Latina/o Studies Commons^™

Introductory Note To Issue 2, 2020, Juanatano Cano, Alan Lebaron

Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

Maya America is pleased to publish this new Spanish-language novel by Gaspar Pedro González. Accepting an original and timely work from a leading Guatemalan intellectual and novelist would be easy enough, and Gaspar’s new novel is at once insightful and provocative. Rather than presenting his characters as villains or victims, the author leaves much up to the imaginations and sentiments of the reader to interpret and make sense of the thoughts and decisions of the main characters. "The Migrant Maya", ultimately uncovers some of the consequences of leaving home that go beyond the risks of jail and deportation, such as …

You Are Resilient: Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Treatment For Low-Ses, Urban Youth, Courtney Molina

Dissertations

The focus in this review was to explore the benefits and optimal use of trauma-informed, strengths-based care for the therapeutic treatment of low-socioeconomic status (SES), urban youth. Specific focus was given to evidence-based research on the treatment of emotional and behavioral dysregulation among low-SES, urban youth. The review was guided by the following research questions: How can emotional and behavioral dysregulation be symptoms of trauma among low-SES, urban youth; What makes trauma-informed and strengths-based care optimal for the treatment of low-SES, urban youth with dysregulation; and What are clear guidelines for providing trauma-informed, strengths-based care to low-SES, urban youth with …

Imperial Myths, Abject Devotion: Mapping Affect In New Mexican Visual Culture And Discourse, N. C. Lira-Pérez

American Studies ETDs

New Mexican visual art and culture, as molded by state-sanctioned endeavors, is often casted in order to conceal the tension, conflict, and violence of settler colonialism and imperialism. Widely known myths of empire, such as the Tricultural myth, create a visualizing enterprise through which settler colonial logics transit and create political material reality. This thesis explores the following questions: How do New Mexican Hispanos and queer Chicanxs position themselves in relation to the logics of settler colonialism and empire? How are they positioned in relation to settler colonialism and empire? On the one hand, I argue that the state of …

Exploring Cultural Awareness: Latinx/Hispanic, Inclusive Science Initiative Program

Inclusive Science Initiative Program

This informal guide was designed to help acknowledge culture change when opening a dialogue between Latinx or Hispanic and non-Latinx. The items below were assembled by Latinx and Hispanic members of the University of South Dakota community to help encourage non-Latinx to learn some “Dos” and “Don’ts”.

Latinx Political Leadership In Massachusetts, Center For Women In Politics And Public Policy, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Bianca Ortiz-Wythe, Christa Kelleher, Fabián Torres-Ardila

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Fact Sheet provides an overview of Latinx political leadership and representation in Massachusetts, including a historical timeline and data about electoral politics and gender.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Guatemalans, Phillip Granberry, Krizia Valentino

Gastón Institute Publications

The Gastón Institute’s 2020 Latinos in Massachusetts series focuses on the ten largest Latino populations located throughout the state. In order of size, these Latino populations are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Brazilians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, Colombians, Cubans, Hondurans, and Ecuadorans. This report analyzes Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Economic factors have historically affected the migration patterns of Central Americans such as Guatemalans. Prior to the 1980s, Central American migration to the United States showed a marked bipolarity. The majority of migrants were upper- and middle-class individuals who …

Latinos In Massachusetts: Cubans, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Phillip Granberry, Krizia Valentino

Gastón Institute Publications

The Gastón Institute’s 2020 Latinos in Massachusetts series focuses on the ten largest Latino populations located throughout the state. In order of size, these Latino populations are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Brazilians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, Colombians, Cubans, Hondurans, and Ecuadorans. This report analyzes Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Our descriptive analysis uses both household- and individual-level data to estimate population size and percentages and to compare Cubans to Other Latinos and Non-Latinos in the state.

Latinos In Massachusetts: Mexicans, Phillip Granberry, Krizia Valentino

Gastón Institute Publications

The Gastón Institute’s 2020 Latinos in Massachusetts series focuses on the ten largest Latino populations located throughout the state. In order of size, these Latino populations are Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Brazilians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, Colombians, Cubans, Hondurans, and Ecuadorans. This report analyzes Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data from the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Our descriptive analysis uses both household- and individual-level data to estimate population size and percentages and to compare Mexicans to Other Latinos and Non-Latinos in the state.

Doing Latinidad While Black: Afro-Latino Identity And Belonging, Vianny Jasmin Nolasco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study centers on the experiences of Afro-Latinos and how the racialization of Latino as a distinctly ‘brown’ identity—thereby excluding Blackness—shapes their identity and sense of belonging within Latino communities and spaces. Through in-depth interviews with eight Afro-Latinos, and using West and Fenstermaker’s (1995) work, ‘Doing Difference’, I find that the invisibility of Blackness, being categorized as Black, and therefore not Latino, and the negative meanings attached to Blackness may make it difficult for Afro-Latinos to come into their racial and ethnic identity and feel like they belong in Latino spaces. However, these experiences are also an important step to …

Miguel A. De La Torre, The Politics Of Jesús: A Hispanic Political Theology, Ramón Luzárraga

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Cuéntame: Narrative In The Ecclesial Present, Raúl Gómez S.D.S.

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

José In Egypt: Reading Genesis 37-50 With People On The Move, Jean-Pierre Ruiz

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Cultivating A Decolonial Feminist Integral Ecology: Extractive Zones And The Nexus Of The Coloniality Of Being/Coloniality Of Gender, Melissa Pagán

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

¿Dios Bendiga Whose América? Resisting The Ritual Theologizing Of Nation, Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Toward A Reimagined Theological Anthropology: Freeing The Excluded And Re-Envisioning Scenes Of Instruction, César Baldelomar

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Intergenerational Family Learning Programs: Stories Of Latinx, Immigrant Families And Their Journeys To And Through Higher Education, Monica Ramos

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This research presents the stories of three Latinx families who participated in an intergenerational family program. I endeavored to understand their experiences navigating the American system of education and their immigrant stories. Their narratives revealed significant details that can serve as integral elements in the development of an intergenerational learning curriculum based on culture, language, and traditions, and that steps away from the assumptions that perpetrate the deficit-based narratives about Latino families and higher education. Their hopes provide points for further research and advocacy. In this qualitative study, I collected data using semi-structured interviews, including documents and artifacts. The …

Covid-19 And Latinos In Massachusetts, Lorna Rivera, Phillip Granberry, Lorena Estrada-Martínez, Miren Uriarte, Eduardo Siqueira, Ana Rosa Linde-Arias, Gonzalo Bacigalupe

Gastón Institute Publications

This report focuses on the Latino population of Massachusetts and uses 2014–2018 American Community Survey (ACS) demographic data to explore both Latinos’ vulnerability to COVID-19 infection and the key predictive factors. We explore what is known about the social determinants of health previously identified as critical to understanding the spread and differential infection rates of COVID-19 across populations—for example, opportunities for infection due to employment and housing conditions—and how these apply to the Latino population in Massachusetts. We also briefly explore those factors that lead to COVID-19 severe illness and possibly death from the disease, including the age of the …

Revisiting Juchitán: Witnessing An Indigenous Mexico Within The Latin American Archive, Michelle G. De La Cruz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Throughout archives of photographic collections, as one discovers the focused, artistic selective process of images that become part of a photographer’s collection, one must venture further and ask: will these choices be decisively remembered by an individual or collective audience or actively be dismissed, misunderstood, and denied presence? For my master’s thesis, I will be analyzing Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide’s photobook, Juchitán de las Mujeres, a photo-collection of the women-empowered indigenous society in Oaxaca, Mexico which erupted during Latin American photography’s prime in the 20th century, turning away from a deeply exoticized past and towards a celebration of Hispanism as …

“I’M Real I Thought I Told Ya”: Developing Critical Media Literacy Through U.S. Latinx Digital Media Representations, Solange T. Castellar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores how audiences engage with U.S. Latinx media representations through the practice of critical media literacy. I interrogate how media consumers construct critical media literacy through interacting with U.S. Latinx figures on digital media platforms, particularly on the social-media app, Twitter, and the user-generated video content platform, YouTube. Throughout this thesis, I argue that users on these platforms who engage with U.S. Latinx pop culture figures, like Jennifer Lopez and Belcalis Almanzar (Cardi B), read, digest, and comprehend a variety of multimedia images, texts, or videos, and that this engagement becomes an accessible form of critical media literacy, …

The International Rise Of Afro-Brazilian Modernism In The Age Of African Decolonization And Black Power, Abigail Lapin Dardashti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two competing artistic representations of Brazilian blackness emerged from 1966 to 1988. The first began in 1966 when the Brazilian government positioned itself as a leading diplomatic partner for newly independent African nations by showcasing black Brazilian art in West Africa. Through exhibitions, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry aimed to highlight the country’s presumed homogeneous identity and absence of racism. The second definition arose through the work of artists inspired by U.S. social rights activism, who founded Brazil’s civil rights movement in 1975. Brazilian artist-activists combined symbolism from U.S. Black Power, African liberation movements, and Afro-Brazilian culture to denounce racism in …

Afro-Americano: The Transracialization Of The African-American Spanish Speaker, John M. Flanagan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Transracialization is not a biological term connoting the change of one’s skin tone to become a member of a different race. Its definition has its roots in racialization—the ideological process that describes how one assembles ideas about groups based on their race and decides, for example, what a ‘Black’ person is and how ‘Black’ people speak. Thus, transracialization is a linguistic term that describes the political and sociocultural act of recontextualizing one’s phenotype with the use of language, and in so doing, upending the observers’ stereotypical expectations of who one is (Alim 2016). This dissertation deals with how Spanish influences …

Anger, Genre Bending, And Space In Kincaid, Ferré, And Vilar, Suzanne M. Uzzilia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines how women’s anger sparks the bending of genre, which ultimately leads to the development of space in the work of three Caribbean-American authors: Jamaica Kincaid, Rosario Ferré, and Irene Vilar. Women often occupy subject positions that restrict them, and women writers harness the anger provoked by such limitations to test the traditional borders of genre and create new forms that better reflect their realities.

These three writers represent Anglophone and Hispanophone Caribbean literary traditions and are united by their interest in addressing feminist issues in their work. Accordingly, my research is guided by the feminist theoretical frameworks …

Una Isla, Dos Literaturas: Contrapunteo De La Literatura De La Isla Y La Diáspora Dominicanas (1965–2018), Jose L. Peralta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Una isla, dos literaturas.

Contrapunteo de la literatura de la isla y la diáspora dominicanas (1965-2018)

by

Jose Luis Peralta Genao

Advisor: Carlos Riobó

The literary works written by Dominican Diaspora as well as the ones written in the island have been dealing with a very complicated phenomena grown as the result of Dominican massive emigration of twenty century, namely the definition of dominicaness (dominicanidad). In the search of a broader notion of this concept the idea of being Dominican gets build and transforms in different Dominican literary spaces. By searching national discursive elements that construct that Dominican identities in …

Graduate School Awareness For First-Generation Latinas: Cracking The Glass Ceiling - A Validation Study, Deborah D. Grijalva

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

At this time, the Latinx population is the fastest-growing population in the United States. Latinas account for one in five women in the United States, and by 2060 Latinas will likely make up one-third of the nation’s females. Education is the foundation for both personal and economic well-being, especially as the job market continues to demand higher levels of educational attainment. The Latinx population continues to make up a large portion of the workforce. Latinas’ attendance and admission rates at the graduate level are low. Studies have found that Latinas have obtained the lowest percentage of graduate degrees compared to …

The Life And Death Of Mambo: Culture And Consumption In New York's Salsa Dance Scene, Carmela Muzio Dormani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent decades salsa dancing has become a global phenomenon, spawning a variety of styles and levels. Although formerly passed from person to person through Latinx family and community networks, salsa dance has long been practiced in a more codified way. Today, salsa is largely reproduced in dance studio classes, congresses, and competitions collectively referred to as “the salsa scene”. In New York City, the salsa scene retains vestiges of Nuyorican and Afro-Caribbean identity, though it is practiced by people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds and marketed to a global base. Building on long term participation observation and nearly …

Screening For Iron-Deficiency Anemia In The Pediatric Population (Ages 1-17) In Gonaïves, Haiti, Cara Rose Fratianni

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot project is to screen for iron-deficiency anemia in pediatric patients (ages 1-17) in a primary school in Gonaïves, Haiti. Patients with anemia will be treated with oral supplemental iron for a period of four weeks according to WHO guidelines (WHO, 2011). All students will be treated empirically for helminths per WHO guidelines, unless treated elsewhere in the last six months (WHO, 2017). Nutritional status will also be assessed using MUAC according to WHO guidelines (2017).

Background Summary: Malnutrition contributes significantly to the problem of iron-deficiency anemia, with one in four children exhibiting stunting …

Fighting To Define Lo Mexicano: Boxing In Working Class Mexican And Mexican American Culture, Roberto Andrade

History Theses and Dissertations

More than any other sport, certain ideals infuse boxing. Depending on era, boxing and prizefight—as terms—have either been synonymous or considered as opposite as notions of civility and barbarity. That is why boxers, more than any other athletes, can define various ideals of what a country or ethnicity represent. Using Mexican boxing as a lens, this dissertation examines those ideals not just in Mexico, but also in the United States.

The boxing histories of Mexico and the United States often overlap. Professional boxing has been a predominately working-class and male sport. And in the past quarter century, boxing in the …

She Se Puede: Exploring The Career Development Of Latinas In The San Francisco Bay Area, Brittney Varela

Master's Theses

The professional identities of Latinas in the United States have undergone some major changes in recent times. As women and ethnic minorities, Latinas are a part of two underrepresented groups facing inequities in the workforce. This research focuses on the career development of ten Latinas in the San Francisco Bay area, with their stories and experiences publicized on a public podcast. She Se Puede podcast consists of ten episodes recorded at the University of San Francisco, discussing career development and major factors that limit the professional advancement of Latinas. This applied project was designed around scholarly research and in-person interviews, …

Centering Community Voices Through Children's Literature: Co-Authoring An #Ownvoices Picture Book For The Maine Migrant Education Program, Melanie Shelton

Master's Theses

Since its inception, the field of migrant education has been characterized by a tension between honoring the subjectivity of migrant families and positioning them as victims. This same tension exists in the analysis of children’s picture books that depict the daily lives of migrant farmworkers. In response to Eve Tuck’s (2009) call for a moratorium on damage-centered research in the field of education, this report describes the collaboration process between a representative of the Maine Migrant Education Program and a migrant

farmworker and her family to write, illustrate, and present an autobiographical picture book. Las aventuras, travesuras, y peligros del …

The Socio-Demographic Factors Influencing Ntca Immigrants’ Accessibility To Mexico’S Health Care System, Ken Nishikata

Master's Theses

Mexico’s geographical location has made the country play a centric role in trans-national migration from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) comprising Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. As a result, immigration has increasingly become a political issue for Mexico over the past decades^[1]. Before the eruption of the Central American crisis in the 1980s, Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala was recognized for its openness. However, such a tolerating status-quo changed as the number of NTCA immigrants entering Mexico increased upon the exacerbation of the crisis that placed thousands of individuals in exile. Indeed, the turmoil during the …