Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1980, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2011, College of Education

This qualitative study was conducted in the Midwestern U.S. It examined the resilience stories of Puerto Rican educators in an urban school district. The sample consisted of 12 adult participants who were asked to describe their experiences with resilience in different stages of their personal development. Participants articulated how their meaning of the construct impacted their interactions with students and their beliefs regarding the development of resilience. The findings from this study suggested that resilience is an interactive process involving key personal attributes of the individual and environmental factors within that individual's home, community, school, and culture that results in the human ability to thrive in the face of adversity. Implications and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Committee: Jane Piirto PhD (Committee Chair); Patricia Edwards PhD (Committee Member); Alinde Moore PhD (Committee Member); Rosaire Ifedi EdD (Other) Subjects: Educational Psychology; Ethnic Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Latin American Studies; Multicultural Education; Personality Psychology; Psychology; School Counseling; Spirituality; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2017, American Culture Studies

This study examines the community-based political work of the pionero generation of Puerto Rican migrants to New York City from their collective naturalization under the Jones Act in 1917 to 1948, when political changes on the island changed migration flows to North America. Through discourse analysis of media narratives in black, white mainstream, and Spanish-language newspapers, as well as an examination of histories of Puerto Rican and allied activism in Harlem, I analyze how Puerto Ricans of this era utilized and articulated their own citizenship- both as a formal legal status and as a broader sense of belonging. By viewing this political work through the perspectives of a range of Harlem political actors, I offer new insights as to how the overlapping and interconnected multicultural communities in Harlem contributed to New York's status (in the words of historian Juan Flores) as a "diaspora city." I argue that as Puerto Ricans came to constitute a greater social force in the city, dominant narratives within their discursive and political work shifted from a search for recognition by the rest of society to a demand for empowerment from the bottom up and emanating from the Puerto Rican community outward, leading to a diasporic consciousness which encompassed both the quotidian problems of life in the diaspora and the political and economic issues of the island. A localized process of community-building bound diaspora Puerto Ricans more closely together and re-constituted internal social connections, supported an analysis of social problems shared with other Latinx people and African Americans, and utilized ideological solidarities to encourage coalitional politics as a means for mutual empowerment. In drawing Puerto Ricans into a broad and rich history of Harlem, I consider the insights of a range of neighborhood individuals and groups, including African American and West Indian (im)migrants, allied white populations such as progressive Italians and pacif (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Susana Peña Dr. (Advisor); Lara Lengel Dr. (Other); Vibha Bhalla Dr. (Committee Member); Nicole Jackson Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Ethnic Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; History; Latin American History; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Social Work

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1983, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, History

Though the concept of “Latino” is something that in today's society is assumed to be a given category, it is necessary to examine how and why people from distinct ethnic groups embraced a panethnic Latino identity. This dissertation challenges the conventional knowledge on panethnic identity formation. Previous scholarship situates Latino identity as political in nature and a result of 1960s and 1970s activism. My research on Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Grand Rapids, Michigan from the 1920s to the 1970s, shows that panethnicity is not only rooted in Spanish-speaking people's relationship with and to the state, but rather also emerges from individuals' desire for human connection. Their familiarity with religion, cultural practices, and shared language helped Mexicans and Puerto Ricans ward off loneliness in their new surrounding. Also, panethnic community and Latino identity formation emerged in Grand Rapids in the 1950s, well before other works suggest. Though there was occasionally tension between some Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, many established affective and kinship bonds through interactions in the Catholic Church, on baseball fields, at dances, and even more when they intermarried. Their decades of social and cultural interaction and their shared experiences with discrimination, led this community in the late 1960s to create the Latin American Council and participate in the federal Model Cities program. This moment of unity was also marked by tension rooted in the complexity of Latino identity that rested on the varying intersections of ethnicity, class, and generation. While some community activists quarreled, others worked together within the Latin American Council to provide social services and cultural programming, greatly improving the quality of life in Grand Rapids. Other activists worked closely with African Americans to change the City of Grand Rapids' hiring requirements and to pursue community control over policing of Black and brown communitie (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lilia Fernandez (Advisor); Judy Tzu-Chun Wu (Committee Member); Kevin Boyle (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethnic Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; History; Latin American History; Latin American Studies