Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item INTERSECTIONAL EXPLORATION OF BLACK MEN’S GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND EXPRESSIONS(2024) Moore, Daniel K.; Worthington, Roger L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Gender identities and expressions of men from minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds often differ from those outlined in Traditional Masculinity Ideologies (TMI). These differences have been highlighted by scholars who have advocated for intersectional approaches to exploring masculinities. Recent intersectional inquiries into Black masculinity and Black manhood have provided insights into the unique expression of masculinity Black men have developed. This study sought to extend the understanding of existing intersectional explorations of Black manhood and Black masculinity through qualitative inquiry. Additionally, it attended to the impact of religion, spirituality, and sexual orientation in its analysis of Black men’s intersectional identity development and expression. Findings indicated that Black men often described their experiences in terms of either race or gender, but rarely in terms of intersectional identity. A theory of racialized gender identity development and expression for Black men is posited based on the integration of extant theories of racial and gender identity development, ego identity development, as well as intersectional approaches to stereotyping and prejudice. Implications for research and practice are provided.Item Reimagining Black Carceral Masculinities and Community Care Work: A Study of Credible Messengers in the Nation’s Capital(2024) Martinez, Rod; Ray, Rashawn; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The following dissertation examines a group of community workers known as credible messengers in Washington, D.C. Credible messengers have lived experience surviving carceral systems such as prisons and environments and have transformed their lives to guide, relate to, and support others who share their backgrounds. Their credibility stems directly from their intimate knowledge of the communities they serve. This dissertation project draws on qualitative interviews with male credible messengers from a more considerable multi-year evaluation of a newly implemented credible messenger program housed in a youth agency. Sociologically, the project explores Black carceral masculinities and mentoring as civic engagement. The findings reveal how men resist and challenge prevailing notions around hegemonic and carceral masculinities through their racially gendered experiences, which shape how they approach their work with youth. The study also suggests that the men engage in credible messenger work for motivations other than redemption and in service of a larger mission to Black youth and their local communities. The dissertation project also includes a conversation with a formerly incarcerated public figure from Washington, D.C., as a call to action to researchers and others to uplift the experience of impacted people and communities. The dissertation project concludes with a set of recommendations aimed at policy and practice as it relates to criminalized Black men and boys.Item Navigating a Relational Bind: Black and Latino Emergent Adult Men’s Negotiation of their Relational Needs in a Masculine Context(2024) Hedelund, Adam Jens; Roy, Kevin; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Emergent adulthood is a period of discovery and transition for humans aged 18 to 29 that often requires many practical as well as relational resources. Black and Latino emergent adult men from low socioeconomic backgrounds often navigated through this time period through alternate pathways because of a lack of resources. They may have also experienced substantial stress in childhood that prompted the reliance on hegemonic masculinity as a guide for how to cope with these stressors. This study sought to examine how Black and Latino emergent adult men negotiated their relational needs and abilities within the context of their masculine identities. Using semi-structured life history interviews, Black and Latino young men were interviewed from two youth development centers in the Washington DC/Baltimore area. Findings suggested that the impact of the provider role as adultified children, as well as exposure to violence, increased the participant’s likelihood of hegemonic masculine disconnection from family and friends in emergent adulthood. However, this disconnection was often complicated given their human desire for closeness and support as well as obligations to family members. This complexity was conceptualized as a type of relational bind. Participants used a variety of strategies to resolve this bind that often left them more isolated.Item Fathering After Incarceration: Navigating the Return of Young, Black Men to Families, Jobs & Communities(2017) Hart, John Rennie; Roy, Kevin M.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Incarceration, and reentry after incarceration, is the most common experience for young, low-income Black men across their life course (Tierny, 2014). While most Black men work, go to school, get married and start families, others, especially those who are low-income are at a higher risk to experience incarceration. As a result, incarceration challenges these men’s ability to reconnect with social institutions such as work, school, and marriage post release. More importantly, incarceration separates these men from their families for extended periods of time. This dissertation utilized social ecological theory and life course theory to examine the lives and families of these Black fathers. I recruited 40 incarcerated fathers for life history interviews in a local department of corrections, and I analyzed how incarceration re-arranged the lives of these men as well as the development of their children, and how men reentered their families and communities after incarceration.Item Peer Homicide and Traumatic Loss: An Examination of Homicide Survivorship among Low-Income, Young, Black Men(2013) Smith, Jocelyn R.; Roy, Kevin M.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Community violence remains a critical public health concern in the United States and a chronic threat to the well-being of boys and men of color. Homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males ages 15-34 (CDC, 2011). This health disparity simultaneously places them at risk for experiencing the traumatic loss of a peer and becoming homicide survivors. The likelihood that Black youth will have someone close murdered is 7.8 times that of Whites (Finkelhor et al., 2005), and previous research evidences significant mental and behavioral health consequences for surviving loved ones of homicide victims (Hertz et al., 2005; Zinzow et al., 2009). However, insufficient attention has been paid to experiences of surviving youth in urban contexts, and the experiences of Black male homicide survivors have been almost entirely overlooked. Grounded in a Life Course Perspective (Elder & Giele, 2009), this study used an ethnographic approach, including life history calendar methods, to investigate the lived experiences of young, Black male survivors of peer homicide in low-income, urban contexts. Specifically, this study examined: 1) how the context of place shaped young men's exposures to violence, traumatic loss, and perceptions of safety and vulnerability; 2) the frequency and timing of peer homicide(s) across the life course; and, 4) survivors' grief, coping, and recovery strategies and processes. In-depth interviews and field observations were conducted with 40 young, Black men (ages 18-24) in Baltimore City, Maryland. Data were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach and the data were coded in three waves: open, axial, and selective. Study findings indicate that chronic and unpredictable violence in young men's Baltimore neighborhoods constantly positioned them vulnerable to witnessing, experiencing, surviving, or dying from violence. Young men on average survived three homicide deaths across the life course, revealing the disparity of traumatic loss among this group. A contextually relevant, trauma-informed framework of homicide survivorship emerged from participant narratives of grief, vulnerability, coping, and recovery. These findings indicate peer homicide and traumatic loss as multidimensional threats to healthy transitions to adulthood for young Black men, and present implications for multilevel systems research, prevention practice, and policy development.Item "What is a Black Man Without His Paranoia?" : Clinical Depression and the Politics of African American Anxieties Toward Emotional Vulnerability(2009) Stewart, Tyrone Anthony; Parks, Sheri L; American Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In an interview after his departure from television and a rumored "breakdown," the comedian Dave Chappelle asked Oprah Winfrey, "What is a black man without his paranoia?" This question forms the crux of a dissertation which addresses African Americans' attitudes toward clinical depression, in general, and black men's anxieties toward emotional vulnerability, in specific. Using the concept of "paranoia" as an indicator of a healthy skepticism toward medical authority, this dissertation deconstructs the concept of depression as a discursive construct and moves it out of the bounds of science and into the precincts of cultural emotion theory. Opting for theory over science, this dissertation argues against the erasure of social and cultural narratives and explores how race and gender can inform our interpretation of depression. Using textual readings, historical comparison, and ethnography, this dissertation examines the politics involved in addressing the emotionality of black men. It is concerned with how definitions of blackness, manhood, crisis, worth, and belonging impact black men's understandings of emotional wellness and inform African Americans' attitudes toward the emotional performances of black men. Two popular books on African American's mental health (Black Rage by William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs (1968) and Black Pain by Terri Williams (2008)) are examined within their respective historical and social contexts to track the changing cultural discourse on African Americans' mental health and the role of gender in understanding narratives of wellness. And concepts family, labor, and responsibility are explored as implicit elements in black men's attainment of manhood in a comparative examination of the Sanitation Workers Strike (1968) and the Million Man March (1995).