We're Going to the ESS!

The Diversity project has submitted a session to the Eastern Sociological Society's annual meeting which will take place in Baltimore, MD on the weekend of March 19-22 2009. Student researchers involved with the diversity project--Deborah Rose Guterbock, Lucy Ann Hochstein, Shannon Jacobsen (pictured), Shamama Moosvi, Brian Piccone (pictured), Sarah Sierralta (pictured), and project R.A. Naliyah Kaya--will attend the meetings to present their own original research. Below are the names are the student scholars involved and also the abstracts of the research presentations:

Session Title: The Meaning and Structure of Lived Diversity in the Context of Higher Education

In terms of “diversity,” institutions of higher education promise change, risk conflict, and try to control both. Drawing on the research of students themselves, this session explores the nature of lived diversity on a college campus.

On Incorporating the Internationally Minded: Exploring the Student Returnee Experience and its Place in the University Community.

Deborah Rose Guterbock and Lucy Ann Hochstein

Our nation has been much enhanced by the addition of different cultural “spices” as migrants from many birthplaces have arrived in the United States. Universities offer a special view of this diversity, because their portions of diversity are often especially ample. However, the experiences of native-born students who have lived abroad and then returned are frequently overlooked. This paper considers the impact of native-born returnees on one particular university’s diversity and that university’s impact on the returnees. The analysis is based on open-ended interviews examining the personal, social, and educational aspects of the return experience of three distinct kinds of student returnees: those who have lived and been educated abroad before coming to college; veterans who have finished at least one tour of duty overseas; and returning exchange students. While this research is still in its preliminary stages, some general patterns are beginning to emerge. For example, returnees often find out as much about themselves and their own culture as they do about the culture in which they live overseas. Their experiences abroad can give them new eyes with which to regard the United States, yet they often find it difficult to incorporate those new views into their lives after their return. While life changes tend to be great overseas, there is often deactivation and even suppression of these changes on returning home. However, subsequent overseas trips—and sometimes even moves within the United States—can reactivate traits and ways of thinking that developed in prior overseas experiences.

Violations of Space: Constructions of Violence and Implications for Students’ Daily Behavior

Shannon Jacobsen

The focus of this project was to explore how students bring violence to campus through their conversations, use of space, and campus events in order to raise awareness about it and to possibly prevent it from occurring in the future. My research examined how students with different identities and group memberships will join together to fight against violations of space by sanctioning through a variety of methods those individuals who are causing the unease. I investigated how students’ conversations are gendered by paying particular attention to the ways in which men and women define acts of violence and how they know when they have been “violated.” An example of such a violation might be if a student’s identity and beliefs are questioned or if someone imposes on their sense of personal space. This research has allowed me to see the many ways in which students construct and think about violence and how these definitions have implications for their daily behavior and activities on campus.

Belly Dance Coffee House: An Ethnographic Study of a Belly Dance Class

Naliyah Kaya

Given the difficulty, time, monetary commitments, and seemingly little payoff of belly dance, what makes people continue to pursue such a demanding art form? I propose that the class serves three main functions for participants: as a women’s group providing a sense of community, as a form of escapism to reduce stress, and as a place for women to reclaim their sensuality and femininity. These conclusions are the outcome of a 2007 study using ethnographic methods. The research is compiled from approximately two months of classes in which I participated in a weekly adult belly dance technique class with an average class size of three to five women. For those engaging in the non-stop American lifestyle, it is important to re-create time through a relaxing activity. For the core-group of women in my dance class, belly dance served to provide relief from their daily stressors. It became much more than simply a course, it became a community where the women could share, laugh, and provide insight to one another. Humor served as a means of creating closeness and bonding in awkward situations while costumes and dance movements provided a way for the women to discover and /or re-claim their sensuality.

Shamama Moosvi

Valuing Written Accents: The Perspective of the United States Academy on International Voices

The main objective of this research was to study the perspectives of university professors on their experiences with and approaches to responding to the writing of non-native students through interviews. The interviews aimed to provide answers to three crucial aspects of the experiences of professors with non-native students: the type of advice professors give to students when they start to write a paper, the principal concerns of professors when grading the writing of non-native students, and how the aforementioned concerns are addressed by professors. The study also incorporated the use of earlier research conducted by Zawacki and Habib as evident in their book Valuing Written Accents: International Voices in the United States Academy in which 26 non-native students were interviewed on their experiences with writing in the United States academy.

Brian Picone

The Importance of Inclusion and the Meaning of Identity in a University’s Pride Alliance

This research focuses on the lived experience of a university’s Pride Alliance members and how the Pride Alliance ensures inclusion. For a community that has experienced exclusion in all areas of social,0020political, and cultural life, inclusion becomes an issue of survival for queer people. Related to this, and driven by engagement with queer theory, is the question of identity and its relation to the Pride Alliance. Queer theory has rendered problematic the notion of stable, fixed sexual identities; the goal of this qualitative research project has been to create space for exploration of the concept of identity. This research attempts to see what meanings Pride Alliance members have created in relation to their identities. The project attempts to build knowledge collaboratively and co-author the story of a group of people who are often studied and criticized, but rarely have the opportunity to speak about what it is actually like to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer on a university campus. Specific curiosities focus on whether people think identity is necessary. Is identity simply a reactionary trap that ends up reworking the queer-identified person into a heterosexist discourse? In other words, is identity "the problem" or is it important to people? Are we ready to do away with identity? How do we ensure the inclusion of many different identities within the queer community and still maintain any type of stable identity categories? This project answers these questions only insofar as such concerns reflect the interests and needs of this specific university queer community.

Hispanic Students at the University: The Effects of Culture in the Academic and Social Dimensions of Life in the College Campus

Sarah Sierralta

In the effort of increasing the understanding of diversity in the college campus, I have chosen to study the growing Hispanic student population. Drawing on participant observation, one-on-one interviews, and focus group discussions, this paper explores the effects of organizational involvement, combined with family, and culture on the rates of involvement and academic success of Hispanic students. It also considers the differences between participants born in the U.S. vs. immigrants, those who live on campus vs. off-campus, and gender. The data gathering took place over a span of four months, with students selected to participate based on their identification as a Latino/Hispanic student. Taking in consideration the factors mentioned above, the findings allow us to understand the trends of Hispanic involvement in the college campus as well as their academic advancement.