Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Drifting sands; shifting identities: reclaiming an identity through the looking glass
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Haghighi, Mehzad, author; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Daum, Courtenay, committee member; Souza, Caridad, committee member
The aim of this research is to introduce a different narrative, and thus the ways in which a new understanding of Middle East can emerge. Worldwide, corruption is endemic. In developing countries, the circulating capital surplus dividend subsequent to autonomy has not been widely shared. Services—protection, prosperity, health, and housing—are fundamental support pillars for the Social Contract between sovereign and citizen. Contrary to their anointed leader, populaces in developing countries are no longer willing to be complicit with sustaining Matured Democracies' nationalistic interests. This research, then, is a reasonable attempt to outline these multifaceted trends by disentangling history, economic, and politics of the region. The culturally specific logic to these localities, the forces of globalization, and the governmentality of the nation-state, has led to flawed ethnography of the Middle East as a delimited land and romanticized nomadism. In the Middle East, the Sykes Picot Agreement disrupted tribal composition, alliances, and politics in the region. The analysis will conclude with suggestions of how to avoid a verbal high-wire act, with fresh impetus on nationalism and patriotism encouraging identity as a continuum and not just a spectrum. Thus, we must begin by introducing different narratives, invert the scripts, alter the discourses, and directly engage and educate the Joe Six-Packs' of Matured Democracies.
Open Access
Picking up the pieces: place based race discourse in Pittsburgh opioid epidemic responses
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) LaFehr, Ericann A., author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Glantz, Michelle, committee member
Public Health's dominant focus on white opioid users coupled with a colorblind ideology has resulted in the reiteration of racially stratified public health discussions, strategies, initiatives, and treatment both nationally and in the Pittsburgh region. This case study uses discourse analysis guided by a critical place-based intersectional and decolonial framework to explore the ways in which whiteness and place are considered by Pittsburgh Public Health entities who have positioned themselves as experts in addressing the opioid epidemic. Findings show that within Pittsburgh Public Health discourse, whiteness is reduced to a descriptor, omitting the reality of a racialized category with a distinct historical racial formation comprised of white supremacist violence. Findings also show that place is reduced to the backdrop in which opioid use happens resulting in the omission of the material relationships between land and people that are a critical component of the sociohistorical formation of whiteness within the industrial and deindustrial history of Pittsburgh. This study argues that the simplification of place based white racialized identity to a mere descriptor is a critical component that maintains white supremacy within Pittsburgh Public Health discourse and strategies that aim to address the opioid crisis. This study argues that if Public Health approaches are to be truly effective, discussions of the opioid epidemic in relation to white people must include the sociohistorical legacy of violent participation in white racial formations, as the collective historical memory holds the key in addressing the deeply seated underlying causes of pain.
Open Access
Like father, white son: exploring the intergenerational transfer of whiteness and white supremacy within a white working-class father-son relationship
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Adams, Brent R., author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Ishiwata, Eric, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee member
Through the lens of a white working-class son's personal experience, this project examines how a white working-class father participated in the construction of his son's identity as white and white supremacist as a practice of fathering in the United States. This is accomplished through the autoethnographic exploration of personal narrative written by the son on being taught whiteness and white supremacy by his father over the course of his growing-up. This qualitative project employs racial formation theory as an overarching lens to consider white working-class fathering as a racial project. Emergent themes from this research include A (white) Man's Home is his Castle; Teaching the White Desire to Dominate; and Privileging and insulating white male relationship. Through this project's findings, the researcher hopes to suggest new ways for intervening in the unconscious and usually private reproduction of whiteness and white supremacy for white working-class males in the U.S.
Open Access
The Paw Pout Deh: an autohistoria from the Burmese diaspora
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Telling, Thazin Su, author; Sagas, Ernesto, advisor; DeMirjyn, Maricela, committee member; Didier, John, committee member
This study seeks to make sense of my first-hand experience witnessing and experiencing the Burmese diaspora both from within and as an outsider. The title Tha Baw Pout Deh is a Burmese phrase that describes the process of reaching an understanding of a complex subject. It is a compound phrase made up of Tha Baw (mind set) and Pout Deh (explode), much like the English phrase 'to blow your mind'. My Tha Baw Pout Deh began with my experience living and working with Burmese refugees on the border between Burma and Thailand. Theories I was exposed to subsequently as a formal student of Ethnic Studies, both at the University of Colorado at Boulder and at Colorado State University, helped me comprehend fully my experience in the borderlands and my prior experience as a child of mixed race in a predominantly white and extremely affluent Boulder. It is from the collision of my border experience, my own up-bringing, and Ethnic Studies theories and accounts through which chapters of this thesis were produced. I use these chapters to illustrate the central message of my thesis, which is that a contribution of three factors was needed to reach my Tha Baw Pout Deh. These are an autobiographical experience, first-hand observation of the experience of others, and a theoretical framework learned from the Ethnic Studies literature.
Open Access
Racialization, femininity, motherhood and the Iron Throne: Game of Thrones as a high fantasy rejection of women of color
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Bollinger-Deters, Aaunterria Treil, author; Black, Ray, advisor; Kim, Joon, committee member; Chung, Hye Seung, committee member
This analysis dissects the historic preconceptions by which American television has erased and evaded race and racialized gender, sexuality and class distinctions within high fantasy fiction by dissociation, systemic neglect and negating artistic responsibility, much like American social reality. This investigation of high fantasy creative fiction alongside its historically inherited framework of hierarchal violent oppressions sets a tone through racialized caste, fetishized gender and sexuality. With the cult classic television series, Game of Thrones (2011-2019) as example, portrayals of white and nonwhite racial patterns as they define womanhood and motherhood are dichotomized through a new visual culture critical lens called the Colonizers Template. This methodological evaluation is addressed through a three-pronged specified study of influential areas: the creators of Game of Thrones as high fantasy creative contributors, the context of Game of Thrones as a racially preoccupied high fantasy subgenre narrative, and the true implications of Game of Thrones social impact and mirroring even as a high fantasy entertainment venture. Through this deconstruction it is argued that: a) mimicry concerning racialized historical patterns present as artistic integrity through the agendas of the artists themselves b) Game of Thrones is a valid exhibition of inclusivity and progressiveness c) and a contemporary sociopolitical outline of the cycle of historical oppressions has been established through these creators of fiction, idyllically reinforced by their creations and affirmed by the dominant white societal structure which idolizes and imitates these specific forms of fiction; creating a justified thematic/political symbiosis in which historical politics feed fiction and vice versa. Through a constructed six points of contention, the Colonizers Template unsympathetically scrutinizes white masculinist supremacist creative structure through cinematic manipulations, signifying direct patterns of behavior in both the real world and the fictive creations made to reflect it. This analysis is conducted on the premise that Daenerys Targaryen is the identified strategic implementer of this template, through which both Eurocentric and patriarchal politics are evident as part of a larger institutional design in favor of whiteness. As a foundation of the racial spectrum to which the Colonizers Template evaluates gender performativity, sexuality politics, and status; Daenerys is positioned as the anchoring embodiment of white femininity and is investigated in two opposingly distinct stages: her rise to power and her maintenance of that power, with her marriage, rape, pregnancy, and her absorption of masculinist stations held by her brothers, husband, and son as the keys that grant her dualistic accessibility to both white masculinist entitlements and nonwhite cultural claims. With Daenerys as the white idyllic heroine of authoritative entitlement, her oppositional characterization becomes by default, the "othered" women of color within the Game of Thrones narrative who are vigilantly deconstructed through ideologies of blackness and Black femininity; reflecting an explicit designation of racialized thematic spaces as one of hierarchal stratagems. Through the deflective white feminine representation exhibited by centric protagonist Daenerys, the creative contradiction of thematic construction in the women of color who are advantageously presented as navigating varying stages of sociopolitical rejection remain in direct conflict with Daenerys positionality in terms of motherhood, vengeance, and justice. As high fantasy extensions of cultural differences and racialized designations, the fictive boundaries within Game of Thrones indicate these differences between three distinct groups: the Rhoynar, the Andals, and the First Men, through which a critical cross-examination of the disparate presentation of women of color is made accessible through geographical location, familial paradigm, death and fetishization demonstrated by the distinct narratives of Elia Martell of Dorne, Talisa Maegyr of Volantis, Ellaria Sand of Dorne and Missandei of Naath as evidence of racial variances and patterned weaponization of creative fiction as deeply interloping sociopolitical reality.
Open Access
Anarchism and ecological epistemologies in transpacific speculative fiction
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Kim, Anthony, author; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Sorensen, Leif, committee member; Souza, Caridad, committee member
This thesis examines works of transnational speculative fiction from across the Pacific for anarchist themes and the influence of ecologically-based epistemologies. Texts examined in this thesis include films by South Korean director Bong Joon Ho and works by writers and other creatives of color based primarily in North America.
Open Access
The borderlands of Black mixed-race women's identity: navigating hegemonic monoraciality in a white supremacist heteropatriarchal society
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Evans, Corey Rae, author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Souza, Caridad, advisor; Vigil, Patricia, committee member; Céspedes, Karina L., committee member
This research study examines and deconstructs the identity formation and development of black mixed-race women and highlights the ways in which black mixed-race women have engaged in developing a "borderlands consciousness" that fosters a sense of positive identity as they navigate hegemonic monoraciality and white supremacist heteropatriarchy in the U.S. This qualitative research study analyzes data from three sources: one-on-one interviews; a focus group; and blog posts on the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook that discuss the identity development of black mixed-race women. In this study, grounded theory methodology is used to explore and theorize around the identity development of black mixed-race women and their potential to utilize a "borderlands consciousness" to embody a disidentified position in response to the dualistic stance and counterstance positions that reify monoraciality within the social and political context of the Midwestern state of Colorado. The following themes with incorporated sub-themes emerged from the three aforementioned data sources with an overarching theme of the borderlands: external oppression representative of a stance position; internal responses to oppression representative of a counterstance position; proximity to whiteness representative of both external oppression and internal responses to oppression; and creating a third space towards a position of disidentification.
Open Access
"Even machines get a rest": the commodification of the H-2A Indigenous sheepherder in Colorado's Western Slope
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Coenen, Shirley Man-Kin, author; Sagas, Ernesto, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Fernandez Gimenez, Maria, committee member
This project uses an exploratory, qualitative study to examine the ways in which the H-2A "guestworker" program in the United States is racialized and gendered as a temporary, state-controlled, foreign labor system. This project is accomplished through the exploration of testimonios of H-2A sheepherders in Colorado, and how these narratives are informed by race, class and the gendered identities of guestworkers. While there is significant descriptive work on labor and migration throughout U.S. history, there is a paucity of contemporary scholarship on guestworkers situated within a critical race and gendered lens. This work aims to bridge that gap by drawing from the conceptual frameworks within ethnic studies to integrate both race and gender. By analyzing patterns that emerge within the H-2A visa workers narratives, one can gain a perspective on the role of temporary guestworker programs in modern day transnational immigration practices. This leads to a basis for a theoretically grounded perspective on how race and gender influence modern guestworker labor practices.
Open Access
"It's just a cross, don't shoot": white Supremacy and Christonormativity in a small midwestern town
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Eleanor, Kate, author; Souza, Caridad, advisor; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Daum, Courtenay, committee member
This paper, guided by poststructuralist and feminist theories, examines public discourse that emerged in response to a controversy over whether a large cross should be removed from public property in a highly visible location in Grand Haven, Michigan. Situating the controversy within the context of the election of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, this thesis seeks to answer the inquiry: How do the events and discourse surrounding the controversy over a cross on public property in a small, Midwestern city shed light on the Trump phenomenon? A qualitative study using document data was conducted, using grounded theory method to analyze 152 documents obtained from publically accessible sites on the internet. Three conceptual frameworks, Whiteness, Christian hegemony, and spatiality were utilized in evaluating the data. Findings reveal a community that sits at the intersection of White and Christian privileges. So interconnected are these privileges that they create a system of "codominance," in which they cannot be conceptually separated from one another, and together constitute the necessary criteria for full inclusion in the community. This qualitative study paints a compelling picture of the ways in which racial and religious privilege affect the underlying belief systems of many members of an overwhelmingly White, Christian community. Results provide valuable insight into the mindset of a Trump supporting community in the period immediately preceding the 2016 election.
Open Access
A feminist epistemological critique of conservation projects in Africa
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Jones, Octavius, author; Souza, Caridad, advisor; Cespedes, Karina, committee member; Laituri, Melinda, committee member
This study seeks to elucidate the roles that Western conservationists play in conservation's relationship with Indigenous communities and local ecologies within African countries. Employing a qualitative analysis of conservationist research practices, the study seeks to examine Western community-based conservation research approaches that value collaboration with the participants of study in order to ascertain whether and how conservationists incorporate women into their research. For the purposes of this thesis, the inclusion of women refers to local and Indigenous women in the communities where community-based conservation projects and research occur. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five CSU faculty who work on ecological research in Africa to tease out the epistemic foundations of Western conservation research practices. Findings show that the adoption of community-based approaches to research do not necessarily coincide with increased incorporation of women and their knowledges into conservationist research practices in the field. Women in local communities remain marginal to research practices that purport to promote equity with Indigenous people in the field based on collaborative methods. Findings also indicate that conservation research practices continue to marginalize women in local contexts in ways that make Western conservation efforts detrimental to global ecological protection and sustainability.
Open Access
From raw-barbarian to Miss Beauty Queen: indigeneity, identity and the perception of beauty in Taiwan
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Lin, Hsiao-Ching, author; Kim, Joon K., advisor; Doe, Sue, committee member; Swensen, Thomas Michael, committee member
Using an auto-ethnographical method and sharing my own experience growing up in Taipei, Taiwan, this thesis discusses the association between Taiwanese indigeneity and the perception of beauty in contemporary Taiwan. For the purpose of this study, this thesis references the theory of beauty and indigenous studies to explore the affectability regarding the colonial history of Taiwan, body images, international influence, the eliminatory elements of colonial structures, and the modern pastiche of Taiwanese aesthetic. Furthermore, this thesis analyzes Chinese-settler colonial influence in Taiwan by discussing the media's impact and the artistic innovations in the biggest city, Taipei. Two major conclusions are drawn: first, Taiwanese indigeneity, infused in contemporary art, counteracts the forces of Chinese orthodoxy, international influence, and Taiwanese modern aesthetic. Second, Taiwanese indigenous characteristics often contain pastiche of Taiwanese aesthetics, a fixed beauty standard, which consists of various elements such as Chinese elegance/nostalgia, modern comfort/convenience, and the indigenous acceptance/sublimation.
Open Access
Somali refugee women: an Ubuntu perspective on health and wellbeing in Fort Morgan, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Temanju, Namuyaba Namunyak, author; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Kent, Suzanne, committee member
This qualitative study explores the perspectives and stories of the Somali refugee women who live in Fort Morgan, Colorado. This study suggests that the current condition of Somali women's access to resources is underserved. To date there has not been a full assessment that is focused on Somali women's perspective. Therefore, this thesis works to give voice to the most marginalized segment of the population/ community, Muslim women from refugee backgrounds.
Open Access
State narratives on war and peace in Colombia, 2002-2016
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Sánchez Ramírez, Ana Mercedes, author; Sagás, Ernesto, advisor; Velasco, Marcela, committee member; Swensen, Thomas Michael, committee member
This research considers state narratives of war and peace in Colombia from 2002 to 2016 as broadcasted in mass media through institutional campaigns, and it seeks to describe these campaigns as part of historicist practices that promote an ideal of the nation. The research follows the shifts in policies and discourses during the 21st century from promoting war to announcing peace by analyzing a visual archive made up of TV commercials produced by the Colombian state in this period. In doing so, the research considers the tensions between nationalism, war, peace and memory in a political setting marked by the proclamation of a transitional scenario. Finally it reflects on the ways the historicist practices of the state fix victimhood between the duty to forgive and the permission to forget.
Open Access
HIV/AIDSneeds and concerns of immigrant Latinas in San Miguel County: an exploratory study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Gonzales Garcia, Karla Giovanna, author; Vernon, Irene, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Griffin, Cindy, committee member
Working on creating paths to end gender, class and racial health inequalities in the U.S, this qualitative study explores the perspectives of immigrant Latinas on knowledge, cultural understandings, and access and barriers to HIV/AIDS services in San Miguel County, CO. Following a community based participatory research process through the use of intersectional lenses and transnational multiracial feminism, this research process seeks to further augment the literature on prevention intervention on HIV/AIDS, as well as to contribute to the construction of policies and recommendations based on their lived experiences. Grounded theory was used for data analysis to maintain women’s voices as the center of the research, where theory was constructed continuously based in their lived experiences and realities. Within this study, the interlocking relationship found between neoliberalism, transnationalism, U.S health care system and legal status, and the major themes such as, barriers to health care, HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination, Machismo, Latina sexuality, and knowledge of community resources, provides the context in which the epidemic of HIV/AIDS operates among immigrant Latinas.
Open Access
White mothers of Black biracial children: mixed race as the new Mulatto
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Bell, Erin Halcyon, author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Jacobi, Tobi, committee member
This research explores how White women perceive their roles as parents to "mixed" race or biracial Black children. This qualitative project analyzes data from in person interviews, photographs and comments posted on Internet blogs, Facebook fan pages of mixed race children. Core elements of grounded theory are used as methodology to explore how White women understand themselves in relation to the role they play in pursuing their desire to create a mixed race or biracial child. Emerging themes from this research include: Objectification of Mixed Race Children, "We are going to get designer babies!" Displacing Black Women, and "I have mixed kids, so I can't be racist."
Open Access
Fathering behind bars: testimonio and the Prison Industrial Complex
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Martinez, Ashley V., author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Cespedes, Karina, advisor; Montoya, Fawn-Amber, committee member; Vigil, Patricia, committee member
Chicano boy and girls are twice more likely to go to prison than grow up with their fathers compared to their White counter parts. This is due to the Prison Industrial Complex, a term used to identify how government and industry work together to implement systems that oppress and marginalize "undesirable" citizens through surveillance, policing and confinement. The Prison Industrial Complex is a tool of power used to marginalize and displace Chicano men as fathers leaving over 2.3 percent of children of Latino descent to be raised with a father behind bars.' The research questions guiding this study are: 1) How does incarceration affect Chicano fathers and their relationships with their families/communities? 2) How does spirituality affect how Chicana/os experience incarceration and perceptions of fathering; and 3) How do Chicano fathers understand what experiences led to their incarceration? This research project utilized interviews in the form of testimonio and extensive document data in the form of personal correspondences to explore the experiences of incarceration for Chicano fathers. A non-probability (purposive) sample was used for the document data and the 4 semi-structured interviews of formerly incarcerated Chicano fathers. A basic qualitative design and approach was used to analyze the document data. The purpose of this project was to expose how the P.I.C. empowered by Governmentality works to displace Chicano men as fathers. To also facilitate a theory on fathering from "behind bars" and to validate the use of testimonio as methodology in this under-researched area. Finally, to challenge traditional means of parenting and to validate the different forms parenting from behind bars can emerge.
Open Access
Reading Ché Guevara’s "new man" through the praxis of misfitting: towards a revolution for "people like us"
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Putnam, Bryan Rodrigues, author; Cespedes, Karina, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Sagás, Ernesto, committee member; Velasco, Marcela, committee member; Aragon, Antonette, committee member
This study incorporates reflections from five Cuban participants about the contemporary status of Ernesto Ché Guevara’s “new man” in Cuba. Grounded in the Marxist tradition of praxis as philosophy, the thesis integrates Pan American articulations on the theme of Latin American liberation alongside interview data. In light of research findings pertaining to the “new man,” I evoke Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s feminist materialist disability concepts of “fitting” and “misfitting” alongside Tobin Siebers’ assertion that by way of “misfitting” one produces critical knowledge revealing the “blueprints of power” that have constructed exclusionary reality for some and a contingent fit for others. I argue that the state imposed ideal of the “new man” failed to create the proper channels within which everyday misfit knowledge could be elevated to the level of social theory. However, the “new man” as a set of embodied values and mechanisms for social integration did succeed at various levels, which are explored throughout the chapters.
Open Access
Acritical examination of non-Native pracitce of Native American religion
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Goar, Allison Marie, author; Vernon, Irene S., advisor; Black, Ray, committee member; Vigil, Patricia, committee member
This qualitative study examines the experiences and perceptions of non-Native American people who practice Native American religion. Semi-structured interviews with ten participants, all of whom identify as Caucasian or White, reveal a series of strategies to avoid or dismiss critiques of cultural appropriation. These strategies include, but are not limited to: neoliberal values, the practice of spiritual materialism, denial of spiritual agency, and racial stereotyping.
Open Access
Surgically enforcing normalcy: a critical analysis of international craniofacial NGOs
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Hamrick, Marley Victoria, author; DeMirjyn, Maricela, advisor; Vernon, Irene S., committee member; Kreston, Rose, committee member
The purpose of this study is to deconstruct dehumanizing representations of children with facial differences in the Third World and catalyze a critical understanding of the work of international craniofacial non-governmental organizations, NGOs that provide free reconstructive surgery to children with facial differences around the world. This study focuses on four of those organizations – Smile Train, Operation Smile, Little Baby Face Foundation, and Operation of Hope. Considering the social, political, and economic positions of the children treated by the organizations, their messaging has powerful consequences. The research questions follow: (1) What role does ideology play in international craniofacial NGO’s representations of children with facial differences in the Third World?, and (2) To what extent and in what ways do international craniofacial NGOs address the systemic barriers faced by children with facial differences in the Third World, as portrayed by their social media materials? This study uses a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) of social media sites to explore the research questions. Findings reveal that the NGOs contribute to the problems that they aim to address. Their messaging promotes neocolonialism, ableism, heterosexism, classism, and eugenics. Ironically, these same systems of power create the lack of access to medical care, stigmatization of norm-challenging bodies, and abuse that the organizations aim to address. Considering the positive outcomes of increased survival rates and greater awareness, these findings have complex implications. Rather than arguing for the elimination of international craniofacial NGOs, this study calls for new ways to address the challenges faced by children with facial differences.
Open Access
Understanding the body: learning how Puerto Rican women in New York City receive information on reproductive health
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Calderon Hooper, Emily Marie, author; Vernon, Irene, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Aragon, Antonette, committee member
This qualitative study explores the experiences and stories of eleven self-identified second and third generation Puerto Rican women raised and living in New York City. Through semi-structured focus groups conducted in New York City, this study deconstructs how the women in this study learn and understand their bodies in the context of reproductive health. Furthermore, it aims to be liberatory in nature and to engage in practices that center the voices and experiences of the women participating. This study comprises decolonial and critical feminist frameworks and epistemologies and argues that second and third generation Puerto Rican women raised in New York City understand their bodies in relation to reproductive health in a multitude of ways. This study shows that reproductive health for Puerto Rican women in New York City should not be framed within a victim/agent dichotomy, because the experiences of these women are more nuanced and complicated. This thesis also reveals that transmission of reproductive healthcare resources from medical professionals to these women is severely limited and lacking. It is recommended that the experiences of Puerto Rican women in reproductive health be valued and incorporated into peer-to-peer workshops and promotora healthcare models to enhance how Puerto Rican women in New York City receive information on reproductive health.