Latina/o Studies Commons^™

Forced Family Separation: U.S. Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples, Lauren Heidbrink, Giovanni Batz, David W. Barillas Chón

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Forced family separation under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy is not only a crime against humanity, but also a crime against Indigenous Peoples, which includes the Maya. Rooted in white supremacist ideologies and settler colonialism, contemporary forced family separation continues historical violence inflicted upon Maya Peoples by the U.S. government. Submitted to the International Criminal Court, this amicus brief contends that the Court should investigate and hold the U.S. accountable for crimes against Indigenous Peoples under the U.S. Zero Tolerance policy. The amicus brief begins with an overview of Maya Peoples in present-day Guatemala and the meanings and practices of …

Complete Issue: Volume 6 Issue 1, Maya America Editors

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

The full Issue 1, Volume 6 of Maya America, published June 2024

Un Recorrido Iconoglífico Por Las Antiguas Representaciones Del Tamal En La Mesoamérica Maya De Tierras Bajas, Daniel Martínez González

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Resumen: En el presente texto se ofrece un recorrido histórico milenario por las representaciones, tanto visuales o iconográficas, como epigráficas o escriturarias, de uno de los alimentos -al parecer- más antiguos, preciados y generalizados entre los pueblos mayas desde épocas tempranas. Como tal, la hoja de ruta de este recorrido en torno a las representaciones del tamal en el mundo maya -de sobre todo Tierras Bajas- inicia por las célebres pinturas murales del sitio de San Bartolo (ca. s. i a.e.c) y la subestructura I-4 de Chiik Nahb de Calakmul (ca. 650-700 e.c.); prosigue con algunos otros indicadores arqueológicos y …

Tamales In Yucatán: Reflections On 52 Years Of Piib Gastronomy, Allan F. Burns

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Abstract: “The first time I made tamales in the Yucatan of Mexico was in a village close to Tixcacal Guardia, Quintana Roo in 1972, some 52 years ago as I write this essay. It was in the fall and extended families were celebrating the harvest of milpas with something called “jaanali kol” (the feast of the milpa). We dug a pit, about four by eight feet oblong, lined it with stones, and built a fire. We were all men around the fire, and women were nearby in a house making chicken stew and other foods.” So begins this personal reflection …

The Realm That I Am: An Interdisciplinary Memoir On Identity And Healing, Maria Rowen Flores

University Honors Theses

This thesis is an interdisciplinary exploration into identity, self, and meaning-making. Engaging queer studies, Chicano/a Studies, narrative therapy, creative nonfiction, and visual arts, this project is both a collage and self-portrait in two parts. Part one uses the ideas of philosophers Gloria Anzaldúa, María Lugones, Jack Halberstam, and Judith Butler to explore identity formation in the author’s family and social contexts. Part two follows the experience of having C-PTSD and uses memoir and creative writing to explore the narrative therapeutic mode. Both sections explore themes of identity, social isolation, relationships, failure, mental illness, trauma, and addiction. The work is underscored …

Patchwork: 76km Between Juárez And El Paso, Naheyla Medina

Masters Theses

Located at the western edge of Texas where the Río Bravo ~ Rio Grande, becomes the border between México and the United States. Resides a spectacle of misconceptions that, along with an expansive corten steel border wall embedded into the earth, live to suppress the histories, culture, and environment entangled together like patchwork along this border space. The built environment influences our daily experiences, and our daily experiences can often influence our built environment. This project seeks to leverage, murals as a medium, creative writing, and architectural representations, to rework the mapping between Mexico and the US. Honing in on …

Industrial Tenderness, Elbert Girón

Masters Theses

Industrial Tenderness surveys the relationship between visual language, cultural expression, and diasporic practices through the design of functional sculptures. These designed objects seek to communicate cultural legibility, or intuitive cultural belonging, to Mexican-American peoples by challenging legacy notions of design language. Through a proposed design language framework and designed objects, Industrial Tenderness seeks to affirm a pluriversal practice of industrial design.

Legacy industrial design confines design language to a heavily prescriptive canon, resulting in a stark monocultural language that is unrepresentative of perspectives outside of a legacy dominant white eurocentricity founded in thinking from the Bauhaus and Ulm schools. Through …

Marvelous Ordinariness: Re-Engaging With Realism’S Social Function, Miranda Ochoa Natera

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

Against Romanticism, European literary realism of the 19th century aimed to provide an objective representation of reality through mimesis that could capture the truth in an objective way. Yet, its positivist approach severely narrowed down the complexity of truth, reality, and the mundane by wrongfully drawing the universal from the particular. A new way of engaging with realist literature from any time period, called Marvelous Ordinariness, rearranges this triad in ways that expand our understanding of our own and other realities portrayed. Using Alejo Carpentier’s description of “lo real maravilloso,” Marvelous Ordinariness unfolds in three layers that resemble Carl Jung’s …

Perreando To New Lyrics: Integrating Feminist Reggaeton In Expressive Art Therapy A Literature Review | Perreando A Nueva Lírica: Una Revisión Literaria Sobre Integrar El Reggaetón Feminista A Las Terapias Con Artes Expresivas, Marilina Arsuaga

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper presents how feminist reggaeton can be used as a creative tool for women's empowerment. The literature review explores the work that has been done with feminism in expressive arts therapies, defines what feminist reggaeton is, and presents different considerations to incorporate the musical genre into a therapeutic intervention. Among these considerations, there is the social stigma that is held about the musical genre and female gender; the community-based work; the importance of cultural identity centered on the Latinx, more specifically Puerto Rican; and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community in the creative spaces. To navigate these issues, the author …

Impacting Queer Trans-Migrations In Mexico: A Case Study Of Civil Society Organization Casa Frida Refugio Lgbt+, Leticia Morales

Master's Theses

Mexico has historically been known as an emigration or transit country. In this context, civil society organizations have played pivotal roles in addressing the voids in support for migrants. Among these organizations, Casa Frida Refugio LGBT stands out as a significant service provider, specifically for LGBT+ migrants. This study engages in a qualitative case study analysis of the organization Casa Frida, drawing from interviews conducted with nine LGBTQ+ migrants and refugees, personal observations, and Casa Frida’s website and social media accounts. The research seeks to answer two central questions: Firstly, what role does an LGBT+ specific service provider like Casa …

Latinx Revolutionary Horizons: Form And Futurity In The Americas, Renee Hudson

English Faculty Books and Book Chapters

In Latinx Revolutionary Horizons, Renee Hudson theorizes a liberatory latinidad that is not yet here and conceptualizes a hemispheric project in which contemporary Latinx authors return to earlier moments of revolution. Rather than viewing Latinx as solely a category of identification, she argues for an expansive, historicized sense of the term that illuminates its political potential.

Claiming the “x” in Latinx as marking the suspension and tension between how Latin American descended people identify and the future politics the “x” points us toward, Hudson contends that latinidad can signal a politics grounded in shared struggles and histories rather than …

Understanding Civic Engagement Through The Perspective And Experiences Of Mixed-Status Latinx Students In Higher Education, Alexandra Alcantar

Honors Capstones

This paper captures the perspectives and experiences of eight Latinx college-aged students from mixed-status families related to civil engagement. This paper identifies varied definitions of civic engagement and shows that students’ experiences within their mixed-status families and their academic experiences shaped how they understood their level of civic engagement and informed their career paths. The eight oral history interviews conducted as part of this project show that most of the participants consider their level of political involvement as insufficient. Interviews reveal an understanding of “civic engagement” that exists on an evolving spectrum of participation. Participants shared that work responsibilities and …

Peace, Power, And Precarity: Examining Brazil’S Potential As An Emerging Global And Regional Leader, Mackenzie A. Berwick

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

Brazil is poised to emerge as a critical player in the Southern Hemisphere. The nation’s economic success has been accompanied by efforts to play a prominent role in international peace and security. This financial dynamism has offered the country a degree of legitimacy on issues of global trade and energy. However, a protracted social conflict in Rio De Janeiro’s favelas threatens that status. Brazil cannot access international esteem and influence without addressing its domestic situation. This paper applies Edward Azar’s protracted social conflict theory to reveal an internal state of disorder in Brazilian favelas that impairs the nation’s ability to …

The Portrayal Of Stereotypes Of Latin American Men In American Television And Film, Karina Nava

Gender Studies Student Scholarship

In this project I seek to examine the ways in which Latin American men are stereotyped in American television and film in the form of controlling images and the impacts that these controlling images may bring. The purpose of this project is to show how television and film can not only contribute to the creation of stereotypes but enforce them as well. It also seeks to bring attention to the ways in which these stereotypes can affect societal and self-perception of Latinos, and the consequences that come with these perceptions. This will be done through a cross-disciplinary analysis using Gender …

Sonidos De Aztlán: A Historical Analysis Of Chicano Music, Alejandro Gomez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper analyzes music made primarily by Chicanos in the U.S. and social movements that the music was a part of. Case studies include the Zoot Suit Riots, the Delano Grape Strike, The Chicano Movement, Tejano/Conjunto and Tex-Mex, Narcocorridos, and the Chicanx Renaissance.

“We Take Crises And We Make Them Work”: Platicas And Testimonios Of Undocumented Latina/O/X College Students To Engage In Critical Race Feminista Praxis, Fernando Villalpando

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Undocumented Latinx college students have experienced and continue to experience challenges to earn their American dream (Pentón, Herrera & Obregón, 2018). Their aspirations and resiliency are facing one of the biggest challenges yet with the rhetoric and actions of the Trump Administration. These actions may have major implications on their journey through higher education and society. In California alone there are approximately 38,000 undocumented college students who could be in jeopardy of their future, and the implications of the current presidency’s actions could have enormous impacts on their lives (Gonzáles, 2009). By wanting to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals …

Cultural And Structural Barriers Of Utilizing Mental Health Services In A School-Based Setting For Latinx Populations, Silvia Lozano, Bridgette Guadalupe Calderon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This qualitative research study aimed to reduce mental health service disparities in Latinx communities and helps fill in the gap by addressing cultural and structural barriers to utilizing MHS in a school-based setting for Latinx youth. There is limited research regarding Latinx parents’ perspectives and the reservations they have on utilizing school-based mental health services (MHS) for their children. This study identified six important themes: cultural factors, trust and rapport, reservations, access and awareness, parental involvement and challenges, and school-based resources. Implications for school districts are that they can use these findings to increase early intervention mental behavioral health programs …

A World Between: The Macro And Micro-Relationships That Shape The Borderlands, Teresa Digerolamo

Honors Theses

This thesis explores changing border policies, their effects on migrants, and the humanitarian community that has emerged to meet the needs of migrants. Border policy has sought to make the journey through the U.S.-Mexico border perilous and unattractive for travelers, pushing migrants into dangerous terrain known to reach life-threatening extremes in the summer and winter months. Over 8,000 migrants have died since 1998 along the U.S.-Mexico border, and aid groups have emerged to meet the need for life-saving care. The humanitarian community in southern Arizona is active and dynamic, adapting to ever-changing border policy and mobilizing resources year-round. Through reviewing …

Writing, Performance, Resistance: Examining Feminist Ideology And Theory In Theatre Since The Second Wave, Olivia Cross

Theater Honors Papers

This project seeks to identify and analyze how feminist theatre is informed by theory and activism in its resistance against white, heteronormative, and patriarchal hegemony offstage through onstage representation. By identifying three consistent themes of gender & sexuality, race, and trauma and the methods used to effectively convey them to an audience, feminist theatre displays how advocacy takes unique forms to uproot the status quo. Furthermore, this research highlights how theatre is a viable and rich outlet for feminist intellectual history, displaying its versatility as a frame of analysis.

Combating Trauma And The Immigrant Paradox In Schools, Emma Bergman

Honors Projects

Over time, research on immigrant populations has revealed a trend known as the immigrant paradox in which, the further generations get from the generation of immigration, the poorer their outcomes are in areas such as mental health, delinquency, substance abuse, and education. Though a definitive explanation for this trend has yet to be identified, prevailing theories include several social, familial, and community-based factors such as the impacts of bilingualism, parental expectations, biculturalism, co-ethnic peers, quality of schools, and community support. Little attention has been paid to individual factors such as mental health and trauma. The present study proposes the transgenerational …