Example Abstract for Social and Behavioral Sciences

1st Position, Eighteenth Annual Graduate Exhibition

SOJOURNER RUTH MARABLE

College: College of Communications
Department: Media Studies
Title: THE CINCINNATI BOYS MUST NOT DIE: Urban perspectives and Print Media's Framing of the April 2001 Cincinnati Uprising
Abstract:

The Cincinnati rebellion was a silent scream that echoed sharply across the urban horizon. Racism has long been a major problem in law enforcement in the African American community. White police officers have used excessive force and racial profiling to maintain power and control over black citizens. One recent example took place in Cincinnati in April 2001 when an African American man was shot to death by a white police officer. He was the fifteenth African American male killed by Cincinnati police in five years; no white suspects were killed during that period.

The recent social unrest in Cincinnati can only be understood in the context of the city's divided racial history, and in reference to other civil disturbances. For this study I interviewed 66 people in Cincinnati over the summer of 2002, including protesters, rebellion participants, journalists, police officers, store owners, witnesses, ex-prostitutes, and community activists to compare their recollections of April 2001 in Cincinnati to coverage of the events in three Cincinnati newspapers.

Several questions are considered: (1) How do a sample of OTR residents and rebellion participants describe themselves (who they are, what they did, and why)? (2) How did the black, alternative and white press reports portray the rebellion participants (who they are, what they did, and why)? (3) How do these two sources (media and interviewees) of who, what and why differ? The comparison of the in-depth interviews and frame analysis suggest that the alternative press portrayal of the unrest best coincided with the interviewees.

This paper aims to illustrate that the Cincinnati uprising is a significant event in understanding race relations and news coverage of race relations in the 21st century.