Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Locating the transgender other: alterity in 21st century America(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Medicine Horse, Cassidy Anne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew HermanDiscussions directed toward amending past stigmatizations associated with transgender identity have expanded in the 21st-century. Contemporary debates concerning the sociocultural pariah of mid-20th-century America have swung wide the doors of denounced identity. As this has happened, a more extensive text has emerged concerning the notion of alterity. Designators of non-binary gender expanded during the middle of the last century and grew to include ideas of anti-nationalism, civil disruption, and sexual perversion. A plethora of politically motivated social agendas resulted in scholarship that did not keep up with contemporary realities. Perpetrated distortions of the 'trans-other' have disaffiliated more than 1.5 million American citizens. Dramatic increases in 'hate crimes' and a striking disparity in transgender suicide rates present a worrisome illustration of trans-alterity. This treatise centers on how the location of transgender Story has shifted and revealed new ways of discussing gender distinctiveness. There is an opportunity for a scholarship to develop that incorporates the history of trans-exclusion with contemporary advances in technology. Stories of the trans-subject are instantly communicated, and knowledge of the past acts to eliminate transgender alterity. The art of telling stories is an underutilized tool of scholarship. Trans-emergence is a story about contemporary reality and recording knowledge about the history of a marginalized culture. By looking back, it is possible to see a future that does not merely re-theorize or restate a call for inclusion but informs scholars that society is experiencing a 'Transgender Renaissance.'Item My dildo called Nicaragua: rewriting cultural mythos(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Benton, Sonja Annalise; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Linda KarellThis, more than anything, is a retelling of a story. It is a retelling of being an activist, a cancer victim, a writer, a student, a teacher, and an American. It is a new mythology of the classroom, the university, of the creation of language. I draw on Gloria Anzaldúa and Audre Lorde, and countless others, to guide a new conception of how to move in the world, how to become, and how to rewrite the myths that have been told about us. I hoped to create an answer and precedent for my own experience and shed new light on the work of 80s intersectional feminists as a guide for activism in the 2010s and 2020s to come. Its success as a paper depends on those who do work in the future, on the guidance it manages or doesn't manage to provide to others. I will never know how this work concludes, since it is just a continuation of previous work meant to help fork into new continuations in the future. It is the drawing of a map that was already partially drawn, and that is nowhere near finished yet. It is a call for more people willing to draw.Item Summer camp's color line: racialized landscapes and the struggle for integration, 1890-1950(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Hardin, Amanda Suzanne; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Billy SmithThough seldom discussed in the larger struggle for African American equality, the ideological and physical exclusion of people of color from outdoor spaces reveals the pervasive, and insidiously widespread nature of white supremacy in the United States. The common historical narrative of the American outdoors focuses on prominent white male figures, such as John Muir or Theodore Roosevelt. This study interrogates the largely unexamined intersections of race and outdoor recreation during the first half of the twentieth century through examining the archival records of three integration-focused summer camps: the Union Settlement Association, the Wiltwyck School for Boys, and Camp Atwater. Analysis of these archives complicates the historiographical concept of 'outdoor recreation' by revealing its connection with white supremacist mentalities and demonstrating the ways in which some people resisted the black-white, urban-nature binary that emerged during this ea. The stories of these camps illuminate more diverse perspectives about the outdoors, and add to an underdeveloped body of research on nonwhite perspectives about recreating in 'natural' environments. By centering these marginalized voices, this scholarship will contribute to future research about similar topics.Item The erosion of the racial frontier: settler colonialism and the history of black Montana, 1880-1930(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Wood, Anthony William; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mark FiegeFrom 1880-1910, Montana was home to one of the most vibrant and diverse African American communities in the Rocky Mountain West. By the onset of World War II, however, the black population had fallen by over fifty percent, and Montana was well on its way to being the least black state in the US by the twenty-first century. In The Erosion of the Racial Frontier, I argue that scholars of African American studies and the American West must consider the sedimented afterlife of US settler colonialism if those fields are to articulate a distinctly western narrative of African American history. My approach draws on colonial and settler colonial theories to examine the history of African Americans in Montana from 1880-1930. As a non-indigenous, non-white, community of color--or what Lorenzo Veracini would call 'subaltern exogenous others'--black westerners fall into an uncertain space in settler colonial theory. As an ongoing structure, settler colonialism continues after the violent appropriation of Indigenous lands appears to culminate. The thesis of The Erosion of the Racial Frontier is two-fold: The logic of settlement together with the logic of anti-blackness created distinctly western categories of racial exclusion that is evident in the archive of black Montana. This western, colonial racism acted as an erosive force across the state, targeting the stability and place identity of western black communities. Moreover, the society that developed in tandem with colonial erosion necessarily continues to live with the sedimented afterlife of settler colonialism. As such, the history of Black Montana can be understood as individual and collective experiences of thousands of black Montanans struggling against and subverting the settler colonial project in western North America.Item Double secret probation, bias, and equity: a university conduct review(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2018) Kaminski, Katherine Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertBias issues in this country are real. Individuals are not treated equally and equitably because of their identities, their values, and their choices. This bias happens in places of employment, in the criminal justice system, in every day interactions and conversations. Bias is real, whether implicit or explicit, and too often compassion and equity seem to fall to the background when determining what is right and how we treat others or hold them accountable. Recent literature has found inequities in how k-12 students as well as the individuals in the criminal justice system are proportionally misrepresented by race and gender, with students of color suspended at a rate far greater than their white peers. Turning to higher education, media accounts suggest students who take part in university athletics or fraternities/sororities may receive preferential treatment. This could be because of monetary incentives from donors and alums of these organizations to the university or money that comes into the community and university because of athletic events. Therefore, the student conduct system at universities must also be investigated to determine if 'double secret probation' exists only on the movie screen or inequities in disciplinary consequences are indeed present. From a pragmatic perspective, the goal of this study was to understand the degree to which possible biases in higher education discipline systems exist and use that understanding to inform future practice. Through quantitative analyses, four years of discipline data from two public institutions were investigated to determine if students were suspended at a rate proportionate to the population by gender, race, affiliation with athletics or the fraternity/sorority system, as well as an overall violation 'score' based on their complete conduct history. Analysis showed that men and students of color were represented at higher rates in the suspension population than they were in the overall violation population. Controlling for all other predictor variables, gender, race, and a student's complete discipline record combined to create a violation 'score,' were all found to be statistically significant. There is still a lot of work to do in higher education, and specifically as a result of this study, in working with university conduct systems to realize and understand their implicit biases so that they and administrators may create and contribute to an environment in higher education where all students are treated equitably within the system.Item The aging workplace(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Business, 1998) Schulz, Deborah; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Norman L. MillikinProblem Statement: The major purpose of this study was to discover the nature of the attitudes of Gallatin County employers toward older workers. Questions to be answered: 1. Are employers open minded in their hiring practices? 2. Do employers use language in advertising for employment opportunities that discourages older workers from applying? 3. Must older employees constantly try to combat stereotypes and attitudes of other employees or their supervisors in the workplace? 4. Are older employees given the same opportunities for growth and development as other employees? 5. Is there a difference in the way male and female are treated? 6. Does working in Bozeman, Montana have greater or lesser opportunities for the aging worker than in other communities?Item A mid depth study of the career education and career choice implemented by Hardin High School for the benefit of its students as a whole and subdividing this group into its approximate 80 percent white and 20 percent Crow Indian divisions, taking into account the cultural and linguistic problems presented by the native American Indian group along with the overt pressures exerted by government and the covert pressures of white society, with a concluding presentation that will provide, in essence, a composite and true reflection of this particular situation and then will draw conclusions and suggested recommendations that will assist either directly or indirectly in cracking this nut, as projected in semi-professional educatorese with a variable allowance for the upbringing of the author on the low ebb of the socio-economic tide of life or hey baby, are we doing the job?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Professional Schools, 1974) Moran, Patrick J.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Norman L. MillikinAfter completing a Career Education Institute administered by Dr. Cliff Helling at Montana State University, the writer determined in his own mind that there was a need to do research with the students at Hardin High School, where he is employed. He set out to see if this school was doing an adequate job of aiding students in making their career choice. The problem was further broken down to see if both Indian and white students were provided equal opportunities of pursuing the career of their choice.Item Educational and demographic changes in secondary vocational agriculture and home economics in Montana as a result of Title IX(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1979) Shelhamer, Clinton Van; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Max L. AmbersonItem The effectiveness of Title IX information dissemination to elementary and secondary schools within Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1977) May, JanDeeItem Redlining in Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2006) Schumacher, Joel Brent; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Vincent H. SmithRedlining is the practice of using the attributes of geographic location of a mortgage loan as the basis for differential and typically adverse treatment of an application. This is a particularly important social problem in the home mortgage market due to benefits which have been shown to be correlated with home ownership. Minority and low income applicants may find redlining to be a major barrier to obtaining home ownership and the benefits associated with being a home owner. This thesis uses a data set collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to examine the mortgage market in Montana. A major focus is the effects of redlining on Montana's American Indian populations many of whom face substantial housing problems. A theoretical model is developed as a framework for the empirical section of this thesis. The empirical results of this study indicate variables that directly affect the expected return of a loan are relevant to the lending decision. Other variables that do not directly affect the expected return of loan are also found to be important to the lending decision, suggesting that either economic or taste-based discrimination may be occurring. In particular, other things being equal, American Indians are approximately 8 to 10 percent more likely to have a mortgage application denied than are non-American Indians. In addition, regardless of ethnicity, applicants located on reservations are approximately 4 percent more likely to have their mortgage applications denied. These results indicate that American Indians may be subject to economic discrimination in which their ethnic profile is used as an indicator of the expected return for a mortgage loan. Further, the study provides some evidence that property rights in tribal reservations are less well defined than elsewhere, partly because of the vagaries of tribal courts under which these rights are adjudicated and enforced.