Music is a long time form of resistance, evident through scholarly journals about Gangsta rap for inner-city, African American youth. How does this translate to other minorities? Mexican drug ballads, known as narcocorridos, have been brushed off as violent and meaningless by the media since the 1930s. This thesis serves to redefine narcocorridos as another tool of resistance for the Latinx class, particularly drug traffickers and undocumented immigrants. As an attempt to provide insight into the living conditions, ideologies, and struggles of the voiceless Latinix class, this thesis analyzes a series of corridos (ballads) and narcocorridos. Theories of the hidden transcript, the badman, and the Mark of criminality were utilized to examine the lyrics of these corridos like its cousin genre, gangsta rap. Through the use of these theories, many counter-narratives and alternative histories of Latinx individuals were discovered. Narcocorridos in this thesis are argued as a tool used to resist negative dominant narratives and the Prison Industrial Complex was also concluded to be the main antagonist of those narratives.

Marijuana legalization will likely result in increased marijuana consumption with uncertain social and health impacts. This thesis looks to share user perspectives on marijuana, specifically addressing how users represent marijuana risks, benefits, and uncertain or unknown dangers. Data were collected from an online social-media forum that initiated the discussion by prompting readers to reflect on marijuana risks in a context of growing accolades concerning its benefits. Grounded theory and thematic analysis were both utilized to identify consistent themes or patterns across user comments. It was found that users identified both benefits and risks of marijuana, while some users had disputes about certain known risks (such as impaired driving) or uncertain or unknown dangers (such as reduced dream activity). Despite disagreements about the degree of risk associated with a particular activity (such as driving and dreaming), this thesis found risks and benefits were discussed in relatively narrow ways that suggest more education is needed around the full spectrum of the effects of various strains, including benefits, risks, and uncertainties.

Masculinity presents itself in many forms, but only a few are accepted by society. Men are exhibiting exaggerated characteristics of hyper-masculinity that result in harm to themselves and others in order to meet society’s standards. This has generated a toxic sense of masculinity that generates men who glorify violence, objectify women, are misogynistic, and feel entitled. Not every man fits into the toxic masculinity category or even the hyper-masculinity category, however, they do fit into the failed masculinity category. Those who fall into this category do not receive the societal benefits that more masculine men do, like female attention. A relatively new movement has emerged from failed masculinity, the Involuntarily Celibate. They call themselves Incels and they meet online through chat forums to discuss their feelings about not having relationships or meeting society’s expectations of a man. The extreme Incels are known as Blackpill Incels, and they believe that their position in the world has no hope of improvement. This has resulted in threats against women online, and physical violence to women and society. The hate stratagem is used to categorize Incel chat posts and explain how they use hate speech to carry out this violence.

The story of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is one of a woman who defied the odds of her time. Sor Juana was a nun born in the 1600's in Mexico. From an early start, she had an endless passion for knowledge and always strove to learn as much as she could. She went on to become a nun at the Convent of Santa Paula and used her intellect to advocate for women's rights. Though met with opposition, she wrote many poems, letters, and even plays which included her strong push for women's equality. However, the name Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is almost never mentioned in popular feminist discourse, despite Sor Juana being credited as one of the first feminist authors. This paper works to not only tell the story of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz in detail, but also works to answer the question, "Why do people not know about Sor Juana". By diving into the origins of the Feminist movement in the United States, the dark underbelly of Feminism is uncovered. Primarily, the topic of how racism in feminism has plague the civil rights movement, what damage has been done to people of color because of feminism's history, and how does that pertain to modern day feminism and Sor Juana. By telling her story through both written and visual aids, the voice of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is no longer silenced but free to tell her tale and move a generation.

This thesis aims to enhance the academic conception of American anti-Semitism by analyzing the rhetorical visions of two distinctly American theologies: Christian Identity and Black Israelism. Using a theoretical framework that couches the rhetoric of both religious movements within their respective historical contexts, I seek to understand the persuasive appeals of the alternative histories that lead both movements to conclude that their racial group is descended from the ancient Israelites--a status both movements claim has been "usurped" by contemporary Jews. After contextualizing their rhetoric, I juxtapose the rhetorical vision of Christian Identity with that of Black Israelism, concluding that the former can be understood as a movement and narrative premised on racial hubris whose paranoid rhetoric makes meaningful contributions to the climate of anti-Semitism, while the latter constitutes a movement and narrative premised on historically-legitimated suspicion whose paranoid rhetoric, though invidious, does not constitute a comparable threat.

Abstract Kicking the Habit: Reforming Mandatory Minimums for Drug Crimes Ashley Allen While mandatory minimum sentences apply to all drugs, in this paper, I primarily discuss them for marijuana, cocaine, and opiates since these drugs are the most commonly used. My paper will include an exploration of the reasons behind the implementation of mandatory minimum sentences, an analysis of the problems involved with enforcing them, and a discussion about the harms such enforcement has on communities. While mandatory minimums were introduced to prevent discrimination in sentencing as people of color often faced much harsher sentences, the minimums have not been a lasting solution; rather these sentencing techniques have become a major component of the problems communities face associated with drug use. They enforce negative stereotypes and cycles of drug use, do not promote rehabilitation, and unnecessarily burden the judicial and prison systems. I will discuss both successful and failed attempts to reform these laws, and finally offer possible solutions for rethinking mandatory minimum laws, including harm reduction, sentencing restructuring, and the reform of federal laws.