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Collection Description
Collection of student theses and dissertations from as early as 1939, but mainly from 2010 to present.
Pages
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- "When did Facebook become my girlfriend?": Gender and self-presentation on Facebook
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-50), A content analysis of Facebook profiles of undergraduate students examined the profile pictures and status updates to reveal how self-identified males and females construct their identity in this online environment. The findings revealed that perhaps users view statuses and profile pictures differently in regards to strategies of self-presentation. However, some findings also revealed that identity on Facebook is constructed using stereotypical ideas of gender. Although studies have been done on social networking sites, sociological concepts have been greatly ignored in regards to Facebook. More research needs to be done, especially in the field of sociology, to examine how this novel social environment is affecting the identity construction and social interaction of people today.
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- "Wiser mothers, better babies": Baby week, children's year, and the American campaign to reform motherhood, 1910 - 1921
- This thesis is about the history of American motherhood between 1910 and 1921 when “scientific motherhood” became the winning strategy for solving the nation’s infant mortality crisis. As scientific and medical discoveries in the late-nineteenth century gradually disproved conventional beliefs about the inevitability of infant death, reform-minded Americans grew increasingly intolerant of the nation’s shamefully high rate of infant mortality. Committed to raising public awareness about the extent of infant death in the United States, the infant welfare movement introduced “baby-saving” campaigns like Baby Week and Children’s Year to establish public responsibility for an otherwise private family tragedy. In a time when progressive reformers regularly lobbied the federal government for protections against the dark side of modernization, the infant welfare movement embraced a different sort of progressive solution: it blamed the moms. How did women in the United States become responsible for a national public health problem? With the help of campaign planning manuals, conference exhibits, Children’s Bureau reports, newspapers, and ladies’ magazines, I argue that the infant welfare movement was as much about reforming the modern ideal of American motherhood as it was about saving babies., San Diego State University
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- "You don't exist unless you're on TV": The invisible representation of female bisexuality on the The L Word and Orange Is the New Black
- This thesis attempts to partially fill the void of literature on female bisexuality that currently exists. This thesis seeks to investigate how female bisexuality is represented on two television shows: The L Word (2004-2009) and Orange is the New Black (2013-present). Research on bisexuality is relatively nonexistent in comparison to research on Lesbian and Gay sexualities and is almost completely nonexistent on bisexuality. Using the online video streaming service Netflix, I watched all seventy episodes of Showtime’s The L Word and fifty-two episodes of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black (OITNB), while meticulously taking notes on each show’s female bisexual characters. While taking these records, I noted any dialogue that occurred about bisexuality and analyzed any similarities and differences between the two characters I focused on. After analyzing all 122 episodes of both shows, the study yielded these results: bisexual female television characters consistently embody negative stereotypes, allowing no growth of the character, not allowing them to be fully humanized, and not allowing them to be represented as anything but white and wealthy. Though there are a small number of positive differences between female bisexuality in 2004 and 2016, the number of negative similarities is staggering. Bisexuality continues to be extremely underrepresented, but when it does appear on television it embodies offensive stereotypes and behavior.
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- "You stay, no matter how bad": Women voice the trajectory of marital disaffection
- As the marriage rate in the United States steadily declines, the divorce rate still remains highest amongst most American and European countries. Although these statistics set up a dichotomized notion of individuals' marital status, there are several other states that couples experience in which labels such as married or divorced do not account for. Part of what is left out of these statistics, is those who are married but experience prolonged marital disaffection. As the meaning of marriage has transformed from an institution to a companionship, and more recently into a model with the individual as the focal point, so have notions of what is expected and cherished from marital partners. Research that investigates marital communication and conflict misses the mark by glossing over what it genuinely means to experience marital disaffection. Little communication research explores the nature of marital disaffection, and even less has studied this relational state qualitatively. Instead of studying the highs and lows of relationships, this research explores women's accounts of the sustained sense of disaffection with their partner. These accounts illuminate the communicative moments that work to both enable and disable feelings of disaffection. In attempt to generate a rich and meaningful account of how women describe the feelings associated with disaffection, this study interviews married women who share these stories of moments, events, and emotions that have contributed to their perceptions of disaffection in their marriages. Emergent themes and patterns are interpreted and organized into a model describing the process of disaffection and identity negotiation. Also implications for dating, parenting, and feminist theory are discussed.
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- "Young fashioned ways": A study of blues and authenticity in three transatlantic studio collaborations
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 85-86), Includes discography (page 86), Includes filmography (pages 86-87), During the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was popular for blues artists -- both British and American -- to travel across the Atlantic to record with their fellow musicians. Three albums resulted from these collaborative exchanges which have been popular among fans, but also matters of controversy among blues purists: The London Muddy Waters Sessions, The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, and Fleetwood Mac: Blues Jam in Chicago. Some feel that the American masters did not play to their own potential, and the white, British sidemen sound weak in comparison with their black, American counterparts. These reflections call into question the ability of the British musicians to achieve authentic blues, as well as the ability of the American players to remain authentic in a collaborative environment. In 2002, musicologist, Allan Moore published his article "Authenticity as Authentication," wherein, he outlined a tripartite typology that can be uses as a basis for evaluating musical performances in terms of the perception of authenticity by those experiencing it. Moore's typology classifies the factors of authenticity into "first-, second-, and third-person." Or "authenticity of: 'expression,' 'experience,' and 'execution'". In so doing, he explains how the music itself has less to do with authenticity, than does the personal experience of the performer and the perception of the listener. The intent of this project is to apply Moore's typology to the aforementioned albums in hopes of illuminating such blues collaborations by examining the factors that contribute to musician's experience, and a listener's perception of authenticity
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- #MeToo: Social news media and the new politics of influence
- Since implementing digital subscriptions in 2011, The New York Times (NYT) has gradually transitioned from a traditional newspaper business into a digital business capable of creating an interactive news experience that is responsive to trends on social media. As a result, users on social media have increased access to influencing the institutional public sphere. This paper proposes that the viral #MeToo Movement, that has dominated the media since October 5, 2017, provides a case study for the first mass social media movement that is organized and sustained by news media coverage. This is presented as a likely emerging trend and is viewed as potentially problematic because users on social media platforms are motivated by a mix of ambiguous pursuits including: transgressive entertainment, sinister manipulation and sincere political engagement. In recognition of the growing potency of social media platforms, it is recommended that an “official” social media communication platform that requires a verified registration process is implemented to create a clear demarcation between portals used for civic engagement and entertainment purposes
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- #SeggsEd: Sex, safety, and censorship on TikTok
- In this thesis, I navigate the relationship between anti-sex work policies and the censorship of inclusive sex education. Using TikTok as a case study, I explore how our safety is constructed and mediated on social networking sites as it relates to sex and sexuality. I turn to sex worker activists as experts on the intersection of sex, tech, and censorship for this research. With the knowledge created and shared by sex workers, I frame the censorship of sex education as digital violence rooted in anti-sex work bias that has potentially harmful impacts on the young users of the site. Through discourse analysis of pop sex education TikTok posts, TikTok’s Community Guidelines, and public policies relating to sex education, youth internet safety, and pornography, I highlight the need for a more liberatory digital future built by and with sex workers. In this paper I outline the connection between the fight for the decriminalization and destigmatization of sex work and the pursuit of queer and trans inclusive, anti-racist, body positive, medically accurate, comprehensive sex education., San Diego State University
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- (De)constructing literacy: Education inequalities and the production of space in San Diego, California
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 136-146)., Since its inception, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and recent additions to the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) have elicited a broad swath of responses from the educational community. These responses include critical discussions of how standardized testing requirements proliferate a "teach for the test" mentality that transforms how reading, writing, and mathematics are taught in public schools. This thesis focused specifically on "literacy" in relation to the policies that challenge its status as a subjective form of communication, knowledge sharing, and story-telling. Embedded within the term "literacy" are sets of socially-constructed dualisms such as "good school" vs. "bad school," "literate" vs. "illiterate," and "reader" vs. "test-taker" that are propagated under education reform. Investigating these dualisms involved a mixed methods approach, which included the use of critical theory, geovisualization, and geographic analysis. The resulting data allows for a comprehensive look into the economic, political, social, and cultural forces involved in the production of literate space(s) in San Diego, California.
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- (R)evolution of self: An ethnographic investigation into the stratums of inspiration in the rhythms of yoga and music
- Scholars and musicians alike understand the healing powers of music. For example, music has been utilized in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, depression, and anxiety. It appears that music is not only for entertainment but is also linked to our personal histories and wellbeing. It is through these intimate links to our self-concept that music possesses the power to heal and transform. Yoga, a physical, mental, and spiritual practice, is a centuries old discipline that has only recently become popular in the West. Yoga has been promoted for its use as a complementary intervention for a number of illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. More recently, Western yoga studios and teachers have begun to incorporate live music, both traditional Indian music and modern Western music, into their teaching. The meanings communicated in a yoga class with live music are personal, cultural, political, spiritual, and ethereal. Through experiencing a yoga class with live music, participants enter their bodies into a subjective process of meaning-making. In doing so, bodies and identities have the potential to be transformed as meaning and understanding is perpetually made and remade. This study utilizes an ethnographic methodology to interrogate complex communicative practices surrounding yoga and music. In doing so, the study utilizes participant-observation, interviews, and field notes to inform our understanding of the experience. Through participating in and dialoguing about yoga classes with electronic and sitar music, this research investigates the question: What stratums of inspiration are communicated in the rhythm of yoga and music? This research seeks to deepen our understanding of the powerful healing and transformative potential of yoga and music while offering frameworks through which to interrogate yoga and music as communication. Keywords: yoga, music, inspiration, synthesis, embodiment, rhythm, consciousness
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- (Re)drawn
- (re)drawn is an exhibition of drawings/objects that are the result of drawing as a methodology, meditation, and process for reflecting. With these drawings I am investigating connections that are forced, found, or failed through various methods of mark making. Collecting plays a crucial role in my process, as it helps me to gather inspiration, materials, and develop ideas of the drawing process as an extension of the self. (re)drawn consisted of fifteen works installed in the Flor Y Canto Gallery at San Diego State University. The exhibition was on view from April 8-16, 2021 with a thesis defense on April 13, 2021., San Diego State University
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- (Re)structuring opportunity: Examining the influence of transformative education on the critical consciousness development and occupational aspirations of community college students
- This study uses the Ideology, Pedagogy, Access, and Equity (IPAE) tenets of critical self-examination (Alfaro & Hernández, 2016) and the construct of critical consciousness (Darder, 2018; Darder, 2015; Freire, 1973; Freire, 1970; Watts, Deimer, & Voight, 2011; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul-Adil, 1999) as a conceptual framework to explore instructor ideology and practices in the classroom and evaluate the influence of transformative education on the critical consciousness development and occupational aspirations of community college students. Data were collected through a mixed methods approach that incorporated a teacher questionnaire, student interviews, surveys, student self-reflections, curricular analysis, and researcher-participant memos. The results illustrated how critical and transformative education approaches in the classroom contributed to students’ critical consciousness development and occupational aspirations; however, the results did not find a significant relationship between the influence of IPAE and critical reflection, critical motivation, and critical action. Overall, the findings revealed that critical ideological clarity and critical and transformative education approaches contributed to student growth in terms of critical consciousness, occupational/career interests, and degree attainment goals for Latinx community college students, though a correlation between IPAE, critical consciousness, and occupational aspirations was not established. Implications for future practice and research are also discussed., San Diego State University; Claremont Graduate University