Matching Items (11)
Filtering by
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Arizona has become infamous for its strong nativist and anti-immigrant climate, gaining national and international attention for legislation and policing practices that are in violation of civil and human rights. Despite the grave injustices perpetuated against migrants and communities of color, they exist in an environment of acceptance. Applying Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory/ Latina(o) Critical Race Theory, and Chicana Feminist epistemologies, this study interrogates the polarized discourse that has intensified in Arizona, within the immigration movement and across its political spectrum, from 2006 to 2008. I present an auto-ethnographic account, including use of participant action research, narrative, and storytelling methods that explores ways in which resistance is manifested and the implications for creating sustainable social change. I argue that legislation, raids, and local immigration enforcement tactics reinforce the dominant group's fear of the "other," resulting in micro and macro aggressions that legitimize racial profiling and help safeguard and fortify White privilege through the fabrication of racialized identities. Simultaneously, organizing strategies and discourse of immigrant rights advocates reflect an entanglement of perceived identities and a struggle to negotiate, contest, and redefine boundaries of public space. The raids, coupled with protests and counter demonstrations, produced a public spectacle that reinforces anti-immigrant connections between race and crime. Lastly, I apply and introduce Border Crit, a new and emerging theory I propose to better address research in the borderlands.
ContributorsMaldonado, Angeles (Author) / Swadener, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / Mckinley Jones Brayboy, Bryan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The signing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 created a need for Title 1 principals to conceptualize and operationalize parent engagement. This study examines how three urban principals in Arizona implemented the mandates of the Act as it pertains to parent involvement. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine how principals operationalize and conceptualize parent involvement as they navigate barriers and laws particular to the state of Arizona. This study sought to understand issues surrounding parent involvement in Title 1 schools in Arizona. The beliefs and interview dialogue of the principals as it pertains to parent engagement provided an understanding of how urban principals in Arizona implement the aspects of No Child Left Behind Act that deal with parent involvement. The research study concluded that parents have community cultural wealth that contributes to the success of the students of engaged parents and that cultural responsive leadership assists principals with engaging parents in their schools. The research concludes that a gap exists between how parents and principals perceive and construct parent engagement versus what is prescribed in No Child Left Behind Act.
ContributorsConley, Loraine (Author) / Brayboy, Bryan (Thesis advisor) / Mccarty, Teresa (Committee member) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Historically, African American students have been underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). If African American students continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields, they will not have access to valuable and high-paying sectors of the economy. Despite the number of African Americans in these fields being disproportionately low, there are still individuals that persist and complete science degrees. The aim of this study was to investigate African American students who excel in science at Arizona State University and examine the barriers and affordances that they encounter on their journey toward graduation. Qualitative research methods were used to address the research question of the study. My methodology included creating a case study to investigate the experiences of eight African American undergraduate college students at Arizona State University. These four male and four female students were excelling sophomores, juniors, or seniors who were majoring in a science field. Two of the males came from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, while two of the males were from higher SES backgrounds. The same applied to the four female participants. My research utilized surveys, semistructured interviews, and student observations to collect data that was analyzed and coded to determine common themes and elements that exist between the students. As a result of the data collection opportunities, peer support and financial support were identified as barriers, while, parental support, financial support, peer support, and teacher support were identified as affordances. In analyzing the data, the results indicated that for the student subjects in this study, sex and SES did not have any relationship with the barriers and affordances experienced.
ContributorsBoyce, Quintin (Author) / Scott, Kimberly (Thesis advisor) / Falls, Deanne (Committee member) / Baker, Dale (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Theories of resistance have been investigated by various researchers as an explanation for student empowerment, achievement, and activism. Similar research on youth empowerment has been conducted with Critical Race Theory and the development of culturally relevant curriculums in classrooms. Culturally relevant pedagogy has been studied by many due to its ability to foster student empowerment and transform students into agents of social change within their communities, allowing them to pursue opportunities they hadn't considered otherwise. However, there is not much research that studies how culturally relevant pedagogy and culturally relevant school programs foster student activism. This study focuses on assessing how the culturally relevant curriculum fosters student activism within the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona. Following the changes made after HB2281, which temporarily banned the program. It was reinstated and renamed Ethnic Studies following the court ruling, Arce v Douglas. Using theories of resistance and activism, data gathered from the Ethnic Studies course through student surveys and interviews was analyzed, in addition to a brief content analysis of the course reading lists. Though focusing on community engagement, political/social justice awareness, and concepts of identity, interview and survey data demonstrated significant levels of student resistance. Further research will confirm if this program fosters student activism.
ContributorsRodriguez, Felina Milagros (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper explores factors to study why the number of students in STEM are not as high as they could be. Based on both Veda and Soumya's personal experiences, factors were chosen to understand their impact on whether a high school student would choose a STEM major in their college of choice, which could lead them to having a career in STEM. The factors explored will be location, grade level, school, parent/guardian involvement, teacher involvement, media influences, and personal interest. Data was collected through surveys sent to both high school and college students. The high school data came solely from schools in the Phoenix area, whereas college students' data came from across the world. These surveys contained questions regarding all of the above factors and were crafted so that we could gain further insight into each factor without producing bias. Each factor had at least one personal experience by either Veda or Soumya. Many of the survey responses gave insight to how and why a student would decide to pursue STEM or why they did pursue STEM. The main implications derived from the study are the following: the importance of a good support network, active parent/guardian and teacher involvement, and specifically active science teacher involvement. Data from both college and high school students showed that students highly valued a science teacher. One recommendation from this thesis is to provide a training for teachers to learn about how to connect concepts they teach to real-world applications. This can be administered through the district so that they may bring in anyone they feel is qualified to teach such topics such as industry professionals or teachers who specialize in teaching STEM. The last recommendation is for parents to participate in a workshop that will inform them of how to be more involved/engaged with their student.
ContributorsPushpraj, Soumya (Co-author) / Inamdar, Veda (Co-author) / Scott, Kimberly (Thesis director) / EscontrÃÂas, Gabriel (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Technology is everywhere. It touches every industry and nearly every aspect of our lives. It is paving the way to exciting innovations, solving long-standing problems, and helping us as humans learn at a faster rate than ever before. The Tech Industry is booming, generating an ever-increasing amount of jobs within the workforce. The number of women filling these new jobs, however, has remained static – if not declined. As a female student studying Computer Information Systems, this fact has concerned me for some time and propelled me to dig deeper and get to the root of the problem. It has been no secret that there is a lack of gender equality within the technology industry. Silicon Valley – the tech hub of the United States – has time and again been accused of creating an overwhelming sense of “bro culture”. The numbers are staggeringly obvious – women are entering into the industry at a lower rate than men, women are leaving the industry at a higher rate than men, and women are not being advanced within technology-based careers at the same rate as men. My objective with this creative project was to go beyond the numbers and to understand why this gender gap is still prevalent within the industry and, more importantly, what can be done to shrink the gap. As such, I decided to put faces to the numbers by creating a documentary in which I interviewed eight diverse female professionals with varying backgrounds that are in different stages within their careers in the technology industry. I was able to get real and raw opinions, ideas, and advice from these knowledgeable women to construct my responses to these complex issues. This paper has been structured to outline and analyze the ideas and concepts generated from my interviews of these women.
ContributorsFarias, Isabella Maria (Author) / Moser, Kathleen (Thesis director) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In both historic and contemporary culture, society has created a distinct narrative surrounding solo female travel. The creation of this narrative has prevented many women from pursuing travel and outdoor recreation, despite their various benefits. Both outdoor recreation and travel in the context of female involvement carry parallels in regards to the development of a counter space. Travel cannot be properly understood without understanding outdoor recreation, since the two are so inherently intertwined. Therefore, this thesis will analyze the benefits and counter space that travel and outdoor recreation provide. It will analyze the current media narrative, why the presence of cisgender and narrow-minded stereotypes prevent women from traveling and recreating outdoors, and analyze personal anecdotes from various women to further understand counter space in travel.
ContributorsHarris, Kathryn (Author) / Bruhn, Karen (Thesis director) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Privilege is unearned advantages, access, and power reserved for a select group of people. Those that benefit from privilege manifest their power consciously and sub-consciously so as to maintain their exclusive control of the opportunities privilege affords them. The reach and power of one’s privilege rises and falls as the different social identities that one possesses intersect. Ultimately, if a society built on justice and equity is to be achieved, those with privilege must take tangible steps to acknowledge their privilege and work to end the unequal advantages and oppression that are created in order to perpetuate privilege. This thesis unpacks privilege through an autoethnographic examination of the author’s history. Through the use of creative nonfiction, personal stories become launching points to explore characteristics of privilege manifest in the author’s life which are emblematic of larger social groups that share many of the author’s social identities. The following characteristics of privilege are explored: merit, oppression, normalization, economic value, neutrality, blindness, and silence.
ContributorsBlack, Luke (Author) / Swadener, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / de la Garza, Amira (Committee member) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study aims to critically analyze how the undergraduate computing world has become highly androcentric in the past decades. This thesis seeks to take a post-structuralist stance to improving the gender disparity that deconstructs many of the logics that emphasize gender differences in computational thinking. Ethnographic, qualitative data will be used and coalesced with critical feminist theory to create a robust solution to closing the gender gap in the undergraduate computing world.
ContributorsRahman, Risa Fayeza (Author) / Navabi, Farideh (Thesis director) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Disparities in schooling in the United States have been well-documented and researched,along with pedagogies that strive to create equitable learning environments. One such
inequity is the overrepresentation of novice teachers in low-income and culturally
diverse schools. Novice teachers have been found to have lower self-efficacy and leave
the profession at a higher rate than veteran teachers. High self-efficacy beliefs have been
correlated with better student outcomes. Therefore, the overrepresentation of novice
teachers in low-income schools is yet another inequity. This mixed-methods,
phenomenological study answered the following research question: How does awareness
of Culturally Responsive Teaching affect novice teachers' self-efficacy? There are two
theories being used in this research project, Teacher Efficacy and Culturally Responsive
Teaching. The results of the study showed that attending three mindset-focused
professional developments on Culturally Responsive Teaching improved novice teachers'
self-efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom
management. Based on these promising outcomes, it is suggested that pre-service and
novice teachers be provided with Culturally Responsive instruction opportunities and
mentorship. Further research should be done with larger sample sizes and with
classroom observations.
ContributorsHargous, Kelsey (Author) / Scott, Kimberly (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023