Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2017, Communication

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

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

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2024, English

In “Reforming African American Literature in High Schools,” I explore how Black standpoint theory and reader response theory affect the instruction of African American novels and related books in the classroom. Namely, I examine how To Kill a Mockingbird is used in the classroom, whether or not the novel should be continued to be used in the classroom, and whether it can be used well as an introduction to the subjects of race, class, systematic oppression, and intersectionality. To do so, I analyze the contents of To Kill a Mockingbird, deconstruct my interviews with fifteen participants on how their teacher's instruction of To Kill a Mockingbird impacted their education, and examine how and when To Kill a Mockingbird succeeds in the classroom. I also determine whether or not To Kill a Mockingbird could be replaced by briefly diving into other prominent Black literature that is used in the classroom.

Committee: Mark Turner (Advisor); Edmond Chang (Advisor) Subjects: American Literature; Black Studies; Journalism; Literature

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Communication

As more women become exposed to educational and technological tools, alongside international and intercultural affiliations, African women are increasingly deviating from the proscribed societal roles. Through this, we witness the rise of fresh sociocultural perspectives that often create and influence identity formation and reformation. This thesis explores the experiences of Nigerian female entrepreneurs who take on the dualized roles of financial providers and homemakers. To understand this phenomenon, this study employs the theoretical linings of the feminist standpoint theory, nego-feminism model, and the communication theory of identity (CTI). The study specifically investigates how the increase in financial contribution impacts the role negotiation of these women while examining how they negotiate and communicate their identities and boundaries. For this study, a total of 12 women were interviewed. The findings from this research show a strong societal and social influence on participants' perceptions of themselves and their identities as women and financial contributors.

Committee: Omotayo Banjo Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Nancy Jennings Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ronald Jackson II Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

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

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

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

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Communication Studies

This study investigated the identities of women who have been in prison. Prisonrates and the effects of incarceration are serious social problems in this country today. Women now represent the fastest growing prisoner population in the United States. Women who are currently incarcerated or who have experienced life in prison are a silenced population in our country. Once a woman has been given the label of prisoner, her stories, life, and experiences are no longer valuable in normative society: she is,essentially, invisible. This study focused on issues of identity and how women who have been incarcerated discussed their experiences and the ways those experiences impacted their lives. A theoretical framework based on symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969; Fisher and Strauss, 1978) and feminist standpoint (Harding, 1987; Harding, 2004) was used to investigate the lives of women who have lived behind bars. Eleven women living in one of two transitional programs in Ohio were the participants in this study. Semistructured, in-depth interviews and ethnography were the methods used to gain a deeper level of analysis regarding the experiences of the research participants. This study revealed that although incarceration may define who these women are to society, it does not define them personally. Prison affected their lives, but it did not define them. A disconnect between how this group of women perceives society's view of them and how they view themselves was apparent. Negativity was the one theme revealed regarding how ex-offenders perceive society's view of them. Themes associated with the identities of the ex-offenders participating in this study were: survivors, women of God, and women who felt unloved in their lives. Transitional programming was described as being an important element in regaining a productive life after incarceration. Support, employment programming, and consistent accountability for women ex-offenders were recommendations provided for (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Terry Rentner (Committee Co-Chair); Lynda Dixon (Committee Co-Chair); Rhadika Gajjala (Committee Member); Laura Lengel-Martin (Committee Member); Amy Morgan (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender; Womens Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Classics

This dissertation offers the first focused scholarly analysis of the understudied and, as I demonstrate, misunderstood virgo stock character of republican era fabulae palliatae. The generic plot structures of Roman Comedy consistently circulate around a young man's desire to possess this virgo, the revelation of her true status, and the securing of her socially desirable marriage to a citizen man. In the works of the playwright Publius Terentius Afer (also known as Terence), the virgo is nearly always an offstage character—she is named and central to the plot, but almost never appears or speaks for herself. Because she is absent, I argue, the audience's view of the virgo is necessarily indirect, accumulative, and contradictory, shaped by the perceptions, motives, and experiences of the onstage characters who describe her and attempt to control her future. Although scholarship on these plays typically treats the lovesick young man as the genre's protagonist, my approach decenters the adulescens and reveals instead the extent of the physical and emotional suffering that he inflicts upon the virgo, such that any testimony that he provides about the mutuality of their affection is inherently untrustworthy (Chapter 1). I therefore focus on the speech, characterization, and identities of the plays' onstage women (matronae and ancillae), applying feminist standpoint theory to demonstrate how the epistemic advantage of their intersectional, marginalized identities positions them to recognize the complex social risks that citizen girls must navigate and to assess and reject the young man's abusive behaviors (Chapters 2 and 3). Through female characters across social classes, I conclude, Terence frames the citizen girl's marriage not as a happy ending but as a pragmatic survival response to rape (Conclusion); the result is a serious indictment of Roman citizen values concerning marriage and girls.

Committee: Caitlin Hines Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Anna Conser Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kelly Shannon-Henderson Ph.D. (Committee Member); THM Gellar-Goad Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Classical Studies

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Arts and Sciences: Communication

Scholars have repeatedly found an orgasm gap in heterosexual relationships that show higher rates for men's orgasms compared to females. The current study seeks to examine the pro-women's pleasure discourse on the site OMGYES. Using standpoint, materialist, and pro-sex feminism as a lens, I analyze how the orgasm gap is portrayed on OMGYES as well as how pro-women's pleasure discourse on the site portrays the causes and solutions to the orgasm gap. Findings from analysis show an overall celebration of women's pleasure, anatomy as a tool for women's orgasms, as well as causes (shame, the dominant sexual script, and the need to redefine ‘sex'), and solutions (knowing your body and specific techniques to try, gender labor, and the romance narrative) to the orgasm gap. Findings illustrate how OMGYES' rhetoric de-radicalizes pro-sex feminism by both individualizing and instrumentalizing the orgasm gap.

Committee: Eric Jenkins Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Heather Zoller Ph.D. (Committee Member); John Lynch Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2020, Journalism (Communication)

This biographical thesis examines the journalistic work of Australian war correspondent Kate Webb during the Vietnam War. In addition, this thesis explores her role as a visiting professional at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Through the lens of feminist standpoint theory, an in-depth qualitative historical ideological textual analysis of Webb's journalistic work underscores her role as a trailblazing female reporter covering an American war from an international perspective. Webb asserted herself and was accepted into the male-dominated field of war correspondence. As a female covering the war, she provided readers with the often-forgotten aspects of war: the human-interest angle. Through an assessment of a broad scale of primary documents, including the articles that she wrote from 1967 to 1975, and oral history interviews with former students and colleagues in academia and war correspondence, this thesis seeks to illustrate that Webb challenged the traditional role of war correspondents by reporting on human-interest stories and occupying spaces normally dominated by men. As a visiting professional, she brought her lived experiences as a reporter into the classroom.

Committee: Aimee Edmondson (Committee Chair); Michael Sweeney (Committee Member); Alexander Godulla (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Master of Humanities (MHum), Wright State University, 2019, Humanities

In this thesis, I illustrate how epistemic injustice functions in the divide between white working-class men and the educated elite by discussing the discursive ways in which working-class knowledge and experience are devalued as legitimate sources of knowledge. I demonstrate this by using critical discourse analysis to interpret the underlying attitudes and ideologies in comments made by Clinton and Trump during their 2016 presidential campaigns. I also discuss how these ideologies are positively or negatively perceived by Trump's working-class base. Using feminist standpoint theory and phenomenology as a lens of interpretation, I argue that white working-class men are increasingly alienated from progressive politics through classist and ableist rhetoric. If progressives wish to win over white working-class men, they will need to ameliorate this division, otherwise this gap will continue to grow. Finally, I suggest class-sensitive approaches for moving forward and bridging this gap.

Committee: Kelli Zaytoun Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jessica Penwell-Barnett Ph.D. (Committee Member); Donovan Miyasaki Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Demographics; Epistemology; Gender; Gender Studies; Philosophy; Political Science; Rhetoric; Sociology; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Although self-determination theory has been used in studies pertaining to students with disabilities (SWD) in high school STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) very little self-determination research has focused on SWD in college STEM programs. Additionally, there is a paucity of research that examines how self-advocacy, one component of self-determination theory, is operationalized from the perspectives of STEM SWD themselves. Further, no research exists to date linking self-advocacy to stigma management, a critical concept for understanding SWD's and other underrepresented groups' navigation of educational environments. The dissertation examines how self-advocacy and stigma management are related to better explain pursuit of college STEM programs and degrees by students with nonvisible disabilities (SWND), the largest group of SWD (Newman et al., 2011). I explore the experiences of SWND majoring in STEM fields at The Ohio State University (Ohio State), using a mixed-method approach utilizing both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine student factors and learning environment conditions that enhance and/or thwart SWND's learning and persistence. Over the course of the 2016-2017 academic year, I disseminated surveys, conducted in-depth interviews, and facilitated focus groups with twenty SWND to understand their experiences at Ohio State. The results of this research demonstrate a significant connection between stigma management and self-advocacy enactments among participants, which is then more thoroughly explored at the level of theory. This dissertation utilizes intersectionality and standpoint theories as lenses to interpret the data gathered through the quantitative and qualitative methods to explore reports of self-advocacy and stigma management. Foregrounding the experiences of SWND in STEM contributes to an understanding of how self-advocacy can be approached from a critical feminist disability studies perspective that is inform (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jill Bystydzienski (Advisor); Margaret Price (Committee Member); Cynthia Burack (Committee Member); Amy Shuman (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2012, Sociology

This thesis examines former African American slave women's experience during American slavery. Using archival qualitative interviews from the 8th volume of The American Slave (1941), I examine perceptions of life under slavery, perceptions of life since freedom, comparison of the slavery vs. freedom, and perceptions of types and sources of social support in the interviews of 35 African women who had lived as slaves in the 19th century U.S. Standpoint theory and black feminist thought provide the theoretical framework for the research. Findings suggest that various forms of physical and emotional violence characterized most of the women's perceptions of life under slavery. Some perceived slave life as privileged and easy going and found life since freedom problematic. Some of the women identified changes in gender norms and roles and a decline in work ethic as particularly troubling in the younger generation. They depicted life under slavery as more respectable in terms of community solidarity, work ethic, gender roles and family dynamics. Life since freedom was characterized as chaotic and on the roads to ruin. Participants identified social support in the form of financial assistance in weddings and other life events. Participants derived social support from other slaves, from their mothers or mother figures, but mostly from slaveholders and their families. Finally, I discuss sociological contributions of this study as well as directions for future research.

Committee: Kathryn Feltey Dr. (Advisor); Cheryl Elman Dr. (Committee Member); Tiffany Taylor Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Black Studies; Gender; Sociology