Browsing by Subject "intersectionality"
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Item An Intersectional Approach to Assimilation and Mental Health among Mexican-origin Women in the United States(2014-12-09) Garcia, San Juanita E.Anti-immigrant sentiment against Mexicans in the United States has had a dramatic influence on the lives of the Mexican-origin population (or those presumed Mexican) and on how they perceive the host society. Until now, little research has addressed the extent to which this hostility has affected their mental health. Drawing on 90 face-to-face interviews with undocumented, documented, and U.S.-born Mexican American women from Houston, Texas, I adopt an intersectional approach to examine how a negative context of reception shapes their susceptibility to depressive symptoms. There are four major findings. First, undocumented Mexican immigrant women experience a deportation threat directly. They experience: constant fear of deportation; family fragmentation; and economic uncertainty, making them susceptible to depressive symptoms. Second, the consequences of undocumented status extend beyond the undocumented population to the Mexican-origin community (or those that appear to be Mexicans) through what I call undocumented vicariousness. Therefore, both documented Mexican immigrant and Mexican American women experience a deportation threat indirectly, also making them susceptible to depressive symptoms. Third, documented Mexican immigrant women experience undocumented vicariousness if they have: mixed-status families; and/or experiential knowledge having once been undocumented immigrants themselves. Mexican American women experience undocumented vicariousness if they have: mixed-status families; a romantic partner or husband that is undocumented; and/or identify with the immigrant plight. The major differences between how undocumented vicariousness plays out for these two groups relates to the: lack of dating/marriage partners that are undocumented for the documented Mexican immigrant women compared to the Mexican American women; and the experiential knowledge associated with Mexican Americans not living as undocumented immigrants themselves. Fourth, a racialization process exists where immigrants, regardless of legal status, nativity and ties with the undocumented community, are perceived and treated as undocumented immigrants. This contributes towards how Mexican-origin women negotiate and understand their intersectional identities, feelings of belonging, and exclusion, particularly in today?s deportation regime and anti-immigrant climate. These findings highlight the salience of undocumented status as another marker of inequality and stratification and add to the growing interest on ?illegality? and its impacts on mental health disparities by using an intersectionality approach.Item Hooperchicks: Black Women, College Basketball and Identity Negotiation(2014-08-14) Clay, CharityThis project used in depth interviews with Black women who played Division I college basketball from1997-2007 to elucidate how they developed their racial, gender and athletic identities during adolescence, and how those identities are performed within the role of student athlete. My research shows that there are specific factors attributed the cultural significance basketball has in the black community and the increased visibility of women?s basketball during my participants? adolescence that position basketball as a reference group of Black women?s empowerment. I call my participants ?Black woman hoopers? to represent the conflation of race, gender and athletic identity. The qualities of Black woman hoopers include but are not limited to: strong work ethic, perseverance, value of teamwork/sisterhood, and self-confidence. Investigating my participants? college experiences at predominately white institutions revealed the following themes: the importance of having Black teammates and coaches to provide mentoring; exacerbated racial battle fatigue for participants with primarily white teammates and coaches; the development of a community of support extending beyond their teammates and coaches; and how the larger community of Black woman hoopers transcends individual teams and exists as a space for a wide array of representations of Black womanhood not constrained by Eurocentric standards of beauty and femininity. Framing inquiries into my participants? experiences after their college careers with the 2007 Don Imus incident in which he called women on the predominately Black Rutgers University women?s basketball team, ?Nappy headed hoes? revealed the extent to which my participants understood the negative perceptions of Black woman hoopers. It also allowed them to reflect on ways that their experiences as Black woman hoopers have equipped them to deal with similar stereotypes that exist in their current career fields. This research combats the silence of Black women athletes? voices and presents Basketball as a unique space where Black women, because they comprise a majority at elite levels, can celebrate and build solidarity that include the spectrum of representations of Black womanhood that extend beyond athletics.Item Visibly Invisible: Uncovering Identity for African American Women at an Academically Selective University(2013-07-31) Crear, Shelah FlowersUsing intersectionality as the theoretical framework, this study examined the identity development of African American women attending an academically selective university. Much of the extant literature on African American college women was either not identity focused or did not speak to the experiences of those students situated in these highly competitive academic environments. A qualitative research approach and case study analysis was utilized for this study. This included the use of photographs and photo-elicitation interviewing to actively engage the study?s participants in the process of sharing their identity development and to place their voice and how they make meaning of their complex identities as primary. Examining both their pre-college and in-college experiences, this study looked closely at the impact of family, peer groups, society, internal messages, and the academically selective university setting on the participants? identity development. While the women in the study enter college viewing identity as largely fixed, the collegiate context played an important role in facilitating their identity evolution. This study outlined the growth process as these participants shifted their understanding of identity from fixed to fluid or from invisible to visible. Implications for this research include the need for colleges and universities to better address the holistic needs of African American female students, especially at their identity intersections. Additional areas for research include reconceptualizing college student identity development to incorporate more holistic, intersectional elements as a means to supporting a student?s development more comprehensively.