American Culture Studies Ph.D. Dissertations
Dissertations from 2010
Political Melodies in the Pews?: Is Black Christian Rap the New Voice of Black Liberation Theology?, David Moody
A Hermeneutical Ontology of Cyberspace, Cristian Pralea
Rewiring Difference and Disability: Narratives of Asperger's Syndrome in the Twenty-First Century, Neil Shepard
What Are Little (Empowered) Girls Made Of?: The Discourse of Girl Power in Contemporary U.S. Popular Culture, Rosalind Sibielski
Silencio: The Spectral Voice and 9/11, Lloyd Vayo
“I Laid my Hands on a Gorgeous Cannibal Woman”: Anthropophagy in the Imperial Imagination, 1492 – 1763, Kelly Watson
Dissertations from 2009
From 'The Wizard of Oz' to 'Wicked': Trajectory of American Myth, Alissa Burger
Foods That Matter: Constructing Place and Community at Food Festivals in Northwest Ohio, Nathan Crook
Use and Influence of Amateur Musician Narratives In Film, 1981-2001, Colin Helb
From Girlfriend to Gamer: Negotiating Place in the Hardcore/Casual Divide of Online Video Game Communities, Erica Kubik
Space Oddities for the Age of Space Tourism, Michael Lupro
Reel Gender: Examining the Politics of Trans Images in Film and Media, Joelle Ryan
Dissertations from 2008
Competing Identities: Representations of the Black Female Sporting Body from 1960 to the Present, Ramona Bell
Mining the Past: Performing Authenticity in the Country Music Biopic, Molly Brost
Behind the Smile: Negotiating and Transforming the Tourism-Imposed Identity of Bahamian Women, Dellareese Higgs
Performing Blackness at the Heart of Whiteness: The Life and Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christopher Johnston
The L Word Menace: Envisioning Popular Culture as Political Tool, Marnie Pratt
Dissertations from 2007
Pimps and Ferrets: Copyright and Culture in the United States, 1831-1891, Eric Anderson
Race, Memory, and Communal Belonging in Narrative and Art: Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue, 1948-1996, Matthew Barbee
Girls Who (Don’t) Wear Glasses: The Performativity of Smart Girls on Teen Television, Sandra Conaway
Immigrant Anxieties: 1990s Immigration Reform and The Neoliberal Consensus, Christina Gerken
Performed Identities: Heavy Metal Musicians Between 1984 and 1991, Bradley Klypchak
Beyond Celebration: A Call for Rethinking Cultural Studies, Carolyn Lea
John Dewey and Documentary Narrative, Denis Mueller
“Something Wicked This Way Comes”: Constructing the Witch in Contemporary American Popular Culture, Catherine Shufelt
The Stranger in the Dark: The Ethics of Levinasian-Derridean Hospitality in Noir, Stephen Swanson
Representations of Redface: Decolonizing the American Situation Comedy’s “Indian”, Dustin Tahmahkera
Passing Masculinities at Boy Scout Camp, Patrick Vrooman
Dissertations from 2006
American Feminist Manifestos and the Rhetoric of Whiteness, Elliot Adams
Face on First, Class on Second, Gender on Third, and Sexuality Up to Bat: Intersectionality and Power in Major League Baseball, 1995 - 2005, Lisa Alexander
Searching for Wonder Women: Examining Women's Non-violent Power in Feminist Science Fiction, Maria DeRose
The Sociological Hitch, Jeanine Pfahlert
The Business and Pleasure of Filmic Lesbians Performing Onstage, Jamie Stuart
IRL (In Real Life): Breaking Down the Binary of Online Versus Offline Social Interaction, Stephanie Tuszynski
Policing the World: American Mythologies and Hollywood's Rogue Cop Character, Marilyn Yaquinto
Dissertations from 2005
Policing the Borders of Identity at The Mormon Miracle Pageant, Kent Bean
Somewhere In-between: Tween Queens and the Marketing Machine, Meredith Guthrie
White Is and White Ain’t: Representations and Analyses of Whiteness in the Novels of Chester Himes, Scott Walter