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- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Research has shown that being a female athlete in a male-dominated sports world is an oppressive burden, yet the experiences of being a black female athlete have been largely ignored. To combat this lack of attention, this paper invokes communication and feminist theorist Bell Hook's concept of moving black women from margin to center to reveal the intersectional oppression of gender and racial narratives that they face in sports. By outlining the difference between white and black femininity and studying media portrayals of popular black female athletes such as Venus and Serena Williams and others, it becomes obvious how black women are typecast into certain social and athletic roles. This research also includes an auto-ethnographic component of my own experience as a black female lacrosse player at the NCAA Division I level. This component functions as a point of comparison and contrast of the ideas and concepts I discuss. Lastly, I offer recommendations and suggestions as to how to empower young black female athletes and retain them in a variety of sports. The goal of my thesis is to place special attention onto black women in an area which there is an extreme lack of representation. My own empirical research has led me to the conclusion that not only is such a discussion important, but it is absolutely necessary. If we are to fight back against hegemonic social structures such as racism and gender roles in the sports world, we must first understand what we are up against. My thesis gives us a glimpse into our imposing opponents, and I hope that future research continues this trend so that black female athletes like myself may one day be considered an athlete in the same sense that our white peers are.
ContributorsWright, Daniela Casselle (Author) / Edson, Belle (Thesis director) / Zanin, Alaina (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Sports teams are an integral part of a city. They attract revenue to the area around the stadium and they also give a city a sense of pride. The aim of this study was to determine what makes a team successful in the area of attendance using four factors (Bernthal & Graham; Jensen; Kim, Trail & Magnusen; Edensor & Millington; Clowes & Tapp; Greenhalgh & Greenwell; Denaux & Yalcin; Paul & Weinbach & Robbins; Levin & McDonald; Lee & Kang; Drayer; L'Etang; McDonald & Rascher; Armstrong; Ross): the history of the team, the location and population of the city where the team plays, the social media following of the team and the promotional giveaways the team uses to attract fans. Using these four factors, a comparison was made among the Arizona teams and the top performing team in attendance in the respective leagues during the 2013 season. The Arizona Diamondbacks are compared with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Diamondbacks were not as equipped as the Dodgers in any of the categories. There is a more storied history for the Dodgers, the Dodgers play in Los Angeles - a significantly larger city that Phoenix, where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, they use social media more frequently and more effectively, and they offer more promotional giveaways than the Diamondbacks. The Phoenix Suns are compared to the Chicago Bulls. The Suns history competes with the Bulls, but they lack in the other three categories. The Bulls have a better location in Chicago, their stadium is located in the downtown area; they have a massive social media following and their promotional giveaways are more substantial. The Phoenix Coyotes are compared to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks exceeded in all of the categories, while the Coyotes were poor performers in each of the four factors. The Blackhawks have a storied history, they share a stadium with the Bulls, they have a great social media following and they give promotional items away 30 of the 41 home games. The overall recommendations for the teams are to win, in order to help build their locations and make it fun to be near the downtown area, to use social media effectively and engage with their audience, and finally to provide more promotional giveaways to attract people to the games.
ContributorsDugan, Abby Leigh (Author) / Wu, Xu (Thesis director) / Matera, Fran (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
With beauty magazines becoming a prevalent source of information and inspiration for girls and young adults, this creative project analyzed Seventeen Magazine in an attempt to understand its implications. Shortly after its debut, the publication shifted its focus from career and goal-oriented topics to those of fashion and romance. In an effort to construct a visual critique of the segments produced by Seventeen and receive audience response, an interactive installation was created and opened to the public. This paper explains the method used and includes a discussion of audience opinion.
ContributorsFuller, Darcy Shannon (Author) / Linde, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Stewart, Karen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Jacob D. Green's slave narrative breaks standards surrounding slave narratives and wrote a strong, unique story that allowed his audience to relate to his human characters. His narrative has unprecedented qualities that make his autobiography distinctive. An attempt to locate him in historical documents proved inconclusive and some of his stories elaborated, but his narrative is still a valuable piece of literature that gives historians a glimpse into slavery in the United States and the abolition movement in England.
ContributorsLepore, Amanda Lynn (Author) / Schermerhorn, Calvin (Thesis director) / Soares, Rebecca (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Political Notes is a podcast that explores the history of music and musicians over the past several decades and their influence on the political spectrum. Using the case studies of The Chicks and Taylor Swift, Political Notes displays the integration of politics in music and its acceptance by the public, giving musicians the power to change the opinions of their listeners. Political Notes exposes a politician's worst nightmare, as we can expect to see a future where musicians collaborate with politicians to help certain individuals get elected and others to be left behind.
ContributorsDubey, Neha (Author) / Schmidt, Peter (Thesis director) / Broberg, Gregory (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Neoliberal feminism has gained significant popularity in fourth-wave feminist media. In this paper, I analyze the 2017 limited television series "Big Little Lies" to uncover the intricacies of neoliberal feminist theory in practice, particularly how it speaks to gender, race, and class relations.
ContributorsLuther, Molly E (Author) / Moran, Stacey (Thesis director) / Henderson-Singer, Sharon (Committee member) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This project produced a dual-medium (traditional screen & virtual reality) virtual environment of Barnhardt Canyon, in Payson, Arizona. The project showcases two different approaches to developing a virtual environment with both being centered by 360 degree content. The virtual environment allows a user to explore the area in a much more immersive way than offered by traditional media. Future uses of the project could include research on the educational efficacy of virtual reality content, or the project could be used as a teaching tool in geoscience classes.
ContributorsRuberto, James Richard (Author) / Semken, Steven (Thesis director) / Reynolds, Stephen (Committee member) / Proctor, Sian (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
Description
This study is a qualitative analysis that makes use of Rick Williams’ Personal Impact Assessment (PIA) to gauge the feelings, narratives, and intuitions that people receive when they view photographs of criminal defendants being made to do a “perp walk.” Participants gave their impressions, which were then categorized and analyzed, along with other statements that they made during an interview outside of the PIA. This study attempted to understand better the received messages of the common media practice of spreading images of perp walks.
ContributorsWitt, Corbin (Author) / Edson, Belle (Thesis director) / Beienburg, Sean (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In 1986, Wendy Chapkis published Beauty Secrets: Women and the Politics of Appearance, exploring beauty as it is interpreted through physical appearance, gender, and sexuality. Over thirty years later, many of the trends and problems Chapkis identified still exist or have gotten worse; we still live in a society that praises ideal physical beauty, and creates and reinforces unrealistic beauty standards. This research strives to determine why these problems still exist, and how to solve them. Through a combination of creative writing and analytic research, this project will discuss topics that have helped to create problems like cultural influences, gender norms, and the media, as well as discuss the consequences like mental health and eating disorders, and the unattainable ideal beauty standard. The purpose of this study is to bring new attention to the flaws of a society that teaches people they are defined by their appearance, in order to teach people what actions we need to take to make real progress. Research was conducted using an online survey to allow for anonymous, honest, responses, which were then analyzed to inspire sections of creative writing, as well as fuel the analytical research portions of the paper. In this way, the text mirrors Chapkis’ original style to connect and engage with readers. Research shows that many respondents know there are problems with society’s standards, but feel powerless to change anything. This study provides a platform to restart the conversation, and call people to action, to inspire people not to simply redefine beauty, but teach them that they should not define others or themselves by merely their physical appearance.
ContributorsFast, Elizabeth (Author) / Fontinha de Alcantara, Christiane (Thesis director) / Barca, Lisa (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The Internet has made it possible to exchange information at a rapid rate. With this extraordinary ability, media companies and various other organizations have been able to communicate thoughts and information to an extremely large audience. As a result, news subscribers are overwhelmed with biased information, which makes it very easy to be misinformed. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to stay truly informed without spending countless hours searching the Internet for different viewpoints and ultimately using that information to formulate a sound understanding. This project (nicknamed "Newsie") solves this problem by providing news subscribers with many news sources to every topic, thereby saving them time and ultimately paving a way to a more informed society. Since one of the main goals of this project is to provide information to the largest number of people, Newsie is designed with availability in mind. Unsurprisingly, the most accessible method of communication is the Internet \u2014 more specifically, a website. Users will be able to access Newsie via a webpage, and easily view to most recent headlines with their corresponding articles from several sources. Another goal of the project is to classify different articles and sources based on their bias. After reading articles, users will be able to vote on their biases. This provides a crowdsourced method of determining bias.
ContributorsAlimov, Robert Joseph (Author) / Meuth, Ryan (Thesis director) / Franceschini, Enos (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12