Latin American Studies Commons^™

"They Have Sold The Clouds": Queering Indigenous Politics In Colombia, Taylor O. Ramsey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In a study of Colombian politics, I use a queer theoretical lens to explore the relationship between the state and two specific indigenous groups from Northern Colombia to better understand the state and power relations embedded in it. I look for queer temporalities, spaces, and nonnormative practices that arise out of how the law interrogates and interacts with indigenous people using a queer theoretical lens as a critical methodology. I argue that the Colombian state's interactions with indigenous groups create queer spaces/conceptual borders, particularly with regard to law and the state's ability to biopolitically regulate its citizens. It is within …

Creating Value In The Voluntary Carbon Market: Opportunities For Small-Scale Coffee Producers In Latin America To Access Carbon Capital., Ruby Woodside

Sustainability and Social Justice

Agroforestry producers have not participated on a large-scale in carbon markets. This paper assesses the potential for small-scale coffee producers to access the voluntary carbon market. A review of the current market including standards, trends, and how value is created is followed by an overview of Latin American coffee production. Drawing on tools from the conceptual framework of global production networks I explore how coffee producers can benefit from the development of carbon credits. Current carbon credit projects under development with coffee producers are considered, and one case study presented. The tools and conditions necessary for full access to carbon …

Indigenous Ecuadorian Mobility Strategies In The Clandestine Migration Journey, Victoria Stone-Cadena

Publications and Research

Based on testimonials of migration journeys of indigenous Cañaris from southern highland Ecuador, this paper examines strategies of mobility and social networking employed by migrants and facilitators in the human smuggling market. Following a series of economic crises in the late 1990s, Ecuadorian transnational migration increased significantly, with a 55.5 percent increase to the United States between 2000 and 2008, and staggering 12,150 percent increase to Spain between 1998 and 2005. This article focuses on the growth of a regional migration industry in the southern high-land region, and pays special attention to the roles of indigenous Cañari migrants and migration …

Mapuche Resilience: Environmental Justice In Chile, Hannah N. Lussier

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

This paper presents a close analysis of the Mapuche Conflict and its implications from an Environmental Justice perspective. It serves to outline the plight of the Mapuche, a South American indigenous group, in their continued struggle to gain the rights to autonomic control over their ancestral territory from the Chilean government. By utilizing a holistic approach to research, this paper serves to provide a background on the conflict as well as to incorporate claims to justice. It chronicles the depth and breadth of media attention on the issue by incorporating perspectives from scholarly articles, news sources and social media platforms. …

Gas And Development: Rural Territorial Dynamics In Tarija, Bolivia, Leonith Hinojosa, Anthony Bebbington, Guido Cortez, Juan Pablo Chumacero, Denise Humphreys Bebbington, Karl Hennermann

Sustainability and Social Justice

Framed by concepts of territorial project, social coalitions, and scalar relationships, we analyze rural territorial dynamics under conditions of rapid expansion in natural gas extraction. Analyzing recent economic, political, and territorial transformations of Bolivia's gas-rich region, Tarija, we argue that pre-existing territorial projects of a diverse set of subnational and national actors have: (i) shaped the influence of the gas industry on local dynamics; (ii) changed the scale relationships between local communities, the state, and companies; and (iii) mediated the transformation of territories in ways determined by the nature and aspirations of these territorial projects.

Analyzing Reproductive Policy: Patriarchal Legitimization And Women In Latin America, Shannon C. Magni

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper examines the way in which gendered violence is carried out as a way for the formal state and the Catholic Church to negotiate power. While examples of a much larger trend, three Latin American countries are discussed in detail. The first case occurred in Nicaragua, where a 9-year-old victim of rape was denied an abortion by both the state and the Church. The second case examined is the use of rape as a torture tactic by the military junta in Argentina during the Dirty War from 1976 to 1983. The final case examined is that of the forced …

Un Zapoteco Frente Al Reto: La Globalización Y La Desmitificación Del Indigenismo En Pancho Culebro Y Los Naguales De Tierra Azul De Mario Molina Cruz, Ida Day

Modern Languages Faculty Research

El surgimiento de la nueva generaci6n de escritores indigenas es uno de los fe­ n6menos actuales mas importantes dentro del ambito cultural latinoamericano. La misi6n de estos autores es la recuperaci6n de sus tradiciones nativas como un sistema etico altemativo para nuestra civilizaci6n: un gran desafio al para­ digma moderno de la expansion econ6mica. El prop6sito de este ensayo es ex­ plorar la contribuci6n de Mario Molina Cruz, uno de los escritores contempo­raneos sobresalientes en los idiomas nativos de Mexico (Premio Nezahualc6- yotl 2006), al debate actual sobre los beneficios y las amenazas de la globaliza­ ci6n. Se examina su …

Threatening Others : Nicaraguans And The Formation Of National Identities In Costa Rica, Carlos Sandoval-Garcia

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

During the last two decades, a decline in public investment has undermined some of the national values and institutions of Costa Rica. The resulting sense of dislocation and loss is usually projected onto Nicaraguan “immigrants.”
Threatening Others: Nicaraguans and the Formation of National Identities in Costa Rica explores the representation of the Nicaraguan “other” in the Costa Rican imagery. It also seeks to address more generally why the sense of national belonging constitutes a crucial identification in contemporary societies. Interdisciplinary and based on extensive fieldwork, it looks critically at the “exceptionalism” that Costa Ricans take for granted and view as …

Adoption Of External Voting In Latin America And The Caribbean, Hafthor Brynjar Erlingsson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The number of countries worldwide that have allowed citizens abroad the opportunity to vote in elections taking place in their country-of-origin has risen sharply in the last thirty years. Many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have followed this global trend of granting voting rights to their migrant communities. However, the source of this trend in Latin America and the Caribbean has not been well addressed in the political science literature. This study seeks to minimize that gap by analyzing the determinants of external voting rights for 27 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, using data from 1980-2012. …

The Latin-American Laboratory For Assessment Of The Quality Of Education: Measuring And Comparing Educational Quality In Latin America (Superseded Version), Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The Laboratorio Latinoamericano de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación (Latin-American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education or LLECE) is the network of national systems for the assessment of education quality in Latin America, created in 1994, and coordinated by UNESCO’s Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC). LLECE’s purpose is to produce data and knowledge that inform educational policy in the region, contribute to capacity building, and serve as a forum for reflection, exchange and generation of new ideas and good practices in education evaluation. LLECE assessments aim to provide information about …

"A New Way Of Doing Politics": The Movement Against Cafta In Costa Rica, Jeremy Rayner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In October of 2007, Costa Ricans voted in a referendum to ratify a Free Trade Agreement with the United States (DR-CAFTA, or CAFTA). The first referendum in their nation's history--and the first referendum ever held on a Free Trade Agreement--marked the culmination of a cycle of contention over liberalization that transformed practices and expectations of politics in a country often considered an exemplar of representative democracy. In this dissertation I provide an account of the opposition to CAFTA (the NO), based on two years of ethnographic research with the Patriotic Committees (Comites Patrioticos), the decentralized, grassroots network at the heart …

Warmikuna Juyayay! Ecuadorian And Latin American Indigenous Women Gaining Spaces In Ethnic Politics, Maria S. Moreno Parra

Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology

This research utilizes an agency framework to examine the complexities of the participation of indigenous women in local, national, and global spaces of activism. By examining the connections between processes of globalization of indigenous and women’s rights, development agendas, local politics, and gender dynamics in indigenous organizations, this research highlights the connection of ethnicity, gender, and power in an indigenous organization of Cotacachi, Ecuador, and for Ecuadorian and Latin American indigenous leaders and professionals working in national and global arenas.

Four interconnected topics are explored: (1) the understanding of indigenous women’s participation in the history of their organization within a …

La Identidad De Los Carabineros De Chile: The Evolving Identity Of Chile's National Police Force And The 1973 Military Coup, Jeffrey O. Lamson

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of Los Carabineros de Chile, Chile's national police force, from their origins under Carlos Ibáñez in 1927 until their involvement in the 1973 military coup against President Salvador Allende. Various presidencies primarily used this corps during this period as a weapon against popular mobilization and thus influenced the development of the Carabineros' institutional identity. To explore how this identity evolved, this thesis examines primary sources, mostly in the form of newspapers found in the National Archives in Santiago, Chile, that illuminate the Carabineros' relations with the public. The knowledge of the Carabineros' institutional identity contributes …

Latin-America, Mauricio E. Novoa

Student Publications

A poem describing the Prince George's County and Montgomery County Latin American communities in Maryland.

¿Del Mar Quién Es Dueño? Artisanal Fisheries, Tourism Development, And The Struggles Over Access To Marine Resources In Playa Gigante, Nicaragua, Nikolai Alexander Alvarado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In post-revolutionary Nicaragua tourism development has been embraced as a way to inject foreign exchange into an ailing economy. Despite rapid growth of the sector, particularly along Nicaragua's southwestern Pacific coast, little attention has been given to the impacts of this development on local producers. This research focuses on the tourism development taking place in the fishing community of Playa Gigante and its impacts on artisanal fisheries. Additionally, I focus on the struggles over access to marine resources, especially with creation of La Anciana Marine Protected Area (MPA), a marine conservation corridor being pushed forth by the largest resort development …

The Presence Of Coups D'État Within Revolutions: Effects On Population Health, Rose E. Facchini

Master's Theses

The present study is a comparative approach to revolutions and their effect on population health during the post-conflict period. Specifically, it attempts to determine whether revolutions that are accompanied by a coup d'état have a significant negative impact on post-revolution population health. Degree of revolutionary violence, governmental structures, and pre-revolution health systems is of particular interest as relevant variables. The study focuses on the Latin American countries of Nicaragua and Chile due to their similar region and timeframe. The revolutions and accompanying coup d'état in both of these countries do not demonstrate different patterns on public health in the post-conflict …

Women's Mobilization In Latin America: A Case Study Of Venezuela, Brianna Russell

Master's Theses

Abstract

I examine the following elements in regards to women’s mobilization in Latin America and Venezuela from the late 1950s to the present: (a) the influence of the state and economy on times when women mobilized (b) class division within the movement (c) women’s demands during different time periods (d) the ways in which women were successful in working towards gender equality. This thesis reviews the literature on women’s mobilization in Latin America during the second half of the twentieth century. I find that women mobilized across class lines with the masses to end dictatorships. Women demobilized during transitions to …

Setting The Agenda: Asia And Latin America In The 21st Century, Ariel C. Armony

Center for Latin American Studies Publications

Latin America and Asia are among the world’s fastest growing regions. Trade between Asia and Latin American and Caribbean countries has risen dramatically in recent years. It is undeniable that Asia now plays a formidable role in the economic development of the region. This publication emerges out of the University of Miami’s 2012 “Asia and Latin America in the 21^st Century” conference, where leaders from academic, policy, business, and media communities from around the world convened to address the macroeconomic trends, trade relations, and sociopolitical trends that have emerged as the links between Asia and Latin America strengthen. Organized …

Ask What Your Country Can Do For You: Social Spending And Satisfaction With Democracy In Latin America, Kenneth Retzl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Past research on social policy in Latin America has primarily focused on how each countries' policies were formed, the institutional framework that bred the policies, or the economic constraints that necessitated certain reforms. Little work has been done to examine the effects those policies have had on the populace. This thesis attempts to determine if there is a relationship between social spending and satisfaction with democracy. The research takes two forms. First I present case studies of Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The second is an ordered logit hierarchical linear model utilizing survey responses from the 2005 Latinobarometer survey. In total …

The Third World War: American Hegemony In Latin America And The Overthrow Of Salvador Allende, Samuel Mitchell

CMC Senior Theses

Why has the United States frequently intervened in the affairs of Latin American governments? How have the motivations changed over time, and how have they stayed the same? Are American Presidents more motivated by economic or political threats to hegemony? What methods has the United States used to maintain its dominance over the Western Hemisphere, and how have they changed?

This paper seeks to address all of these questions, using a full historical examination as well as the case study of Salvador Allende's Chile. Drawing upon numerous scholars' work as well as individual research and investigation, this paper seeks to …

The Finance–Growth Link Revisited And The Role Of Institutions As A Source Of Finance In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

School of Public Policy Working Papers

In a panel framework that includes 18 countries, this paper studies the short and long run effect of financial development on economic growth and the determinants of financial development in Latin America. Financial development shows a positive effect on economic growth in the long run, but a negative effect in the short run for the full sample. When the sample is divided by income levels, this result holds only for the high income group. For the low income group, financial development has no significant effect on economic growth in the short run or in the long run. In the analysis …

The Impact Of Insecurity On Democracy And Trust In Institutions In Mexico, Luisa Blanco

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Using survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) and Encuesta Nacional Sobre la Inseguridad (ENSI) for Mexico during the period 2004-2010, this paper analyses the impact of insecurity and crime victimization on support and satisfaction with democracy and trust in institutions. With the LAPOP data, perceptions about higher insecurity decrease support and satisfaction with democracy. Perceptions of insecurity and crime victimization have a negative significant effect on trust in institutions, and this finding is robust to using LAPOP and ENSI data. Perceptions of insecurity and crime victimization have a larger negative effect on trust in institutions that …

The Emergence Of Latin America: A Break With History?, Mauricio Cardenas

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The idea is to discuss recent economic and social trends in Latin America, many of which defy the conventional wisdom in the U.S. about the region. At the same time, the region is divided between two ideological camps, so progress will not be uniform between countries. Understanding the origins and implications of the ideological divide is crucial.

He's Our Son Of A Bitch, Robert Funk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

It is said that Franklin Delano Roosevelt defended the US tendency to support dictators by remarking, “He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.” The recent events in Tunisia and Egypt indicate that almost seventy years later, this unfortunate phrase seems to continue to guide US foreign policy.

The Impact Of Fdi On Co₂ Emissions In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Fidel Gonzalez, Isabel Ruiz

School of Public Policy Working Papers

This paper uses panel Granger causality tests to study the relationship between sector specific FDI and CO₂ emissions. Using a sample of 18 Latin American countries for the 1980-2007 period, we find causality running from FDI in polluting intensive industries (“the dirty sector”) to CO₂ emissions per capita. This result is robust to controlling for other factors associated with CO₂ emissions and using the ratio of CO₂ emissions to GDP. For other sectors, we find no robust evidence that FDI causes CO₂ emissions.

Explaining The Rise Of The Left In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Latin American politics has taken a left-hand turn in the last decade, with an increasing number of chief executives hailing from left-of-center parties. We investigate the political and socio-economic factors explaining political ideology of the chief executive in a sample of 100 elections taking place between 1975 and 2007 in eighteen Latin American countries. We find that the commodity booms in agricultural, mining and oil are positively and significantly related to the probability that a country will have a chief executive from a left-of-center political party. However, for oil exports, we observe that this effect only holds for Venezuela. We …

The (Non) Effect Of Natural Resource Dependence On Capital Accumulation In Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Robin Grier

School of Public Policy Working Papers

In a simultaneous model of human and physical capital accumulation for 17 Latin American countries from 1975 to 2004, we show that overall resource dependence is not significantly related to physical and human capital. Disaggregating the natural resource variable into subcategories, we find that petroleum export dependence is associated with higher physical capital and lower human capital, while agricultural export dependence is often associated with lower levels of physical capital. All of these effects are quantitatively small, however, casting doubt on the idea that natural resource dependence has stifled the accumulation of capital in the region.

The Impact Of Spatial Interdependence On Fdi In Latin America, Luisa Blanco

School of Public Policy Working Papers

This analysis considers whether spatial interdependence is an important determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America. Two types of spatial interdependence are explored: 1) surrounding market potential and 2) spatial autocorrelation of FDI. Using a sample of 17 Latin American countries, with observations from 1986 to 2006, we find that spatial interdependence matters for world net FDI in the region. Surrounding market potential has a positive effect on FDI of significant magnitude, but there is no evidence that FDI is spatially autocorrelated. Other contributors to FDI in this analysis include governance, specifically control of corruption, and exports of …

Latin America’S Indigenous Women, Courtney Hall

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Latin America’s indigenous women are as diverse as the land they inhabit. Their uniqueness is shaped by belonging to groups that have their own distinct history, traditions, and identity. Yet despite this diversity, indigenous women confront the same human rights challenges: racial, gender, and socio-economic discrimination. Without ignoring the diversity of indigenous women, a better understanding of their fundamental struggles can be gained by weaving these issues together in a comprehensive narrative.

Effectiveness Of Joint International Organization Operations In Latin America: Case Studies Of Peru, Guatemala, And Haiti, Seung-Ok Ryu

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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