Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons^™

Anita Brenner’S Vision: A Transnational Search For Mexican Jewish Identity, Gina Malagold

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation traces U.S.-Mexico cross-border networks during the cultural Renaissance of early 20^th century influenced by artistic and intellectual encounters in post-revolutionary Mexico. I explore from a transnational perspective the representation of Mexican-Jewish identity in post-revolutionary Mexico through the lens of Mexican-American Jewish anthropologist, artist, and journalist Anita Brenner (1905-1974). In my dissertation, Anita Brenner’s Vision: A Transnational Search for Mexican Jewish Identity, I expand on the notion of mexicanidad and reframe the cosmopolitanism of the time and its manifestation in the United States, arguing that Brenner’s contributions were instrumental in linking Mexico to the larger map of …

Times Of Crisis: A Comparative Discourse Analysis Of U.S. And Mexican Presidential Rhetoric, Kassandra Gonzalez-Ramos

LSU Master's Theses

Language is a communicative tool that in the possession of politicians holds the power to be persuasive and aggressive, empowering and uniting, or disruptive and dividing. Previous research has relied on numerous methodological approaches to analyze political discourse from different viewpoints to reveal the manner in which politicians as part of political institutions transform and manipulate language. The current investigation performs a critical discourse analysis (CDA) based on the framework developed by Van Dijk (1993,1997) in order to demonstrate the speech act realization in a total of 14 political speeches delivered by American presidents Biden, Trump, and Obama and Mexican …

Ya Llegamos | We Are Here, Audrey Hermila Salgado

Senior Projects Spring 2023

ya llegamos | we are here, a Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College, is piece on gender and migration. It is a play that explores how family dynamics, class issues, education, and gender play a role in why people leave their home country. It explores the journey and relationship of Saturnina and Francisco as they travel across the Mexico/U.S. border.

Comparing Spanish L2 Use Of Regional Phonemes After Study Abroad In Spain And Mexico, Katherine R. Lindley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The present study analyzed the use of regional phonemes by native-English speakers before and after spending a year abroad in either Spain or Mexico. The variables selected were the interdental voiceless fricative [θ] and the uvular voiceless fricative [χ], along with their variations. Semi-structured oral interviews were used to elicit data before their sojourn and at the end of their stay. Results show that many participants used [θ] and [χ] more after spending a year in Spain and participants preferred [s] and [h] after spending a year in Mexico. Data on social networks were collected throughout the study for the …

Science Under The Microscope And Legality On Trial: How Female Authors In Latin America Confront And Challenge The Patriarchal Control Of Science And Legality In The Representation Of Women, Anna Bellum

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

In this dissertation, I analyze a selection of works by eight Latin American female authors in order to explore how they represent the process of the social construction of women’s identities and roles in the male-dominated social, institutional, familial, and personal spaces that force women into particular positions of subordination. This analysis will focus, in particular, on how women writers represent the hegemonic systems of legality and science in order to highlight their role in the reproduction of values, practices, and institutions that maintain male control and female exploitation.

Each of the authors I analyze addresses the construction of women’s …

Globalization’S Effects On Mexico, Andrew Barry

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research paper aims to investigate the effects of economic globalization on the Mexican economy. To contextualize the research presented, a brief historical summary is presented. Economic globalization is examined through trade and foreign investment in México, including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and portfolio investment. The Mexican economy is measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). This research paper uses data from The World Bank to examine how economic globalization indicators affect the indicators chosen to measure the Mexican economy. The findings of this paper show that there is evidence that the Mexican economy has grown …

From Borderlands To Border Islands: Intersections Between Anzaldúa's Chicana Feminist Theory And U.S. Latina Literature From The Hispanic Caribbean, Cristina Gonzalez Martin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies three texts by three U.S. Latina authors from the Hispanic Caribbean through the lens of Chicana feminist border theory. The works analyzed are How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) by Dominican author Julia Alvarez, Dreaming in Cuban (1992) by Cuban-American novelist Cristina García, and the memoir Almost a Woman (1998) by Puerto Rican author Esmeralda Santiago. The theoretical framework used is Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. The objective is to show how these texts manifest the formation of a hybrid, diasporic, in-between identity that corresponds with Anzaldúa’s definition of mestiza consciousness or la …

El Futuro Ya Está Aquí: A Comparative Analysis Of Punk In Spain And Mexico, Rex Richard Wilkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the punk genre's evolution into commercial mainstream music in Spain and Mexico. It looks at how this evolution altered both the aesthetic and gesture of the genre. This evolution can be seen by examining four bands that followed similar musical and commercial trajectories. In Spain, Kaka de Luxe and Radio Futura; in Mexico, Size and Ritmo Peligroso. Since punk music's gesture is both visceral and political, various methods of suppressing or containing the punk gesture arise. For both Spain and Mexico, containing the punk gesture was a matter of government censorship in the early years of punk. …

La Reina De Los Carteles: Los Beneficios Y Los Peligros, Emily Monac

Honors Theses

This paper examines the experiences of women in real life and television programs involved with drug cartels in Mexico. For women, life centered on narcotic trade in Mexico may be framed by both terror and abuse. However, there also exists a certain power dynamic achieved by women in positions of power in cartels. These real life women are known as “Las Flacas,” a self-given label that affirms both their reclamation of sexuality and also their acquiescing to a patriarchal society. Narcofiction exists as a new art form of processing and reacting to a life heavily influenced by drug trade in …

La Economía De La Violencia: La Ciudad Juárez Y El Mercado Libre De La Muerte, Kritika Amanjee

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the utilization of human life to further the parallel economies of manufacture and narco-trafficking in Mexico. It begins by recalling the impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexico’s local economies. Shifts in economic dynamics that resulted from NAFTA internally displaced thousands of impoverished Mexicans, ultimately pushing them into the growing economies of manufacture and narco-trafficking. The manufacture industry and its effects on the common people are examined with a specific focus on Ciudad Juárez, a border city in the state of Chihuahua. The growth of maquiladoras attracted thousands of young women to work, …

La Genara: La Libertad Falsa De La Mujer Elite En México, Emily Sullivan

Honors Theses

The goal of feminism is to ensure the equality of all genders. This goal means that women are supposed to be seen as equal to men in society. However, despite the many feminist efforts to bring this equality into reality, many in the world still believe that women are inferior to men. This belief stems from historical oppression of women that has continued up until modern day times. In Mexico, there is still strong beliefs that exist that prevent women from achieving liberation and freedom in society. Ideas related to traditional family values, machismo, and internalized misogyny all act as …

Migration And Injustice In The Neoliberal Era: A Comparative Analysis Of Migratory Laws And Sweatshop Labor Conditions In Argentina And The United States, Kelly L. Johnson

Spanish Honors Papers

In the contemporary neoliberal era, the global phenomenon of migration dominates the international political discourse and generates empirical and normative questions regarding the admission, rights, and realities of migrants who leave their home countries to live elsewhere. Argentina and the United States are countries in which migration was, and continues to be, a main factor in shaping the nation’s identity. Despite the similar migratory phenomenon in both of these countries, their migratory policies vastly differ—Argentina considers migration to be a right, but the United States constantly strengthens its efforts to deter migrants from entering the country. Even though migratory policies …

Crossing Language Barriers: Using Translation To Bridge Socioeconomic, Cultural, And Gender-Based Gaps, Audrey L. Cannon

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this thesis is to show to process required to translate a previously untranslated work of literature from Spanish to English. After the introduction, it begins with a study of literary translation focusing on John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte’s The Craft of Translation, a compilation of essays by scholars in the field of translation. The thesis includes the English translation of two full chapters of Mexican author Elena Poniatowska’s novel Paseo de la Reforma. Prior to the two chapters is a section outlining specific examples of the research and decisions made during the translation process. The …

#Yo Soy 132 And Occupy: Social Movements And The Media, Elizabeth A. Crumpacker

Scripps Senior Theses

I am comparing the tactics of Mexican youth movement #Yo Soy 132 and Occupy to better understand how these groups work against the hegemonic views presented by mass media. I aim to understand the media structures in Mexico and the United States through the lens of these social groups and consider how they are similar or different. I also take into consideration societal structures, such as varying levels of Internet access, that influence the way these groups function. These movements are in constant flux and their interaction with the public is changing everyday, but I hope to provide some insight …

Better Speakers Make More Friends: Predictors Of Social Network Development Among Study-Abroad Students, J Wyatt Brockbank

Theses and Dissertations

Social network development has been studied in the social sciences for the last several decades, but little work has applied social network theory to study-abroad research. This study seeks to quantitatively describe factors that predict social network formation among study-abroad students while in the host countries. Social networks were measured in terms of the number of friends the students made, the number of distinct social groups reported, and the number of friends within those groups. The Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire was compared against these pre-trip factors: intercultural competence, target-language proficiency, prior missionary experience, gender, study-abroad program, neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, …

La Malinche De Rascón Banda: Deconstruyendo Un Símbolo Colonial Y Recreando Una Imagen Nueva A Través Del Anacronismo, Alicia E. Jones

Honors Theses

La Malinche has been a popular figure in the national culture not only of Mexico but also beyond its borders. Since its image is so ambiguous, it is used very frequently to symbolize popular ideas of an era. As a result, the symbol of La Malinche continues to transform. Historically, his image has characterized the traitorous woman, prostitute, and mestizo Mexican mother. In some ways this symbol has been maintained over the years, but there are also clear efforts to deconstruct this colonial image and create a more modern Malinche that is consistent with a growing interest in feminism. Introduced …

La Taquillera, Hector Hugo Montero

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Esta es la historia de una obsesión. Del amor por el cine y sus historias, los seres que de él se derivan y multiplican. Es el amor que una mujer siente po una clase de música, actores y películas de México.

‘Diversa De Mí Misma’: Silence As Performative Resistance In Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz, Marcia A. Caltabiano-Ponce

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s silences, including her final and mysterious withdrawal from letters, were not empty spaces at all but highly loaded performative resistances to patriarchal control. My work is based on Judith Butler's poststructural theory on performance and subject construction, with support from postcolonial and feminist theories. The approach is a break from the historical and popular gendered discourses that surround her final years, one that explores the loaded gaps and borders that provide liminal spaces for the transcendence of her voice and gender over the ages. I address the research, speculation, and theories that have misread …

The Indigenismo Of Emilio "El Indio" Fernández: Myth, Mestizaje, And Modern Mexico, Mathew J. K. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

As one of the major directors of Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema (1936-1956), Emilio “El Indio” Fernández (1904-1986) created films which for many came to express the official vision of Mexican identity. Part of this identity was based on the ideology of indigenismo, which posited that the pre-Columbian past held the basic kernel of Mexico's national essence while advocating the incorporation of modern Indian groups into mainstream society. El Indio's films reflect the paradox of indigenismo: praise for indigenous cultures and a simultaneous effort to make them disappear. The following study examines three of his indigenista films, Marí­a …

Claiming The Discursive Self: Mestiza Rhetoric Of Mexican Women Jouranlists, 1876-1924, Cristina Devereaux Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the last two decades, scholars in Rhetoric and Writing Studies have been calling for a greater representation of voices of those from other cultures who participated in rhetorical practices. As Jacqueline Jones Royster contends, rhetoric has been framed as mostly white, male, and elite, and that these positions distort the democratic perspective of our discipline. Claiming the Discursive Self: Mestiza Rhetoric of Mexican Women Journalists, 1876-1924 presents women rhetors who were participating in not only creating a national identity, but also in constructing a public identity that would insure women's contribution and participation for future generations. It closely examines …