Department of Ethnic Studies

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100421

These digital collections include honors theses, theses, and dissertations from the Department of Ethnic Studies.

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 34

Open Access
Historical trauma: the impact of colonial racism on contemporary relations between African Americans and Mexican immigrants
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Wright, Noah M., author; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Cespedes, Karina, committee member; Breaux, Richard, committee member; Taylor, Peter, committee member
The purpose of this project is to examine tensions in present day United States between African Americans and Mexican immigrants. Hyper-violent incidents of interracial gang violence between these two communities are presented by mainstream media as signifiers of the existence of the tension. Latinos, as a whole, and African Americans, whether in gangs or civilians, are often portrayed to be in competition due to three conventional explanations. While scholars and media sources have validity in pointing out the significance of socioeconomic competition, struggles for political power and the problems that the language barrier create, these explanations are not complete. El sistema de castas or the caste system, a racial hierarchy created by the Spaniards in Latin America during their colonial efforts, established how people of African descent, both free and slave, were treated in New Spain. The caste system's continued influence can be seen with the denial of African heritage and the marginalized position of Afro-Mexicans in present day Mexico. Furthermore, these prejudices remain intact when Mexican immigrants enter the U.S. It is understood that Mexico's national identity is mestizaje, a racially mixed nation; however, racism existed and is also present today in Mexico. By combining a historical perspective with the three primary reasons, mentioned above, it is hoped that the complete picture will help resolve tensions. This thesis argues that colonization, influenced heavily by a racial hierarchy, has caused Mexican immigrants to carry with them prejudices towards African Americans that were learned in Mexico, showing that the issue is deeper than competition over resources in present times. In response to an influx of Latino immigrants, African American responses show parallels with historical nativist responses to immigrants. By combining the impacts of historical racism with conventional explanations for the existence of the tension it is hoped an understanding may develop that will help reduce conflict.
Open Access
The Tea Party: the discourse of class, race, & gender/sexuality
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Schrader, Benjamin Thomas Grant, author; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Daum, Courtenay W., committee member; Kim, Joon K., committee member
My thesis seeks to examine the Tea Party and its effects on the discourse around the intersections of race, class, and gender. It is my contention that the actions and discourse around the Tea Party Movement creates a cultural pedagogy that promotes structural violence that stems from an ideology of individualism. The promotion of individualism breaks down the foundations of democratic practices. In order to examine this, my investigation will work to: 1) explore the ties between neoliberalism, nationalism, and patriotism; 2) trace the ways in which race plays a role in Tea Party rhetoric and show its ties to racism, and; 3) locate the ways in which the Tea Party movement promotes hyper- masculinity. The final chapter will explore the construction of communal traditions that promote volunteerism and/or community engagement, which in turn could build social capital that could counter the endemic ideology of individualism.
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
"I feel, therefore I can be free": Black women and Chicana queer narratives as differential consciousness and foundational theory
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Middleton, Kianna Marie, author; Cespedes, Karina, advisor; DeMirjyn, Maricela, advisor; Breaux, Richard, committee member; Thompson, Deborah, committee member
This thesis is a literary analysis of queer Black women and Chicanas within the fictional and semi-autobiographical texts of "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" (2003) by ZZ Packer, What Night Brings (2003) by Carla Trujillo, "Spice" (1997) by Mattie Richardson, "La Ofrenda" (1991) by Cherríe Moraga, "Mamita te extraño" (1991) by Karen T. Delgadillo, and Corregidora (1975) by Gayl Jones. This is an assessment of dislocation, of trauma within relationships both matrilineal and otherwise, and how status as outsiders affects and heightens senses which moves queer women of color in these narratives into deeper levels of consciousness and allows for them resistance and freedom that is independent from binaries and is differential and disidentified in composition. I build this work upon the varying ways in which violence and erasure occur towards Black and Chicana lesbians in literature. This includes physical violence, sexual violence, emotional violence and also literary violence and invisibility. Through revealing the sources of pain and abjection within narratives I discuss how these queer women gain empowerment and freedom by maintaining differential and creative consciousness as they navigate the world. And finally, I offer the practice of reading and writing narratives through lived experience as a basis on which new queer women of color theories can be imagined.
Open Access
State injustice: trapping black women as "sex offenders" for prostitution in "the Big Easy"
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Sheets, Crystal Faye, author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Cespedes, Karina, committee member; Valdez, Norberto, committee member; Daum, Courtenay, committee member
This qualitative case study explores the use of a sodomy statute, Crime Against Nature, to criminalize prostitution and its impacts on impoverished Black women located on the streets of New Orleans. Data from in-depth interviews with six participants including a Public Defender, a Prosecutor, a Judge, a Community Worker, and two sex workers, were studied through a critical feminist analytic framework to decipher prevalent themes regarding the state's implementation of this charge. Major findings include: intersecting race/class/gender oppressions socially track or position Black women in the street sex economy where they are targeted by the state, the regulation of prostitution is performed in ways which permit a sex economy in the French Quarter to cater to tourists while it criminalizes prostitution in poor areas outside of the French Quarter, drug addiction is used as justification by the state to criminalize Black women on the street using this charge, and the ways in which recipients of this charge are further burdened and trapped by the state, which labels them felons and sex offenders rather than offering assistance and protection.
Open Access
Colorado State incorporated: a critical university study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Bird, Brice D., author; Breaux, Richard, advisor; Sagas, Ernesto, committee member; Straayer, John, committee member
This critical university study examines the neo-liberal agenda's influence on Colorado State University. This study challenges the policies and decisions made by Colorado's legislation that have brought forth the need for outside interest like private corporations to cover the state's financial short comings. This study seeks to scrutinize the actions that institutions of higher learning like Colorado State make in order to administer public, non-profit universities like a privatized for-profit business. Furthermore, this thesis looks at the privatization of services, commoditization of students, the dismantling of tenured faculty and how neo-liberalism and market forces affect Colorado State University's students, faculty, and state-classified employees.
Open Access
Living in ambiguity: the mixed race experience at Colorado State University
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Olsen, Carl Izumi, author; Kim, Joon, advisor; Vernon, Irene, committee member; Ahuna-Hamill, Linda, committee member
This study analyzes the experiences of mixed race students at Colorado State University by using semi-structured interviews of nineteen students. The interviews reveal that multiracial students exhibit different forms of racialization as compared to monoracial students. Despite some commonalities, the study also demonstrates that multiracial students are not monolithic group. In an effort to highlight the uniqueness embedded in the diversity of multiracial students, the study analytically identifies three main clusters based on how they are perceived. These include: Non-White Mixed Race, In-Between Mixed Race, and White-Identified Mixed Race. The interviews also show that the three dominant themes mediate their multiracial identity: perception, self-identification and connection to culture. Finally, the participants in this study all point to the inability of the existing cultural centers in meeting their specific needs and call for the establishment of multiracial center that would provide resources for education, outreach and retention issues for multiracial students.
Open Access
Navigating conciousness toward liberation: investigating a contemporary radical faerie manifestation through a decolonial lens
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Pape, Kyle Andrew, author; Cespedes, Karina, advisor; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Vernon, Irene, committee member; Sherman, Kathleen, committee member
This thesis argues for the necessity of decolonial consciousness within queer thought and activism. The historical acts of cultural appropriation enacted by the LGBTQ subculture radical faeries of indigenous peoples are intended for healing. However by investigating contemporary radical faerie culture in Thailand, it is found that colonial culture fundamentally defeats queer liberatory movements from within. Primary data was collected through cyber-ethnographic methods and consists of a photo archive and several online blogs and associated websites. Analyzes emerged through Visual Grounded Theory methodology. This study provides evidence of globalizing colonial discourse and the resulting ineptitude of radical faerie activism.
Open Access
Crisis in whiteness: white workingmen's narratives and the American dream
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Morrison, Joseph J., author; Ishiwata, Eric, advisor; Cespedes, Karina, committee member; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Brinks, Ellen, committee member
This project examines the ways in which white working class men make sense of their own socioeconomic positioning in the contemporary U.S. economy. This is accomplished through the exploring of white workingmen's narratives of the American Dream, and how these narratives are informed by the race, class and gendered identities of the white working class men expressing them. Specifically, this project is a case study of five self-identified white working class men living in Upstate New York's Chemung, Onondaga, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties. Through this project's findings the researcher hopes to chart a new course for the field of Whiteness Studies into the twenty-first century.
Open Access
Islamicodes: the post 9/11 racialization of counter-terrorism
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Kamandy, Jamal, author; Kim, Joon, advisor; Cespedes, Karina, committee member; Hempel, Lynn, committee member
After 9/11, a conceptual conflation between Islam and terrorism occurred within American culture and public spheres, forming a new epistemology, Islamicodes. In order to understand how Islamicodes have influenced U.S. Counter-terrorism efforts, this thesis analyzes American culture and the judicial system through discourse, semiotics, and power/knowledge. This article will argue that the conceptual conflation of Islam and terrorism, through the usage of language, symbols, and institutional practices, severely limits the Constitutional rights and life chances of Muslims in America.
Open Access
Tlapalli in iquin onitlacat: in tlateomatiliztli de tlalnamiquiliztli
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Saiz, LeRoy F., author; DeMirjyn, Maricela, advisor; Kim, Joon K., committee member; Bubar, Roe, committee member; Macdonald, Bradley, committee member
Research analysis within American Indian Studies establishes social change practices concentrating on American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian communities--Indigenous communities recognized by the United States Government. Chican@ Studies inquiry locates a similar approach to scholarship, except social change becomes strategized in reference to Latina/o communities; more specifically, Mexican-American communities. In the American Southwest, Xikan@ racial representation is observed by outside Indigeneities as Indigenous to North America. However Xikan@ ethnic representation is scrutinized due to its palimpsest features--a counterbalance to Spanish, Mexican, and American colonization. The purpose of this study is to identify a Xikan@ Indigenous identity and determine the factors that situate othered or sub altern Indigenous identities in the peripheries of Indigeneity. As exemplified through auto-ethnography and traditional storywork, the creation of a Xikan@ methodological approach can articulate the need to maintain hemispheric approaches to Indigeneity, while respecting the uniqueness of local epistemologies such as Xikan@ Traditional Knowledge (XIK).
Open Access
Food systems among Native American peoples in Oakland, California: an examination of connection and health
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Vernon, Rachel Valerie, author; Cespedes, Karina, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Pickering, Kathleen, committee member
This thesis is a critical engagement with Indigenous communities and the reclamation of food sovereignty as a movement that heals Indigenous populations. The Indigenous food sovereignty movement stands in opposition to a history of colonialism and disenfranchisement that sought to deny Indigenous people of their autonomy by creating dependency on Western institutions. Reclamation of a food system stands to signify the healing of community through the honoring of relationships and interdependence. Contemporary scholarship and policy efforts addressing health disparities have focused the debate on Indigenous food and health around personal accountability, and personal choice in eating and exercising. Although these behaviors improve health for communities, and individuals, they do not account for systemic disparities forged out of a history of colonialism and current institutional racism. Moreover, this focus is deeply engrained in Western models of health, rather than promoting the power of communities to forge their own culturally appropriate solutions. These mainstream attempts by Western institutions are singular in nature, denying the complex interaction at multiple points of colonialism and racism. This thesis focuses on Indigenous food sovereignty, and in particular attempts at urban community production, to address the emancipatory act of reclaiming traditional knowledge and the right to feed oneself and one's community. Food sovereignty is an ideological, cultural, and political act that can transform Indigenous communities that are "dying to survive" and transform them into thriving communities. This Indigenous food justice movement honors native peoples as visionary survivors of catastrophe. Using Indigenous methodology and photovoice I provide an analysis of one urban community in Oakland California where participants have been engaged in reclaiming their food system since 2010. This project allows us to understand how empowerment (of self and community) as well as relationships are strengthened because of such projects.
Open Access
International development in two rural Kenyan villages: a transnational feminist approach
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Marweg, Abby Christina, author; Bubar, Roe, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Bruyere, Brett, committee member
This qualitative study explores the perspectives and stories of the women who live in the villages of Umoja and Unity in the northern Samburu region of Kenya and the impacts of Western driven international development projects in their communities. Through semi-structured interviews conducted in the villages of Umoja and Unity this thesis outlines the complexities of international development organizations and their relationship to the women, their access to resources, and the economic structures affecting their lives. This study augments transnational feminist theory with that of international development and economy to argue that the current system of development is inadequate. This study will show that this insufficiency in development initiatives is due to a failure by the Global North, global feminists, and development organizations to address the structural intersectionality that affects the women in Umoja and Unity and their lives.
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.
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
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.