringing information on a similar topic together to inform practice and synthesize findings. The goal of this literature review is to do just that: bring together the most current research on cultural variables in ABA and synthesize their findings and suggestions. The goal of this review is to help the field better communicate to diverse cultures, increase its acceptability across cultures, and hopefully allow for ABA to be utilized more effectively. By gathering previous written articles and combining their findings, this literature review will help figure out what exactly individuals need to educate and facilitate speaking to one another with proper understanding and comfort.

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

In this dissertation I argue that contemporary liberal politics masquerades as a type of progressive civil rights movement when it is actually a conservative neoliberal strategy to reverse previously exclusionary ideologies found in colonialism/imperialism. It does this because there is more money in inclusion than exclusion, that the economics of discrimination were no longer profitable once many countries of the Global South fought and won their independence from their colonial masters. But, rather than just simply let those countries be free, neoliberal actors of the Global North effectively recolonized those states through debt and the fear of being left out of the global economy. The shift from hundreds of years of exclusionary ideologies to the recent ideologies of diversity, inclusion, and celebration of difference found in multiculturalism is carefully managed through what I call the reification of identity, which allows previously marginalized identities to participate in what was once an exclusively white, straight, male culture, but contains and limits the scope of their identity depending upon the needs of the market. I provide examples from contemporary literature--specifically the contemporary campus novel genre--that unconsciously register my argument in their characters and narratives.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Slavic and East European Studies

In this thesis I explore the historic roots and origins of the political and ideological dispute between Moldova and Pridnestrovie. Why did these two regions become divided as the Soviet Union collapsed? An examination of the history of Pridnestrovie during the final years of the Soviet Union (1989-1990) and the actions, rhetoric, and motivations of Moldovan and Pridnestrovian actors demonstrates that the main factors of the dispute were 1) the Pridnestrovians' fears of excessive Romanian influence and 2) debates over the roles of linguistic equality, multiculturalism, and regional autonomy in the future Moldova. The use of primary-source news articles, interviews, and Party and government documents allows me to detail the Pridnestrovians' fears of so-called “Romanianization” and their attachment to polylingualism, multiculturalism, and regional autonomy— ideas rooted in Soviet nationality policy. This is coupled with secondary sources detailing Soviet nationality policy, which I use to place Pridnestrovie in comparison with other Soviet regions. Finally, I present modern day Pridnestrovian sources to further explore the legacy of Soviet policy and to relate this dispute to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. My examination of the region's history shows that Pridnestrovie maintained its multicultural character, causing multinational population to eschew ethnic nationalism. This thesis adds to our knowledge of Moldova and Pridnestrovie by illustrating the meaning of Romanianization and by examining the term's historic usage in the Russian language and its relation to the fascist occupation of Pridnestrovie during World War II. Additionally, this work is important because I draw connections to the actions and rhetoric of Pridnestrovians in the late Soviet period to the tenets of Soviet nationality policy. Ultimately, this thesis conveys the Pridnestrovians' story and expands on the deeply rooted issues and historic trends, which caused the Moldo-Pridnestrovian split (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

Convergence hypothesis argues that there is a growing similarity among industrialized, labor-importing countries in terms of immigration control policy and integration policy (Hollifield, Martin and Orrenius 2014). This hypothesis also applies in the context of refugee policies that are enacted among these countries. Specifically, two of the most prominent industrialized countries that are built as nations of immigrants and that host refugees are the United States and Canada. Following the logic of convergence hypothesis, the United States and Canada should be similar with regard to immigration control and integration policies. However, Canada is considered an outlier with regard to convergence hypothesis. Convergence hypothesis was descriptive of immigration control in the form of racial exclusion in both countries until 1971 with Canada's adoption of a federal multiculturalism policy. This study tests the convergence hypothesis in the areas of immigration control and integration policies from the United States and Canada by examining policy adoption documents using qualitative content analysis from 1971-2019. The data shows there is a difference in both the inclusivity or exclusivity of the language used by the United States and Canada with regard to refugee policies as well as the frequency of their occurrence. The Canadian turn to multiculturalism was positively associated with more inclusive legislation when examining immigration and refugee policy documents while the United States was more inclusionary with regard to refugee policy. The study also finds there is a clear and definite association between adoption of multiculturalism by Canada and its divergence to being more inclusionary than the United States with regard to refugee resettlement and integration policy. These findings confirm that the adoption of multiculturalism as being associated with Canada's outlier status with regard to convergence hypothesis and demonstrates that industrialized nations can (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2021, Counselor Education

Persons who have offended are a marginalized population, and present with higher rates of trauma, mental health and substance use disorders when compared to the general population. Furthermore, persons of color and those in poverty are disproportionately incarcerated, and involvement in the criminal justice system perpetuates marginalization due to systemic factors including homelessness, denial of public benefits, and employment discrimination. Professional counselors frequently work with persons who have offended in a variety of settings, including prison, jail, residential, and outpatient settings. Yet, there is a paucity of research on persons who have offended in the counseling literature, and specifically empirical research related to multicultural and social justice competencies for this population. To address this gap, the researcher utilized a grounded theory methodology, with a critical theory paradigm, to explore best practices for integrating multicultural competency, social justice, and advocacy interventions into correctional settings. The researcher interviewed 16 professional counselors with experience working in correctional settings, including prison and jail-based, residential, and outpatient settings. From their interviews, the research team identified six themes that provide the basis for the grounded theory: (a) Need for Training, (b) Multicultural and Social Justice Awareness, (c) Knowledge of Structural Barriers, (d) Knowledge of Systemic Oppression, and (e) Advocacy. The grounded theory constructed through this study has implications to inform future training, practice, and research for working with persons who have offended.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

Did Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954, have an adverse impact on the employment of Black art educators? In this study, I questioned what specifically happened to Black art educators and Black art education in desegregated schools after Brown? Also, with the disappearance of Black and minority culture being taught in primary schools after Brown, how was Black and minority art impacted? The sub question of my research explores the capacity in which Black art educators were teaching art to Black students prior to Brown and the possible implications Brown had on their employment in desegregated public schools. Included in this study is a brief history of art departments established at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) by pioneering Black art educators. As there is scarce research regarding how Brown potentially effected the employment of Black art educators, this research explores the possible connection between Brown and the displacement of Black art educators. In this study I aim to articulate why Black art educators and culturally inclusive art curricula could have been rejected from desegregated public primary schools.

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2019, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

The acculturation of refugee-immigrant students is a complex process. The acculturation strategies of refugee-immigrant students are dependent upon the dominant society's acculturation expectations. There is ample research to support that refugee-immigrants prefer integration as an acculturation strategy (Berry, 2015). However, integration cannot be truly successful unless the dominant society promotes multiculturalism. The present study used a framework of the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) and the Theories of Prejudice Scale to investigate the dominant society's (teachers) attitudes about the acculturation of refugee-immigrant students (non-dominant group). The constructs investigated were acculturation expectations (multiculturalism, melting pot, segregation, exclusion), multicultural ideology, and the mindset (fixed or growth) towards the malleability of prejudice. The present study also investigated the relationships between these constructs. Online surveys were sent to the teachers of refugee-immigrant students from a midwestern public school district resulting in 50 participants. The findings revealed that participants in the study preferred the acculturation strategy of multiculturalism, had a positive multicultural ideology, and had a growth mindset towards the malleability of prejudice. Despite the high scores in these constructs, a Pearson's Correlation Coefficient test found no statistical significance findings. This was due to the lack of variability in the responses, as all respondents had high scores in multiculturalism, multicultural ideology, and growth mindset. However, findings also revealed a strong relationship between multicultural ideology and the acculturation strategies of melting pot and segregation. The findings have implications to teacher professional development in multicultural education and future research. School districts with refugee-immigrant students can replicate this study to assess if teacher acti (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Dance Studies

Since its premiere, YouTube has rapidly emerged as the most important venue shaping popular dance practitioners and consumers, introducing paradigm shifts in the ways dances are learned, practiced, and shared. YouTube is a technological platform, an economic system, and a means of social affiliation and expression. In this dissertation, I contribute to ongoing debates on the social, political, and economic effects of technological change by focusing on the bodily and emotional labor performed and archived on the site in videos, comments sections, and advertisements. In particular I look at comments and fan video as social paratexts which shape dance reception and production through policing genre, citationality, and legitimacy; position studio dance class videos as an Internet screendance genre which entextualizes the pedagogical context through creative documentation; and analyze the use of dance in online advertisements to promote identity-based consumption. Taken together, these inquiries show that YouTube perpetuates and reshapes established modes and genres of production, distribution, and consumption. These phenomena require an analysis that accounts for their multivalence and the ways the texts circulating on YouTube subvert existing categories, binaries, and hierarchies. A cyclical exchange—between perpetuation and innovation, subculture and pop culture, amateur and professional, the subversive and the neoliberal—is what defines YouTube and the investigation I undertake in this dissertation.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This dissertation explored the following central question: How can an arts-based learning process positively impact the literacy of adolescent students of color from high-risk and high-poverty communities? In this study, I examined the relationship between a pedagogical approach that incorporates arts-based pedagogies into hands-on, student-directed, and student-centered instructional methods and increasing the literacy achievement of students of color from high-risk and high-poverty communities. I explored if using arts-based pedagogies as an integral aspect of emergent and student-directed instructional methods is vital to improving adolescent literacy acquisition. In addition, this dissertation investigated what an arts-based and student-directed learning process looks like for the implementing teachers, how this approach can take the form of a culturally sustaining pedagogy, and how the art-making process mirrors the meaning-making process when engaging with texts. I utilized the methodological approach of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and the theoretical framework of Critical Multicultural Education Theory to develop a process for teaching and learning that incorporated both the arts and emergent student-directed instructional methods into the teaching of state-mandated, middle school English Language Arts standards in the general education classroom. I conducted this study at a public K-8 elementary school located within the city of Chicago. One 7th grade reading teacher and 19 of her reading students acted as study participants throughout the 2017-2018 school year. Additionally, I employed four main data collection techniques: 1) research journal; 2) correspondence log; 3) interviews; and 4) artifacts. The findings from the research illustrate that arts-based methods in the reading classroom have the potential to facilitate an emergent and student-directed approach to literacy instruction that enables students to take ownership as agents of (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Music Education/Comprehensive Music Education

This study explored how five elementary general music teachers include world musics in their curriculums, their reasons for inclusion, their resource selection process, and the educational and professional development opportunities in which these teachers have participated. Individual semi-structured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed for emerging categories and themes. Four broad themes emerged from the data: (a) Rationale for the Inclusion of World Musics/Benefits to Students; (b) Implementation and Teaching Approaches; (c) World Musics Resource Selection Process; and (d) Teacher Learning/Professional Development. Many of the decisions about the presentation and representation of world musics in these teachers' curriculums may have been reflections of their attitudes toward, and experience with, world musics. Because this study investigated five elementary general music teachers, expanding the number of participants may provide a more comprehensive understanding of what influences teachers' inclusion of world musics. Implications for the field of music education in relation to teacher education programs and professional development opportunities are discussed, and suggestions are made for further research.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

This dissertation explores how the first generation of white and Somali youth coming of age together in the context of a historically white Maine town—and its everyday commitment to a post-racial and multicultural life in the midst of active racist differentiation—make meaning of their past, present, and future selves. The analysis is based upon six months of research with youth in Lewiston, Maine, a predominantly white town with no prior enduring Black population, nor visible or cohesive racial minority population, until the arrival of ethnic Somali secondary migrants in 2001 and Somali Bantus in 2005. I examine youth narratives about their own and others' everyday social practices to ask: What role do gender and sexuality play in the formation and negotiation of racialized Muslim identities for black youth of African-origin families, and how are gender and sexuality central to the maintenance of dominant whiteness, racial segregation, and racialized ethnic distinctions in the non-metro U.S.? This project contextualizes the dynamics of youth racialization and identity formation through a focus on the enduring white liberal response, particularly the fantasy of multiculturalism, to rapid racial change in the still overwhelmingly white Lewiston. Integrating insights from feminist and queer of color scholars who have enumerated the complex ways that racial-ethnic and religious formations are not only expressed through gendered and sexualized practices, but are idealized through normative scripts of gender and sexuality, I explore how contemporary racializations of Muslim youth influence shifting black racial formations in the U.S. That is, I argue that Somali youth in Lewiston must reckon with dominant gender and sexual discourses that continually (re)produce the abnormally repressed and failed (hetero)sexuality of the (hyper)patriarchal Muslim male and the sexually oppressed Muslim female, figures that run up against hyper(hetero)sexualized blackness in the U.S. T (open full item for complete abstract)