States

"In the Near Future": Decolonial Perspectives on Subjectivity in Her and Ex Machina

The rapid and radical integration of artificially intelligent (non)human beings into public and private life has reshaped humans' everyday interactions in varied spaces, from the medical examination room to the bedroom. I contend that it is humanity's charge to agitate an onto-epistemological shift toward a post-anthropocentric future grounded in existential equality between all beings. A shift toward better ways of being and knowing is accomplished through a new materialist and decolonial intervention in (non)human subjectivities which require that humans commit to: 1) divest from western-rational discourses binding agency and intimacy to the corporeal body and 2) (re)locate intimacy in the (in)corporeal communion of the soul and spirit to establish harmonious techno-human affinities. I submit Her and Ex Machina, science fiction films and cultural artifacts, as case studies depicting decolonial futures which create discursive space to interrogate western-rational onto-epistemologies, critique colonial hegemonies, and (re)define subjectivity to include all thinking, feeling beings.
Date: August 2020
Creator: Brooks-Hall, Leah
System: The UNT Digital Library

Diversity Without Inclusion: The Experience of Female Graduate Students of Color at a Minority Serving Institution

Graduate education can be psychologically taxing, and the academic tasks that graduate students are required to perform can cause a great level of stress, insecurity, and uncertainty. The unique experiences that female students of color face at the intersections of gender, race, and class may have negative effects on their academic performance and attainment. This research explored the experiences of discrimination among the female African American/Black and Hispanic/Latina graduate students and their coping strategies to survive in the program of study at the University of North Texas (UNT), as a minority serving institution (MSI). A narrative research method was applied and 13 in-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview protocol. The findings showed the participants experienced various types of intragroup and intergroup discrimination based on the intersections of their multiple identities, especially race, gender, and socioeconomic status. The findings of this study revealed structural discrimination that participants experienced through their education; starting with their low income neighborhood where they were raised and the discrimination at the university. They perceived that minorities are not represented in the management and faculty positions, and there is an inadequacy of support resources and lack of racially sensitive advising services for female graduate students …
Date: August 2021
Creator: Khalaf, Zahra Fazli
System: The UNT Digital Library