Latin American History Commons^™

A Discordant Voice From The Trenches: Juan José De Soiza Reilly’S War Chronicles, María Inés Tato

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

The First World War represented a deep crisis of the European civilization that called into question the values and certitudes of the Belle Époque society. Trenches became the symbol of the dehumanization produced by a conflict that marked a watershed in modern history. As a global conflict, its impact was felt beyond the confines of Europe, involving even neutral countries, puzzled by that unexpected spectacle of violence.

In this new scenery, war correspondents were first-hand witnesses of the horrors of the battlefields, transmitted through their journalistic contributions to a public opinion profoundly shaken by this new kind of warfare. Non-European ...

Moving Forward: Railways In Puerto Rico, Gricel M. Surillo Luna

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the second half of the nineteenth century the establishment of railways was essential for the progress and modernization of the Puerto Rican economy. Railroads were fundamental and slowly appeared along the coast reaching their highest level of development in the first decade of the twentieth century. After the First World War, however, the railroads faced economic challenges, and competition with trucks and automobiles became a serious matter. During the depression of the 1930s, the state started to show unwillingness to aid railroads. The exclusion of the railroads from the new industrial model developed during the 1940s when a new ...

The Impact Of Guerrilla Warfare On Democratic Stability In Latin America, Anthony Wright

Honors Theses

Throughout the history of Latin America there have been many revolutions that have reshaped the political fabric of the entire continent. This thesis will seek to explore the impact that the following three movements have had: The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador, Las Fuerzas Armadas de la República de Colombia (FARC), and the Tupamaros (MLN-T) in Uruguay. When examining these three movements the research will include histories and discussions of each revolution and text regarding the strength of democracy within the countries. These sections will then be supported with data regarding democracy and the people’s ...

Diversas De Sí, Entre El Hoy Y El Ayer: Rememoria De Tres Íconos Femeninos Espirituales, La Condesa De Malibrán, Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz Y La Falsa Teresa De Jesús, Ana Gabriela Hernandez Gonzalez 5059749397

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation traces the cultural memory of three magical/religious women of the colonial period: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, La Condesa de Malibrán and La Falsa Teresa de Jesús. It studies these icons specifically in three different discourses that construct cultural identities in Mexico: colonial discourse (XVI-XVII Centuries), the discourse of national consolidation (XIX-XX centuries) and postcolonial discourse (XX-XIX Centuries). First I describe how the narratives of the colonial period and of national consolidation employ an official lens to place magical/religious women within traditional gender roles. Then I delineate how historical novels in the 21st century employ ...

Prayers Of Peace And Protest: The Relationship Between The Catholic Church And Chile's Socialist And Military Governments (1970-1990), Olivia Migliori

Student Honors Theses By Year

In this work I examine the relationship between the Chilean Catholic Church and the socialist government of Salvador Allende (1970-1973) as well as the military government of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). In the years preceding Allende’s election, an ideological current emerged in Chilean religion and politics that emphasized a focus on social justice. This swell of leftist ideas created a tension within both the Church and the country that continued into Allende’s presidency. These conflicts were further exacerbated by the military coup in 1973, and the attitudes of laypeople and clergy toward the dictatorship were varied. Scholarship written ...

“Tú Hablas Ahora:” Viequense Female Archetype And Agency In The Works Of Carmelo Rodríguez Torres, Emma T. Comery

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Author Carmelo Rodríguez Torres incorporates many of his experiences with the U.S. naval occupation of Vieques, Puerto Rico into his novels and short stories. Few scholars have written on Torres, and even fewer have discussed him in terms of womanhood and feminism. Yet central to many of his works are figures of womanhood that are at once archetypal and progressive. In my paper I investigate Torres' treatment of his female characters in all his novels and two of his short stories. I place his presentation of women within the context of the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico and ...

Overcoming The Hurdles: The Journey Of The Afro-Colombian Woman, Nashay M. Kenneth

Undergraduate Research

Afro-Colombian women are marginalized in their society for a variety of reasons. This research aims to address the disparities they face when compared to white or mestizo women in Colombia. Background information about slavery, Colombia’s abundant resources, Colombia’s Pacific Coast, and the Colombian Conflict are introduced to provide a complete understanding of the prevailing discrimination and marginalization experienced by this segment of the population. The Department of Chocó in the Pacific Coast hosts a large population of Afro-Colombians, it is therefore a central component of this discussion. The fight over the Pacific Coast’s lucrative resources has produced ...

Ticket To The Past: A Political History Of The Mexico City Metro, 1958-1969, Maxwell E.P. Ulin

Grand Valley Journal of History

This essay outlines the historic political battle between Mexico's longest serving mayor, Ernesto Uruchurtu, and the nation's president, Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, over the construction of what would become the second largest subway system in the Western Hemisphere, The Mexico City Metro. The conflict, which eventually resulted in Uruchurtu's resignation, was characterized by latent political tensions between the PRI and Mexican middle class that would erupt in 1968 and lead to the ultimate decline of PRI hegemony. I thus argue that the new Metro project did not reflect Mexico's democratic modernization--as its supporters meant it to do--but ...

"La Patria Es Nuestra Madre": Family Metaphor And Race In The La Guaira Conspiracy, Thomas Genova

Spanish Publications

This paper explores the intersection of race and the metaphor of the national family in the texts generated during the Conspiración de La Guaira, a failed 1797 republican independentista revolt in colonial Venezuela led by Mallorcan enlightened intellectual Juan Mariano Picornell. Turning away from traditional representations of the dynastic state in terms of paternity, the La Guaira conspirators figure the nation as a mother and creoles and Afro-Venezuelans as brother citizens. Yet, at the same time that it indicates a transition from dynastic to republican paradigms, the conspirators’ emphasis on revolutionary brotherhood serves to contain the radical notions of equality ...

The Dialectics Of The Community: Mexican Production Of Death, Blanca Judith Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

This work attempts to provide a discussion of the current waves of violence present in the northern border of Mexico. The country became a neoliberal state during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The external debt and the historical corruption of the Mexican government placed Mexico in a vulnerable stage leaving its sovereignty with a fissure before the eyes of international circles of power. The adoption of a neoliberal economic system has impacted all the social tissue. The euphoric discourse of advancement and opportunity was spread by ideological apparatus, and people in constant need accepted positively the system. The ...

The World Of Don Santo, Veiko Valencia

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The following paper is an investigation on the legacy of colonization, exploring the question of how to produce an object without the colonizers’ presence. By creating fictional characters, myths, and a fake computer software I am proposing a different way to respond to this question. Using the notion of the copy as the core to this alternative response, I am exploring the idea that the copy of the copy at some point can become its own original.

Formal Displacement, Savannah Grace Dixon

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

William Walker And The Seeds Of Progressive Imperialism: The War In Nicaragua And The Message Of Regeneration, 1855-1860, John J. Mangipano

Dissertations

For a brief period of time, between 1855 and 1857, William Walker successfully portrayed himself to American audiences as the regenerator of Nicaragua. Though he arrived in Nicaragua in June 1855, with only fifty-eight men, his image as a regenerator attracted several-thousand men and women to join him in his mission to stabilize the region. Walker relied on both his medical studies as well as his experience in journalism to craft a message of regeneration that placated the anxieties that many Americans felt about the instability of the Caribbean. People supported Walker because he provided a strategy of regeneration that ...

Uncovering The Mystery Of Machu Picchu, Barbara Cardona

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

If mysteries were ranked, Machu Picchu would be on the top of the list. This Incan site, destination for millions of tourists, archaeologists and researchers each year, is one of the biggest enigmas of Incan culture. Its mesmerizing view has prompted hundreds of unanswered questions about this civilization. Incan culture revolved around cities, built without reference to the world beyond. Although the Incas were incredible architects and inventors, they lack written records, shrouding their culture in mystery for many years. While research has illuminated some facets of Incan culture, a significant question still remains: what purpose did Machu Picchu play ...

The Diet And Subsistence Methods Of The Maya: Their Health And Cultural Consequences From The Pre-Classic Era To Today, Rachel E. Watson

Honors Undergraduate

The Maya, a once great civilization, seemingly vanished without an obvious reason, before the Spanish landed in the region. Some say that their downfall was a result of famine and inadequate nutrition. Surprisingly, most of the archaeological evidence surrounding the Classic Maya diet and subsistence methods indicates that they both adequately sustained the population to the point where there has been practically no change over hundreds of years. Change did not occur to the Maya diet or the classic subsistence methods until the late twentieth century when the tourism industry exploded in the area of the former Maya empire. The ...

La Voz Spring 2017, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Contested Citizenship Conference
• John N. Plank Cuban Lecture Series
• Borderlands Symposium
• York County PA Detention Center

Breaking The Silence: The Story Of The Ixil Maya Of Union Victoria During The Guatemalan Civil War, Megan Marcucci (Class Of 2017)

History Undergraduate Publications

In the spring of 2016 and in the spring of 2017, I went to southern Guatemala on a mission trip under the auspices of Sacred Heart University. Never having studied Guatemala or its history, I had no idea what type of turmoil plagued this beautiful country. After traveling high up in the mountains of Guatemala and hearing the story of one indigenous Ixil Maya village, I knew that their story needed to be told.

France To Haiti To Spain To Cuba To America: Immigration Across Cultures And History, Augustine F. Villa

Honors Projects and Posters

Growing up hearing stories about relatives throughout the United States, Carribbean, South America, and Europe, I was unaware of the uniqueness of my family’s journey over the last several generations. Where did my family come from, how far can I trace it back, what factors led to their convoluted multi-generational immigration and how did my grandfather, Fernando Villa, come to know Fidel Castro? In particular, what circumstances surrounded the move from Cuba to the United States and what was the transition like for a first-generation immigrant family?

Research was designed to focus on historical literature and oral interviews with ...

The Policy Of Torches: Chapter I, Evan Frazier

WWU Honors Program Senior Projects

Chapter I: Liberator, is a sample from the rough draft of a novel called “The Policy of Torches.” This historical fiction follows two heroes of the first Cuban rebellion, known as the Ten Years War. Chapter I depicts the historical event that sparked the war known as the “Cry of Yara.” Carlos Céspedes went on to become President of the Cuban revolutionary republic, though he died before the war’s end without friends at the hands of Spanish soldiers. Céspedes’s rise and fall is a central story in The Policy of Torches.

Community Radio In Guatemala: A Half-Century Of Resistance In The Face Of Repression, Polly W. Lauer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While Guatemalan community radio stations have been legally repressed or “criminalized” since 1996, there is a longer trend of military repression of community radio stations that reaches back to the 1970s. Looking at an extended narrative of repression lends context to the present day fight for policy change in favor of community radio rights; it illustrates a continual exclusion and sustained repression by the state against the institution of Guatemalan community radio and the Maya campesino population.