Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

La Nación Está En Otra Parte: Cultura Y Neoliberalismo En México (1977-1996), Rafael Lemus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation studies a series of cultural products and practices that, between 1977 and 1996, either contributed to the formation and propagation of a neoliberal rationality in Mexico or opposed it. By analyzing objects as diverse as cultural magazines, art exhibitions, literary polemics and social movements, it addresses the reconfiguration of the Mexican cultural field triggered by the neoliberal turn in the 1980s as well as the construction of a new national narrative intended to displace the old revolutionary tale and to rationalize and facilitate the insertion of the country into the global economy.

The first chapter focuses on the …

Elogio Del Amateur: Traducción Y Resistencia En La Era Del Panamericanismo (Ee.Uu. 1889-1945), Maria Soledad Marambio Castro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation explores the notion of amateurism in the context of the translation of Latin American literature in the U.S. at the beginning of the 20^th century. I argue that all literary translators are amateurs in terms of their modes of production, and that this condition allows them to resist the hegemonic projects of their day (In this dissertation, “amateurism” does away with the pejorative connotation that the term has acquired in the common use). With this in mind, I study the work and the career path of two American translators, Alice Stone Blackwell and Isaac Goldberg, and the …

Una Democracia Aterrorrizada: Justicia Y Afecto En Los Textos De La Transición Democrática Argentina, Mariana Graciano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the links between justice and affect in some of the most emblematic texts of the democratic transition in Argentina. Films, novels and photos are incorporated here as texts or complex utterances, as they constitute a framework of signs with a communicative intention that makes sense in a given context. In order to analyze these links, I consider terms from the field of transitional justice (reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration) and specific affects (terror, empathy, guilt, resentment, tenderness, happiness and cruelty).

The key questions guiding this thesis are: what links did visual arts and literature have in relation to the …

Sacralizar Lo Efímero: Configuración Del Amante Y El Amado En Luis Cernuda Y César Moro, Lena R. Retamoso Urbano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this study I create a dialogue between two poets, Luis Cernuda from Spain and César Moro from Peru. I use two of their most representative books of poetry, Cernuda’s Los placeres prohibidos and Moro’s La tortuga ecuestre, to study the dialectics that take place between the lover and the beloved. My general hypothesis is that Los placeres prohibidos can be read as a prologue to the lyrical discourse of La tortuga ecuestre. To explore the bridge between these two poetic worlds, I analyze the various mechanisms through which Eros expresses itself.

Drawing on the work of Denis …

Choteo Cubano: Humor As A Critical Tool In Twentieth-Century Cuban Theater, Rebecca L. Salois

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project analyzes the incorporation of choteo in specific Cuban theater texts written during three distinct periods in twentieth-century Cuban history, all of which coincide with specific moments of social, political, and/or economic unrest or transition. Choteo in the theater has served as a tool to demonstrate discontent and frustration with authority figures in various contexts. As that need has altered over time, so too has the approach that playwrights have taken to speak out about these issues. I suggest that by responding to changing circumstances with choteo, confronting a difficult situation is more palatable to audiences or readers than …

Culturas Emocionales: Narrativa Escrita Por Mujeres Cubanas Durante El Periodo Especial (1992–2005), Laura Sandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation studies the emotional repertories employed in the presentation of the female literary subject in the Cuban special period, a period of rapid ideological shift. It deals with the presentation of the self in a series of fictional autobiographic works whose portraits of history and society allow for the observation of diverse emotional repertories, looking for social and ethical value attributed to emotions such as happiness or nostalgia. The dissertation has two modes, a written one and a visual one I produce using digital media. The written part features a close textual analysis of emotional repertories found in literary …

(Sub)Versions Of Banditry: Ferréz’S Re-Appropriation And Redefinition Of The Marginal Identity, Marissel Hernández-Romero

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines how Ferréz’s work is related to the 19^th and early 20^th century banditry narrative. The current study examines the evolution of the work of Ferréz and discusses his relevance in Brazilian and Latin America literature. However, this dissertation examines in what extent Ferréz’s work transgresses the genre in that he breaks its rules and departs from its traditions. Rather than being the voice of the elite put into the mouth of a lower-class bandit character, Ferréz’s bandits speak with the voice of the oppressed and subversively criticize the elite. His work is not viewed through …

La Quebrada Y La Costa Peruanas En Voces Narrativas A Mediados Del Siglo Xx: María Rosa Macedo Y Sara María Larrabure, Ricardo N. Fernández

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Each of the two female writers at the crux of this dissertation, María Rosa Macedo (1909-1991) and Sara María Larrabure (1921-1962), wrote an unparalleled novel: respectively, Rastrojo (1944) and Rioancho (1949). Their primary and complementary narratives overlap in the sociocultural, historical and political context of the first half of 20^th-century Peru. This study proposes to demonstrate how the given premise of their link, particularly in portraying the coastal region they both know intimately, is in line with what Antonio Cornejo Polar (1989) calls "La totalidad literaria como totalidad social". To what extent these two authors contribute to such …

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 …

Origén E Influencia De La Figura De Simón Bolívar En Los Escritores Modernistas Hispanoamericanos, Wilson Anaya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of my thesis is to examine the various ways in which the writers of Latin America’s Modernist movement were influenced by Simon Bolivar’s ideology. At the same time, I will illustrate how these authors utilized throughout their literary discourse the image of the most important and iconic historical figure of South America’s independence wars against Spain. Throughout this thesis I will evaluate several literary works of modernist Latin-American authors such as the Cuban José Martí, the Venezuelans Rufino Blanco Fombona, Manuel Diaz Rodriguez, César Zumeta, the Colombians José Asunción Silva, Guillermo Valencia and José María Rivas Groot, the …

Josefa Acevedo De Gómez: Estudio Y Edición Anotada De Cuadros De La Vida Privada De Algunos Granadinos Copiados Al Natural Para Instrucción Y Divertimiento De Los Curiosos, Biografía Del Doctor Diego Fernando Gómez Y Ensayo Sobre Los Deberes De Los Casados, Mélida Sánchez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Josefa Acevedo de Gómez (1803-1861), a Colombian author, wrote biographies, poetry, and books and sketches of manners and customs. My dissertation presents a study and annotated edition of three of her prose works: Cuadros de la vida privada de algunos granadinos copiados al natural para instrucción y divertimiento de los curiosos [Scenes of the Private Life of New Granadines for the Instruction and Entertainment of the Curious] (1861), Biografía del doctor Diego Fernando Gómez [Biography of Doctor Diego Fernando Gómez] (1854), and Ensayo sobre los deberes de los casados [Essay on the Duties of Married …

Sublimity And Identity: Portrayals Of The Female Body By Latin American Women Poets In The Twentieth And Twenty-First Centuries, Kathryn Mendez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work explores the different portrayals of the female body and its relationship to transmodernity, sublimity and identity in the latter part of the 20th century up to the first decade of the 21st century. The poets cited in the following chapters are Gioconda Belli, Alejandra Pizarnik, Ana Istarú, Elvia Ardalani, Nancy Morejón, Eliane Potiguara, and Natalie Diaz. The selected poets reflect a diverse sampling of writers from the last fifty years who regularly reference the female body as part of their work, particularly in the context of violence and testimony, motherhood and authorship, the search for home and cultural …

Pedro De Ursúa, Francisco César Y Sir Francis Drake Tras Los Tesoros De La Nueva Granada: En Noticias Historiales De Las Conquistas De Tierra Firme En Las Indias Occidentales., Astrid Roldán

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the successful choice of exempla in Fray Pedro Simón's Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales. It focuses on the study of specific characteristics, implications, and functional methods related to this form of argument throughout three Noticias historiales: Pedro de Ursúa and Lope de Aguirre, 6ta NH, 3ra parte, Francisco César and Cacique Utibara, 2nda NH, 3ra parte, and Sir Francis Drake, 6ta NH, 3ra parte. It also explores the means by which these exempla communicate, instruct, amuse, and persuade the reader. The chronological account of Fray Pedro Simón is …

Neoliberal Dystopias: Postmodern Aesthetics And A Modern Ethic In Four Pairs Of Plays By Argentine And Irish Playwrights (1990-2003), Noelia Diaz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project is an exploration of eight plays, four from Argentina, four from Ireland, comprehending the period between 1990 and 2003. Both countries share a strong tradition of national theatre that, from its beginnings, was closely intertwined with the development of the nation state. Theatre functions in Argentina and Ireland as a medium through which representations of what it means to be Irish or Argentine have been explored, questioned, and contested. It is the aim of this project to examine how the apparently non-political and ahistorical theater of the playwrights I will examine is indeed a response to a contextualized …

El Transnacionalismo Y La Identidad Judia En La Obra De Isaac Goldemberg, Jose Goni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The objective of this research is to study the work of Isaac Goldemberg, a Peruvian writer of Jewish roots who settled for several years in the United States. His work shows a combination of elements that reflect both his Jewish origin and his country of birth. I believe that studies of Jewish Latin American writers are scarce. They have been approached from a sociological, anthropological, religious and historical perspective, but not from a literary one. Therefore, I intend to make a literary analysis of Goldemberg's work first, and secondly, an interpretation of his Jewish identity and his transnationalism as shown …

"Beyond Chingones And Chingados: Performing Masculinities In Contemporary Mexican Theatre", Zaida Godoy Navarro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present investigation focuses on how masculinities are conformed and represented in the plays of two generations of Mexican playwrights, the New Dramatists of Mexico and the younger Sixth Generation in an attempt to reflect upon recent conceptualizations of gender as well as contemporary changes in society mainly due to globalization and the impact of feminism and gay movements. The limited literature focused on Mexican masculinities has overlooked the importance of theatre as a privileged and productive setting for the study of gender. Another common factor in studies dedicated to the representation of Mexican men in literature is the focus …

The Ties That Bind: Gender, Race, And Empire In Caribbean Indenture Narratives, Alison Joan Klein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation traces the ways that oppressive gender roles and racial tensions in the Caribbean today developed out of the British imperial system of indentured labor. Between 1837 and 1920, after slavery was abolished in the British colonies and before most colonies achieved independence, approximately 750,000 laborers, primarily from India and China, traveled to the Caribbean under indenture. This is a critical but under-explored aspect of colonial history, as this immigration dramatically altered the ethnic make up of the Caribbean, the cultural norms and traditions of those who migrated, and the structure of British imperialism. I focus on depictions of …

Juan Bautista Aguirre (1725-1786) Y Los Orígenes De La Nación Ecuatoriana, Alex Paul Lima

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how mid-eighteenth century notions of patria, nación, and Nuestra América predate latter nation-building constructs, particularly at the turn of the 19th century. Benedict Anderson's (1991) assertion that Spanish-American Creoles attained a sense of belonging to an "imagined community", towards the end of the 18thcentury,fails to take into account the limitations of print capitalism due to extremely low literacy rates and rare access to the printing press. This dissertation focuses on the life and work of Jesuit poet, orator, and philosopher Juan Bautista Aguirre (Daule [Ecuador], 1725-Tivoli [Italy], 1786). His poems and sermons, …

Entre Dos Islas: Dialogos Musico-Literarios Entre Manhattan Y Quisqueya. El Rol De La Musica Popular En La Literatura Dominicana Contemporanea, Sharina Maillo-Pozo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many critics agree that merengue, the cultural symbol of Dominican identity, has been linked to national identity since its beginnings when it emerged during the battles for independence from Haití­ in 1844. Hence, it is not surprising that the intertexual dialogue between Dominican literature and Dominican popular music could be traced back to the 19th century, a moment where cultural elements and practices were fundamental to the consolidation of a national identity. In the best cases, merengue was used to underline the social customs of the times in a few decimononical obras costumbristas from the 19th century. However, it was …

La Obra Poetica De Jose De Jesus Dominguez Estudio Preliminar, Texto Y Notas, Eric Samuel Quinones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The end of the nineteenth century witnessed an esthetic renewal in Latin American literature. The movement later dubbed modernismo would usher in a profound shift in the ars poetica of Spanish prose and poetry. Yet this revolution did not spread like fire; it coexisted with, and unevenly replaced, earlier artistic notions. José de Jesús Domínguez, a poet and medical doctor who spent most of his life in the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, was one of the earliest exponents of this trend. His evolution from his beginnings as a romantic poet, his encounter with the French Parnassians, and his early …

Selva Simbólica Selva Simbiótica Apuntes Para Una Ecocritica Latinoamericana, Liza Pamela Rosas-Bustos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on Latin America's selvatic territories. It argues for prevailing ecological principles as revealed in the selected works of three twentieth-century Latin American story-writers and poets. They portray rainforests as multisensorial lands that encompass bewildering events from which a principle of local authority emerges. This analysis is based on Francisco Coloane's short stories "Tierra del Fuego" and "Cabo de Hornos," Rosario Castellanos'Balún Canán, and Luis Sepúlveda's Un viejo que leía novelas de amor. Such phenomenology is also present on the environmental poetics from Marosa di Giorgio, Cecilia Vicuña, and Leonel Lienlaf linked to emotions of fear, urgency, …

Guatemalan Spanish As Act Of Identity: An Analysis Of Language And Minor Literature Within Modern Maya Literary Production, Kenneth Yanes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My study approaches the use of Guatemalan Spanish in modern Maya literary works through a theoretical framework drawn on theories of "purity" and mestizaje, the concept of minor literature, and "image" and ideology of language. I problematize the "major"/"minor" dichotomy of language based on a Eurocentric view of the dominance of national languages as the extremely diverse linguistic ecology of Latin American lends itself to the deterritorialization of hegemonic discourse, but without sustaining a neat categorization of language. Guatemalan Spanish is a heavily Maya-inflected interlanguage share by all Guatemalans. Mayan writers chose purposefully to counter the ladino ethnocentrism of the …

El Oficio De La Escritura Y La Estetica En La Obra De Roberto Bolano, Ainoa Inigo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims at attaining a general understanding of the aesthetics and philosophy on the practice of writing of Roberto Bolaño (1953-2003), the Chilean poet and writer, through interpretive devices developed by him and by extrinsic means. Bolaño claimed that his works stemmed from a pre-extant poetic universe, so that each work is interrelated thematically with the rest of the oeuvre and individually representative of the totality.

Throughout the works analyzed, our two primary questions--the aesthetical and ethical--intercept while we examine his understanding of the role of the writer and literature itself. Estrella distante (1996), Los detectives salvajes (1998) and …

The Transnational Latin American Regionalism Of Mario Vargas Llosa And Milton Hatoum, Michele C. Kettner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present dissertation analyzes the novels The Green House (1966) and The Storyteller (1987), by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, and Two Brothers (2000), by Brazilian novelist Milton Hatoum and reinterpret literary regionalism in the Amazon region. I claim that the new variety of regionalist literature represented by both authors challenges hegemonic national representations of Peru and Brazil and conceptualizes Amazonian ecology in the context of global capitalism. In the first chapter, I evaluate the critical apparatus of the older tradition of Latin American regionalism proposing the concept of the "region" as an "invention" (Albuquerque Jr.). My reading reveals how …