Mountain Scholar :: Browsing by Author "Aoki, Eric, committee member"

Browsing by Author "Aoki, Eric, committee member"

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Open Access
A queer perspective: gay themes in the film Interview with the Vampire
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Bendel, Jared A., author; Burgchardt, Carl R., advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Sloane, Sarah, committee member
There are a growing number of mainstream films and television shows which include gay characters or same-sex families as central figures: A Single Man, The Kids Are Alright, Will & Grace, Mad Men, Two and a Half Men, and Modern Family. This thesis sets out to determine if the film Interview with the Vampire, which preceded the above named films and television shows by more than five years, is a cite of queer cinema that focuses on gay themes while proposing a same-sex family. In coupling Seymour Chatman's rhetorical theory of narrative in fiction - literature and film with Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin's theory of Queer Cinema, the study focuses on locating and citing specific instances where gay themes of identity and identification along with the theme of the same-sex family emerge. The study utilizes the novel Interview with the Vampire by Ann Rice as a critical touchstone and draws from Roland Barthes' concept of "Rhetoric of the Image" to evaluate the strength of the themes found within the adapted film Interview with the Vampire. The research finds several examples of the re-presentation of individual gay lives and uncovers evidence of a cinematic representation of a same-sex family. The researcher concludes that while the film Interview with the Vampire is certainly an example of queer cinema, it also presents a same-sex family unit that may be the first of its kind.
Open Access
A reason to believe: a rhetorical analysis of Mormon missionary films
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Anderson, Sky L., author; Burgchardt, Carl, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Kiefer, Kathleen, committee member
In this analysis, I examine Mormon cinema and how it functions on a rhetorical level. I specifically focus on missionary films, or movies that are framed by LDS missionary narratives. Through an analysis of two LDS missionary films, namely Richard Dutcher's God's Army (2000) and Mitch Davis' The Other Side of Heaven (2001), I uncover two rhetorical approaches to fostering spirituality. In my first analysis, I argue that God's Army presents two pathways to spirituality: one which produces positive consequences for the characters, and the other which produces negative consequences. I call these pathways, respectively, ascending and descending spirituality, and I explore the rhetorical implications of this framing. In my second analysis, I contend that The Other Side of Heaven creates a rhetorical space wherein the audience may transform. Specifically, the film constructs a "Zion," or a heaven on earth, with three necessary components, which coincide perfectly with established LDS teachings: God, people, and place. These three elements invite the audience to accept that they are imperfect, yet they can improve if they so desire. Ultimately, by comparing my findings from both films, I argue that the films' rhetorical strategies are well constructed to potentially reinforce beliefs for Mormon audiences, and they also may invite non-Mormons to think more positively about LDS teachings.
Open Access
An empirical study of the factors influencing the cultural adjustment of undergraduate Chinese international students to the United States
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Hurny, Gina L., author; Kuk, Linda, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Rankin, Susan, committee member; Strathe, Marlene, committee member
This quantitative study examined the factors that influence the cultural adjustment of undergraduate Chinese international students to the United States. The ever-increasing Chinese student population has forced colleges and universities to employ new strategies designed to ease the transition of Chinese students to life in the U.S. Chinese students have more difficulties in their adaptation and adjustment to U.S. culture and campus life than any other population of international students. Astin's (1993) Input-Environment-Output (I-E-O) model was adapted in an effort to provide a visual snapshot of the relationship between the factors and cultural adjustment. Gender, academic major, time in the United States, English language proficiency, and cultural values were measured to determine their influence on three constructs; acculturative stress, social and academic expectations and adjustment, and campus preparedness. Cultural adjustment was measured by intent to persist. Using an online survey data were collected from undergraduate Chinese international students at a large, public university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Results suggested that English language proficiency is the single-most significant factor influencing the cultural adjustment challenges faced by Chinese international students. Implications for campus preparedness and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Open Access
"Can we fix it?": Bob the Builder as a discursive resource for children
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Freed, Brianna, author; Broadfoot, Kirsten, advisor; Aoki, Eric, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
This thesis examines the discourses and representations constructed in the popular children's television series Bob the Builder--a discursive resource that engages work as its central theme. Through a critical cultural lens, the study uses critical discourse analysis and visual semiotics to explore the constructions of work/er, organization, non-work activities, family, gender, and diversity as they are (re)presented in the show. The study found that Bob the Builder distinctly (re)presents values of the postmodern, postindustrial worker of Western, advanced corporate capitalism. Leisure and play are portrayed as activities which, ideally, do not affect work. Family is equally placed in the periphery as family members are either placed entirely outside the organization--as with Wendy's family--or as contributing members to its operation--as with Bob's family. Gender representations are problematized by Wendy's denied occupational identity as a builder equal to her male counterpart. Diversity in the show is problematic with minimal non-White ethnic representation and two overtly stereotypical representations of supporting characters. Directions for future research are offered in the conclusion.
Open Access
Chicanismo, indigenous identity and lateral violence: a qualitative study of indigenous identified individuals in Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Young, David Byron Atekpatzin, author; Sagás, Ernesto, advisor; Vernon, Irene, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
This thesis research project examines the reported narratives of those individuals that identify as Indigenous, and contrasts the experiences of tribally enrolled and federally recognized individuals against individuals who are not federally recognized to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Indigenous identity, the Chicano claim to indigeneity and the relationship between these two communities. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-three individuals--adults that are tribally enrolled and federally recognized and adults that identify as Indigenous but are not federally recognized--to examine how gringismo impacts and informs lateral violence in the Indigenous communities of Colorado. The findings of this study provide new insights to understanding how colonialism has shaped Indigenous identity, informed lateral violence and hostility, and undermined pan-Indigenous unity through desplazamiento--dislocation and dissociation--and susto heredado.
Open Access
Code-switching in Filipino newspapers: expansion of language, culture and identity
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Erwin-Billones, Clark, author; Flahive, Doug, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Ehlers-Zavala, Fabiola, committee member
This research investigates code-switching beginning with a global, sociolingustic perspective of borrowed words and narrows down to a detailed examination of insertional code-switching in formal settings. The data were obtained by selecting and subsequently scanning English news articles from Philippines' printed newspapers which built evidence for which types of terms are substituted for English. The corpus was examined for identifiable patterns of code-switched lexical items from Tagalog and Cebuano/Visaya, two of the largest spoken languages in the Philippines. A significant presence of code-switching extends the phenomena from a bilingual, substitutional tool into a creative linguistic process that reinforces a growing global language identity out of multiple language speakers in a world of shifting nationalities and boundaries.
Open Access
College students' transformative learning: an ethnographic case study of an alternative break program to Kenya
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Gardenier, Karen, author; Makela, Carole, advisor; Jennings, Louise, committee member; Bruyere, Brett, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
This study describes the processes and forms of college students' learning resulting from a non-credit-bearing, two week alternative break program to Kenya that took place December 2012 - January 2013. It is necessary to understand students' learning on short-term education abroad programs because of three national trends: 1) growing study abroad offerings of eight weeks or less, 2) increased popularity of programs to non-traditional locations, and 3) desire among universities, employers, and legislators to create globally engaged graduates. This exploratory study uses interviews, focus groups, and participant observation in an ethnographic case study design. Fourteen students, two group leaders, eight host community members, and the researcher participated in the study. Mezirow's transformative learning theory provides the theoretical lens through which research questions, observations, and conclusions are formulated and drawn. Research is presented in three journal articles bracketed by an introduction and conclusion. The introductory chapter describes the research purpose, questions, significance, theoretical perspective, delimitations, and the researcher's perspective. Chapter two seeks to uncover how students learn. Findings discuss five processes of student transformative learning, namely 1) learning as a journey, 2) experiencing discomfort, 3) reflecting and relating to one another, 4) building relationships with the community, and 5) receiving support from group leaders. Chapter three examines the forms, or outcomes, of student learning. It demonstrates that affective, behavioral, and cognitive forms of learning are possible and offers guidelines for practitioners who lead and administer short-term education abroad programs. It also explores students' reentry challenges. Chapter four recounts in-depth stories of two students as they recall the multiple ways the 2011-2012 program to Kenya impacted their actions, thoughts, and emotions and how it prompted them to return one year later. It pays particular attention to the ways students engaged in reflection and reframing. The final chapter provides linkage among chapters and results for the study as a whole. This study concludes that dialog, reflection, individualization of experiences, and relationship-building are essential to students' learning during and after an international experience.
Open Access
Convergent invention in space and place: a rhetorical and empirical analysis of Colorado State University's Morgan Library
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Weber, Victoria, author; Dunn, Thomas R., advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Lederer, Naomi, committee member
This thesis seeks to describe the ways in which contemporary academic library spaces facilitate rhetorical invention. To observe rhetorical invention in a real space, this thesis analyzes spatial practices in Colorado State University's Morgan Library. This thesis argues that Morgan Library is a representative space of convergent invention. The neologism convergent invention is defined as the cross-platform and multi-modal creation of a rhetorical text which accounts for external factors on the creator(s). To describe the functions of the contemporary library, this thesis uses Michel de Certeau's theories of strategies and tactics to articulate usage patterns. Strategies are analyzed through a rhetorical criticism of Morgan Library to show how the library materially articulates its vision of convergent invention. Users' tactics to accept or reject Morgan Library's messages about convergent invention are explicated through the results of survey data and behavior observations. In the conclusion this thesis provides some implications for convergent invention and the future of libraries, both academic and otherwise.
Open Access
Dancing in the desert: electronic dance music festivals, carnivalesque rhetorics of disorientation, and performative participant observation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Herring, Kristen D., author; Vasby Anderson, Karrin, advisor; Gibson, Katie, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Pippen, John, committee member
Electronic dance music (EDM) creates communities whose members negotiate and renegotiate the politics of public performances of identity. In this dissertation, I ask "How do EDM festivals function as temporary communities that rhetorically construct the performance of gender and sexuality?" I argue that EDM uses a rhetorical strategy I call disorientation. I detail the ways disorientation helps EDM festival attendees, known as "ravers" or "festies," inhabit liminal spaces and transgress the patriarchal, heteronormative, white supremacist, and capitalist expressions of gender and sexuality that are dominant in the outside world via rhetorics of the carnivalesque. I also develop an approach to rhetorical field methods I call Performative Participant Observation. I demonstrate Performative Participant Observation in this dissertation and argue that similar methods would be useful for scholars interested in studying ephemeral and public performances of gender and sexuality as well as performances of the carnival.
Open Access
Dancing in/out/around/about the closet: narrating autoethnographic agency from [a] marginalized voice
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Hummel, Gregory Sean, author; Griffin, Cindy L., advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Brantmeier, Edward J., committee member
The purposes of this study were threefold: (1) to understand the significance of autoethnography with the communication studies field; (2) to question the relationship between/within theoretical frameworks on identity, voice, and agency; and (3) to theorize on the affects of coming out through the lenses of identity, voice, and agency from an autoethnographic perspective. In short, the study finds autoethnographic perspectives to be a fruitful endeavor for communication scholars seeking to understand a more holistic picture of the human condition, while calling for more research to enhance theoretical conceptualizations of identity, voice, and agency. Furthermore, this study suggests that autoethnographic perspectives can offer voice to otherwise silenced identities, while also providing re/presentations for individuals who lack representation in and/or outside of the academy. Finally, this study urges individuals who avow to being an ally for marginalized individuals/groups to actively voice their support in order to create more comfortable/safe spaces within and/or outside of the classroom.
Open Access
Depart from study or be deported? Exploring international students' crisis response to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency's (ICE) announcement on TikTok
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Silwal, Urusha, author; Arthur, Tori, advisor; Humphrey, Michael, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
On July 6, 2020, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) announced that international students would face potential deportation if they took all-online courses in the fall while matriculated on United States university campuses. Through the lens of Media System Dependency Theory and Social Identity Theory, this study examined the crisis responses of international students between July 6-July 14, 2020, on an emerging social media app- TikTok. Despite TikTok's extensive use and thriving presence as a platform for social and political conversations, there are only a few studies on TikTok. Adopting the multimodal method of Critical Techno-Cultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA), the researcher analyzed twenty-one TikTok videos made by international students to study interface features, practices, and discourses present in the platform. The findings indicated that hashtags, green-screen effect, first-person camera view and share feature on TikTok facilitated the articulation of crisis responses of international students. Similarly, the discourse themes of humor, fear of displacement, contribution reminders, and call to action helped to understand how international students articulated their fears and concerns about the ICE announcement. Addressing the gap in TikTok literature, this study elucidated the connection between marginalized groups and their social media use at the time of crisis. This study paves a path for researchers in and beyond academia to study the connection of technology, marginalized cultural groups and social structures.
Open Access
Dynamic disorders: narratives of eating disorders and the father-daughter relationship
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Mouton, Ashton, author; Broadfoot, Kirsten, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Canetto, Silvia, committee member
Eating disorders affect women all over the world, particularly adolescents, at a rate which has grown in the last several decades. As obesity becomes one of the most battled health risks, those seriously underweight are ignored, praised, and/or forgotten, and as the fear of obesity grows, so does the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders. Previous research on eating disorders has focused on the family system and/or the mother-daughter dyad for their etiological significance, but relatively little attention has been given to the father's place in the family system or the father-daughter dyad in this context. Using Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model as a lens, this thesis expands the literature of eating disorders by asking questions about the father-daughter relationship and the father's role(s) in the development, maintenance, and recovery of their daughter's eating disorder experiences. Narrative interviews, which record daughters' perceived experiences of the father-daughter relationship in the context of their eating disorders, were collected from women who self-identify as having an eating disorder. Analysis of the daughters' narrative accounts reveals six themes that define the father-daughter relationship and daughters' experiences of their eating disorders. Throughout the narratives, daughters communicatively construct their relationships with their fathers through the dialectical tensions of closeness/distance and openness/closedness. Interestingly, daughters do not communicatively construct their relationships with their fathers based on interactions about food, weight, or appearance but rather around issues of quality interactions, support, and closeness, as daughters construct the father-daughter relationship as an evolving emotional experience. Eating disorders, then, are perceived as relational artifacts of the father-daughter relationship, marking certain relational turning points. Within the narratives, fathers potentially enable the development of the eating disorder through actions and inactions nonrelated to daughters' food intake, appearance, or behavior and potentially further enable the performance of the eating disorder through their silence and passive reactions to their daughters' disorders. However, fathers have the potential to aid in the recovery process with care, support, and expressed closeness, and when fathers do actively participate in their daughters' recovery, the relationship and the recovery process can both benefit from their active participation. These findings highlight the need for further research on fathers (and other father-figures) in this context. Future studies should examine and compare narratives of both fathers and daughters in this context to gain a more complete picture of the father-daughter relationship experience. In addition, future studies should inquire about the family's influence on eating disorders but also the eating disorder's influence on family interactions. Finally, future research should conduct studies with relational dialectics and relational turning points as their main focus in families with eating disorders.
Restricted
Elementals and other essays
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Ellison, Courtney, author; Thompson, Deborah, advisor; Levy, EJ, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
A collection of personal essays that explore the concept of fragmentation and its effects on memory. This collection challenges the belief that life is experienced in a linear way, and instead suggests that conceptually it is a series of moments from which we make meaning by finding connections. This collection also explores the significance of using fragmentation to write about life, memory, trauma, healing, thinking, and learning.
Open Access
Embrace your brokenness: a narrative journey of an immigrant
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Monem, Nikoo, author; Bates, Haley, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Emami, Sanam, committee member; Lehene, Marius, committee member
"Embrace Your Brokenness" unfolds the symbolic narrative of my immigrant journey through a collection of works, capturing the intricate complexities of identity and resilience. The artworks delve into themes of connection, border blending, and the interplay between external presentation and internal reality within the context of my own life. This thesis explores the unity and dissonance inherent in my personal experience, delving into the transient nature of memories and the emotional intricacies they hold. The signature of this collection are the delicate rose pattern porcelain pieces which serve as reflections of my roots and connections to my homeland, evoking a profound sense of belonging and contributing to my self-portrait within this collection. Utilizing visual narratives, each piece becomes a nuanced story, framing my daily struggles with adapting to a new life in the United States. Aligned with a broader theme of unity, "Embrace Your Brokenness" unveils the complexities of the immigrant experience, offering a tangible representation of the often-unseen challenges I have faced as both an immigrant and an artist. Through this body of work, viewers are invited to contemplate the concealed stories and connections that contribute to the collective human experience.
Open Access
Examining mindfulness-based training effects upon uncertainty reduction in initial interaction between strangers
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Whitt, Joseph M., author; Crowley, John, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Rickard, Kathryn, committee member
This research project is meant to supplement the extant literature on initial interaction between strangers. The central inquiries of this study examine whether individuals can reduce relational automaticity found in initial interactions and, in turn, embody more openness toward strangers. The study investigates the growing field of mindfulness practice, known for reducing behavioral automaticity and boosting pro-social effects, and determines how it impacts the relational outcomes in initial interaction. To accomplish this, it compares the performance of two experimental groups in initial interaction, one group that is exposed to a mindfulness treatment and one control. By analyzing the participants' uncertainty reduction strategies, this research aims to determine whether mindfulness plays a moderating role for uncertainty reduction in initial interaction.
Open Access
Examining social exchange measures as moderators of politeness techniques in face-threatening acts between romantic partners
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Allred, Ryan J., author; Crowley, John P., advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, committee member
Much has been written concerning face and the process individuals engage in to manage both their own and other’s face in a variety of contexts (Goffman, 1967). Despite ample research on the management of one’s own face (Brown & Levinson, 1987), still little is known concerning the motives behind helping others to create and manage face. This study utilizes measures from Social Exchange Theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) as moderators for face-saving techniques presented in Politeness Theory. Particularly, romantic relationships were examined to determine how relationship satisfaction and stability levels influence decision-making processes when individuals approach their partners with a face-threatening act. Satisfaction was shown to be associated with concern for face whereas stability, commitment, and equity were not. Additionally, satisfaction and stability levels are correlated with the techniques individuals use to reduce uncertainty concerning their partners’ face needs. Future research is suggested to further understand effective techniques to reduce uncertainty surrounding face-threatening acts.
Open Access
Hong Kong's Umbrella and Hard Hat revolutions: toward a theory of the ideology of protest strategies
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Gilmore, Andrew, author; Dickinson, Greg, advisor; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Diffrient, David Scott, committee member; Mao, KuoRay, committee member
In this study, I analyzed Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Revolution and 2019 Hard Hat Revolution to answer two research questions: (1) What ideologies characterize the protest strategies of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution and Hard Hat Revolution? and (2) What protest mechanisms communicate the ideologies of the protest strategies of Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution and Hard Hat Revolution? Using participant interviews, mass media, social media, and my own embodied experiences, I analyzed three major protest mechanisms of the two revolutions—metaphors of the home, the use of public transportation infrastructure, and the portrayal of political leaders. My analysis led me to uncover two distinct theoretical protest ideologies that characterize the Umbrella and Hard Hat Revolutions—One World, One Dream (Umbrella Revolution) and Our World, Our Dream (Hard Hat Revolution)—and the tenets that undergird these two ideologies. My development of the two ideologies revealed that the two major differences in ideological approaches and their communication mechanisms derived from different audiences—the target audience for the Umbrella Revolution was potential external allies, while the target audience for the Hard Hat Revolution was the Hong Kong police force and the Hong Kong and Beijing governments.
Open Access
How women presidents of research institutions have navigated negotiation in reaching the top: a phenomenological study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Tobin, Kim, author; Kuk, Linda, advisor; Anderson, Sharon, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Strathe, Marlene, committee member
This study examined the phenomenon of negotiation from the perspective of women who served as college presidents at doctorate granting universities in the United States. During their careers, the women reframed their understanding and relationship to the activity of negotiation. Prior to entering formal negotiations, women self-negotiated and prepared. Knowing themselves led to connecting their personal values in the negotiation process. They strove to achieve win-win outcomes which fostered mutual respect and led to more positive results for all parties involved. Understanding the phenomenon of negotiation through the lived experiences of established female presidents is important to emerging women leaders as the impact of negotiation on their careers and lives is significant.
Open Access
Human-technology relationality and self-network organization: players and avatars in World of Warcraft
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Banks, Jaime, author; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, advisor; Rouner, Donna, committee member; Champ, Joseph, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member; Folkestad, James, committee member
Massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, or MMOs, present an increasingly popular digital media experience whereby identity emerges as players contribute materially to play but contributions are governed by affordances and constraints of the game. Unique to this medium is the player's ability to create and control a digital body - an avatar - to represent the Self in the immersive gameworld. Although notions of identity and the Self in digital games have been examined through a number of approaches, it is still unclear how the way one sees the avatar in the uncanny situation of having two bodies - one digital, one physical - contributes to a sense of Self in and around these games. Further, it is unclear how non-human objects contribute to human senses of Self. In that vein, this study examines two research questions: How do players have relationships with their avatars in a digital game? And how does the Self emerge in relation to those relationships? Toward understanding how nonhumans play a role in the emergence of the Self, this study approaches these questions from an actor-network perspective, examining how human, nonhuman, material, and semiotic objects exist in complex webs of relations and how those relations give rise to particular senses of Self in relation to particular gameplay situations. Tracing the history of the construct of "Self" from romantic and singular to postmodern and pluralistic, I argue for an approach to Self that accommodates postmodern perspectives that embodiment is only one way that the Self is signified across spaces. Actor-Network Theory principles are integrated with postmodern notions of identity to propose a Network Model of Self. In this model, the Self is a network of personas that are, themselves, complex networks of objects. Following, I present a research approach called "object-relation mapping" that integrates phenomenology, Actor-Network Theory, social network analysis, and Grounded Theory to accommodate network structures and multiplicities of the Self as it is signified across spaces. To address the questions of how the Self emerges in relation to different player-avatar relationships, I conducted in-depth interviews with 29 players of the online digital game World of Warcraft. Transcripts of those interviews were analyzed via thematic analysis for patterns in player-avatar relationships and via object-relation mapping for semantic and structural patterns in how object-relations give rise to persona- and Self-networks. Through this analysis, a four-point typology of player-avatar relationships emerged, characterized by variations in emotional intimacy, self-differentiation, perceived agency, and primary gameplay focus. It is interpreted that the different relationships are the result of sense-making processes in response to the uncanny situation of having two bodies - one digital and one physical. Analysis revealed that players of different relationship types "activated" different types of personas, resulting in a Self that was more or less complex and consistent across game and non-game spaces. Further, players of each relationship type differently approached particular objects in crafting those personas. Ultimately a model of active Self-organization is presented, where players work with the affordances and against the constraints of objects in sense-making practices in order to maintain and protect preferred senses of agency and to achieve personal gameplay goals. These findings suggest that players see avatars as objects that are, to different degrees, both human and technological, and as resources in the purposeful organization of a Self that serves individual psychological, social, and functional purposes. Different phenomenal accounts of the player-avatar relationship emerge as players work to make sense of human-technology interactions and to maintain agency and Selfhood in the face of technological constraints. Implications for human-technology relationships, more broadly, are discussed.
Open Access
Instaman: a case study of male identity expression on Instagram
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Gallegos, Thomas Edward, author; Switzer, Jamie, advisor; Champ, Joseph, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
Navigating conversations about identity and masculinity can be hard for some young men. Society has a particular view on what makes a man manly based on cultural expectations and social norms. Instaman: A case study of male identity expression on Instagram qualitatively looks at how men talk and express themselves on a specific social media sight. The researcher looks at two different research questions: RQ 1: How are traditional freshman and senior males using Instagram to express their identity? And RQ 2: How has an individual's male identity expression changed between freshmen and senior years? The researcher hypothesized that freshmen would focus more on themselves and seniors focusing on aligning with a larger community. Moreover, it was hypothesized freshmen would be less knowledgeable about their own masculinity. After the research questions, is a discussion about the researcher with an explanation of the scope of the research. Next is a literature review including topics such as Identity Theory, Social Identity Theory, Communication Theory of Identity, Hegemonic Masculinity, Expressing masculinity in a feminized terrain, and information about Instagram us. The methods section of the paper explains how the researcher chose freshmen and seniors to study because they are in transition periods in life. A case study using two different data collection techniques is explicated including artifact analysis and in-depth interviews. Eight participants were chosen, and each had ten Instagram posts to analyze with a follow-up forty-five-minute interview about their posts and thoughts on masculinity. The results indicate that while the hypotheses were generally accurate, there seemed to be a good variation throughout all participants. Only a few seniors exclusively fixated on aligning with a larger community. Nevertheless, the most fascinating aspect of the study was to hear how the participants thought about their own masculinity. Every participant understood the difference between societal perceptions and their own mentalities, which translated to their posting habits. Not a single participant engrossed themselves in expressing hegemonic masculine ideals, but rather wanted to show facets of their identity that they do not normally get to express when they are not online. Therefore, it appears that Instagram is a place where men feel comfortable expressing all parts of themselves.