Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2004, Counselor Education (Education)

The locus of care for mental illness in the United States has traditionally been described as either community based or centralized, asylum based. Most asylum case studies have focused on the inner workings of the institutions. None have studied in asylum in the context of its surrounding community. This research explores the nature of the connections between asylum and community by way of a historical organizational case study of the Athens Lunatic Asylum from 1867 through 1893 as it relates to the Village of Athens, Ohio. Sources consulted include official documents (government reports and records, census data), personal documents (letters and manuscripts), and popular culture documents (newspapers, atlases, and photographs). Between 1867 and 1893, the Asylum was connected with the Village of Athens in five areas: money economy, landscape, political and physical infrastructure, family, and social order. These connections were forged by the asylum's need for goods and services and by the needs of the Athens community for jobs and cash. They were also sustained by community needs for recreation and entertainment, for humanitarian resources for those with mental illness, and at times for a means of social control. The political and physical infrastructure as well as the formal and informal networks that controlled the commitment process served to make possible the connections that met the needs of both asylum and community. This research documents three aspects of asylum-community affairs receiving received attention from researchers. First, it identifies ways in which the Asylum functioned as customer and employer in the community. Second, it documents how the asylum grounds, as a permeable boundary between asylum and community, functioned as a community resource. Third, it shows how the Athens community used the state and local political infrastructure to advance its interests with regard to the Asylum; it also describes the ways in which the physical infrastructur (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David O. Thomas Patricia M. Beamish (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Guidance and Counseling

BA, Oberlin College, 2020, Latin American Studies

Karen Musalo, a leading asylum attorney, explains,“In the United States, few refugee issues have been as controversial as that of gender asylum.” Despite perceived progress, inconsistent judicial decisions engender doubts about the viability of gender-based asylum cases. The U.S. courts continue to see violence against women as a personal or family matter rather than a pattern of accepted social behavior supported by the political and legal authorities. Using cases from Guatemalan women seeking asylum, my research scrutinizes the asylum system, and shows how the U.S. furthers a colonial, paternalistic narrative—allowing U.S. judges, adjudicators, and policymakers to decide who is worthy—or not worthy—of U.S. protection. The asylum system interacts with an embedded structure of power that disregards the impact of the historical relationship between the U.S. and Guatemala. Using a textual study of specific case documents, this paper analyzes the experience, ability, and process of seeking asylum as a method for examining the legacies of paternalism. In asylum cases, adjudicators can make decisions based on their own bias against a woman's testimony. Judges can require women to reshape their experience to meet the provisions of the law and make rulings that deemphasize the experience of violence. My specific study of Guatemalan women seeking asylum shows how factual distortions, institutionalized prejudice, and misogyny impact the asylum process.

Committee: Kristina Mani (Advisor); Jan Cooper (Committee Member); Patrick O'Connor (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; History; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Law; Political Science

Bachelor of Science, Miami University, 2009, School of Education and Allied Professions - Family Studies

This thesis examines the self-reported satisfaction of Iraqi refugee families resettling within the country of Luxembourg. Are Iraqi refugee families satisfied in Luxembourg? Are they able to culturally assimilate into Luxembourg? The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of the Iraqi refugee experience in Luxembourg, to assess the satisfaction of Iraqi refugee families resettling in Luxembourg, and to observe the functioning of Iraqi families in their new Luxembourg surroundings. A qualitative study was conducted to explore these questions. A sample of two Iraqi refugee heads-of-household were gathered on a rolling basis, with those meeting requirements and arriving in Luxembourg most recently offered the opportunity to participate first. Participants were required to be over the age of eighteen and to have children under the age of eighteen with them in Luxembourg in order to gather a sample with a strong Iraqi family heritage. A sample of one Luxembourg staff-member who works directly with Iraqi refugees on a regular basis was also interviewed. This staff member was randomly selected and provided by a Luxembourg refugee agency. Based on literature available on asylum in Luxembourg and the European Union as a whole, the hypothesis was made that Iraqi refugees would be unsatisfied with their experiences in Luxembourg and that this situation will place strains on the family. The study uncovered four important themes: resources available to the Iraqi refugees, their family ties, their ability to retain culture, their assimilation, and their overall satisfaction in Luxembourg. The hypothesis was refuted. The Iraqi refugee families resettling in Luxembourg were found to be highly satisfied with their experiences to date and to be highly assimilated in many ways. Four potential reasons for this were pinpointed: religion, availability of resources, a sense of community for the refugees within Luxembourg, and the Luxembourg people's acceptance of this p (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kevin Bush PhD (Advisor); Carl Dahlman PhD (Committee Member); Katie Egart Ms (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Families and Family Life; International Law; Middle Eastern History; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Social Work; Sociology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2023, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examines the asylum expose genre that emerged in the latter half of the 19th century for early signifiers of the ethical standards that developed in the 20th century. With a review of codes of ethics from contemporary newsrooms, media organizations, and media ethicists as a framework, this thesis found six major ethical principles that apply to the undercover reporting process—exhausting alternative measures, public interest, transparency, minimizing harm, verification, and legality. These principles created a framework for analyzing this specific genre of 19th century journalism for early evidence of the ethical standards that emerged in the following century. An analysis of the asylum expose reveals that certain ethical principles, such as serving the public interest, transparency, and minimizing harm, were already in practice by the end of the 19th century. Other ethical principles, like exhausting alternative methods, verification, and legality were present in some, but not all, asylum exposes, suggesting that these standards were emerging at the end of the 19th century, though not adopted by all reporters of the asylum expose.

Committee: Aimee Edmondson (Advisor); Kelly Ferguson (Committee Chair); Bernhard Debatin (Committee Chair) Subjects: Journalism

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2022, Communication Studies

This thesis explores storytelling in Immigrant Support Organizations (ISOs) within the case setting of one particular ISO called Heartfelt Tidbits. I conducted 12 interviews with past and present staff, interns, and volunteers from this organization, and drew additional data from personal reflections from an internship and observations of the organizational space and interactions. My qualitative data analysis yielded three key themes and functions of storytelling in ISOs: (a) to preserve and inspire, (b) to create and foster an inclusive space, and (c) to define relational roles and boundaries within the organization. My results suggest that ISOs can function as agentic spaces, increasing the narrative capabilities of the clients they serve. Data analysis supports a co-constructive view of identity and social reality and illustrates how ISOs and their staff can help empower clients by narrating with them.

Committee: Lynn Harter (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

During the time period in Germany history from 1989-1990 known as the Wende, activist writing, movies, and mass protests highlighted the exclusion of racial minorities from Germany's unity story. These activists decried the racial violence and scapegoating that followed the mass disenfranchisement of East Germans. However, in wake of the pogroms and mass killings from 1991-1993, Germany did not adopt policies that would create structural change and prevent future right-wing radicalism and violence. Instead, Germany passed reforms, falling in line with the discourse of the intellectual, that focused on stopping the racialized “outside” assault on white German identity rather than ensuring the safety of its People of Color.

Committee: Sunnie Rucker-chang (Committee Member); Evan Torner Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: European Studies

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism

The professional project portion is a longform story about the reclamation of the Athens Lunatic Asylum cemeteries. Athens residents worked to beautify the cemeteries while also using grave records to match names to the numbered headstones. Similar projects have arisen at other former asylums across the country, bringing into question why patients were buried anonymously, and why communities suddenly took notice of the cemeteries decades later. The story explores the meaning behind giving identities back to former patients as well as changing views of mental illness. (Text is included here along with a link to the full multimedia project.) The scholarly essay portion is a literature review exploring mental illness representation in journalism. It considers how stereotypes are created in the media, common stereotypes about individuals with mental illness and the effects of reporting on mental illness. It concludes with recommended best practices for journalists reporting on mental illness.

Committee: Hans Meyer (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2020, Law, Justice & Culture (College of Arts and Sciences)

In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). This required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims went through the court system. Several immigrants' rights organizations filed suit together in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to block the policy in Innovation Law Lab v. Nielsen. The District Court for the Northern District of California issued an injunction blocking the MPP. This was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Appellate Court where the injunction was stayed in Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan. This thesis will first examine how immigrants' rights organizations are attempting to expand human rights frameworks through juris generativity in the lawsuit, Innovation Law Lab v. Nielsen. It will also delve into Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan, to examine the jurispathic nature of the court system. Chapter two focuses on the connection between the legal mobilization and social movements for immigrant justice and expounds upon how the movements have responded to the ruling in ILL v. McAleenan. Chapter three centers on three subsequent court cases that utilize the rights claims articulated in ILL v. Nielsen. These three cases are examined in the context of their juris generative framing of human rights and the jurispathic response from the court system. This thesis will argue that the formation of legal meaning through interaction with the courts can benefit progressive social movements and organizations because the interaction itself has the potential to expand rights discourse in the future.

Committee: Smoki Musaraj (Advisor); Kirstine Taylor (Committee Member); Andrew Ross (Committee Member) Subjects: Law

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Cross-Cultural, International Education

Until recently, the United States was the largest resettlement location for refugee and asylum seekers (Batalova & Blizzard, 2019). The resettlement process for school-aged populations hinges upon the context of reception. This study examines the research questions: What are secondary educators' perceptions of the schooling context of adolescent Students with Limited Interrupted or No Formal Education (SLIFE)? And how do secondary educators understand their role in teaching adolescent SLIFE? An adapted ecological-acculturation framework from Barry's (1997) acculturation theory allows me to examine the phenomenon and contexts of SLIFE's adjustment. In addition, I utilize cultural scripts as a conceptual framework to explore participants' underlying belief systems regarding their teaching and schooling of SLIFE. The data suggests that educators perceive SLIFE's schooling context as a hindrance to their academic achievement and psychosocial wellbeing, thus perpetuating certain acculturation strategies more than others. Further, educators position themselves within contradictory roles in the lives of SLIFE, which suggests the power of schools' conflicting agendas, prevailing institutional ideologies, and fluidity of cultural belief systems. Significant obstructions exist for SLIFE and SLIFE educators, which includes anti-immigrant sentiment seeping into schools, lack of SLIFE specific supports, and the failure to implement training regarding students from refugee and asylee backgrounds with various prior schooling experiences.

Committee: Christy Galletta Horner (Advisor); Hyeyoung Bang (Committee Member); Luis Moreno (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; English As A Second Language; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Secondary Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Comparative Studies

As the number of forcibly displaced people increases globally, border crossing into Global North countries is often discussed as a crisis or emergency. Europe's recent "refugee crisis" illustrates the range of circumstances to which these discourses refer: humanitarian issues requiring urgent response; institutional crises, given the insufficiency of extant systems and structures to accommodate arriving migrants; or dangers for local and national communities who perceive the arrival of outsiders as a threat to their security and cultural identity. In Witnessing Emergency: Testimonial Narratives of Precarious Migration to Italy, I argue that in Italy, a key port of entry for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, the "emergency imaginary" that has shaped public and political responses to migrant arrivals perpetuates the idea that Africa-Europe migration via the Mediterranean Sea is sudden, unforeseen, and detached from historical mobilities. In fact, the recent crisis bears echoes of longer histories of transit, in particular between former African colonies and former European colonizing powers. To map the stakes and contours of "emergency," and to understand its limits and omissions, this dissertation examines how media and political framings of irregular Mediterranean migration as a crisis or emergency enable the racialization of migrants and obscure the colonial relations that continue to shape notions of identity and otherness in Italy and across Europe. I interrogate these framings through testimonial transactions that contextualize and challenge emergency discourses. The testimonies I put in conversation include published life writing (memoir and documentary film) that centers migrant experiences; oral history interviews I conducted with migrants, staff, and volunteers at multiple reception sites in Italy in 2017, 2018, and 2019; and a set of encounters in urban spaces and art installations. The transactions reflected in or mobilized through thes (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dana Renga (Advisor); Amy Shuman (Advisor); Ashley Pérez (Committee Member); Julia Watson (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative Literature; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; European Studies; Film Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2019, History

This thesis examines the critical role that the Polish immigrant community has played in recent British history. A large influx of Polish migrants settled in the UK in the years immediately following World War II. The British government pressured the Poles to repatriate or settle elsewhere, due in part to the post-war scarcity environment. By the early 1960s, against the backdrop of Commonwealth immigration—many of whom were non-white—the Polish immigrant community was extolled for their ability to adapt and assimilate with comparative ease. When a second wave of Polish immigration began in 2004, it was as a result of Poland's accession to the EU. The UK did not limit Polish immigration between 2004 and 2011; it was one of three member states that did not. By the end of 2011—when the other member states lifted their restrictions—Polish was the second most commonly spoken language in Britain, behind English and ahead of Welsh. As a result, the Polish community became a focal point for Eurosceptics, who argued that the UK's inability to limit the number of Poles seeking employment in the island nation threatened not only low-paid, unskilled British labor but also the integrity of British society. This was not a new concern; throughout its history with the EU and the European Communities, the UK objected strongly to the possibility of relinquishing sovereignty over key policy issues, and, especially after 2004, control over immigration proved to be a particularly delicate issue. The only way the UK would be able to limit immigration by EU citizens would be to seek an exemption to the free movement of workers or by leaving the EU, which led to the Referendum on membership put forth by Prime Minister David Cameron. When British citizens went to the polls in 2016 to decide whether or not to remain a member state, the Polish immigrant community was a conspicuous reminder of how Britain's destiny was no longer decided in London.

Committee: Douglas Forsyth Ph.D (Advisor); Neal Jesse Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: History

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

This dissertation critically analyzes the relationship between the state and the asylum-seeker through bordering mechanisms, with particular focus on confinement at the border. It argues that in contravention of international humanitarian law, Western signatory states manage refugees through punitive forms of enforcement. These countries enact bordering techniques that “thicken” the border, making it more difficult for people fleeing violence to reach a safe territory. These bordering mechanisms amount to a form of state-sanctioned violence that endangers the lives of refugees during the journey and, through confinement, harms them on arrival. Moreover, individual states enact bordering mechanisms that extend beyond their territories and result in buffer zones that sometimes overlap, forming a transnational sovereign assemblage that works to prevent displaced populations seeking asylum from exiting the Global South. This formation makes it necessary to look beyond individual regimes and think of borders transnationally, something I do by exploring the cases of Australia, the European Union, and the United States to identify a global refugee regime of deterrence, punishment, and confinement. My dissertation combines a novel approach to understanding borders with an analysis of bordering mechanisms at the U.S.-Mexico border. Using a transnational feminist lens, I explore how U.S. intervention in countries of the Northern Triangle creates racialized and gendered subjects that merge with existing stereotypes that criminalize brown migrants. The material consequences of this discourse can be seen at the southern border, where Central American women who seek asylum are punished. I theorize what happens at the border as a combination of sovereign and disciplinary punishment that serves also as a form of governing populations by deterring further arrivals. This methodology unveils how racist narratives of “deviant” motherhood precede these women and shape their receptio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mytheli Sreenivas (Advisor); Inés Valdez (Advisor); Jenny Suchland (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Anthropology

This project explores the biological impact of structural violence in institutionalized and impoverished populations in the late 19th and early 20th century United States. A structural violence framework serves as an explanatory framework to deepen bioarchaeologists' understanding of the relationship between identity and risk for different kinds of physiological stress for various segments of the populations included in this study. Two samples, one an institutionalized population from Rome, New York, and the other, a primarily impoverished population from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were used to evaluate the impact of structural violence on those populations. This was assessed by analyzing human skeletal remains for the presence of non-specific indicators of physiological stress, dental disease, and trauma. The prevalence and distributions of these skeletal indicators were recorded and compared within and between populations to assess whether site, status, or biological sex had an impact on risk for physiological stress and/or trauma within and between impoverished and institutionalized populations from industrializing areas from the historic period in the United States. The results indicate that while site and status were significant indicators of risk, biological sex was not.

Committee: Paul Sciulli PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Archaeology; Physical Anthropology

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Research has shown that the physical environment in which treatment occurs impacts both the treatment's progression and its effectiveness. Today, prisons have become the involuntary, unconventional home for the imprisoned mentally ill. Though there are facilities for mental health care, there is not a specialized, unique location for those that are serving time. Studies by Perkins and Will, Gerald Landsberg, Marjorie Rock and several others have evaluated the effects of psycho-environmental design and found positive results that demonstrate desirable behavioral changes due to appropriate treatment conditions. Concurrently, the stiff, authoritative nature of prison schemes are being reevaluated. It has been proven that an environment that more clearly mimics real-world conditions produces less recidivism and resentment amongst inmates. Even with current reforms to prison and health care institutions, the changes do not provide an adequate environment to promote rehabilitation and manageable treatment options, while taking into account the humane control and security of this unique sub-group. The lack of specialized space leads to placelessness within these institutions, de-emphasizes social obligations and architectural responses, and underutilizes the effectiveness of the relationship between building and user. This thesis offers humane design techniques found within the changing models of psycho-environmental facilities and prison designs as a way to create a new building typology that focuses on the needs of this specific group in society.

Committee: Aarati Kanekar Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Michael McInturf M.Arch. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, English-Literature

As mental illness came to have a greater social presence during the second half of the nineteenth century, cultural interpretations regarding the characteristics of the mentally ill and how physicians can provide treatment, in addition to how the insane were being managed socially were portrayed in popular fiction novels, primarily in Gothic and Sensation traditions. Although scholarly attention has been paid to fictional portrayals of madness and its cultural implications, the asylum memoir has been overlooked in historical, literary, and cultural analyses, especially in relation to women. During the rapid growth of the asylum system, women in particular were marginalized by early psychiatric theory and practice. Their personal narratives represent a uniquely feminine literary tradition that incorporate elements of contemporary fiction authors to function as political documents that seek to expose, criticize, and challenge the assumption on which social definitions like “madwoman” are based. This thesis uses a range of theoretical approaches to explore an analysis of how women organize, describe, and interpret their experiences within the insane asylum. It is my contention that memoirists publish their accounts as literary and public performances that question societal and cultural signifiers of sanity and insanity in an attempt to inspire a public desire for social reform for female patient rights. In doing so, women memoirists encounter medical and legal logic, in addition to cultural portrayals of madness in literature to portray what they consider is a more accurate representation of mental patients, as well as suggest the deficits of the asylum system and in some cases, propose change.

Committee: Hillary Nunn Dr. (Advisor); Jon Miller Dr. (Committee Member); Heather Braun Dr. (Committee Member); Joseph Ceccio Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2006, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture (Master of)

A semiotic analysis of architecture questions the role of signs in giving buildings signification, culturally and socially motivated to convey meaning. The problem lies within the codification of signs throughout a given culture, where classifications are developed and exploited to structure the built environment. The problem further positions itself in the transformation of phenomena in a given typology, here the historical asylum, which rely on the cognition of signs in order for architecture to produce meaning. This thesis hypothesizes that through the process of identifying typological intrinsic signs, a semiotic analysis of architecture can begin to speak of a construction of meaning. Disrupting the habitual sign cognition of a historically established typology involves the displacement of architecture as it used to exist. That is, the destabilization of meanings through the demotivation of architectural signs will begin to speak of an architecture that consciously constructs meaning through the process of building.

Committee: Dr. Aarati Kanekar (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2010, Film Scholarship (Fine Arts)

The direct-to-DVD market is an understudied aspect of the film industry. By focusing on Syfy, as both exhibitor and financier of direct-to-DVD movies, and the Majors' direct-to-DVD divisions, I will show how these two distinct systems interact with the home video market. Initially one would think that these two systems, Syfy with its ultra low budget action and horror movies and the Majors more typical direct-to-DVD fare, would be in competition with one another, however, this is not the case. The Majors are not attempting to edge out the mini studios by producing a glut of movies at the $1-2 million range; instead they leave that to mini studios and focus on fewer, bigger titles.

Committee: Louis-Georges Schwartz PhD (Committee Chair); Ofer Eliaz PhD (Committee Member); Katerine Jellison PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Costs; Economics; Film Studies