Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Brava & Gloria: A Mexican Counterstory Screenplay, Jose David Garcia Gilling

Theses and Dissertations

“Brava & Gloria: A Counterstory Screenplay” is a thesis work which combines the theoretical aspects of Latinx representation in films with a full-length, feature film screenplay. In this work I use speculative fiction aesthetics to address the matter of representation and I create a version of how I would like to see Latinxs represented on screen. The story of “Gloria and Brava” is a medium to achieve this. Even though it does not mimic my personal experience as an immigrant, the core of the story is my family’s and my own experience as a Latino in the United States. Consequently, …

In His Wake: Applying Life's Truths In Fiction, Joseph M. Balderas

Theses and Dissertations

The culmination of the creative work and its introduction attempt to delve into the psyche of what it means to lose someone you love. The screenplay explores the grieving process and the coping mechanisms that accompanies it, with an examination on how far some people are willing to go for closure.

To reach my conclusions, I draw from my own life experience, the experiences of others, and a fine amount of research. It also means to shed light on the impermanent mental strain that chaperon’s grief.

The Smuggler Journals: Transgressing And Policing The Border In The Rio Grande Valley, Lupe Alberto Flores

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis summarizes recent human smuggling scholarship and provides ethnographic insights into migrant smuggling in a border zone that is my home. Through exploring my own experiences and observations of smuggling and militarized border policing, and those of other interlocutors in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, I advance nuanced understandings of the symbiotic processes of irregular migration and of the people who brokerage a great deal of these journeys across militarized borders. I analyze fieldnotes that highlight the quotidian realms in which gender and power play out when irregular migration takes place and argue that acts of border …

"La Reyna Es El Rey": Expressions Of Gender Identity By Female Mariachis In The Southwest, Erika J. Soveranes

Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1990s, the popularity of all-female mariachis has grown in the United States. These ensembles push the boundaries, both socially and stylistically, of a genre which has traditionally disregarded female participation. In this thesis, I study two all-female mariachi groups in the Southwest in which I have participated: Mariachi Buenaventura from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Mariachi Margaritas from Brownsville, Texas. These two groups struggle to establish their reputation and aspire towards equal recognition to their male counterparts on the basis of musicality. Based on musical analysis and ethnographic reflections, I argue that the mariachi tradition embodies patriarchal values …

Elevating My Chicana Feminist Consciousness Through The United States' First Female Show Mariachi, Monica A. Fogelquist

Theses and Dissertations

Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles is widely recognized as the premier all-female mariachi in the world. In my thesis, I examine the gendered implications of a female group directed by a man and their relation to Mexican and Mexican American gender ideologies. Many of the ideas on gender roles traditionally inculcated in previous generations of Mexican and Mexican Americans are still manifest in the ways in which the group functions. Through my personal testimony as a former member, and accounts by other past and present members of Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, I argue that Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles …

Nature, Essence And Spirit: An Artistic Process Of Space, Lines And Color From The Level Of Cells To The Large Oceanic Water World, Odra O. Arriaga

Theses and Dissertations

The methods, experimentations, philosophies and influential artists mentioned in this thesis all form part of my artistic exploration and art from the level of cells to the large oceanic water world. As an artist of Fine Arts at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, my main emphasis is to associate these concepts with my personal experiences, cultural traditions and artistic perspectives with my likes for lines, colors and spaces in what I called, Nature, Essence and Spirit. Furthermore, my artistic approach was mostly influenced by the views of artists such as, Vasily Kandinsky, Frank Stella, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, …

The Gloria E. Anzaldúa Journey: Path To Conocimiento A Testimonio Of Queer Heroics, Veronica Solis

Theses and Dissertations

As an auto-historia testimonio, I approach my work from my experience with performance poetry where I used my personal experiences to express the continuum of gender through poetry. I also draw from Gloria Anzaldúa’s “path of conocimiento” as a framework for my narrative stories as queer rites of passage.

Narrative Art And The Portrayal Of Faith And Social Injustice, Raul Cabrera

Theses and Dissertations

The artwork I strive to create infuses what interests me and is important to me all the while taking issues I feel are important to address and incorporating them as well. In the case of the exhibit Spiritual Awakening, the passion of creating narrative imagery in the form of a graphic novel as well as the yearning to express my faith was the vehicle to bring to light many social injustices in the form of criminal activity from murder to corruption. Though these themes have been seen in different aspects in a variety of mediums, rarely have they been conveyed …

Solitude And Our Projected Dreams, David E. Jamison

Theses and Dissertations

“Cineplex” is a creative writing manuscript discussing isolation, escapism, and the way narrative inherently distorts our understanding of the world. Many of my characters are isolated people who create their own fantasies to escape otherwise dreary circumstances. Others try to live their lives by a narrative they see on television or in the news and ultimately discover that reality is infinitely more complex than they have been lead to believe.

Revolution, Mario J. Jorge

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis, Revolution, is a novel of historical fiction set during the Cuban Revolution from 1945 to 1957. Following in the tradition of Gabriel Marquez (100 Years of Solitude), Joseph Conrad (Nostromo), and James A. Michener (Mexico), the unfolding of events begins in the fictional city of Alarico set in Cuba's Oriente Province before spreading into Havana. The prominent figures of the revolution-Batista, Castro, and Guevara-are represented by fictional counterparts in order to circumvent the restrictions of history to tell an exciting story. We follow Fidel's rise to power, as well as the lives of a Cuban miner and his …

Please Hold: Pushing The Comedic Movie Culture Forward, Lonanthony Phillip Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Growing up I always loved to watch movies. I was fascinated with the way the actors and actresses on the screen could spread joy, laughter, sadness, and anger, even making you fall in love by something they said or did. It has been my dream to have the same effect on people through the power of cinema as well. I am going to talk about multiple movies that I feel played a huge part in pushing the comedic movie culture forward. I want to break down and discuss three factors in these movies that I feel are vital when one …

How To Live: Growing Up As A Brown Gay Boy In A Conservative, Traditional And Christian Homophobic Family, Felipe Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

How to Live: Growing Up as a Brown Gay Boy in a Conservative, Traditional Christian and Homophobic Family chronicles the life of one brown, gay boy as he navigated culture, racism, religion and traditional family values growing up. Felipe Vasquez, the boy, narrator and author, analyzes events in his life which guided his choices and left lasting impressions. In the chapters hereby presented, he deals with being gay in a machismo culture, being Latino in the 80s, 90s and present day United States and dealing with mental health in a culture that tends to misunderstand mental illness.

Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Empowerment Through Mimicry, Daniel Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

My collection is a polythetic assortment of poetry, prose poetry, monologue and drama that serves as a polyglottic exhibition of empowerment through mimicry. Like a mockingbird, whom the Aztecs call “cenzontle” in their Nahuatl tongue, my writer’s voice is polyvoiced. I include in this collection an eclectic variety of voices: personas, languages, forms, styles, and identities—often mixing them, in part to entertain and in part to challenge my boundaries as a writer, to stretch my vocal chords, so to speak, but also in part to challenge the lingering prejudice against such mestizaje—or meeting and mixing of cultures (and also voices)—and …

Safe Passage, John Molina

Theses and Dissertations

Safe Passage is a novel detailing life in the RGV. The novel is a bildungsroman that follows a group of friends and their experiences in the RGV. The novel sheds light on a region that is rarely examined, and uses flashbacks and flash forwards to show what it is like to age in the RGV.

The novel deals with life growing up near the Texas/Mexico border and relates experiences from the group of friends mentioned in the previous paragraph. The novel describes political and police corruption, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, and assimilation along the Rio Grande Border. The novel …