Latina/o Studies Commons^™

The Long Road: Eisenhower’S Inter-American Highway: The Path To Economic Investment, Political Stability, And Collective Security In Central America, Jacob A. Ross

Student Publications

This paper explores the anti-communist Cold War tactics of public diplomacy as undertaken by the Eisenhower Administration. The focus of this paper is the Inter-American Highway: a program which the U.S. government funded and constructed to develop Central America economically, politically, and beyond. Funding for this program was increased and supported by the president because it fit the axiom of spending as little money as possible in the Cold War, but spending it in a way to be effective in the battle against Soviet communism. The stance of the U.S. government was to provide Central America with increased infrastructure development …

Is Service-Learning The Answer? Preparing Teacher Candidates To Work With Ells Through Service-Learning Experiences, Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo

Scholarship of Metropolitan Mission

In an effort to address the gaps in preparing teacher candidates (TCs) to work with English Language Learners (ELLs), service-learning experiences (SLE) were integrated into two courses within a teacher education program. This exploratory case study sought to explore the outcomes of teacher candidates (TCs) engaged in SLE with diverse students and families, particularly ELLs. Content analysis of students’ reflections provided insights of the impact of the SLE. Findings indicate that participating in service-learning with ELLs provides opportunities for TCs to engage in positive interactions that help to address misconceptions about students, families, and communities. TCs also began to confront …

Student, Parent, And Teacher Perceptions Of School Racial Climate In A Charter Middle School In South Los Angeles: A Microcosm Of Missed Opportunity, Joan Y. Wicks

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explores student, parent, and teacher perceptions of school racial climate and its impact on students’ academic and personal lives at a charter middle school in South Los Angeles. The study also explores teacher handling of the impact of racial tensions at this school with a majority Latin@ student enrollment and a predominantly Black teaching staff. School climate refers to the perceived quality of interpersonal interactions among teachers, students, staff, and parents. A positive school climate is associated with increased academic achievement and decreased disciplinary problems. Conversely, schools wrought with interethnic conflict or a poor racial climate …

The Possibilities Of Being “Critical”: Discourses That Limit Options For Educators Of Color, Thomas M. Philip, Miguel Zavala

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Through a close reading of the talk of a self-identified critical educator of color, we explore the contradictions, possibilities, limitations, and consequences of this identity for teachers and teacher educators. We examine how the performances of particular critical educator of color identities problematically intertwine claims of Freirian pedagogy with crude dichotomizations of people as critical and non-critical. We explore how particular tropes limit the productive possibilities of being critical for other educators of color and erase the centrality of dialogue, reflexivity, and unfinishedness that define Freirian-inspired notions of being critical.

Conversatorios About Inequality And Social Mobility In The Latino Community, Lourdes Gouveia, Jasney Cogua-Lopez, Claudia Lucero, Claudia García, Yuriko Doku

Latino/Latin American Studies Other Publications

OLLAS has reported on the socio-economic characteristics of Latinos in Omaha and Nebraska for many years. For the past couple of years, OLLAS and other organizations have shared concerns about the barriers that may block the full deployment of this population’s talents and abilities, and their full and equitable integration into the city of Omaha. To explore these concerns, we organized a series of conversations (conversatorios) in March 2015 with proportionate participation of Latinos at the grassroots and in leadership positions. Eventually, these conversations were to be extended to include a wider array of stakeholders from the larger community.

Embodying A "New" Color Line: Racism, Anti-Immigrant Sentiment And Racial Identities In The "Postracial" Era, Grant J. Silva

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

This essay explores the intersection of racism, racial embodiment theory and the recent hostility aimed at immigrants and foreigners in the United States, especially the targeting of people of Latin American descent and Latino/as. Anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner sentiment is racist. It is the embodiment of racial privilege for those who wield it and the materiality of racial difference for those it is used against. This manifestation of racial privilege and difference rests upon a redrawing of the color line that is meant towards preserving exclusive categories of political membership. The charge of racism, however, is elided by the fact that …

Revelation, Tanya Diaz

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

There can sometimes be a gap between first-gen students and parents who have not experienced the stress of higher education. Children may believe this stress to be a necessary sacrifice for their future wellness; however, they often cannot feel their parents' sacrifices, just as their parents cannot feel their child's mental strain. Diaz creates this poem in an effort to examine her relationship with her mother from an outsider's point of view, in the end realizing that although her parents cannot always understand her experiences, they care and will support her decisions.

More Than Just An Image: Pop Culture Representations Of Latinxs And The Immigration Debate, Vanessa Reyes

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

No abstract provided.

Border X-Ing, Alicia A. Castro

SURGE

The sun out-stretched its bright arms in an embrace with the mesquite trees that beckoned upwards. The wind greeted the clothes drying upon delicate wire while my mother meticulously placed white towels in the light and the jeans under the shade of the Arizona Ash. The washboard sits upright in the bucket full of suds and other assorted laundry. Inside the shed there is both a working dryer and washer only a few years old, but she has chosen to do this chore outside. Here she can close her eyes and be back in Mexico with the dry heat and …

An Annotated Bibliography Of Books, Dvds, And Internet Resources On Glbt Latinos And Latinas, Walt Walker, Glbtrt Resources Committee

Librarian Publications & Presentations

Latino communities have long been parts of our society and culture, but many people, including in the mainstream media, have only recently noticed that 1/6 of the U.S. population is of Latino or Hispanic heritage. The United States is the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, trailing only Mexico. This underrepresented demographic group is starting to receive more recognition in U.S. culture, including in its literature. Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons make up another minority group that is increasingly visible in our culture. The subject of this bibliography is the intersection of these two minority groups, GLBT Latino/as. …

Collection Revitalization At The University Of New Mexico Libraries, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This article discusses a project that took an early archival manuscript collection that was poorly described and catalogued, and underused and revitalized it (in a sense recovered a lost collection) by re-describing it and digitizing material from the collection for better (new) public access.

More Than Altruism: Cultural Norms And Remittances Among Hispanics In The U.S., Monika Lopez Anuarbe, María Amparo Cruz-Saco, Yongjin Park

Economics Faculty Publications

Cultural norms embody the communalism and familism that characterize social structures and traditions of care among certain identity groups, notably, Hispanics. In turn, they affect remitting behavior as they do family dynamics, thereby extending care transnationally. Using the 2006 Latino National Survey, the largest instrument that captures socio-economic variables and political perspectives among Hispanics residing in the U.S., we construct a Hispanic identity index that is used to capture the role of cultural norms in remittance behavior. This index is used as an explanatory variable in a logit model for the probability and frequency of remitting money. We find that …

The Disappearing Mestizo, Book Review, Andrew Rosa

History Faculty Publications

The Disappearing Mestizo: Configuring Difference in the Colonial New Kingdom of Grenada. Joanne Rappaport. Duke University Press, 2014, 368 pp., $25.99, paper. By probing “when and how” an individual was considered a mestizo (a person of mixed heritage) in the early colonial New Kingdom of Grenada (modern-day Columbia), Joanne Rappaport’s Disappearing Mestizo: Configuring Difference in the Colonial New Kingdom of Granada (Duke University Press, 2014) adds to the growing scholarship on racial difference in colonial Spanish America.

The Effect Of Marriage Verses Cohabitation On Sexual Communication In Latino, African American, And Caucasian Adults, Erin Koosed, Danielle Mahaffey, Mckenzie Rand, Elizabeth Wagner, Dr. Heesoon Lee

International ResearchScape Journal

This study focuses on the effect of communication on sexual relationship satisfaction when comparing cohabiting couples with married couples. Communication is an important part of relational and sexual satisfaction. Research was conducted using scholarly journal articles and quantitative data from questionnaires. Fifty-four questionnaires were completed by males and females that were at least forty years, married or cohabitating, and identified as Latino, African American, or Caucasian. The data from the questionnaires found that both heterosexual and homosexual couples in domestic partnerships had better sexual communication than those who were married. People from diverse backgrounds can relate to the data collected …

Conflicting Commitments: The Politics Of Enforcing Immigrant Worker Rights In San Jose And Houston, Jacqueline Hayes

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Other Graduate Student Scholarship

A review of "Conflicting Commitments: The Politics of Enforcing Immigrant Worker Rights in San Jose and Houston" by Shannon Gleeson.

Discounted: Stories Of Formerly Gang Involved And Incarcerated Latino Males In Los Angeles County, Kristina Marie Alvarado

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Education gives an individual access to different ways of learning, thinking, and ultimately providing a source of power to better understand the world. Second and third-generation Latino males are faced with the generational impact of family gang involvement, violence, poverty, neglect, and emotional abuse in their daily lives at school and at home. This study provided an original contribution to the field of education due to its specific focus on the population of formerly incarcerated, formerly gang involved, later generation Latino males in Los Angeles. The narratives in this study shed light on their marginalization. The personal stories revealed the …

La Voz January 2015, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Mead Lecture: Jossiana Arroyo-Martinez
• Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer
• El Instituto Internship Placement
• Blood Rising: Art and Social Justice

Inequities, Resistance, And Motivations In Latin@ Teacher Trajectories: Implications For Latin@ Teacher Recruitment And Retention From A Testimonio-Based Study, Carla Borovicka

Educational Studies Dissertations

The demographics of Oregon’s teacher workforce do not reflect the student population. The most noticeable gap exists between Latin@ students and Latin@ teachers. The purpose of this testimonio study was to explore perceptions of the underrepresentation of Latina teachers in Oregon K–12 rural schools situated in new Latin@ diaspora communities. The researcher wished to ensure that sociohistorical and sociopolitical events as well as the lived experiences help to inform the understanding of the underrepresentation of Latin@ teachers in Oregon. A purposefully selected participant sample comprised nine Latina educators who worked in primarily rural Oregon schools. The primary data collection method …

A Monastery For The Revolution: Ernesto Cardenal, Thomas Merton, And The Paradox Of Violence In Nicaragua, 1957-1979, Brendan Jordan

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

In 1957, a young Nicaraguan poet named Ernesto Cardenal, recently graduated from Columbia University, entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, located outside Louisville, Kentucky. There he met a prominent Catholic thinker and pacifist, Thomas Merton, who soon mentored young Cardenal. Though Cardenal departed Gethsemani in 1959, Merton continued to counsel him in spirituality, poetry, and social activism until Merton’s death in 1968. While Cardenal during these earlier years was a committed pacifist, his experiences after returning to Nicaragua in 1965 radically altered his view of social action. Cardenal established a semi-monastic community in the Solentiname islands in southern Nicaragua, and …

Perspectives On Feminine Cultural Gender Role Values From Latina Leaders And Community Residents, Nazanin Mina Heydarian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Marianismo and machismo are gender values prescribed to women and men respectively within Latino cultures. Characteristics associated with these gender values can be pro- or anti-social. Individuals, regardless of their own sex, self-identify with characteristics prescribed to both genders. There is little research examining how Latinos conceptualize and self-identify with both marianismo and machismo. The present study contributes to the literature by classifying how Latina leaders and non-leader community residents describe characteristics associated with marianismo and machismo. I identified characteristics of marianismo and machismo and their associated pro- and anti-social dimensions by means of a thematic analysis. The following characteristics …

Historicity, Achronicity, And The Materiality Of Cultures In Colonial Brazil, Amy J. Buono

Art Faculty Articles and Research

"In this essay, I use three nontraditional forms from the visual culture of colonial Brazil—Tupinambá featherwork, Portuguese Atlantic mandinga pouches, and azulejos (tilework)— in order to meditate upon materiality and temporality as methodological problems with which our discipline should engage. Each of these art forms has historical trajectories that span cultures, continents, and centuries, a circumstance that raises questions as to how such diverse and stubbornly nonhistoricizable genres can be melded into a coherent historical narrative of the visual and material cultures specific to 'Brazil,' especially when two of them — the mandinga bags and azulejos — are not intrinsically …

Queer Provisionality: Mapping The Generative Failures Of The Transborder Immigrant Tool, Alison R. Reed

English Faculty Publications

Alison Reed investigates the border- and boundary-crossing performance of Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0’sTransBorder Immigrant Tool (TBT), an incomplete cell phone program that offers GPS, guidance, and poetry to those attempting to cross into the United States across the Mexico/US border. Reed suggests a provocation-based performance of “queer provisionality,” revealing the aesthetics of oppressive power structures by juxtaposing them to social utopias. Interrogating the national neoliberal project of both US liberalism and US conservatism, Reed’s essay is also a transcription of the performances launched around TBT, the social and political machinery set into motion by Electronic Disturbance Theater’s failed utopian project.

The Butterflies That Saved The Dominican Republic, Rachel A. Bodenschatz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Analysis of the Dominican Republic during Trujillo’s regime and the effect of the Mirabal sisters. This paper is the culmination of the research and analytical skills I learned throughout my four years as a history student. I choose the topic because the Massillon Museum wrote a grant for the 2016 Big Read and chose Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies, as the book the community would read. In the Time of the Butterflies follows the Mirabal sisters on their quest to save their country from an evil dictator.

The Association Between Dietary Sodium, Salt, And Elevated Blood Pressure Among Hispanic Adults In El Paso, Texas, Cynthia Chacon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: High blood pressure (hypertension) is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) which represents a worldwide public health concern, and continues to be the number one cause of death among both men and women affecting 1 out of 3 adults in the United States. Furthermore, there is evidence suggesting that high levels of dietary sodium and salt consumption intake can not only increase an individual's blood pressure level, but also their risk for CVD, heart attack, or stroke. Objective: To conduct a secondary data analysis to assess the association between sodium and salt intake and blood pressure among Hispanic …

Creating Knowledge, Volume 8, 2015

Creating Knowledge

Dear reader,

I am delighted to introduce this eighth volume of Creating Knowledge: The LAS Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship. This volume features 19 essays and 14 art works, representing advanced coursework produced in twenty different departments and programs during the 2014-2015 academic year. Several of the essays have been honored with department awards and several draw on research supported by undergraduate research grants. Many were originally written in senior capstone seminars, research-intensive seminars, and independent studies, and many were presented in some form at one of the numerous conferences and showcases sponsored by departments and programs throughout the year. All …

“El No Murio, El Se Multiplico!” Hugo Chávez : The Leadership And The Legacy On Race, Cynthia Ann Mckinney

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

“Chávez, Chávez, Chávez: Chávez no murio, se multiplico!” was the chant outside the National Assembly building after several days of mourning the death of the first President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This study investigates the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his legacy on race as seen through the eyes and experiences of selected interviewees and his legacy on race. The interviewees were selected based on familiarity with the person and policies of the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his legacy on race. Unfortunately, not much has been written about this aspect of Hugo Chávez despite the myriad attempts …

Young, Gifted, And Brown: Ricanstructing Through Autoethnopoetic Stories For Critical Diasporic Puerto Rican Pedagogy, Ángel Luis Martínez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Young, Gifted and Brown is a journey of two directions converging. It is a study of Puerto Rican Diaspora in higher education, specifically, students making sense and meaning of their everyday. It is also a study of how I have related to them as a professor. Together, this is a story: research done creatively, toward the development of Critical Pedagogy for Puerto Rican Diaspora. The research question is: what has made the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States flourish and their lived experience meaningful? How can a diasporic people connect with and affirm their roots in an educational system …