Activism in Southwestern Queer and Trans Young Adults After the Marriage Equality Era

Affilia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan E. Gandy-Guedes ◽  
Megan S. Paceley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
The United States ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Gay And Lesbian Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Study Participants

In 2015, marriage equality in the United States was a big win for the gay and lesbian movement. Marriage equality as a primary focus of the movement, however, was not without its critiques, particularly as an issue affecting mostly white, gay, economically secure individuals. Given the history of the movement, it is essential to ask what is next. Young queer and trans people represent the next generation of potential activists and advocates for queer and trans liberation, yet little empirical attention has been paid to their goals for the movement and motivations to be actively involved, particularly among young adults in rural, conservative states. Therefore, this study sought to understand the social, economic, and environmental issues deemed important by queer and trans young adults (aged 18–29), as well as their motivations to get involved in activism efforts. Data came from a mixed-methods program evaluation, which presents a picture of the issues and motivations that led study participants ( n = 65) toward activism in one conservative, highly rural, Southwestern state in the United States. The findings of this study are discussed in light of theoretical and empirical literature and then implications for the queer and trans movement, activists, and organizers are offered.

The Transformational Change Challenge of Memes: The Case of Marriage Equality in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 1667-1697
Author(s):  
Sandra Waddock ◽  
Steve Waddell ◽  
Paul S. Gray
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case History ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Systems Change ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Large Systems

This article explores the role of changing memes in large systems change toward marriage equality—popularly referred to as same-sex marriage—in the United States. Using an abbreviated case history of the transformation, the article particularly explores the shifting memes or core units of culture, in this case, word phrases associated with marriage equality over time, influencing the social change process. Using both the case history and the empirical work on memes, the article identifies nine lessons to support others tackling large systems change challenges.

Conservation of Melody With Varied Harmonizations: A Comparison of Adult Listeners From China and the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 002242942110314
Author(s):  
Jing Liu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
The United States ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Musical Thinking ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Better Than ◽  
And Task

This study replicates and extends previous research investigating young adults’ ability to conserve melody under different harmonic contexts by comparing Chinese listeners ( N = 131) with U.S. listeners (Liu, 2018; N = 61). Using identical stimuli and procedures from the original study, participants listened to 34 pairs of melodic examples and identified whether the melody presented was the “same or different.” Results indicated Chinese listeners had a well-developed ability to identify the sameness of a melody when it was presented (a) alone, then with harmony (Task I); (b) with harmony, then with different harmony (Task II); and (c) with harmony, then alone (Task III, a reversed task of Task I). Overall, Chinese participants performed significantly better than U.S. participants. Corroborating prior research, music reversibility was also observed among Chinese listeners, as demonstrated by successful responses in two reversed music tasks (Task I and Task III). The performance differences on Task II between listeners with low versus no level of mastering reversibility regardless of country of origin and between Chinese listeners only with a high and a low level of reversibility further support the concept of music reversibility and its role in musical thinking.

The Loyal Republic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Mathisen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
National Citizenship ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Bundle Of Rights

This is the story of how Americans attempted to define what it meant to be a citizen of the United States, at a moment of fracture in the republic's history. As Erik Mathisen demonstrates, prior to the Civil War, American national citizenship amounted to little more than a vague bundle of rights. But during the conflict, citizenship was transformed. Ideas about loyalty emerged as a key to citizenship, and this change presented opportunities and profound challenges aplenty. Confederate citizens would be forced to explain away their act of treason, while African Americans would use their wartime loyalty to the Union as leverage to secure the status of citizens during Reconstruction. In The Loyal Republic, Mathisen sheds new light on the Civil War, American emancipation, and a process in which Americans came to a new relationship with the modern state. Using the Mississippi Valley as his primary focus and charting a history that traverses both sides of the battlefield, Mathisen offers a striking new history of the Civil War and its aftermath, one that ushered in nothing less than a revolution in the meaning of citizenship in the United States.

Review of A brief history of the United States.

1919 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 414-414
Author(s):  
No authorship indicated
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of

An American Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.

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