Graduate Student Thesis Projects
2023
"Queering Edgework: An Autoethnographic Account of Cruising for Sex"Jacob Richardson |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (Chair), Wesley James, and Gretchen Peterson |
*2023 Morton Thesis Award Winner
"Sailing towards Freedom: Discourses of Domination and Resistance in Online Piracy Communities"Drew Carmichael |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (Chair), Clayton Fordahl, and Gretchen Peterson |
2022
"Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Reproductive Behavior among Bangladeshi Women"Israt Jahan |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (Chair), Wesley James, and Junmin Wang |
"Race and Media in the Deep South: Factors related to COVID-19 Vaccination"Melissa Arismendy |
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Committee: Wesley James (Chair), Joseph Lariscy, and Carol Rambo |
"Child Mental Health Outcomes and Household Composition"Clarion Harris |
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Committee: jeni Loftus (Chair), Wesley James, and Joseph Lariscy |
*2022 Morton Thesis Award Winner
“Canyon or Crevasse? The Gender Pay Gap in Nursing”Stanley Wilkins |
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Committee: Junmin Wang (Chair), Wesley James, and Jeni Loftus |
2021
"To Be or Not to Be? Trans and Gender-Diverse Identity Negotiation in Caregiving Institutions"Lilith Green |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (Chair), Wesley James, and Gretchen Peterson |
""Do Not Feed the Fetishiszers": Boys' Love Fans' Resistance and Challenge of Perceived Reputation"Hailey Coleman |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (Chair), Jeni Loftus, and Gretchen Peterson |
"The Differential Impact of Trauma on Student Engagement Based on Social Class"Ebenezer Kpuinen |
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Committee: Welsey James (Chair), Junmin Wang, and Joseph Lariscy |
*2021 Morton Thesis Award Winner
"Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health Outcomes"Uyvonda Stewart |
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Committee: Wesley James (Chair), Joseph Lariscy, and Jeni Loftus |
2020
"Growth and Success of Two Predominantly Black Metropolitan Areas: A Comparison between Shelby County, Tennessee and Prince George's County, Maryland"Aisha Naantaanbuu |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (Chair), Wesley James, and Brian Kwoba (History) |
"Irish Social Mobility: Examining Elite Responses to Crisis in the 17th-Century British Caribbean"Caroline Reilly |
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Committee: Clayton Fordahl (Chair), SunAh Laybourn, and Carol Rambo |
"Rural-Urban Cancer Disparities in Mortality: The Role of Physician Supply"Michael Topping |
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Committee: Wesley James (Chair), Joseph Lariscy, and Jeni Loftus |
*2020 Morton Thesis Award Winner
"Racial Differences in Life Expectancy among Shelby County, Tennessee Residents"Sarah Collins |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (Chair), SunAh Laybourn, and Wesley James |
"If you Want the Milk, Buy the Cow: A Study of Young Black Women's Experiences in Situationships"Tierica Gibson |
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Committee: Jeni Loftus (Chair), Clayton Fordahl, and Carol Rambo |
2019
"Free Trade Agreements and the Resulting Health Outcomes: Trade Flow, Knowledge Spillover and Government Regulations among Developing Countries"Samia Tasmim |
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Committee: Junmin Wang (Chair), Wesley James, and Joseph Lariscy |
"Impact of Mass Media on the Utilization of Maternal Healthcare Services in South Asia"Kaniz Fatema |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (chair), Wesley James, Gretchen Peterson, and Junmin Wang |
*2019 University of Memphis Student Research Poster Forum, 1st Place in Social and Behavioral Sciences Graduate Division
Thesis publication: Fatema, K. and J.T. Lariscy. (2020). Mass media exposure and maternal healthcare utilization in South Asia. Social Science & Medicine-Population Health 11: 100614.
"The Global Citizen, Global Trust, & National Privilege: A Study of Individualized Identity in a Globalized World"Hannah L. Pallotta |
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Committee: Junmin Wang (Chair), Joseph Lariscy, and SunAh M. Laybourn |
"Resource Allocation across Urban and Rural Counties: A Tennessee Case Study"Dontarious Cowans |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (Chair), Wesley James, and SunAh M. Laybourn |
"Racial Differences in the Social Determinants of Infant Mortality: A County-Level Analysis"Anna Church |
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Committee: Wesley James (Chair), Joseph Lariscy, and SunAh Laybourn |
*2019 Morton Thesis Award Winner
2018
"Defining Diagnosis: A Reflexive Account of a Chronic Dis-ease Process"Brandi Barnes |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (chair), Wesley James, and Gretchen Peterson |
"The Social Side of 'Borderline:' Edgework in the Narrative Accounts of Self-Injurers"Victoria Gaines |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (chair), Wesley James, and Gretchen Peterson |
"Social Services Providers' Perspective on Clients, Social Services Workers and Public Assistance"Krista Wright-Thayer |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (chair), Wesley James, and Joseph Lariscy |
"Sexual Minority Health Behaviors and Potential Benefits of Same Sex Marriage"Caleb Cooley |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (chair), Wesley James, and Jeni Loftus |
2017
"Communication Barriers and Health among Hispanics: A Quantitative Study Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Language"Daisy Angeles |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (chair), Wesley James, and Gretchen Peterson |
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"I am a Cartoon? Not Me!: Identity and Native American Caricature Iconography"Anthony Stone |
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Committee: Wesley James (Chair), Maryann Erigha (Co-Chair), Carol Rambo and Andre Johnson (Communications) |
Thesis Publication: Stone, A.J., & Rambo, C. (2021). Surviving racism and genocide: Native American caricature iconography and racial formation projects. Studies in Symbolic Interaction 52: 91-115.
"The Fear Factor: Developing a Framework of Emotional Cognition for Understanding Muslim Americans' Voting Behavior in 2016"JoAnna Boudreaux |
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Committee: Junmin Wang (chair), Wesley James, and Seth Abrutyn |
"Understanding the Strengths and Barriers of a Growing Latino Population in Memphis, Tennessee"Melissa Garcia-Dominguez |
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Committee: Joseph Lariscy (chair), Wesley James, and Gretchen Peterson |
*2017 Morton Thesis Award Winner
"Identity Construction Among African American Christians in a Southern City"Rekeycha Harris |
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Committee: Seth Abrutyn (chair), Wesley James, and Carol Rambo |
2016
"'We Don't Eat Babies:' Atheists' Individual and Collective Resistance to Stigma"Degan Loren |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (chair), Wesley James, and Jeni Loftus |
Thesis Publication: Loren, D., & Rambo, C. (2018). "God smites you!": Atheists' experiences of stigma, identity politics, and queerness. Deviant Behavior, 40(4), 445-460.
"Missing the Mark: The Perceived Role of Family Members in the Stigma, Silence, and Misunderstandings Around Suicidality"Taylor Binnix |
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Committee: Seth Abrutyn (chair), Anna Mueller, and Carol Rambo |
Thesis Publication: Binnix, T., Rambo, C., Abrutyn, S., & Mueller, A.S. (2017). The dialectics of stigma, silence, and misunderstanding in suicidality survival narratives. Deviant Behavior, 39(8), 1095-1106.
2015
"From Under-Diagnosis to Over-Representation: Black Children, ADHD, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline"Myles Daniel Moody |
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Committee: Zandria Robinson (chair), Wesley James, and Anna Mueller |
"Race, Masculinity, and Sexuality in the Urban South"Allen Hale West |
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Committee: Jeni Loftus (chair), Wesley James, and Zandria Robinson |
"Oil, Polity, And Civil Society: The Construction Of The Hegemonic Apparatus In Iraq"Zeinab F. Shuker |
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Committee: Seth Abrutyn (chair), Wesley James, and Junmin Wang |
"Walking in Memphis: Racial, Economic, and Residential Disparities of Access to Healthy Food in an Urban Food Desert"Brittany Kay Campagna |
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Committee: Wesley James (Chair), Jeni Loftus, and Wanda Rushing |
2014
"Romantic Relationship Quality as a Protective Factor Against Suicidal Ideation in Young Adulthood"Darla Marie Still |
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Committee: Anna Mueller (chair), Martin Levin, and Jeni Loftus |
"Social Capital, Political Capital, and Organizational Innovation in Chinese Firms"Yan Shen |
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Committee: Junmin Wang (chair), Martin Levin, and Wanda Rushing |
"Pageant Moms: Mothers' Accounts of Their Participation in Child Beauty Pageants"Darla Clare Smith |
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Committee: Jeni Loftus (chair), Wesley James, and Carol Rambo |
"Revisiting the Pass: An Examination of Identity Management Strategies of Black Queer Women in the South"Claudia Shunta Williams |
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Committee: Zandria Robinson (chair), Beverly Bond, and Jeni Loftus |
*2014 Morton Thesis Award Winner
"Beyond Cutting: Restorying Self-Injury"Brittany Presson |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (chair), Jeni Loftus, and Larry Petersen |
Thesis Publication: Presson, B., & Rambo, C. (2015). Claiming, resisting, and exempting pathology in the identities of self-injurers. Deviant Behavior, 37(2), 219-236.
"Markers of Performance: Emotion Marking and Sacral Bonds in White Supremacist Discourse"Marshal Taylor |
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Committee: Carol Rambo (chair), Seth Abrutyn, and Zandria Robinson |
Thesis Publication: Taylor, M., & Rambo, C. (2014). White shame, white pride: Emotional cultures, feeling rules, and emotion exemplars in white supremacist movement music. International Journal of Crime, Criminal Justice, and Law, 8(1-2), 107-134.
"Gendered Role Performances in Patriarchal NRMs: An Ethnographic Analysis of the Twelve Tribes"Amelia Blume |
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Committee: Seth Abrutyn (chair), Larry Petersen, and Zandria Robinson |
"Why Should I Get Married: Implications of Class and Gender Differences on Health Outcomes for Cohabitating and Married Black Couples"Korrie Dchonn Johnson |
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Committee: Zandria Robinson (chair), Wesley James, and Jeni Loftus |
2013
"Appearance-Based Predictors of Suicidal Behavior"Cynthia Anne Stockton |
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Committee: Martin Levin (chair), Jeni Loftus, and Anna Mueller |
"Learning The Ropes: The Role of Peers, Mentors, and Extracurricular Participation in College Persistence"Adriene Davis |
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Committee: Anna Mueller (chair), Wesley James, and Zandria Robinson |
"Understanding Body Image Differences Between African American and White Women"Dominique Latrice Watson |
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Committee: Wesley James (chair), Anna Mueller, and Junmin Wang |
"Intergenerational Closure: Is It Protecting Teenagers Against Sexual Risk Taking Behaviors?"Stephanie Margaret Otte |
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Committee: Wesley James (chair), Martin Levin, and Jeni Loftus |
"What Types of Social Integration Matter? Race and Adolescent Suicide Ideation"Tijuana Lashae Jefferson |
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Committee: Anna Mueller (chair), Martin Levin, and Zandria Robinson |
2012
"Beyond BBQ: Navigating a Meatless Memphis"Michele Lynn Scott |
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Committee: Wanda Rushing (chair), Seth Abrutyn, and Junmin Wang |
"Battles Between Bikes and Businesses: Collective Strategic Action in Memphis, Tennessee"Kevin Thomas Smiley |
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Committee: Wanda Rushing (chair), Seth Abrutyn, and Anna Mueller |
2011
"The 'Precious' Dilemma: An Investigation of Race, Childhood Sexual Abuse, and Adult Obesity"Armanthia Nicole Duncan |
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Committee: Wesley James (chair), Martin Levin, Carol Rambo, and Wanda Rushing |
"Terrorism and Ressentiment: Using Nietzsche to Think About Inequality"Christy L. Lewis |
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Committee: Larry Petersen (chair), Wesley James, and Wanda Rushing |
"American Denominations and Christian Service: The Relationship Between Theology and Service"Jonathan Barkley Murphy |
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Committee: Larry Petersen (chair), Wesley James, and Carol Rambo |