Caregivers as Interventionists and Trainers: Teaching Mands to Children with Developmental Disabilities

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - We evaluated the use of behavioral skills training (BST) to train caregivers to conduct procedures commonly associated with mand training. We trained two...     

The Best of Both Worlds?

The Disney Channel hit show, Hannah Montana, constructs contemporary US girlhood and notions of femininity in relation to celebrity, such that its primary girl characters, Hannah Montana, Miley Stewart, and Lilly Truscott, as well as star Miley Cyrus, are positioned as particularly post-feminist subjects. In such a context, each of these girls can be understood as having chosen to perform a femininity that finds its locus in the maintenance and control of the body, as an illustration of her power as a girl, though without reference to feminist gains or “empowerment” rhetoric. Via discursive, narrative, and ideological textual analysis, this project explores the circulation of a post-feminist sensibility, as Rosalind Gill refers to it, and its iterations and ramifications for constructions of girlhood in contemporary media foregrounding girls and attracting young female audiences.     

Dispelling stereotypes: promoting disability equality through film

All too often individuals with disabilities in the popular media are portrayed as people to be pitied or super humans to be admired. Film is one important resource that helps form the public’s beliefs and dispositions about people with disabilities. With that in mind a film festival was designed to provide authentic representation of people with disabilities living normal lives so as to help viewers see individuals with disabilities as people first. Part of the effort was to develop a more realistic understanding and appreciation for the lives of individuals with disabilities. Various programs were developed across disciplines to present a wide range of perspectives. Following each viewing filmmakers and faculty led in‐depth discussions about the films. A participant survey indicated the use of film as an effective pedagogical methodology that provided an entertaining and meaningful way to generate discussion and change attitudes about disabilities.     

Navigating “illegality”: Undocumented youth & oppositional consciousness

In recent years, a vibrant political movement has emerged, led by a sector previously thought to be too vulnerable to engage in public protest-undocumented youth. This article explores the experiences of undocumented youth and their emergent activism. I posit that growing up within the context of dominant discourses regarding immigration in a moment marked by a re-entrenchment of borders and citizenship shapes not only the lived experiences, but also the political consciousness of many undocumented young people. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research with undocumented Latino youth activists in California, this article argues that oppositional consciousness is forged through the constant navigation of “illegality”. I examine two sites upon which this navigation takes place – the negotiation of fear and shame and the navigation of the exclusion – and explore the way in which negotiation of “illegality” in these sites of daily life contributes to the development of an oppositional consciousness.     

Racial projections: cyberspace,public space,and the digital divide

Scholars of critical race studies, urban history, and information and communications technologies (ICTs) share an interest in the relationship between spatial and racial disparities, including the quality of basic infrastructure, degrees of connectivity, and participatory culture. However, contemporary research on the digital divide struggles to link historical legacies of uneven development, as well as social justice strategies, with digital participation in urban spaces. By examining contemporary digital art that critiques the spatial inequalities encountered by U.S. racial minorities, this article illustrates how public intellectuals use ICTs in ways that draw upon past strategies to territorialize space for political ends. It focuses on digital pop-ups, open-air installations that cast images onto public space using projectors. Historicizing these new efforts illustrates a continuity of tactics engaged by communities of color in response to socio-spatial inequalities in the urban United States, such as the 1970s mural movement’s efforts to re-politicize spaces of exclusion. While existing literature finds that digital inequality results in differential digital human capital, this research indicates that place-based claims, such as digital pop-ups, are important sites for combatting racial injustice and creating more inclusionary spaces, especially among youth adults.     

The Kids Are All White: Examining Race and Representation in News Media Coverage of Opioid Overdose Deaths in Canada

Problematic opioid use in Canada is on the rise, and opioid overdose deaths now number in the thousands each year. While opioids have long been responsible for overdoses among certain demographics of Canadians, such as drug users on Vancouver's notoriously impoverished downtown Eastside, it is only recently that fatal overdoses have also claimed the lives of White, middle-class young people. This critical discourse analysis of Canadian news media examines the differences in racial representation in recent coverage of opioid deaths. I pay particular attention to the ways in which White opioid users are portrayed as innocent victims while other users, such as those from Indigenous communities, are often ignored or stigmatized as “addicts.” I draw on the work of Hall (1978; 2000) and Reinarman and Levine (1989; 2004) on the role of media in representing race and constructing drug scares, to frame the media narratives. I then discuss the Canadian government's current harm-reduction approach to the opioid crisis, as well as calls from Indigenous leaders for “culture as treatment.”     

What Works at Work? Toward an Integrative Model Examining Workplace Campaign Strategies

Many US employees are regularly asked to give charitable donations through work. The techniques used to solicit workplace donations vary. Drawing on a nationally representative survey, the study used a sample of donor responses to examine the effectiveness of several widely used campaign strategies: donor choice, company matching, public recognition, and solicitation support. The theoretical framework built on workplace research by Barman (2007) and established charitable giving mechanisms (Bekkers and Wiepking 2011a, 2011b). The research question was, “Do workplace campaign strategies lead employees to participate and to make (larger) donations in the workplace?” The positive outcomes of the strategies, aside from donor choice, were limited, suggesting that tried‐and‐true workplace fundraising strategies warrant additional scrutiny. The findings are meaningful to campaign managers seeking to identify approaches that generate workplace giving. For researchers, the results confirm growing attention to the importance of purpose‐based giving in comparison with community‐based giving.