Diamond's dissertation has five chapters. The first three follow the traditional format of a doctoral dissertation. The last two exist as podcast episodes. Together, they constitute a complete, rigorous, and innovative piece of scholarly work.
Below you'll find an overview of each chapter. Where possible, download links and listening links are provided.
What it does: Chapter One establishes Diamond's positionality, defines the problem she is addressing, articulates the purpose of the research, and introduces the study's design. It is the foundation of everything that follows.
Key themes: Diamond opens by situating herself as a lifelong learner, creative mogul, and media enthusiast — someone who grew up in the New Freedom Theatre tradition and who came to higher education with a specific set of questions about what institutions owe their Black and Brown creative students. She argues that higher education has failed to fully recognize and utilize the creative gifts of Black and Brown scholars, and that this failure is not incidental — it is structural.
She introduces podcasting as an "independent and empowering avenue that challenges traditional academic norms" and frames her study around a core conviction: that creatives have divine gifts that educational spaces are obligated to honor.
The problem statement, in her words: The problem is the "limitation and underutilization of creativity and cultural appreciation for creatives, including Black and Brown innovators in higher education."
[ Download Chapter 1 — link coming soon ]
What it does: Chapter Two situates Diamond's research within the existing scholarly conversation — tracing the history of media's role in Black activism, the current political context threatening diverse higher education, the research on HBCUs' distinctive model of care, and the emerging scholarship on podcasting as pedagogy.
Key concepts she explores:
The secret sauce — a concept from Price (2023) describing the HBCU model of care, cultural affirmation, and student-centered practice that produces belonging for Black and Brown students. Diamond's research asks whether this quality can be replicated or cultivated at institutions that aren't HBCUs.
Black Creative Educational Experiences (BCEE) — learning spaces and cultural practices that center Black art, creativity, and pride as pathways to belonging and empowerment, both within and beyond the formal curriculum.
Sociological podcasting — the use of podcast as a form of public scholarship that shares lived experiences, promotes dialogue about race and equity, and raises critical awareness beyond academic audiences.
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Critical Media Literacy — the two theoretical frameworks that anchor the entire study.
The scope: More than thirty contemporary scholarly sources from 2009 to 2025. A literature base that takes seriously the intersection of media, creativity, race, and higher education.
[ Download Chapter 2 — link coming soon ]
What it does: Chapter Three explains how Diamond conducted the research — the design rationale, the data collection instruments, the sampling strategy, the IRB process, the production process, and the validity and reliability considerations.
The design: Diamond used a convergent parallel mixed methods design — quantitative survey data and qualitative focus group data collected simultaneously, analyzed separately, and integrated at the interpretation stage. This design allowed her to understand both the breadth of BBC experiences in higher education (survey) and the depth and nuance of specific stories and perspectives (focus group/podcast).
The instruments:
An online interest and consent form (via Qualtrics) for initial screening
One-on-one Zoom orientation meetings with each participant
A primary survey measuring creative identity, podcasting engagement, belonging, and confidence
Recorded focus group sessions that were produced into podcast episodes
The participants: 65 survey respondents; 3 focus group participants who appeared in the podcast episodes.
The key methodological move: The focus group is not just data collection. It is also production. Participants know they are going to be heard. They prepared. They showed up. They spoke with the knowledge that their words would reach other Black and Brown creatives — not just be read by an academic committee. This changes the conversation in ways Diamond reflects on explicitly in the episodes.
[ Download Chapter 3 — link coming soon ]
What they do: Chapters Four and Five are Diamond's findings and discussion — presented as eight podcast episodes produced at the Philly Podcast Space in Philadelphia. The series documents the full arc of her research: who she is, what she is studying, how she assembled the focus group, what the focus group said, and what it all means.
The series — eight episodes:
Episode 1 — Who is Diamond, and why does this research matter?
Episode 2 — What is she studying, and how does it work?
Episode 3 — How did she build the focus group, and who gets a seat?
Episodes 4 and 5 — The focus group conversation: Theo, Vanessa, and Melissa Nicole speak.
Episode 6 — Reflexivity, credibility, and what it means to do research this way
Episode 7 — Nine themes, one formula: what the data revealed
Episode 8 — Structural critique, the call to action, and what comes next
How to Listen: The "How to Listen" guide for this series provides three layers of engagement — from new-to-research listeners to advanced scholars. It walks through each episode, names key themes, raises critical questions, and provides further reading suggestions. It is the written document that makes these episodes academically legible as dissertation chapters.
[ Watch the series on YouTube ] [Download the "How to Listen" guide — link coming soon ]
The podcast doesn't replace the scholarship. It relocates the findings from the page to the studio, and from the academic archive to the public ear.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Findings
Chapter 5: Discussion
Chapter 1: Introduction — same function, traditional written form
Chapter 2: Literature Review — same function, 12,000+ words
Chapter 3: Methodology — same function, detailed protocols
Chpater 4: Findings
Episodes 1–5 + "How to Listen" Guide — the data, in voices
Chapter 5: Discussion
Episodes 6–8 + "How to Listen" Guide — the analysis, in conversation