Latin American Studies Commons^™

Paisajes Del Exilio En La Poesía De Juan Balboa Boneke: Compromiso Social Con La Patria Guineoecuatoriana, Dosinda Garcìa-Alvite

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Toward A Biocommunicable Cartography Of Health Decision-Making In The Amazon Basin Of Ecuador, James Cartwright

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This paper comprises a critical, ethnographic study of health communication in a rural community of Amazonian Ecuador. By synthesizing approaches from anthropology, discourse studies, and public health, the study explores how conversations influence health decisions, how communities understand health systems, and how macrostructural discourse changes the political economy of healthcare in Ecuador. My work draws on the recent theoretical development of ‘biocommunicability’ in anthropology as well as earlier sociological research on knowledge construction. Most importantly, this paper offers a critique of current interventions by NGOs in the region.

Dominican Gaga Music And Dance: The Remaking Of A Spiritual Performance In The City Of New York, Marimer Berberena

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study analyzed the Haitian-Dominican spiritual and cultural expression of Gaga in New York City through the group Gaga Pa'l Pueblo (GPP). Text analysis, participant observation, and qualitative analysis of interviews with twelve participants in this activity were used to conduct this study. I demonstrate the existence of a transnational intergenerational and interethnic sociocultural interaction that is simultaneously public and private, ritualistic and entertaining, secular and spiritual. I argue that it is not a matter of putting Gaga in a spiritual-secular dichotomy, but rather about understanding that even if GPP is not a true reflection of what Gaga is in …

Manuel De La Cruz Gonzalez: Transnationalism And The Development Of Modern Art In Costa Rica, Lauran Bonilla-Merchav

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While scholars are increasingly scrutinizing twentieth-century Latin American art and inserting it into the canon of modern art history, studies of the region usually leap from Mexico to South America, skipping Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. This is not due to a lack of dedicated artistic effort in the isthmus, but rather to poor cultural infrastructure, which made being a modern artist in the region particularly challenging, and the underdeveloped state of local art histories, which have yet to traverse national borders. This oversight of Central American art makes it difficult to grasp the full …

From The Bx To A Ba: Latino Male Students And The Transition From High School To College, Alejandro Eduardo Carrion

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aims to provide a counter narrative to the deficit filled discourse surrounding Latino males by informing teachers, policymakers and researchers of the barriers and resources encountered by this population as they make the transition from high school to college. A qualitative research design was utilized for this study, which focused on 10 Latino males who mainly identified as Puerto Rican and Dominican, from the Bronx. Bourdieu's Theory of Practice, and his theoretical tools of field (structures), habitus (dispositions) and capital (social, cultural and economic), was used as the theoretical framework guiding this study. Participants shared the nuances of …

Huu-Fa Thesis Dat?: A Syntactic Analysis Of Possessive Jamaican Creole Possessive Wh-Elements, Toni Ashlie Foster

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis discusses the differences between the Jamaican Creole expressions huu-fa and fi-huu. Jamaican Creole is a language that was born from a combination of the lexifier language English and the substrate language Twi, therefore it is reasonable to check whether the features of JC were derived from these languages. The distribution of huu-fa and fi-huu resembles the distribution of English whose. Fi-huu and huu-fa are WH-elements that show possession, similar to the English word whose. They are made of a WH-pronoun and a form of the preposition fi "for". Both terms differ in internal structure, and distribution. The difference …

Paris And Havana: A Century Of Mutual Influence, Laila Pedro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation employs an interdisciplinary approach to trace the history of exchange and influence between Cuban, French, and Francophone Caribbean artists in the twentieth century. I argue, first, that there is a unique and largely unexplored tradition of dialogue, collaboration, and mutual admiration between Cuban, French and Francophone artists; second, that a recurring and essential theme in these artworks is the representation of the human body; and third, that this relationship ought not to be understood within the confines of a single genre, but must be read as a series of dialogues that are both ekphrastic (that is, they rely …

Nation-State Crises In The Absence And Presence Of Segment States: The Case Of Nicaragua, Caroline A. Hartzell

Political Science Faculty Publications

This study provides a critical examination of the relationship between segment states and nationalist crises through a consideration of Nicaragua's recent history. Nicaragua experienced a nationalist crisis from 1981 to the mid-1980s. That crisis ended with the creation of two autonomous regions on the Atlantic Coast. Although relations between the common state and the new segment state proved difficult over the next few years, the new arrangement held for two decades. Roughly around 2007, however, a new nation-state crisis emerged in Nicaragua. Taking advantage of the fact that Nicaragua provides an opportunity to compare two nation-state crises across time, this …

Pa'lante! Toward The Presidency: Understanding Factors That Facilitate Latino Leadership In Higher Education, Gloria Lopez

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to explore the role of cultural values in the lived experiences of Latino college and university presidents at four-year higher education institutions and to determine how cultural values contributed to and reflected their professional strengths. Using the Community Cultural Wealth framework developed by Tara Yosso (2005) to capture the assets or forms of capital that people of color bring with them to all settings, this study utilized a strengths-based approach to examine the ways in which Latino higher education executives translated their cultural upbringing and values into skills and approaches that facilitated their ascension …

Fair Trade In Transition: Evolution, Popular Discourse, And The Case Of The Cado Cooperative In Cotopaxi, Ecuador, Robyn Michelle Odegard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literature on the changing nature of fair trade suggests it is indeed evolving and changed from the grassroots movement it once was. One of the strongest arguments that comes out in this body of literature is that the message, values, and way fair trade can encourage positive socio-economic and community development is changing. What the scholarship does not address, though, is how this evolution is changing the way that fair trade is perceived? The answer to this question about the changing perceptions of fair trade can be extended to those who produce fair trade products, those who consume them, …

Conflicto Político Y Lenguaje Literario En Tres Casos Representativos: Guatemala, El Salvador Y Honduras. Influencia Y Consecuencias De Las Políticas Estadounidenses En Centroamérica, Reina María Borjas Alvarado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Debido a la posición geográfica de Latinoamérica en comparación con Europa, Estados Unidos quiso concentrarse en el desarrollo económico de la región y creó nuevas políticas que ayudarían al crecimiento económico en Latinoamérica. Sin embargo, estas políticas tenían un segundo interés, el cual era prevenir la proliferación del socialismo en Centroamérica, ya que después de la Revolución Cubana, Estados Unidos sintió que era necesario evitar que los países vecinos llegaran a ser una amenaza para sus intereses en la región. No obstante, la intervención del gobierno estadounidense en Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras se diluyó y los gobiernos nacionales se …

The Long Struggle For Justice In Guatemala, Lauren Carasik

Media Presence

No abstract provided.

The Right To Food Under Hugo Chávez, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

This article investigates the right to food in Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013). It argues that although Chávez respected the right of (especially poor) Venezuelans to food, he failed to protect that right at the same time as he tried to fulfill it. In the short term, he fulfilled the right to food by establishing state-run stores where food could be purchased at a substantial discount, and by imposing price controls on food. At the same time, however, he reduced the supply of food by undermining property rights, expropriating large-scale farms and ranches as well as some wholesale and …

Picturing Argentina: Myths, Movies, And The Peronist Vision, Currie K. Thompson

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

No individual has had greater impact on Argentine history than Juan Domingo Perón. The years 1943–1945, when he was an influential member in his nation’s governing junta, and 1946–1955, when he was its president, were tumultuous ones that transformed Argentina. Perón was a highly controversial figure, and his memory continues to provoke intense and often acrimonious debate. Moreover, the nature of his legacy resists neat classification. Many of his achievements were positive. He oversaw the passage of progressive social legislation, including women’s suffrage and prison reform, and he implemented programs that aided the nation’s poor and working classes. On the …

In Search Of Ubuntu: An Examination Of Enslaved African Domestic And Labor Environments On St. Eustatius, Deanna Lynn Byrd

Theses and Dissertations

The discovery of dry stone rock features in the northern hills on the Dutch island of St. Eustatius presented a unique opportunity to investigate an enslaved African environment during the time of enslavement. Abandoned after emancipation, the area has remained virtually undisturbed by eco-tourism, making it an archaeological gem. The intact nature of the sites held potential to add significantly to our understanding of choices enslaved Africans made in slave village design, orientation, and the construction of their dwellings, as well as the labor activities of daily life. In doing so, this investigation attempted to detect whether higher levels of …

Addressing Modern Slavery In Haiti And The Dominican Republic: The Evolving Role Of Nongovernmental Organizations, Meghan Schneider

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project examines the forms of modern day slavery that are most prevalent in Haiti and the Dominican Republic: domestic servitude and forced prostitution for the purpose of sex tourism, respectively. This paper seeks to answer the following questions:

What is the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in combatting trafficking in persons (TIP) and modern day slavery in Hispaniola? How should NGOs work with national governments, especially in states with a weak rule of law? How have the presence and scope of NGOs evolved and/or expanded over time to address modern forms of slavery?

In this paper I argue that …

The Development Of The Maquila Industry In Honduras: A Holistic Approach To The Industry’S Effect On Women And Honduran Society, Andrea Mencia Viery

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The maquila industry in Latin America has received much attention due to its predominant presence in Mexico and several Central American countries. Numerous studies explore the nuances of the maquila industry in Mexico, yet few studies focus on other nations. This project concentrates on Honduras, the country where I was raised for eighteen years. Many Communities affected by this industry believe maquila owners prefer to employ young women over male applicants. This is also true for Honduras. Many scholars believe the owners’ motives lie behind the so-called docility characteristic of these young females. Critics of the industry argue that maquilas …

The Political History Of Sugarcane-Based Ethanol In Brazil, Joshua Gagner

Political Science Theses and Capstones

With the Middle East putting an embargo on oil in 1973, oil prices ascended to levels that made importation of oil expensive. Brazil also faced another issue with sugar prices going down in 1973, putting much of their sugar supply on reserve. Brazil’s military government then made a decision to adopt the sugarcane-based ethanol program, Pro-Alcool. Pro-Alcool’s goal was to produce an alternative energy source to gasoline and take pressure off of oil importation. While initially intended to be a short-term fix, a second oil strike in 1979 pushed Pro-Alcool to higher levels. Oil industries were initially opposed to ethanol …

“Adelante, Con Todas Las Fuerzas De La Historia": An Exploration Of The Chilean Student Movement For Education Reform Within Its National And International Contexts, Maisha Fabliha Shahid

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In the past several decades, Chile has been regarded an “economic miracle” and praised for its transition from a brutal dictatorship that lasted nearly two decades to the current democracy. While the state has made much progress, it remains highly unequal in terms of opportunities and services available to the middle and lower classes. This structural inequality is most visible within education. Dictatorship-era policies and long-standing economic and political structures have commoditized education and established an educational system that essentially excludes large sections of the population from receiving quality education.

It is thus not surprising that a potent, influential student …

Craniometric Ancestry Proportions Among Groups Considered Hispanic: Genetic Biological Variation, Sex-Biased Asymmetry, And Forensic Applications, Meredith L. Tise

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Today, groups considered Hispanic in the United States consist of populations whose complex genetic structures reflect intermixed diverse groups of people who came in contact during Spanish colonization in Latin America. After coming in contact and wiping out most of the Native Americans who occupied North and Latin America, the Spanish also introduced West African individuals for labor to begin developing crops to be shipped back to Europe, resulting in the Trans-Atlantic African slave trade. These migration events and differential gene flow among males and females that occurred throughout Latin America have led to populations that have been genetically transformed …

“Kallawaya Siempre Soy” La Descolonización De Ajayu En La Cosmovisión Kallawaya, Rizky Rahadianto

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Based on the lessons learned in this program about multiculturalism, globalization and social change in Bolivia, this project connects these themes through a character study of a kallawaya man named Ramón Quispe Lizárraga and examines the analogy between traditional ritual and social activism; between restoration of ajayu and decolonization. A village of kallawaya healers in the province of Bautista Saavedra has a long tradition of maintaining ancestral values and at the same time confronting modernism. I used the participant observation method to be able to immerse myself in this community and understand the Andean cosmovision internalized in people’s actions and …

“We’Ve Lost Sight Of The Blue And White, And We Need To Find It Again.” Youth, Divergence Of Memory, And Political Polarization In Post- Conflict Nicaragua, Cameron Kesinger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this essay, I analyze the results from 20 interviews I completed in Managua, Matagalpa, and San Ramon, selecting 8 to delve into in depth. I conducted the interviews in pairs, asking parents about their memories of the Nicaraguan Contra war in the 1980s and then asking their children about the histories their parents shared with them and their personal views of Nicaragua. Through these interviews, I sought to understand in a Nicaraguan context the presence of historical memory, the politicization of historical memory, the diversity of youth activism, and the way that youth view reconciliation within their countries. My …

La Reinserción Familiar Como Cumplimiento De Los Derechos Humanos Del Niño: Un Estudio En El Hogar De Niños Antonio Valdivieso En Cuenca, Ecuador, Rachel Keyser

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este informe explora la idea de la reinserción familiar desde un marco internacional y nacional de los derechos humanos del niño. Ecuador tiene un sistema formal para la protección del niño, el Sistema Nacional Descentralizado de Protección Integral de la Niñez y Adolescencia, que se ha fortalecido en la última década, por la elaboración de los marcos internacionales y nacionales de los derechos humanos. Esta refuerza el papel fundamental de los derechos humanos del niño y las familias, así como la obligación de los gobiernos para apoyar el cumplimiento de estos derechos. En la reinserción familiar interviene el gobierno para …

Troubles In Paradise: The United States’ Biggest Challenge In The Carribean, Juan Clar

Ex-Patt Magazine

As many Caribbean economies grow, and the threat of Cuban communism fades, the challenge in the Caribbean for the US comes from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

La Voz Spring 2014, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Alturas Duo
• Dominican Citizenship
• Magdalena Gomez
• Roberto Tejada

La Voz Spring 2014, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Elizabeth Mahan Fund for Graduate Studies
• Patrick "Pato" Hebert Art Installation
• Eyzaguirre Lecture: Diana Taylor
• Generation Sex: Teatro Luna

The Patriarchy’S Role In Gender Inequality In The Caribbean, Erin C. O'Connor

Student Publications

While gender equality in the Caribbean is improving, with women’s growing social, economic, and political participation, literacy rates comparable to those in Europe, and greater female participation in higher education, deeply rooted inequalities are still present and are demonstrated in the types of jobs women are in and the limited number of women in decision-making positions. Sexism, racism, and classism are systemic inequalities being perpetuated in schools, through the types of education offered for individuals and the content in textbooks. Ironically, the patriarchy is coexisting within a system of matrifocal and matrilocal families, with a long tradition of female economic …

Vodou Value In Haitian Life, Brandi E. Lauer

Student Publications

Ever since the night of August 14, 1791 at Bwa Kayman, where Boukman Dutty declared war on the French during a Vodou ritual, Vodou has shown its dominance in the Haitian culture (Dominique 103). Along with being a religion practiced across the class boundaries of over six million Haitians, Vodou is a philosophy as well; a way of life for the majority of Haiti. Vodou “brings coherence where there might otherwise be chaos” (Michel 282-283). Used as a common ground for the intermixed Africans in the New World, Vodou has played a key role in the daily life of the …

Human Trafficking From Southern Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, And Guatemala: Why These Victims Are Trafficked Into Modern Day Florida, Timothy Adam Golob

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida is ranked as one of the United States' top three destination states for human trafficking; many of those victims originate from Mesoamerica--Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Human trafficking is a growing problem which hinders universal human rights for hundreds of new victims in Florida every year. Mesoamericans have a high risk of becoming victims due to the situations in their home countries. The issue of human trafficking has only recently gained the national and state attention of law makers and law enforcement officers.

This study uses several human trafficking cases to educate and exemplify why Mesoamerican victims …

El Salvador Gripped By Tension After Close Election, Lauren Carasik

Media Presence

No abstract provided.