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Documenting Internationalism: The Instituto Cubano Del Arte E Industria Cinematográficos As A Cultural Extension Of Cuban Foreign Policy, Vella V. Voynova

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the connection between the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos and the Cuban Revolution's internationalism and argues that it made ICAIC documentarians, their methods of production, and their documentary films a valuable asset to Cuban foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s.

Historical Biogeography, Spatial Distribution, And Within-Host Interactions Of Avian Haemosporidian Parasites (Apicomplexa, Haemosporida), Leticia De Souza Soares

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses several aspects of the biogeography and evolution of avian malarial parasites (Haemosporida: Plasmodium and Haemoproteus), and the interactions of these pathogens with their hosts and other avian blood parasites. In Chapter 1, I investigate change in haemosporidian assemblages on the West Indies over millennial time scales, taking advantage of the historical isolation of islands by postglacial rising sea levels. I found that, the prevalence of parasite lineages is highly dynamic over periods from decades to thousands of years. Turnover of lineages requires more time than variation in lineage prevalence, suggesting that competitive exclusion of parasite lineages, likely …

Ports, Prosperity, And Pests: Assessing The Threat Of Aquatic Invasive Species Introduced By Maritime Shipping Activity In Cuba, Charleen O'Brien

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) are biological pollutants that cause detrimental ecological, economic, and sociological effects on non-native communities. With increasing globalization through maritime trade, coastal ports are vulnerable to AIS introductions transported by commercial vessels. As Cuba’s Port Mariel becomes a competitive transshipment hub within the Caribbean, it is essential to identify the potential threat that AIS may pose with a likely increase in shipping activity. It is equally important to understand the status of established AIS in Cuba and control measures presently being implemented by the country. This information can provide guidance for establishing or improving Cuban AIS preventative …

U.S. State Building And The Second Amendment, Darren Dale Gil

Dissertations

This dissertation used a comparative case study strategy employing a mixed methods thematic content analysis approach¹ to explore U.S. government support for Second Amendment freedoms as compared to other freedoms in the U.S. Bill of Rights in American-led state-building projects in Cuba (1898-1901), Germany (1945-1949), and Iraq (2003-2005). The dissertation tested for Republican and Democratic political party support regarding Second Amendment freedoms in U.S. state-building projects. Findings from the three case studies showed that the American government did not support individual arms rights in its state-building efforts as it did with the other nine Bill of Rights freedoms. Findings …

The New New Man: (Re)Articulations Of Masculinity In Post-Revolutionary Cuba, Gabriela Zaviezo

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation explores the way masculinity was created and rearticulated during Revolutionary and Post-revolutionary Cuba. I argue that The New Man and his masculinity is created by official documents such as speeches, magazines, comics, etc. produced by the government. Through the analysis of Reinaldo Arenas’s Arturo, la estrella más brillante, Senel Paz’s El lobo, el bosque y el hombre nuevo, and Abel González Melo’s Chamaco, informe en diez capítulos para representar I demonstrate how these texts engage with official discourse in order to create new expressions/possibilities of masculinity. Highlighting key elements of the three narratives, including productivity, specters of the …

Fragmentation And Multiplicity In Cuban-American Identity: In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd By Ana Menéndez And Memory Mambo By Achy Obejas, Daimys E. Garcia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Maria Lugones offers a new way of perceiving the world, which makes visible that fragmentation is not a valuable and transgressive understanding of identity, as Western philosophy and some political theory suggests. What Lugones believes in, as a strategy of resistance to the dominant gaze, is multiplicity – mestizaje. Using Lugones’s framework, this thesis will look at the different aspects of Cuban-American characters in In Cuba I was a German Shepherd by Ana Menéndez and Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas. Each novel offers insight into how characters develop and understand themselves (and others) when they use language that shows that …

The Exile Of Assata Shakur: Marronage And American Borders, Joe Kaplan

History Theses

Former Black Panther, Assata Shakur, now living in exile in Cuba after breaking out of a U.S. prison, is a self-described escaped slave, or maroon. Shakur has adopted this identity to underscore how practices and ideologies developed under slavery continue to structure Black life in the Americas, and how resistance strategies produced by this historical milieu remain salient in critiques of modern U.S. state power. The transnational nature of Shakur’s flight points to the use of borders as a highly effective, yet overlooked, tactic of Black resistance that has both historical and contemporary relevance. For maroons, borders mark hard distinctions …

The Unmaking Of An Embargo: How Policy Entrepreneurs At The Individual, State, And National Levels Are Creating New Paths For Policy Change In Modern United States-Cuba Relations, Kyle C. Griffith

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the Cold War antagonisms of the twentieth century, the United States (US) championed greater global economic cooperation and an embrace of free market principles to encourage economic growth. Post World War II, passage of the Bretton Woods Agreement institutionalized this political agenda effectively establishing the rules of global commerce. The result has been increased economic participation and trade liberalization. One of the last remaining vestiges of Cold War hostility and impediments to trade is the US economic embargo of Cuba, in place since 1960. Increasingly seen as a policy failure, the US has taken steps in the past two …

U.S. Policy And Civil Liberties In Cuba: A Qualitative Analysis, Jason E. Mann

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

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Cuban Trade Relations Under The U.S. Embargo And Their Impact On Human Development, Elizabeth Drew Ernest

Theses and Dissertations

This senior thesis analyzes the U.S. embargo against Cuba, including how it works and how it has impacted Cuba's trade relations with other countries and regions in addition to the U.S. It then explores the impact of the resulting trade relationships on human development in Cuba through the lens of the three dimensions of the Human Development Index: standard of living, health, and education.

Cuban Trade Relations Under The U.S. Embargo And Their Impact On Human Development, Elizabeth Drew Ernest

Senior Theses

This senior thesis analyzes the U.S. embargo against Cuba, including how it works and how it has impacted Cuba's trade relations with other countries and regions in addition to the U.S. It then explores the impact of the resulting trade relationships on human development in Cuba through the lens of the three dimensions of the Human Development Index: standard of living, health, and education.

A Survey Of The Cuban Government’S Prospects Of Attracting Foreign Direct Investment., Philip Moore

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Why Despite Bipartisan Support, The Embargo Against Cuba Won't Go Down Without A Fight, Victoria Scotte Rasmussen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Within the past decade, there has been a dramatic shift in American politics. Once considered enemies, the United States and Cuba have reestablished diplomatic relations. The reestablishment of relationships is a surprise to many politicians because Cuba has not made the necessary changes to end the trade embargo put into place by the 1996 Helms-Burton act.

The majority of the friction in ending the embargo is from the Republican Party. While over half the Republicans in the country support ending the embargo, the Republicans in congress are not quite as divided on the issue. Still, some republicans are adamantly in …

Three Essays On Economic Stages And Transition, Ricardo R. Fuentes-Ramírez

Doctoral Dissertations

Cuba and Venezuela have been argued to be examples of state capitalism, populist capitalism, socialism, or simply the ambiguous “mixed economy.” By focusing on these countries as social formations in movement, or in transition, a more adequate understanding is presented. The first essay develops a theory of socialist transition, with focus on the dynamic, rather than static character of socialism. Furthermore, worker cooperatives are analyzed with a focus on the roles they play in the different stages of the transition to socialism. Finally, this framework is utilized to analyze the experience of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. The second essay …

From The Five-Key Flute To The Boehm Flute: Exploring Structural Differences And Recreating Idiomatic Performance Practices In Cuban Charanga-Based Genres., Ernesto Fernandez

Open Access Dissertations

A historical background of the Cuban charanga dance genres and the Cuban flute tradition of the wooden five-key flute are explored, including musical terminology, instrumentation, and prominent charanga flutists. The structural differences between the nineteenth-century wooden five-key flute and the Boehm metal system flute are examined using specific measurements and diagrams. The stylistic and idiomatic consequences of these structural differences were considered. It was considered that the Boehm system flute provides more musical resources through its ease of use and mechanical facility. Professional flutists from different generations with years of experience in the style were consulted; multiple recordings were analyzed, …

Cuba After Fidel: Economic Reform, Political Liberalization And Foreign Policy (2006–2014), Arturo Lopez-Levy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation discussed Cuba's processes of economic reform and political liberalization, and their impact on Cuba's foreign policy's adaptation to the post-Cold War. The first part of the dissertation explains economic reform and political liberalization from the perspective of partial reform equilibrium as a result of the Cuban Communist Party's focus on domestic stability and international legitimacy. The second part of the dissertation focused on Cuba's foreign policy dynamics associated to the domestic reform, the changes in the international system after the end of the Cold War and the asymmetric conflict between Cuba and the United States.

Brújula Quebrada, Julio Antonio Molinete

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Brújula quebrada o la reinvención del dolor, es un cuaderno de poesía en el cual se aborda el fenómeno del exilio, de la diáspora. Verso a verso es la historia de un diasporante signado por la angustia, el rechazo y el desprecio. Pero más que un poemario personal, deviene en un pedazo de la historia contemporánea cubana. Esa en donde los hijos de la Isla se ven obligados a escapar en pos de la libertad, un derecho que se hace esquivo aun en la tierra de la libertad.

To Be Magic: The Art Of Ana Mendieta Through An Ecofeminist Lens, Elizabeth Ann Baker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born American artist whose unique body of work incorporated performance, activism, Earth art, installation, and the Afro-Cuban practices of Santería. She began her career at the University of Iowa, were she initially received her degree in painting in 1969. It was not until 1972 that Mendieta shifted radically to performance art.

Though she was raised Catholic, she developed an interest in the rituals involved with Santería, a culturally predominant Cuban religion, and it deeply influenced her work in her choice of materials and settings. Santería is one of the major faith-based lifestyles of Cuba …

Shifting Relations Suggest The Start Of A “New Chapter” With Cuba—Or Do They?: Portrayal Of Cuba In The New York Times, January 2014-July 2015, Xitlaly Sanchez

Scripps Senior Theses

The United States and Cuba announced that they would begin the process of restoring diplomatic relations in December 2014 after over fifty years of political disengagement. The shift in foreign policy produced a plethora of news articles. What do newspaper articles, in particular articles in The New York Times published between January 2014-July 2015, reveal about how, if at all, the representation of Cuba has changed since the two countries have initiated the process of restoring relations? How did the U.S. public react to this change? A qualitative content analysis of 117 articles from The New York Times reveal that …

Cuban Routes Of Avant-Garde Theatre: Havana, New York, Miami, 1965-1991., Eric Mayer-Garcia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation interrogates how the movement of artists between Havana, New York, and Miami shaped experimental theatre aesthetics, formed a shared discourse of theatrical thought, and introduced a particular vein of experimental practices into U.S. American avant-garde theatre, especially as it intersects with U.S. Latina/o theatre and LGBTQ theatre. I interrogate the theatre history of these three cities as horizontal and contiguous, challenging historical narratives of U.S. American neocolonial dominance and superiority, as well as narratives of diaspora that position Havana as an authentic origin. The central contribution of my dissertation is to synthesize the archival evidence that documents connections …

Restauración De La Diplomacia Y Sus Implicaciones: Los Próximos Pasos En Las Relaciones Entre Los Estados Unidos Y Cuba, Emily Chambard

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the implications of the recent restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. Through historical analysis and discussion of the ‘Cuban Thaw’ beginning in 2009, it proposes certain courses of immediate and long-term action for both nations, but specifically the United States, to guarantee future collaboration and mutual gain. Its conclusions emphasize the unique nature of current circumstances, which have opened a window of opportunity never before seen in the history of US-Cuban relations. The causes are one, the succession of Fidel Castro by his brother, Raúl, who has already demonstrated more progressive policy action …