Faculty Profiles
Permanent URI for this community
This site provides a forum for showcasing the work of individual faculty members. Faculty may have their work archived here as well as with their departments or institutes.
Faculty interested in establishing a collection for themselves in Scholars' Bank are invited to contact, Scholars' Bank team, University of Oregon Libraries.
Browse
Browsing Faculty Profiles by Title
Now showing 1 - 20 of 1029
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access 2. Thinned Attachment: Heritage is Slipping through Our Fingers(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaSixty-five-year-old Maria Montes is a devout Catholic, bilingual in English and Spanish, and the matriarch of her family.1 One of six siblings, Maria emigrated from Mexico when she was four years old with her mother and sister, while her brothers stayed in Mexico. Maria’s mother chose to immigrate in part because one of her brothers and her eldest son were already in the United States and encouraged her to move. They crossed the Rio Grande River and took the train into the United States. Upon arrival, she worked in the fields picking potatoes and green beans and then at the packing house. Maria would join her mother in the fields when she was young or would be under the care of her older sister, a “second mother” caretaker for her. Twelve years later Maria’s mother brought two of her other sons over to the United States.Item Open Access 2011 Oregon Humanities Center Work in Progress Talk(2011-04-11) Wacks, David A.Discussion of how current critical thinking about diasporic culture can bring Judaic studies approaches to Sephardic literature up to date. Examples from 13th century Spanish Hebrew (Sephardic) author Jacob ben Elazar and 16th century Sephardic author Solomon ibn VergaItem Open Access 3. Cultural Maintenance: A Pot of Beans on the Stove(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaWhen I arrived at the Benavidas home in the Oakland hills, my respondent’s wife, Melissa, gave me a tour of the front portion of the home, saying her husband would join us in a minute. The house was immaculately decorated, boasting art on the walls from Spain, Mexico, and Ecuador, as well as southwestern art hand crafted by Melissa’s father. As Melissa ushered me into the kitchen, she laughed, saying tongue in cheek, “Not to be a stereo-typical Mexican family or anything, but we’ve got to get the beans on!” We both laughed. She followed up with, “Well, really, we usually do have a pot of beans in the house.”Item Open Access 4. Tortillas in the Shape of the United States: Marriage and the Families We Choose(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaMarriage is a central component of assimilation. Marriage patterns, in particular frequency of intermarriage, are a basic yardstick used to measure assimilation. Marriage has historically been understood as a way to preserve or alter the racial makeup of society. Antimiscegenation laws that banned interracial marriage and interracial sex were enforced until ruled unconstitutional in the 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia. “Anti-miscegenation laws . . . were both a response to increased immigration from Asia [and Latin America] and a reflection of persistent concerns regarding racial purity and the nature of American citizenship” (Sohoni 2007: 587). While marriage patterns have been the subject of heated popular debate and legal battles, we know less about the role marriage plays in the subjective experience of race among the marital partners and their children, which is the subject of this chapter.Item Open Access 5. Whiter is Better: Discrimination in Everyday Life(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaRuben and Adele Mendoza are a married second-generation couple who are both light skinned and have a Hispanic surname. They tell me a powerful tale about how their Spanish-sounding name—Mendoza as a “giveaway” last name—restricted their access to housing when they were newlyweds.Item Open Access 6. Fit to Be Good Cooks and Good Mechanics: Racialization in Schools(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaSchool systems are simultaneously racialized and racializing. Educational institutions possess tremendous capacity to reproduce the power structure and racial hierarchy of society. Family, as another social institution, mediates the racializing effects of the educational system. The family is a critical site of racial identity development as it is a locale where intergenerational biography-based teaching occurs and strategies of action and resistance are formed. Within both schools and families, students respond to racializing messages and renegotiate their racial self-understanding. School experiences are conditioned by historical context, gender, and parental influences as parents use their own schooling experience as fodder for the intergenerational transfer of knowledge and ideologies to their children. This chapter asks, What influence do educational systems have on immigrants’ and citizens’ racial identity formation? What role do families play in amplifying or mitigating the process of racialization? From a long-term perspective, what are the cumulative effects of racialization across family generations? This chapter examines how second- and third-generation Mexican Americans experience their social identity within the educational system and how parents’ experiences with their own schooling shape their parenting styles.Item Open Access 7. As Much Hamburger as Taco: Third-Generation Mexican Americans(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaNearly seven million people are third-plus generation Mexican Americans (Macias 2006: 6), yet there is great diversity and fluidity within this group regarding the way they classify themselves. This chapter analyzes how the contradictory forces of “flexible ethnicity” and “racialization” influence the way third-generation Mexican Americans identify. “Flexible ethnicity” refers to the ability to deftly and effectively navigate different racial terrains and be considered an “insider” in more than one racial or ethnic group. “Racialization,” by contrast, refers to the process of distancing and oppressing people perceived as nonwhite. In this case, other people’s expectations and enforcement of difference create or reproduce social distance and unequal power dynamics. Regardless of whether Mexican Americans experience their racial/ethnic identity to be more “flexible” or “racialized,” they often encounter challenges to their racial “authenticity.” This chapter is organized in four sections. First, I examine the diversity of racial/ethnic claims third-generation Mexican Americans make. Second, I develop the concept of “flexible ethnicity.” Third, I analyze the process of racialization. Finally, I discuss the issue of racial authenticity and the dynamism of culture, especially with regard to gender.Item Open Access 8. Conclusion: Racialization despite Assimilation(New York University Press, 2011) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaThis book has addressed the question of Mexican immigrants’ and their descendants’ integration into U.S. society. One more glimpse into respondents’ lives reinforces the point that racial/ethnic identity is a fluid process that is highly contingent upon context and that assimilation path-ways are not straightforward but open to voluntary personal switchbacks and vicissitudes driven by external social forces.Item Open Access 911 draft 1(Register-Guard, 2001-09-16) Long, Robert HillThis sonnet was commissioned by the Eugene Register-Guard for an article in which regional writers and poets responded to the 9/11 attack.Item Open Access A Comparison of the Clarendonian Equid Assemblages from the Mission Pit, South Dakota and Ashfall Fossil Beds, Nebraska(University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2011-11) Famoso, Nicholas; Pagnac, DarrinThe Mission Pit locality (SDSM V5314), near Mission, South Dakota, has produced a large collection of equid teeth obtained from the Miocene Ash Hollow (=Thin Elk) Formation. Ashfall Fossil Beds (UNSM Ap-116), near Royal, Nebraska, has yielded an extensive collection of equid cranial elements and teeth derived from the Cap Rock Member, Ash Hollow Formation. The two sites are interpreted to be Clarendonian in age [12.5 to 9.0 Ma], but may contain faunal assemblages from differing Clarendonian subages. The two sites exhibit a notably similar composition of equid genera, including the tribes Equini (Pliohippus, Calippus, and Protohippus), and Hipparionini (Cormohipparion, Neohipparion, and Pseudhipparion). Both sites share the same proportion of the equid tribes Hipparionini and Equini. Approximately seventy-five percent of the equids at both sites are members of the Hipparionini tribe, whereas twenty-five percent are of the Equini tribe. The comparative composition within the Equini tribe between the two sites is nearly identical with differences in the absence of Calippus at Ashfall and a larger proportion of Protohippus at Mission. Only slight differences are observed in the composition of genera within the Hipparionini tribe between the two sites, with the Mission Pit containing a higher percentage of Neohipparion. The striking taxonomic similarity between the two sites is not only unique but also rare, suggesting a correlative relationship within the early to medial Clarendonian (Cl1 or Cl2). This similarity also suggests unique paleoecological relationships among equids and has a potential for insight into plant ecology and equid niche partitioning during this time interval.Item Open Access Abstinence from Child Labor and Profit Seeking(University of Oregon, Dept of Economics, 2000-07-01) Davies, Ronald B.Some firms voluntarily abstain from using child labor, presumably in response to concerns about the welfare of overseas child workers. These firms do not, however, support banning the imports of competitors’ products manufactured with child labor. As an explanation of this seemingly contradictory behavior, I consider a setting in which two firms engage in Bertrand competition for consumers who vary in the value they place on goods made without child labor. When the firms differentiate themselves according to their labor input, both enjoy greater profits. If imports using child labor are banned, this reduces the profits of both firms. Similar results can also arise in a many firm setting. If charitable donations to education foundations raise the cost of child labor, this too can arise as a purely profitseeking activity by adult labor firms. Thus, while the adult-labor firms engage in seemingly altruistic behavior, they may do so not out of regard for children but rather for their own profits.Item Open Access Abu Golgotha(Winning Writers, 2006-11) Long, Robert Hilla poem about torture in Iraq + US citizen complicity.Item Open Access Abuse Awareness: Physical and Psychological Health Consequences(2006-11) Goldsmith, R.E.; Freyd, Jennifer J.; DePrince, Anne P.Despite established links between child abuse and psychological symptoms such as depression, dissociation, and anxiety, many abuse survivors experience awareness of specific abuse instances or abuse-related symptoms without acknowledging the abuse itself. The current study examines relations among abuse awareness, physical symptoms, and emotional functioning in young adults. One hundred eighty-five university students responded to questions regarding perceptions of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as standard abuse and symptom measures. Ninety-six individuals completed the questionnaire a second time 1-2 years later. At baseline, labeling oneself as having been abused was not correlated with depression, anxiety, dissociation, or physical health complaints. At follow-up, however, labeling abuse was significantly positively related to depression, anxiety, physical health complaints, and the number of reported visits to a health professional, even after controlling for abuse severity. These results indicate that processes involved in abuse perception appear to be connected to individuals' psychological and physical functioning, and that abuse awareness may have important clinical implications.Item Open Access Academic Kindergarten and Later Academic Success: The Impact of Direct Instruction(National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI), 2008-12) Engelmann, Kurt; Stockard, JeanThe National Reading Panel recently concluded that pre-literacy and early literacy instruction is appropriate for kindergarten students and an important element of promoting higher achievement in later grades. This paper examines the relationship of receiving the Direct Instruction (DI) kindergarten curriculum, Reading Mastery, on students’ oral reading fluency in first and second grade. Data from several hundred students in two different schools are analyzed. Achievement was measured using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Skills (DIBELS). Results indicate that the students who received Direct Instruction kindergarten had significantly higher achievement in early elementary school. These results replicate those found in other studies, providing consistent evidence of the effectiveness of Direct Instruction kindergarten instruction in promoting later academic achievement.Item Open Access Academic merit, status variables, and students' grades(University of Georgia, 1985-09-01) Stockard, Jean; Dwight, Lang; Wood, J. WalterStudents' grades are important mechanisms for advancement and success in life. Grades are criteria for college admission and academic awards, and they undoubtedly influence the encouragement and advice students receive regarding their future plans. In using grades in these ways it is assumed that they reflect students' actual achievement. This paper examines this assumption by looking at the extent to which ability, social class, and gender, as well as achievement. influence students' grades in school. Earlier work is extended by including both gender and social class in the analysis and by examining influences on students' grades in each year from the 7th- to the 12th-grade and both the total grade average and marks in the subject areas of mathematics and English. The total grade averages were examined because they have most often been the focus of other studies. English and mathematics grades were examined because of the centrality of these disciplines to the school curriculum and because of the association of achievement in these areas with both gender and social class.Item Open Access Accident probabilities and seat belt usage: A psychological perspective(Accident Analysis and Prevention, 1978) Slovic, Paul; Fischhoff, Baruch; Lichtenstein, SarahMotorists' reluctance to wear seat belts is examined in light of research showing (a) that protective behavior is influenced more by the probability of a hazard than by the magnitude of its consequences and (b) that people are not inclined to protect themselves voluntarily against very low probability threats. It is argued that the probability of death or injury on any single auto trip may be too low to incite a motorist's concern. Maintenance of a "single trip" perspective makes it unlikely that seat belts will be used. Change of perspective, towards consideration of the risks faced during a lifetime of driving, may increase the perceived probabilities of injury and death and, therefore, induce more people to wear seat belts.Item Open Access Across Borders, Across Generations: Immigration, Assimilation, and Racial Identity Formation in Multi-Generational Mexican American Families(University of California, Berkeley, 2007) Vasquez-Tokos, JessicaThis dissertation investigates how racial identities of Mexican Americans both change and persist inter-generationally within families. Using purposive and snowball sampling, I interviewed three-generation middle class Mexican American families in California. I conducted in-depth interviews with sixty-seven members from twenty-nine three-generation families (Mexican immigrant grandparents and their children and grandchildren born in the U.S.). Two questions inspire this inquiry. First, what are the families’ trajectories of racial identification and incorporation across the three generations? Second, what familial and social forces influence each generation’s racial identity formation? My research elaborates on and refines existing theories of assimilation and racial identity formation by using a generational, family-centered approach. I evoke and utilize the categories of "thinned attachment" and "cultural maintenance" to capture trajectories of assimilation across generations. My study suggests that eight factors are significant in shaping racial identity development and incorporation patterns: spouse/partner, personal traits (phenotype and name), cultural toolkit, gender, social position, social context, institutions, and immigration/citizenship status. Intergenerational family memory (knowledge and stories transmitted through generations), parental ideologies, and historical context are also significant in shaping both racial identity and incorporation trajectories. My research finds that assimilation, as a mode of structural incorporation, is predominant among the families interviewed. Structural assimilation influences racial identity formation in two bifurcated ways: it prompts a loss of Mexican affiliation or sparks a desire to retain a Mexican-oriented identity. Public and institutional discrimination have a tremendous impact on Mexican Americans’ racial identity. Historical period is also influential: the Civil Rights’ Movement offered a new racial rhetoric with which to combat racism and promote visibility. Finally, third generation Mexican Americans range from displaying flexibility in their identification options to being highly racialized in a way that makes Mexican American identity not a matter of choice. This research extends racial identity and assimilation theories by highlighting the mechanisms that drive these processes. Neither racial identity nor assimilation are straightforward progressions but, instead, develop unevenly and are influenced by family, society, and historical social movements.Item Open Access Active Community Environments and Health: The Relationship of Walkable and Safe Communities to Individual Health(Taylor & Francis Group, 2006) Doyle, Scott; Kelly-Schwartz, Alexia; Schlossberg, Marc; Stockard, JeanThe literature suggests that individuals will be healthier if they live in Active Community Environments that promote exercise and activity. Two key elements of such environments are walkability and safety. Examining data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, 1988–1994 and using a multilevel analysis, we found that individuals who live in counties that are more walkable and have lower crime rates tended to walk more and to have lower body mass indices (BMIs) than people in less walkable and more crime-prone areas, even after controlling for a variety of individual variables related to health. Among lifelong residents of an area, lesser walkability and more crime were also associated with respondents reporting weightrelated chronic illness and lower ratings of their own health. The effect of high crime rates was substantially stronger for women than for men, and taking this interaction into account eliminated gender differences in walking, BMI, weight-related chronic conditions, and self-reported poor health. The results suggest that to promote activity and health, planners should consider community walkability, crime prevention, and safety.Item Open Access Adaptive Expectations, Underparameterization and the Lucas Critique(University of Oregon, Dept. of Economics, 2001-11-29) Evans, George W., 1949-; Ramey, GareyA striking implication of the replacement of adaptive expectations by Rational Expectations was the "Lucas Critique," which showed that expectation parameters, and endogenous variable dynamics, depend on policy parameters. We consider this issue from the vantage point of a bounded rationality, where for transparency we model bounded rationality by means of simple adaptive expectations.We show that for a range of processes, monetary policy remains subject to the Lucas critique. However, there are also regimes in which the expectation parameter is locally invariant and the Lucas critique does not apply.Item Open Access Adaptive Learning and Monetary Policy Design(University of Oregon, Dept. of Economics, 2002-11-08) Evans, George W., 1949-; Honkapohja, Seppo, 1951-We review the recent work on interest rate setting, which emphasizes the desirability of designing policy to ensure stability under private agent learning. Appropriately designed expectations based rules can yield optimal rational expectations equilibria that are both determinate and stable under learning. Some simple instrument rules and approximate targeting rules also have these desirable properties. We take up various complications in implementing optimal policy, including the observability of key variables and the required knowledge of structural parameters. An additional issue that we take up concerns the implications of expectation shocks not arising from transitional learning effects.