Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item The social consequences of blood quantum in Native American communities(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2024) Young, Lyndsey Alexis; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew HermanIn the United States, many federally recognized tribes use a minimum blood quantum to determine membership. The concept of blood quantum was introduced to Native American tribes by several U.S. federal Indian policies. In recent years, several studies have detailed the impact of blood quantum policies on tribes and offer alternative membership criteria. No studies have analyzed the impact of blood quantum on individual Native Americans. Social decisions like dating, marriage, and family creation are all influenced by minimum blood quantum membership criteria. In this study, survey and interview data from enrolled and non-enrolled descendant Native Americans were used to assess the level of influence blood quantum has on these social decisions. The results of the surveys were statistically analyzed based on gender identity and enrollment status using an independent sample t-test. The study observed no significant difference in how male and female participants felt about the enrollment status of their partners and children. A significant difference in how enrolled and non-enrolled descendant participants felt about their partner being enrolled in the same tribe as themselves was found. The interviews revealed five themes that participants thought were important when considering blood quantum in social decisions. Those themes were: cultural knowledge/inheritance, benefits of enrollment, family involvement in dating, cultural compatibility, and cultural identity. For many tribes, traditional kinship systems and marriage practices require tribal members to marry outside of their kinship groups, sometimes resulting in inter-tribal marriages. One of the biggest issues posed by minimum blood quantum membership criteria is that individuals must look within their own tribe or reservation for a partner to ensure their children will be enrolled. Native American individuals are faced with the decision of either dating within the confines of blood quantum and potentially breaking traditional kinship practices or dating outside the confines of blood quantum and potentially having children who do not meet blood quantum enrollment requirements.Item What we bring with us: investigating the impact of identity and background on the online learning experience(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Dorsett, Carter Michael; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Nick LuxA student's identity and background play a significant role in their educational experiences. In higher education, these factors are often discussed while analyzing discrepancies in outcomes. However, a student's identity and background do not intrinsically affect learning outcomes; the impact that these two factors have on the student's educational experience causes discrepancies in outcomes. We have considerable research on the many ways that identity and background impact a traditional higher educational experience, but there is less research available exploring their impact on the online learning experience. Through a qualitative approach, this case study seeks to go beyond demographic- and outcome-based research to explore the core of the student experience through their own perspective. The selected case was a semester-long online graduate-level course in the Health and Human Development Field at a large research institution in the Mountain West. Data was collected through a syllabus review, observation of a live class session conducted via videoconferencing, and a semi-structured interview. Findings suggested that like in-person learning, a student's identity and background impact their feelings of community and belonging, their persistence and purpose, and their approach to learning in an online environment. Additionally, with fewer opportunities for interaction, instructors can cultivate feelings of community and belonging among their students by acknowledging the challenges associated with the course and demonstrating their support. They can also support student persistence by providing flexibility with assignments and deadlines and understanding when a student may have an outside factor impacting their ability to meet course requirements.Item First-year seminar instructor experiences: embracing an identity, an autoethnographic case study(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Blanchard, Deborah Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertScholarship about first-year seminar programs tend to focus on success outcomes related to transition to college, retention, and persistence initiatives from the student perspective rather than the faculty experience. This autoethnographic case study explored two areas of the first-year seminar instructor experience: how facilitating academic-themed, interdisciplinary first-year seminar courses impact faculty perceptions of personal and professional identity and what first-year seminar components help or hinder the FYS instructor experience. This study found that the development of the first-year seminar instructor identity begins during the application process and continues to develop and evolve as an instructor becomes more experienced. Components that help or hinder the first-year seminar instructor experience include the ability to navigate challenging topics in the curriculum well, managing classroom interactions in a positive manner, and the way that the institution supports or does not support first-year seminar instructors. Instructors found increased confidence and self-efficacy when students engaged in classroom discussion positively and when they were able to connect and support students. This study offers suggestions for programs and institutions for supporting instructors teaching first-year seminars including: clarifying the purpose, intention, and goals of the first-year seminar so instructors can clearly articulate that for students, support faculty-student connection by elevating the role of first-year seminar instructors institutionally, creating opportunities for instructors to engage with one another in faculty learning communities and in relation to the campus more broadly, and providing adequate training and support so first-year seminar instructors can successfully support student transition to college.Item Disrupting American identity through the lens of the Pacific: essays from Hawai'i on belonging, invading and surviving(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Greene, Deborah Walsh; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Susan KollinThe cooptation of Native Hawaiian Culture along with colonialism, settler privilege and distorted perceptions have reshaped the lands of Kanaka creating what activist and scholar Haunani-Kay Trask calls "a postcard image" of the place. Through a series of case studies that draw on feminist, Indigenous, and historical sources and using auto-theory as a method to examine personal experiences of place, this project analyzes the danger of fantasy as it plays out in geography, culture, family, and what it means to be American. In doing so, this dissertation foregrounds the complex relationship between the US and Hawai'i, moving beyond the popular fantasy of a tropical vacation destination to reveal how settler desires are often informed and shaped by larger nation building practices. Weaving together memoir with academic scholarship, this project examines the way in which settlers in the 1970s often depicted Hawai'i as a paradise that provided them the means for developing an "extraordinary" life, regardless of whether they were welcome there or not. This dissertation is multifaceted, highlighting the counterculture of the 1970s, the complex stories that tell about various families that worked and made lives for themselves in Hawai'i and the risk of using an imagined place to construct an idea of self that relies on notions of authenticity. To counter these misunderstandings, this dissertation foregrounds the autonomy and the resistance of Hawaiian sovereigns in the 1800s and what Kanaka are still doing today to combat the rampant spread of tourism and exploitation of the islands' resources by outside entities.Item Re-conceptualizing graduate student cross-cultural socialization: a novel strength-based perspective(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2022) Brazill, Shihua Chen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Carrie B. Myers; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Much of the existing literature on graduate education comes from a deficit perspective, which is problematic because it blames individual failure on family background, language, or lack of cultural knowledge. Given the pervasive nature of systemic racism, this deficit model is a classic "blame the victim" approach. Instead, my three-article dissertation emphasized the strengths that graduate students bring with them and develop on their journey. The unifying theme is the focus on cross-cultural socialization through a strength-based perspective. Collectively, findings from these studies cohere around this strength-based approach. The three articles employ various epistemological, theoretical, and methodological perspectives to contribute to understanding and supporting graduate students' cross-cultural socialization experiences. Throughout the dissertation, I explored important cross-cultural socialization constructs such as cultural congruity, academic confidence, peer, faculty, and institutional interactions, cultural capital, cultural strengths, and multiple identities. The first article relied on a critical quantitative lens to examine the cultural congruity and academic confidence of AI/AN students. Our results found elevated levels of cultural congruity among those students who reported more favorable peer interactions, but the simultaneous experiences of mentor's cultural support and university environment fit did not reveal such an influence. Students reported greater levels of academic confidence in the presence of mentor's cultural support and university environment fit but not for peer influence. We situated the findings within prior research and identified where universities, peers, and mentors can provide cultural support, inspire academic confidence, and further enhance well-being through honoring the cultural strengths of AI/AN students. The second article was a qualitative study that used narrative inquiry to understand the cross-cultural socialization experiences of three Chinese international doctoral students. My findings suggest that Chinese international doctoral students use various forms of cultural capital (aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistance) as leverage in their cross- cultural socialization journey. The third research article was another narrative inquiry study that built upon the second study to further understand Chinese international doctoral students' cross- cultural socialization experience. My findings suggested that cultural strengths helped to empower Chinese international doctoral students and develop their personal, social, cultural, and professional identities.Item Intersectional identity: factors impacting student odds of first semester STEM major declaration(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2023) Jacobs, Jonathan Daniel; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lauren DavisThough there is a large amount of literature on those who graduate from college with STEM degrees, there is a dearth of literature involving intersectional identity of college freshman who are considering entering STEM majors. This study seeks to begin the process of meeting the gaps in research. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:2009) were analyzed using logistic regression; using listwise deletion, intersectional identities which impact odds of student declaring a STEM major were identified. Student race and ethnicity, student sex, student socio-economic status, teacher race and ethnicity, teacher sex, science utility, science interest, science self-efficacy, and science identity were the components of intersectional identity for this study. Student race, student socio-economic status, science self-efficacy, and science identity were statistically significant factors that increased student odds of entering college with as STEM degree (p<0.001). Students who were Asian had a statistically significant increase in odds over White students to enter college with a STEM degree. All other aspects of identity were not statistically significant. More research is needed in this field to gain a deeper understanding of how intersectional identity impacts a students' odds of declaring a STEM majors their first semester in college.Item Real Indians making real art: how indigenous artists struggle for creative sovereignty and identity in the contemporary art world and market(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Aspensen, Ceilon Hall; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter FlemingThe problem presented is that Indigenous artists have been excluded from mainstream art venues and limited to exhibition in museums that only include collections of Indigenous art primarily limited to the pre-1890s era. Not having Native American artists' work regularly on display in contemporary art museums makes a powerful statement about the validity of contemporary Indigeneous art. This also limits the ability of Indigenous artists to exercise sovereignty over their own work and careers, by limiting their access to mainstream exhibition venues. Many modern Indigenous artists have found their work not taken seriously because of their ethnic identity and the expectations of the field of reception concerning the style of Native American art. Some contemporary Indigenous artists struggle to make a living creating the kind of art they choose to make, despite the general popularity of their work, because of these expectations. Limitations on marketability come from the modern art market itself and collectors who think of Indigenous art from an erroneous definition of 'traditional,' or from local tribal pressures to create only art that preserves the traditional culture of the tribe. The methods employed in this study were two-fold: an investigation of museum practices and available literature on contemporary Indigenous art, and interviews with eleven indigenous artists which served as case studies, employing a central tenet of CRT (Critical Race Theory) by which BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) people are able to tell their own stories. The results of this investigation are the identification, and legitimization of contemporary indigenous art by Indigenous artists residing in the northern plains, through legal definitions, cultural and ethnic identities, individual artistic identities, and traditional and contemporary art production practices. It also explores how genealogies of concepts as they relate to indigneous art, as well as cultural reception, contribute to diffusing theories of art history where indigenous art is concerned. The author demonstrates and concludes through the findings of this study that the work of modern Indigenous artists qualifies as contemporary art by any definition, and that style is irrelevant when making that determination.Item Toward a learning orientation: the impact of design thinking pedagogy on creative identity formation in the first-year experience(Montana State University - Bozeman, The Graduate School, 2022) Konkel, Margaret Thomas; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ann Ewbank; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Education and identity are connected in important ways, especially during college. College students inhabit an in-between state, having gained independence from their parents but not yet committed in other capacities. College students emerge into adulthood through identity exploration and optimism about their future while feeling the instability and self-focus of an in-between place. Creativity, and the problem-solving behaviors associated with it, may play a role in supporting college students through this developmental stage. The three studies in this dissertation examine the impact of design thinking pedagogy on creative identity formation in first-year experience programs. The central question of the studies is how students' experience with creativity and problem-solving early in the college experience can encourage design mindset development and support creative identity formation through the intentional integration of design thinking pedagogy. Three pedagogical models of first-year courses using design thinking at three institutions formed the context for the studies. Two methods were employed: qualitative interviews engaged students in meta-cognitive reflection on experiences and outcomes gained; and a survey assessing design thinking mindsets was administered. The model for creative identity formation drawn from the qualitative analysis indicates that students form creative identity through individually-tailored mixing of creative thinking actions and attitudes cultivated by the course experience. Flexibility and symphony are creative thinking actions that engage students intellectually with creative problem-solving, while agency, authenticity, and delight embrace the development of creative identity. Survey analysis demonstrates three clusters of design mindsets that support the impact of creative identity formation in higher education: openness to diverse perspectives and learning orientation share high mean factor scores across all three institutions, underlining first year experience goals; strong correlations between experimentation -- productive failure, optimism, tolerance of ambiguity, and problem framing support key design approaches; and learning orientation, desire to make a difference, and optimism align with guiding theories of emerging adulthood. Results from the studies support the integration of creativity, creative problem-solving, and design thinking in the first-year, to encourage the development of attitudes and mindsets that support the learning and identity-formation experience of college.Item Engineering leader identity development through reflexive instruction(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2021) Tallman, Brett Pierson; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Bill Schell and Bryce Hughes (co-chair)Recent developments in engineering education have prioritized focus on developing leadership as a professional skill. Despite widespread efforts, indications are that the effectiveness of skill-based training is mixed, at best. One approach that has demonstrated promise is using identity as a lens for understanding leadership development. Its impact on engineering leadership is relatively unexplored. This research strives to contribute to the field by measuring leader identity development due to instruction that leverages the lens of identity. In addition, the research explored the influence of engineering leadership construct (i.e., how students think about engineering leadership) and student class year on leader identity. A retrospective post-test measure was used to assess student leadership beliefs. Qualitative data (student essays, for example) supported interpretation of the quantitative data. Results indicate that short-term reflexive instruction (focusing on values, language, reflection, and group work) significantly increases leader identity and changes leadership construct. Moreover, the perceived relationship between engineering and leadership is a significant predictor of leader identity. These findings provide a promising first look at the operationalization of an identity-based approach to engineering leadership development, as well as the relationship between leader identity and one's understanding of engineering leadership.Item Neither here nor there(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2020) Marian Albin, Cristina Simona; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sara MastTraditional rites of passage are losing value today or are forced to take new forms, sometimes at a rapid pace. Inevitable events instantly and actively change our personal, societal and global life. Neither Here Nor There examines mental and physical liminal spaces. My aim is to define the concept, etymology and history of liminality, while exploring its relevance in our modern world. Included as part of this paper, images from my current body of work chronicle different transitional environments, both aesthetically and emotionally. The original concept of liminality, as described by earlier theorists, no longer holds the same meaning. Transitory experiences become perpetual, some occurring at the same time, some repeating. A liminal space can sometimes metamorphose into a home. In this thesis I am addressing several questions of liminality: What are the attributes of liminality and how does it reshape our identity? How do we navigate unsettling unknowns when the ground under our feet seems to constantly shift? During the writing of this paper, the novel virus COVID-19 hit the world, resulting in fear, stress, anxiety, chaos, and changes. However, the crisis also brought with it flexibility, creativity, collaboration, and resilience. New forms of ritual are being born every second.
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