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 A MULTI-CASE STUDY EXPLORATION OF THE MOTIVATIONS AND RACIALIZED EXPERIENCES OF MULTIRACIAL WOMEN IN MONORACIAL SORORITIES AT A PREDOMINATELY WHITE INSTITUTION(2020) Snider, Jeanette Cristine; Fries-Britt, Sharon L.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore the motivations and experiences of Multiracial women in monoracial sororities at a predominately white institution. Utilizing a multi-case study methodological approach and a Critical Multiracial Theory lens, the major research questions guiding this study were: What motivates Multiracial women to join and stay in monoracial sororities at a predominately white institution? What are the racialized experiences of Multiracial women in monoracial sororities at a predominately white institution? Through a demographic questionnaire and individual semi-structured interviews with twelve Multiracial women attending the same predominately white institution, participants identified various motivating factors for joining their respective sororities and the racialized experiences they endured as members. Findings indicated that Multiracial women across sorority councils were motivated by monoracial women, racially diverse chapters and a desire for sisterhood while women in National Panhellenic Council/Multicultural Greek Council (NPHC/MGC) sororities indicated a desire to maintain or build stronger connections to one of their racial heritages through cultural Greek letter affiliation. Participants in Panhellenic Association (PHA) sororities explicitly or implicitly expressed the following racialized experiences: (a) Multiracial erasure (being forgotten), (b) a need to cultivate Women of Color only spaces and feeling pressure to conform to white standards of beauty. Participants across sorority councils felt tokenized by their organization. The findings from this study contributes to our understanding of the complex ways Multiracial women students navigate their collegiate environments and their unique experiences at a predominately white institution. Implications for theory, policy, practice and the institution, as well as recommendations for future research are presented.Item Cooking with Mama Kim: The Legacy of Korean Women (Re)Defining Cultural Authenticity(2018) Sprague, Justin; Bolles, Augusta L; Kim, Seung-kyung; Women's Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)What is considered “authentically Korean,” how those concepts are imagined, and in what ways authenticity is constructed through the vehicles of food and Korean motherhood is the core focus of this dissertation project. This study employs visual and discourse analysis, utilizing historical archives, vlog personalities, cookbooks, web portals, and various forms of food branding and packaging. Within the interdisciplinary field of Food Studies, the conversation regarding authenticity is a fundamental one, with varying work being performed to examine what and how it is employed, and who/what are the gatekeepers that determine the parameters for something as “authentic.” The intervention into this conversation is to explore the ways that authenticity as a theoretical model has intersectional, subjective, or adaptive, potential. This entails employing the term “plastic authenticity,” which is a model of authenticity that favors the positioning of non-normative bodies (i.e., multiracial and diasporic) as brokers of cultural authenticity. In the end, this dissertation contributes to scholarship in Women’s Studies, Food Studies, and Ethnic Studies by pushing the boundaries of how cultural/racial authenticity is constructed, and the ways that women and food have direct impacts as gatekeepers on this process. Analyses range from a historical timeline of Korean immigration to the U.S. with a focus on Korean women, an analysis of a popular YouTube chef, Maangchi, and her employments of the concept of authenticity, analysis of Korean food branding strategies and their claims of authentic Korean food in the U.S., and the website analysis of a mixed-race Korean community to explore the ways that authenticity is invoked by persons not traditionally deemed “authentically Korean.” This research is critical, as it expands the field of research in Korean Studies to not only focus on women and mixed-race Koreans as historical objects, but as active agents in cultural production, meaning-making, and history writing.Item SOCIAL INVALIDATION: AN INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT STUDY(2015) Franco, Marisa Gina; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Social invalidation, the denial of an individual’s racial identity, is a pervasive racial stressor with harmful effects on the mental health and well-being of Multiracial individuals; however, a sufficient measure of this construct has yet to developed. The purpose of this study was to create a psychometrically sound measure to assess social invalidation for use with Multiracial individuals. Four studies were conducted to assess the measure’s psychometric properties with a total of 497 Multiracial adults. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four Social Invalidation factors: Identity Rejection, Phenotype Invalidation, Behavior Invalidation, and Identity Incongruent Discrimination. A confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the initial factor structure. The validity and reliability of the measure, along with its limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications are discussed.Item The Impact of Racial Identity on the Educational Experiences of Multiracial, College Undergraduates(2015) Harris, Corenne Marie; Brown, Tara; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While the impact of racial identity on students' educational experiences has been studied for years, there has been little such research focused on multiracial individuals. The purpose of this study is to explore how racial identity has shaped the educational experiences of multiracial undergraduates, particularly in their transition to college. Transitioning into college from high school, which often requires entering a very different social and educational environment, can be life changing for students, and racial identity can play a role in how students interact and identify with other students as well as teachers. An interview based qualitative methodology was used to explore the educational experiences of four multiracial undergraduate students. Individual face-to-face interviews were used to learn about the four participants' experiences. Focusing on multiracial students, who are often left out of the discussion when talking about the impact racial identity has on various educational experiences, will contribute to research on the relationship between racial identity and education. Study findings showed that the participants experienced few, if any, negative effects on their educational experiences, due to their racial identity or how others perceived them, racially. Overall, participants felt that being multiracial was an advantage in terms of connecting with a diverse group of peers in school settings.Item Challenges and Resilience in the Lives of Multiracial Adults: the Development and Validation of a Measure(2008-01-22) Salahuddin, Nazish; O'Brien, Karen M.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate the Multiracial Challenges and Resilience Scale (MCRS). The MCRS is a measure of the types of challenges (i.e., Others' Surprise/Disbelief Reactions, Lack of Family Acceptance/Understanding, Multiracial Discrimination, Feelings of Disconnection from Family and Friends) and resilience (i.e., Appreciation of Human Differences, Multiracial Pride) experienced by Multiracial adults. Participants (N = 317) included a national sample of individuals who identified their biological parents as representing two or more different racial groups. All participants resided in large metropolitan areas within the continental United States at the time of data collection. Data were collected through the use of an internet survey containing the MCRS and measures used to assess convergent and discriminant validity. Internal consistency estimates of subscales ranged from .76 to .83. Convergent validity was supported through positive relations of the Challenge subscales with depression and positive relations of the Resilience scales with self-esteem. Discriminant validity was supported through the absence of correlations between the Challenges scales and Orderliness and lack of relationship between the Resilience scales and Social Desirability. Directions for future research and the limitations of this study are discussed.