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La Voz, Spring 2016, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

La Voz is the official newsletter of the El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies. The newsletter provides a sampling of graduate, undergraduate and faculty initiatives across the campus and the hemisphere.

Present Day Plate Boundary Deformation In The Caribbean And Crustal Deformation On Southern Haiti, Steeve Symithe

Open Access Dissertations

The Caribbean plate and its boundaries with North and South America, marked by subduction and large intra-arc strike-slip faults, are a natural laboratory for the study of strain partitioning and interseismic plate coupling in relation to large earth- quakes. In this work, I use the available campaign and continuous GPS measurements in the Caribbean to derive a regional velocity field expressed in a consistent reference frame. I use this velocity field as input to a kinematic model where surface velocities result from the rotation of rigid blocks bounded by locked faults accumulating inter- seismic strain, while allowing for partial locking …

History, Historical Fiction, And Historical Myth: 'The German Doctor' By Lucía Puenzo, Nathan W. Cody

Student Publications

The escape of thousands of war criminals to Argentina and throughout South America in the aftermath of World War II is a historical subject that has been clouded with mystery and conspiracy. Lucía Puenzo's film, The German Doctor, utilizes this historical enigma as a backdrop for historical fiction by imagining a family's encounter with Josef Mengele, the notorious SS doctor from Auschwitz who escaped to South America in 1949 under a false identity. While Puenzo sought to tell a story within a historical context, the film still has important historical commentaries. Ultimately, The German Doctor demonstrates the intersections of history, …

Long Live The King? A Gis Analysis Of Climate Change’S Impact On The Future Wintering Range And Economy Of The Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus) In Mexico, Megan E. Zagorski

Student Publications

The annual migration of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a natural phenomenon widely integrated into the popular and social imagination of North America. However, this migratory population has recently declined. I investigated the threat of climate change on the future distribution of suitable monarch habitat, using ArcGIS to create a model of current and future monarch habitat. I also analyzed municipal data for 5 communities in Mexico State in an examination of the social aspects of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve [MBBR]. According to my model, an estimated 38.6% to 69.8% of current monarch habitat may be lost within …

Jesus With A Kalashnikov: Examining Marxist Elements In Liberation Theology And Soviet Influence On Its Origins, Todd "Cameron" Swathwood Jr

Senior Honors Theses

Liberation theology emerged as a prominent feature of religion and politics in the 1960s. Since the beginning, detractors have noted the overtly Marxist tendencies within this ideology. This thesis introduces the core concepts and presuppositions of liberation theology itself, and then focuses on specific and varied allegations concerning any influence the Soviet Union may have had on its formation and propagation. Particular weight is lent to the testimony of Lieutenant General Ion Mihai Pacepa, formerly the head of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu’s national intelligence service and the highest-ranking defector ever received from the Soviet Bloc. Pacepa has shared his insider …

El Cine Del Otro--El Otro Del Cine, Claudia Ferman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

El presente trabajo se propone reflexionar sobre el cambio de paradigma que ha experimentado la producción cinematográfica a partir de la Revolución Digital en relación con la producción de documentales en Latinoamérica. En el contexto de post-guerras revolucionarias y post-dictaduras que caracteriza el siglo XXI en Latinoamérica, marcado por procesos de neoliberalización de las economías que se dan paralelamente y en constante oposición al crecimiento de movimientos populares de resistencia y a gobiernos de promoción de los derechos civiles y la igualdad (por lo cual han sido descritos como populistas) se verifican nuevas prácticas audiovisuales documentales, integrales a los procesos …

Formas Del Documental Latinoamericano A Partir De La Revolución Digital, Claudia Ferman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

La presente colección de artículos sobre el documental latinoamericano puede leerse de varias maneras. Se podría empezar, por ejemplo, pensando esta colección como una encuesta sobre cuáles son los documentales latinoamericanos recientes que han llegado al escritorio de los profesionales que se ocupan del tema, o con una mirada más abarcadora, cuáles son las producciones audiovisuales que de una u otra manera tienen o han tenido impacto en el medio académico. Este ángulo nos llevaría a revisar de dónde provienen las contribuciones incluidas, es decir, la pertenencia académica de los contribuyentes de este dossier; en orden alfabético, los contribuyentes trabajan …

The Effect Of Americanization On Latin American Culture: A Comparative Study Using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions And Pop Music, Jason Robert Shockey

Honors Theses

In 1980, Dr. Geert Hofstede published a book outlining his methodology for quantifying and objectively comparing cultures based on six distinct dimensions. However, since Dr. Hofstede's research focused primarily on adult demographics, it may not adequately predict reality once the younger generation assumes a place of ideological primacy in society. My project aims to determine Americanization's impact on current Hispanic scores to see if they remain consistent with tradition or shift towards the United States' values. To accomplish this, I developed a scale similar to Hofstede's and analyzed the Billboard Top 40 list for 2014.

Fire Was In The Reptile’S Mouth: Towards A Transcultural Ecological Poetics, Stuart Cooke

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

This paper compares two creation narratives from indigenous peoples on either side of the Pacific Ocean, the relationships between which catalyse the theorisation of a transcultural approach to ecological poetics. The comparison of these narratives reveals important, rhizomatic similarities, and also unmistakable regional differences, concerning the origins of language and culture in Yanomami (Venezuela) and MakMak (Australia) communities. Concomitant with the centrality of indigenous thought in this theorisation of ecopoetics is the de­centrality of human-only conceptions of poetics. Accordingly, the paper considers non-semantic forms of poetics such as birdsong in order to de-centre classically Western, humanist conceptions of language …

Airborne Lidar Acquisition, Post-Processing And Accuracy-Checking For A 3d Webgis Of Copan, Honduras, Jennifer Von Schwerin, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Fabio Remondino, Maria Grazia Spera, Michael Auer, Nicolas Billen, Lukas Loos, Laura Stelson, Markus Reindel

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Archaeological projects increasingly collect airborne LiDAR data to use as a remote sensing tool for survey and analysis. Publication possibilities for LiDAR datasets, however, are limited due to the large size and often proprietary nature of the data. Fortunately, web-based, geographic information systems (WebGIS) that can securely manage temporal and spatial data hold great promise as virtual research environments for working with and publishing LiDAR data. To test this and to obtain new data for archaeological research, in 2013, the MayaArch3D Project (www.mayaarch3d.org) collected LiDAR data for the archaeological site of Copan, Honduras. Results include: 1) more accurate archaeological maps, …

Gendered Geographies In Puerto Rican Culture: Spaces, Sexualities, Solidarities, Radost A. Rangelova

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

This is a critical study of the construction of gendered spaces through feminine labor and capital in Puerto Rican literature and film (1950-2010). It analyzes gendered geographies and forms of emotional labor, and the possibility that they generate within the material and the symbolic spaces of the family house, the factory, the beauty salon and the brothel. It argues that by challenging traditional images of femininity texts by authors and film directors like Rosario Ferré, Carmen Lugo Filippi, Magali García Ramis, Mayra Santos-Febres, Sonia Fritz and Ana María García, among others, contest the official Puerto Rican cultural nationalist discourse on …

Malestar En El Eje Horizontal: Iconografía De Ruptura En Neuva Corónica Y Buen Gobierno (1615), De Felipe Guaman Poma De Ayala, Karina Elizabeth Vázquez

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Durante la última década, los estudios coloniales producidos en el contexto de la academia norteamericana han abogado por llevar adelante una agenda descolonizadora. Este cambio de perspectiva ha propiciado la incorporación de textos marginales al canon literario colonial, así como la revisión de los presupuestos ideológicos y culturales que subyacen en los análisis críticos. Este nuevo rumbo tiene coma propósito abordar la experiencia de la conquista y la colonia considerando sus secuelas en las políticas culturales y territoriales que los Estados-Nación posteriores aplicaron sobre las comunidades indígenas. El texto de Guaman Poma ingresa al campo de los estudios coloniales en …

El Narrador En La Ciudad Dentro De La Temática De Los Cuentos De Emigración Y Transición Puertorriqueña (1948-1968), Sandra Margarita Stern

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As a result of the political and economic upheavals in Puerto Rico’s governing structures during the mid-twentieth century, changes occurred in the social and cultural contexts as well. Rapid industrialization and installation of modernity became the goals for the island, which resulted in mass movement of people from agricultural rural communities to cities, namely, San Juan and New York. A reflection of this phenomenon appears in different genres of literary production during this time. This new form of writing, with its innovative approaches, grew and found preference mostly in the short story.

This dissertation focuses on the stories of this …

January 29, 2016: Latin American Digital Initiatives (Ladi): A Framework For Post-Custodial Archival Collaboration; Itinerant Archivists, Latin American And Caribbean Cultural Heritage Archives (Laccha) And The Society Of American Archivists (Saa)

Desmantelando Fronteras/Breaking Down Borders Webinar Announcements

Theresa Polk
Archivist, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
University of Texas, Austin

Natalie Baur and Christian Kelleher
Co-founders
Itinerant Archivists

Lingering Colonialities As Blockades To Peace Education: School Violence In Trinidad, Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

Book Summary: Bringing together the voices of scholars and practitioners on challenges and possibilities of implementing peace education in diverse global sites, this book addresses key questions for students seeking to deepen their understanding of the field. The book not only highlights ground-breaking and rich qualitative studies from around the globe, but also analyses the limits and possibilities of peace education in diverse contexts of conflict and post-conflict societies. Contributing authors address how educators and learners can make meaning of international peace education efforts, how various forms of peace and violence interact in and around schools, and how the field …

Lengua Latina: Representations Of Sex And Gender In Latina Literature, Jessica L. Harris

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

An exploration of the influence of Spanish language on gender, sexuality, and sisterhood in various aspects of Latina/o literature. In Chapter I, I examine Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s film, Chicana playwright Josefina Lopez's Real Women Have Curves, and Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera as a tool for analyzing conceptions of “Other” and the ways these issues intersect with one another. In Chapter II, I look at La Virgen and La Malinche dichotomy and the ways stereotypes appear in Latina poetry. In Chapter III, I discuss hermanas and comadres and their importance outside the intimacy of romantic relationships. Throughout this project, I …

A Mark In Salvadoran History, Jose Alvarado

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

El Salvador is considered one of the smallest countries in Central America. This miniature country went through a very gruesome civil war that took the lives of 75,000 victims. Violence has always been a factor that exists in the country, ever since it first originated. The Salvadoran civil war had many effects on the country and the citizens including migrations, poverty, and violence that still continue to this day.

The Salvadoran Civil War had many effects on the country, not just economically, but also socially. This research answered many of my questions, but some still remain unanswered. Does the country …

Spanish For Heritage Speakers: Instructional Module #3, Gabriela C. Zapata

Activities and Assignments Collection

This is the third instructional module for the teaching of Spanish to heritage speakers at the intermediate level. The outcomes for this module are as follows:

1. Students will be able to understand the way in which a descriptive essay is organized and written;

2. Students will be able to continue applying the rules for the accentuation of palabras esdrújulas and agudas to improve their spelling;

3. Students will be able to understand the rules that govern the use of adjectives in Spanish, including the exceptions that break these rules;

4. Students will review the rules that govern the accentuation …

Revamping Dracula On The Mexican Silver In Fernando Méndez’S El Vampiro, Carmen Serrano

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

This chapter explores Mexican vampire movies of the 1950s and follows the vampire’s journey from the Americas to Europe and back in order to analyze the ways in which the monster is articulated in each cultural context. The specific Mexican articulation of the vampire in Fernando Méndez’sEl vampiro is modeled after Hollywood films, yet the film carries nuanced meaning having to do with national identity and borders. In this film, the vampire is a menacing figure that arrives seeking to infect, invade, and conquer. At the same time, he is potentially a subversive other that transgresses borders and threatens …

Afroreggae And Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae: A Study Of The Early Years, Sarah S. Ohmer

Publications and Research

The following study of AfroReggae and Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae (GCAR) calls attention to Brazilian presence and community organizing in the field of Hip Hop studies with a long memory framework: placing AfroReggae and GCAR in a long history of Africana resistance through music in Latin America. !990s GCAR group arises when reggae and Hip Hop music had become new global forms of solidarity among urban marginalized youths worldwide, making use of old and new strategies of social healing (Fernandes 2011). A close look at lyrics from the Hip Hop fusion band and the associated nonprofit organization shape the concepts …

Impermeable Assemblages: Flooding, Urban Infrastructure, And Stormwater Politics In São Paulo, Brazil, Nate Millington

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This project analyzes efforts to remake the relationship between water and city in São Paulo, Brazil. Currently experiencing overlapping problems of flooding, scarcity, and pollution, São Paulo illustrates the challenges of managing water in a contemporary mega-city. This dissertation subsequently considers the city’s water management through an approach that borrows from urban political ecology, social studies of science, and post-colonial urban theory. With an epistemological grounding in these literatures, this project analyzes ongoing conversations about water management in São Paulo, and focuses on how water is encountered and engaged with in the landscape by engineers, artists, and activists. This project …

Convergence? The Incursion Of Technology In The United States - Mexico Remittance Corridor, Sam Wilner Simon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The United States-Mexico remittance corridor finds itself at a crossroads, exacerbated by an amalgam of factors including tapering migration levels, a more mature Mexican economy and higher levels of technological permeation. I identify the individual, governments and service providers as the three main actors in the United States - Mexico Remittance Corridor. I deploy an interdisciplinary set of sources, ranging from academic journals to World Bank datasets to illustrate the logistical hurdles that are delaying changes to what many experts believe, is an unsustainable status-quo. I explore the idea of a Galtung inspired mutually reinforcing triangle as a means of …

Del Mediterráneo A Santiago, Pasando Por París Y Otras Partes: Un Comentario Sobre Refugio Y Migración Internacional, Cristián Doña-Reveco

Latino/Latin American Studies Faculty Publications

A principios de septiembre de este año una imagen recorrió el mundo. La imagen mostraba a Aylan Kurdi, un niño sirio de origen kurdo muerto a las orillas del Mediterráneo en Turquía. Esta imagen significó un incremento en la (momentánea) preocupación mundial por refugiados sirios, en mayores donaciones a distintos grupos que trabajan con refugiados y sobre todo un incremento en la cobertura periodística sobre este mismo tema. Poco más de dos meses después de la muerte de Aylan, y cuando el punto más alto de interés de la prensa mundial por los refugiados comenzaba a decaer, los ataques terroristas …

Socio-Spatial Mobilities In An Immigrant Gateway City: Analyzing Latina\O Experiences In East Boston, Mitchell Beam Snider

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation analyzes the ways in which Latino migrants in East Boston represent their material and imagined socio-spatial mobilities in the city. It considers the ways in which participants discuss the relationship of their mobilities to experiences of social exclusion and inclusion as well as feelings of belonging. The first empirical chapter specifically analyses how participants’ motility—or capacities for being mobile—interfaced with their experiences (or lack thereof) of onward migration. It finds that there is a complex relationship between onward migration and participants' motility. The second empirical chapter considers how participants represented encounters with others in the city as emotional …

The Case For Using Duolingo As Part Of The Language Classroom Experience (Duolingo Como Parte Del Curriculum De Las Clases De Lengua Extranjera), Pilar Munday

Languages Faculty Publications

This article explores the idea of using an already existing language learning app, Duolingo, to complement traditional college level Spanish as second language courses. These types of apps use adaptive learning technologies, which are able to tailor the tasks to the level of each student. In the case of this study, Duolingo was used as part of the program of studies in two Spanish university courses, one a beginner’s Spanish course (level A1) and the other an advanced intermediate course (B2). The students used the app online, either in its mobile version or in their web browser. I will describe …

#Instagramele: Learning Spanish Through A Social Network, Pilar Munday, Yuly Asencion Delaney, Adelaida Martín Bosque

Languages Faculty Publications

Social networking (SN) tools have the potential to contribute to language learning because they promote linguistic interactions in person-to-person communication, increasing the opportunities to process input in the L2, engaging learners in negotiation of meaning and requiring learners to produce L2 output, as proposed in the interactionist theory by Long (1985, 1996). These virtual personal connections with other learners and language experts around the world could provide a rich environment for sociocultural language exchanges (following the principles of the sociocultural approach proposed by Lantolf, 2002, based on the work of Vygotsky, 1978) that may increase motivation for learning, develop L2 …

[Introduction To] Insomne Pasado: Lecturas Criticas De Latinoamérica Colonial : Un Homenaje A Á. Félix Bolaños, Claudia García, Karina Elizabeth Vázquez, Grazyna Walczak

Bookshelf

Concebido como un homenaje al Dr. Álvaro Félix Bolaños (1956-2007), quien fuera Profesor de Literatura Colonial Hispanoamericana en la Universidad de Florida (Gainesville), Insomne pasado atestigua el impacto que Bolaños tuvo en la formación intelectual de sus estudiantes graduados. A casi diez años de su prematuro deceso, esta colección de ensayos retoma el aporte de Félix al campo de los Estudios Coloniales. Nueve de los ensayos reunidos aquí fueron escritos bajo la dirección del profesor Bolaños, enriquecidos y ampliados posteriormente a partir de sus comentarios. En ellos reviven las problemáticas que animaron su contribución académica, fundamentalmente el cuestionamiento constante del …

Consuming The Image: Hierarchies Of Beauty And Power In Us Latino, Colombian, And Dominican Cultural Productions, Angela Postigo

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

This dissertation focuses on dominant contemporary depictions of women in order to investigate the related processes of producing and policing physical attractiveness and privilege in mainstream cultural productions. I examine how certain US Latina, Colombian, and Dominican female portrayals fit definite paradigms of ideal beauty and contribute to patterns of power within magazines, films and television, music, and literary novels. I explore the ways in which the majority of dominant representations in all three countries favor specific beauty ideals linked with an Anglo or Northern European archetype, thus limiting the acceptable model and excluding a great part of the racially …

Listening To Afro-Latinidad: The Sonic Archive Of Olú Clemente, Patricia Herrera

Theatre and Dance Faculty Publications

For many Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, Roberto Clemente was more than just a baseball star. Above all, he was a symbol of hope and humanitarianism, succeeding despite the overt racial discrimination he encountered as a Black Puerto Rican. Off the field, Clemente was renowned and beloved for his involvement in charity work in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries. His final humanitarian act came about in 1972 on New Year’s Eve when the plane chartered to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua crashed into the ocean off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. His sudden and …

La Mujer Limitada Y La Crítica Social Dentro De “Las Medias Rojas” De Emilia Pardo Bazán, Jacqueline Osborn

La BloGoteca de Babel

No abstract provided.