Digital Commons Network^™

Stoicism And Just War Theory, Leonidas D. Konstantakos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient philosophy of Stoicism, itself one of the foundations for international law, can improve contemporary just war thinking by forming a coherent set of philosophical principles to serve as a foundation for a just war theory. A Stoic approach considers justifications for moral actions to come not from an appeal to human rights, conformity to deontological rules, or from the utility of the actions themselves, but from virtuous character traits and corresponding virtuous actions. As such, a Stoic approach to just war theory is a virtue ethics perspective in which metaethical incentive for moral action is the agent’s own …

The Effects Of Remote Teaching Pedagogy On Online Writing Instruction, Natalie Henriquez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will investigate the development of online writing instruction and the new innovations or adaptations that were created to cope with the online learning environment during the pandemic. I conducted interviews with four Writing & Rhetoric professors from Florida International University. The interviews I conduct for this thesis focused on the experience that these professors had and how they faced certain challenges along the way such as building an online community and promoting communication and collaboration in the online classroom. I argue that the themes of mindfulness, flexibility, balance, community, and empathy that were found in the interviews are …

Son For Everybody: Exploring Afro Cuban And African American Relations Through Langston Hughes’ Translations Of Nicolas Guillén’S Poetry, Hayley R. Fernandez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the translation decisions made in Cuba Libre, Translated from the Spanish By Langston Hughes and Ben Frederic Carruthers, and to explore the contemporary image of Nicolás Guillén as expressed in recent projects regarding his work and legacy. Particular attention was paid to the historical and social frameworks Guillén employed in his own work and the same frameworks he and his poetry have been associated with in recent years. The larger importance of this piece was to take a look at how international Blackness existed and was worked with in literature at the …

The Impact Of Governance Structure On Performance Of U.S. Performing Arts Centers, Karen S. Fuller

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of the governance structures and functioning of performing arts centers (PACs) in the United States. PACs provide important public services to local communities by exposing the public to arts and culture. There are two research objectives in the analysis. The first objective is to delineate the forms of PAC governance structures. The second objective is to assess how these governance structures affect PACs’ functioning. The dissertation contributes to understanding of management of PACs. Overall, the study identified 187 PACs in the country, with at least one PAC in every state.

With respect to the first …

Approaching Protest With Affect: An Analysis Of The Images Spread By News Media During The George Floyd Protests, Kenneth L. Ward

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the characteristics of images that are most prevalent in news media coverage of the George Floyd Protests during 2020. To do so, I have examined gallery images from nine different news source which cover the gamut of the entire political spectrum.

Through my research, it was determined that the characteristics found in the images correlated greatly with the political leanings of the publication, with right-wing publications far more likely to depict scenes of meaningless violence, and left-wing publications far more likely to show linguistic messaging and images of group solidarity.

In conclusion, …

Something American, Carolina S. Souto

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

SOMETHING AMERICAN is a poetry collection written from the perspective of a first-generation American navigating a growing family, a political crisis, and a global pandemic. Influences on this collection include Robert Hass’s THE ESSENTIAL HAIKU and FIELD GUIDE, which attend to nature and the poet-speaker’s immediate surroundings with diligence and precision. Ariel Francisco’s place poems and creative titles in ALL MY HEROES ARE BROKE provide important touchstones for Souto’s commitment to here-and-now writing. And Sylvia Plath’s frank and complex writing about motherhood in ARIEL grants the poet permission to probe these subjects as well.

In SOMETHING AMERICAN, experimental poems sprawl …

Human Error, Avery Werther

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

HUMAN ERROR is a science-fiction novel set in a future in which, to save the planet from environmental degradation, humans have been eradicated and replaced by “Syntho-sapiens.” These synthetic humans are engineered in labs to be not only physically superior to their evolutionary predecessors, but also equal in every way to each other. However, from the moment Cal-12 opens his eyes, he is different. He not only has heterochromia, a mutation of the eye color, but also a strong need for connection that his emotionless peers seem to lack. This need intensifies when he discovers a human woman named Thalia, …

Exploring The Role Of Islamic Identity In The Rise Of Boko Haram, Samuel Kayode Atewologun

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the roles of Islamic identity in the rise and perseverance of Boko Haram in the northeastern part of Nigeria. This study’s significance is to contribute to the continued research and understanding of Boko Haram as an Islamic identity movement based on the unique political history of northern Nigeria, one drawing on the grievance of Muslim powerlessness in the postcolonial African state. Interpretations for the rise of movements commonly identified with militant extremism in the Islamic World tend to rely on materialist explanations or attribute them to brainwashing. A broader approach explores political …

Reconciling Illness Through Devotion: The Medicalization Of Modern Jain Faith Healing Practice Through Bhaktāmara Stotra, Aashi Jain

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are numerous accounts of healing abounded with the Jain narratives which on one side determines bodily wellness by healing the physical body and on the other side directs the path of attaining liberation. The Bhaktāmara Stotra (BhS), “Hymn of the Devoted Gods,” composed in Sanskrit by Ācārya Mānatuṅga, (6th century-11th century) holds great relevance as a hymn of devotion in the Jain tradition. Many modern Jains theorize the faith healing potential of the BhS through the language of medical science. In this research, I argue that diaspora Jains in the US have understood the BhS’s effectiveness as working at …

We Have The Land Titles: Indigenous Litigants And Privatization Of Resguardos In Colombia, 1870s-1940s, Gloria Lopera

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pressures for the privatization of indigenous lands accompanied the making of nation-states in post-colonial Latin America and boosted the natives' quest for colonial legal documents suitable to prove their rights over indigenous communal landholdings (known in Colombia as "resguardos"). This dissertation compares the experiences of two communities - San Lorenzo and Cañamomo-Lomaprieta - engaging with the law and producing legal and historical evidence to respond to the privatization of their resguardos. These communities inhabit the municipalities of Riosucio and Supía (Caldas) in the Western Colombian Andes. While the study explores the genesis of San Lorenzo's and Cañamomo-Lomaprieta's …

Canadian Banks And Imperialism In The English-Speaking Caribbean, Tamanisha J. John

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Canadian banks have been important components of an imperialist system since at least the 19^th century. However, their long and rich history of operating as purely exploitative entities in the English-speaking Caribbean region is often overlooked— leading to many incomplete and conflicting narratives about Canada’s role within the global system. I argue that Canada is an imperial actor that exerts agency in supporting a Canadian banking oligopoly both within Canada and in the English-speaking Caribbean. Insufficient attention is given to these Canadian banks, especially considering the power they have wielded in the Caribbean over the centuries. By analyzing the …

The Potential Of Makerspaces Within The University To Aid In Student Professional Development, Sophia M. Medina

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis demonstrates the potential positive impact makerspaces can have among humanities students who are seeking to pursue careers outside of academia. Although multimodal composition is encouraged within the humanities, lack of experience, resources, and guidance becomes a barrier for students to gain many of the technological expertise required in professional environments. In addition. many students struggle to exercise the work skills necessary within a corporate or technical environment. The makerspace can create opportunities for student development while preparing participants with career skills, such as digital literacy, collaboration, creativity, and networking. Through interviews conducted with facilitators and a company project …

Sacred Herbs And Ancient Healers: Decolonizing Traditional Mexican Medicinal Practices, Julio Carmona Rosales

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditional Mexican medicine is not only plants and herbs but a harmonious balance between man and nature. For the Aztecs, maintaining that balance was imperative to have a sustainable diet and a good relationship with the ecology that surrounds them. Unfortunately, the duality of the "microcosm" and nature has been disappearing from Mesoamerican thought and rhetoric of inferiority to European thoughts such as the philosophy of traditional Mexican medicine. The Aztec diet was rich in nutrients, vitamins, and amino acids. One of the essential Mesoamerican medicine manuscripts is the Badiano Codex, which has more than 150 plants. Phytochemical studies have …

Humanizing Scholarship: Going Public Via Multimodality, Mario L. Avalos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Humanizing Scholarship” offers a look into the ways that multimodality can be used to make the scholarly conversations had within the academy more accessible to members of the public. This thesis acknowledges and echoes the responsibility academics have to bridging the gap between their research and the people who so often serve as the basis for the ethnographic work being done in academia. My project does two things: First, it brings together some of the conversations surrounding multimodality and public scholarship. Second, it offers some first-hand models of multimodal compositions—the short films Don Armando and The Adjunct, and the screenplay …

Tracing The Amerindian Influence On The Caribbean Diaspora’S Beliefs And Practices: A Study Of The African And Indigenous Caribbean Religious Encounter And Its Indelible Signs, Alejandro Casas Reyes

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has been five hundred and twenty eight years since the Spanish colonial presence that occasioned the annihilation of the Amerindians of the Caribbean and portions of Latin America started. Yet, the Amerindian influence is still felt all over the Caribbean and Latin America. Identifying what these influences are and where they are found, however, are questions that have not been fully answered. Passing references have been made in many works to these influences, but there is no comprehensive study on the subject; especially in the Caribbean. In that the scant literature available on the subject matter offers very little …

French Muslim Youth’S Perception Of Their Cultural Identity In A Post-Charlie Hebdo Reality In The 19th Arrondissement., Gaelle Flora Bernard

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On January 7, 2015, the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper in France, was attacked by two armed men, Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, who shot and killed 12 staff members and injured another 11. The motive of the gunmen was the defense of their Muslim religion, in response to the newspaper’s history of publishing caricatures of the prophet Mohammed (AFP, 2015). This terrorist attack of January 7, 2015 continues to have a lasting impact on the lives of French people, most particularly French Muslims.

The purpose of this case study was to investigate the negotiation of Muslim youth identity …

The Use Of Religion In Violent Conflict, Conflict Resolution, And Peacebuilding: Cases From Uganda And Sierra Leone, Sedinam Akosua Kumah

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Noted as one of the most notorious rebels in Africa, The Lord’s Resistance Army has been known to commit inexcusable atrocities in Uganda, raiding villages to kill, kidnap, and loot. Since 1989, Uganda has been in a state of constant conflict because of the activities of the LRA. In this study I identify the political milieu which fomented political unrest in Uganda and neighboring Sudan, leading to the emergence of the LRA. Additionally, I examine the operations of the LRA, while uncovering the spiritual order it professed and also weaponized it its campaign of violence.

After Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil …

Sephardi Identity & Legitimacy In The Age Of Direct-To-Consumer Dna Tests, Caitlyn Rose Campana

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today, individuals may purchase genetic tests that promise to “reveal” one’s “true self” through ancestry composition reports, health reports, and lists of DNA relatives. Such tests add another dimension to the ongoing debate about what it means to be Jewish, but also what it means to be “legitimately” Sephardi. Through qualitative interviews, this thesis illuminates the experiences of Sephardim who received identity-affirming DNA test results and Sephardim who received identity non-affirming DNA test results. Findings suggest that contemporary Sephardim consider a link to the Iberian Peninsula as indicative of Sephardi identity, despite expanding definitions of the label. They also suggest …

Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics: An Ethnographic Study Of Transnational Chinese Corporate Culture In Southeast Asia, David A. Dayton

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Starting in 2001, China’s Going Out policy has encouraged Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and expats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to participate in the global economy at an unprecedented rate. Tens of thousands of Chinese businesses and millions of expats now span the globe. Despite the addition of this large, recent, and influential population to global capitalism there is little academic work on PRC corporate cultures or expats outside of China. Even in Thailand, home to the largest Chinese community outside of China/Taiwan, there is almost no corporate culture anthropology and no systemic study of recent Chinese business behaviors. …

No New World, Von Wise Ii

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

NO NEW WORLD is a collection of poetry that follows the establishment, development, and decline of an imagined mid-Atlantic town. Using a blend of historical fact and fiction, the poems open up space for reflection on the historical progress of civilization as a making and unmaking process. The collection explores themes of colonialism, settlement, nature, survival, erasure, civic development, and cyclical forms. The poems take on a variety of styles and tones, shifting between poems from personal life and more oracular poems, creating an oscillation between the human and non-human perspectives that situate and collectively establish the cohesive organism of …

The Nomad Selves: The American Women Of The Spanish Civil War And Exile, Maria Labbato

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As witnesses to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and its ensuing streams of exile Americans Muriel Rukeyser and Janet Riesenfeld understood the conflict as symptomatic of larger European and antifascist struggle. Weaving biography, intellectual history, and cultural studies this dissertation reveals how the art and activism of these two North American women in the Spanish Civil War can expose an overlooked element in the antifascist movement and its fate with the rise of Cold War anti-Communism. Their experiences—one a writer and poet, and the other a dancer and screenwriter—with the Spanish conflict and exile informed their lives and creative works. …

The Death Of Superman, Shane F. Mcfarlane

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN is an autobiographical novel that covers the years from 7 to 17 in the life of Shane McFarlane, who struggles to overcome the effects of his inner-city environment and an addict father in and out of incarceration. The title is a metaphor for the decaying presence of the narrator’s father in his and his older brother’s life and the resulting consequences of that absence.

With the narrator’s father in prison, new threats emerge, including his mother’s ruthless boyfriend and his brother’s attraction to the allure of fast money. The narrator must ultimately make decisions governed by …

The Pedagogy Of The Youth Teachers Of The Cuban Literacy Campaign, Yuleisy Mena

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961 turned teenagers into teachers. This study interviewed three former youth teachers and recorded their experiences through the oral history lens and method. The study focused on the pedagogical components of their lived experience, often overlooked by scholars who have mainly focused on the campaign’s political and economic history from the top down. In turn, issues of identity surfaced that helped explain the personal motivations for participating in the campaign and produced counter-narratives in the process. The interviews compiled allowed a bottom-up history to be archived, highlighting the stories of people omitted from the …

Girl With Broken Car Sings, Brianne M. Griffith

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

GIRL WITH BROKEN CAR SINGS is a full-length collection of free verse poems that explore an obsession with celebrity status, culture, and power; the speaker longs for and imagines new lives for herself, all the while examining the wickedness of American commercialism and capitalism through a reality TV lens.

Pop culture is also used as a vehicle to discuss familial trauma. The gaps in the speaker’s life are filled with mainstream media references. GIRL WITH BROKEN CAR SINGS considers how people engage with media to understand or “see” themselves in the world.

While there are no sections in GIRL WITH …

The Mango Snores, Michael S. Garcia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

THE MANGO SNORES

by

Michael S. Garcia

Florida International University, 2021

Miami, Florida

Professor John Dufresne, Major Professor

Set in Miami at the start of the twenty-first century, THE MANGO SNORES is a seriocomic crime novel chronicling a week in the life of Sam Espada, Cuban-American writing professor and author of the Mango series of detective fiction. Reeling from the sudden dissolution of his marriage and the abject failure of his latest book, Sam finds himself embroiled in a plot right out of one of his novels when his newest pupil, private investigator Leonard Cobb, is …

Split At The Root, Robert S. Gryder

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Influenced by— and sometimes in conversation with— diverse literary voices such as Dorothy Allision (BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA), Harry Crews (A CHILDHOOD), and Mark Doty (FIREBIRD), SPLIT AT THE ROOT is a literary bildungsroman told primarily in the narrative mode. The memoir traces the narrator’s volatile beginnings in the trailer parks of rural South Carolina in the 1980s to the day he accepted, sight unseen, an offer of admission to Yale University, boarding a plane in 1993 for the first time in his life. This memoir explores the narrator’s quest for agency, deploying the essayist mode to interrogate along the …

Bycatch, Terin Weinberg

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

BYCATCH

by

Terin Weinberg

Florida International University, 2021

Miami, Florida

Professor Denise Duhamel, Major Professor

BYCATCH is a collection of poems that explore the speaker’s relationship with the natural world. The poems utilize a variety of forms, from traditional sestinas and sonnets driven by image, to puzzle-pieced stereoscopes that can be read grammatically in three different ways—left to right, or down one of either columns. Though the collection is rooted in nature, the emotional drive is rooted in the construction and deconstruction of the family and the body. Each section of the book will function as …

Shadows Of The Morning Twilight, Philip A. Lapadula

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shadows of the Morning Twilight is a collection of seven short stories and one novella about men who, facing transitions in their lives and in society, grapple with issues of sexual identity, residency, past traumas, and corruption. In the noir-influenced title novella, Nick Esposito, a mid-1970s journalism student, faces dangerous choices when he reports on the sale of a gay bar that is covertly owned by the mafia. Some characters see themselves as trapped. In “Final Score,” a former football player struggling with dementia finds a reason to live when he mentors a young gay man. In “Psyched,” “Phantoms of …

Objects/Slow Hours, Camila E. Saavedra

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTS/SLOW HOURS is a collection of experimental poetry that aims to illustrate the reconfiguration of identity post-trauma. Using spatial play and non-linear storytelling, these poems follow the experiences of a chronic cancer patient through various cycles of illness and recovery. This narrative is told in three interwoven parallel structures, allowing the speaker to project consciousness into objects and animals, while simultaneously revisiting instances of isolated suffering and reflecting on medical treatment procedures.

OBJECTS/SLOW HOURS’s literary influences include Maggie Nelson, Lisa Glatt, and Audre Lorde, whose illness narratives have similarly confronted ideas of embodiment, subjectivity/objectivity, and social (in)visibility. In this collection, …