Latin American Studies Commons^™

Textiled Narratives: Branding, Consumption, And Mexican American Identity At The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Andrew Michael Gordus

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

The NaCo apparel company out of Tijuana, Mexico, created a unique line of clothing and accessories in the late 1990s and early 2000s. With its success in Mexico, the brand chose to extend its reach into the lucrative US market. The company's focus on bicultural and binational images seemed a natural fit for a growing Latinx presence in the US. An analysis of the company's successes and failures in the new market highlights the continued importance of borders as separators of visual economies rooted in national histories and imaginations. Additionally, their experience reveals the complexities within Latinx communities that can …

Puerto Ricans And Asthma: Looking Through The Lens Of Historical Trauma, Lisa Colón

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized an explorative phenomenological qualitative design to begin understanding the many ways Puerto Ricans experience asthma. Further is sought to understand the asthma experience broadly and within the context of the hurricanes that devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 including the governments’ responses to that devastation. Another core goal of this study was the conceptual and empirical application of the theoretical framework of historical trauma to Puerto Ricans. I conducted 12 semi structured interviews with collaborators who expressed a range of asthma experiences. My collaborators represented a mixture of those who lived through the hurricanes in Puerto Rico and …

“I, Too, Am An Occupied Territory”: Border Crossings And Personal Sovereignty In Three Novels By Dominican American Women, Leia M. Lynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Border crossing(s) and personal sovereignty are intimately and complexly connected in novels by and about Dominican American women. Through readings of In the Name of Salomé by Julia Alvarez, Dominicana by Angie Cruz, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, I argue that patriarchal forms of authority remove female autonomy by trespassing on personal boundaries, and that the renegotiation of that power is achieved through formations of community, especially with other women, through nonheteronormative relationships that are present inside and extend outside the text. The interplay of patriarchal authority, violence, and alienation on the four protagonists is examined at length, …

Prisión Y Género: La Prisión Como Instrumento De Dominación Patriarcal. Un Análisis De San Lunes: Panóptico En Dos Estaciones, Alberto Fernandez Del Valle

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

En este trabajo realicé una lectura crítica de la novela San Lunes: Panóptico en dos estaciones, de Agnieska Hernández. La lectura crítica consistió en un contraste de la prisión descrita en la novela con la teoría acerca del surgimiento y propósito de la prisión, presentada por Foucault en Vigilar y castigar. En el trabajo argumento que la novela revela una dimensión ignorada por Foucault: los mecanismos de disciplina y producción de docilidad basados en el género; el género es otra dimensión de disputa política que se manifiesta con claridad en la cárcel de mujeres. Al final, señalo que la novela …

Colonial Markets, Consumers, And Trade: A Comparative Analysis Of Historic Ceramics From The Bluefields Bay Area, Westmoreland, Jamaica, Lacy Risner

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The ceramic assemblages from a British colonial settlement in Bluefields Bay, Jamaica, provide a unique window into the market availability, exchange routes, and consumption patterns of the eighteenth century. This study compares the historic ceramics collected from two sites in Bluefields Bay to one another and to other intra-island (Jamaica), intraregional (Lesser Antilles), and international (North America) colonial and postcolonial sites to reveal patterns of individual and global ceramic consumption and distribution in the emergent capitalist networks and markets of the colonial era. Integrating small British colonial sites into the networks of other more extensive studies focusing primarily on plantations …

Re-Imagining Design For Affordable Housing In Mexico, Kenza Fernandez Dominguez

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, affordable housing developments in Mexico have been produced in a massive, unsustainable scale. The speed at which these developments are produced equates to the carelessness that goes into their planning. At large, the developments’ monotonous design is aesthetically dehumanizing and fails to promote a sense of community. These developments lack basic infrastructure, and their residents have abandoned them, which has incentivized increased criminal activity.

In this paper, I will be looking at successful models of affordable housing globally, exploring the histories of communal living, and function of architectural collages. Based on my findings, …

Re-Imagining Design For Affordable Housing In Mexico, Kenza Fernandez Dominguez

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, affordable housing developments in Mexico have been produced in a massive, unsustainable scale. The speed at which these developments are produced equates to the carelessness that goes into their planning. At large, the developments’ monotonous design is aesthetically dehumanizing and fails to promote a sense of community. These developments lack basic infrastructure, and their residents have abandoned them, which has incentivized increased criminal activity.

In this paper, I will be looking at successful models of affordable housing globally, exploring the histories of communal living, and function of architectural collages. Based on my findings …

La Voz Winter 2022, El Instituto: Institute Of Latina/O, Caribbean, And Latin American Studies

La Voz

In this issue:

• Visiting Scholar Sophie Maríñez
• UConn Gives 2022 to Feature Graduate Support Fund
• Latinos Working for Inclusive Engineering
• Alumna at UNESCO Luanda Biennale
• El Instituto Partners with DCF
• Collective Action for Social and Migrant Justice
• Recent Faculty Book: Writing the Caribbean in Magazine Time
• PRLACC 50th Anniversary

Latina Faculty In Academia : Support Factors And Socio-Environmental Challenges In Their Path To Achieving Promotion And Tenure, Karen Raquel Ferrer Muniz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

Economic Policy And Equality : Neoliberalism And Gender Equity In Latin America Since The 1970s, Donnett Annmarie Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Neoliberalism has been a persistent concern for policymakers, scholars, and the general public in Latin America due to its negative effects on women. This paper examines the relationship between neoliberal economic policies and gender equality from the 1970s to 2003 in the region. I use a mixed-methods approach to test the two major competing theories from the literature that discuss women’s status under neoliberal reform. I find that neoliberal economic policies did not improve the status of women but reduced gender disparity. Neoliberalism led to the worsening of men’s status, which caused the status of women to seem better. Overall, …

A Moderated Mediation Model : The Interplay Between Discrimination, Marianismo, Alcohol Use, And Culturative Stress Among Latina College Students, Yajaira A. Cabrera Tineo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although alcohol use is on the rise among young Latina college students, little is known about drinking behaviors among this population. The present study sought to expand the current literature by examining (a) the mediating role of alcohol use in the relationship between perceived discrimination and acculturative stress, in addition to (b) competing models of conditional moderated mediation between perceived discrimination, alcohol use, marianismo beliefs, and acculturative stress, while accounting for nativity. Path analyses were conducted with data from 1243 Latina students between the ages of 18 and 25 from college campuses across the U.S. Mediation analyses indicated that alcohol …

The Evolving Identities Of Hsi And Differentiated Funding, Amanda K. Burbage, Chris Glass

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

To achieve Higher Education Act Title V funding goals, policymakers must reconsider approaches, respond to Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) diversity, and prioritize servingness. This study investigated HSI heterogeneity across traditional performance metrics and student-engagement indicators using data sources previously only examined independently. A multi-step TwoStep cluster analysis revealed six clusters of HSIs. The two most important predictors of cluster membership were years with an HSI designation (transitioning and established) and institution type (associate, bachelor, and special focus). Key quantitative metrics may be useful for policy actors seeking an equity-minded Title V award strategy that considers HSI heterogeneity and prioritizes HEA Title …

Gender And Remittances: Lived Experiences Of Women In Oaxaca, Mexico, Araby Smyth

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation project analyzes the ways that migration and remittances, the money that migrants send to people in their place of origin, intersect with the political and social dynamics in an Indigenous community in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Drawing on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork, which included semi-structured interviews and participant observation alongside historical archival investigation, this dissertation examines the following questions: What international organizations, national government, and private sector policies govern remittances? How does Indigenous collective work and communal governance shape remittance management? How do the responsibilities of family members shift with migration and how …

The São Paulo Forum’S Armed Forces Agenda: Examining Venezuela And Brazil, David J. Guenni Bravo

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The São Paulo Forum (SPF) is a resilient ideological alliance that provides extremist public policy recommendations to formal political parties, social movements, and insurgent groups throughout the Western Hemisphere. Based on substantial evidence, this research project asserts that the SPF has successfully influenced the national security and defense policies of states in the Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) region. Analysis of two significant cases in South America shows that, after being elected to high office, SPF affiliates and their political parties/platforms sought transformation of their countries’ national security and defense sectors to conform to SPF positions. Given its extensive influence …

Reinventing Opportunities For Argentina: Vista Oil And Gas, Emiliano Cabrera

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

In the last century, Argentina faced an astonishing economic downturn that remains until today, frustrating all who learn its economic history, explore the country's potential, and stay in tune with its political-economic present. This research examines Argentina's economic history, revises the main drivers that signed its economic drama, and proposes guidelines to address new opportunities by encouraging its private sector. By using Vista Oil and Gas as an exemplary case, this work proposes Vista's business model as an initiative perfectly compatible with the primary macroeconomic needs that Argentina currently has that should be highly considered for developing its private sector. …

The Association Between Maternal Attachment Quality And Symptoms Of Anxiety In Mexican American Adolescents, Kathryn Joy Steininger

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Hispanic youth have been recognized as a large population struggling with mental illness. There has been little investigation surrounding the relationship between Hispanic adolescents and anxious tendencies, despite being the second highest population experiencing symptoms. The current study aims to explain the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety in Mexican American adolescents by examining maternal attachment quality. Data from a sample of 432 Mexican American adolescents from the ages of 13 to 21 was analyzed to determine the relationship between maternal attachment quality and symptoms of anxiety. Adolescents demonstrated greater symptoms of anxiety when they had lower maternal attachment quality. After …

The Impact Of Social Movements On Austerity Measures: An Analysis Of Argentina’S Piquetero Movement And Greece’S Anti-Austerity Movement, Katrina D. Frei-Herrmann

CMC Senior Theses

Social movements have sprung up in countries after their respective economies experience an economic crisis and the International Monetary Fund places restrictions on a country’s fiscal policy. Argentina’s piquetero movement and Greece’s anti-austerity movement have both mobilized after economic crises to protest the neoliberal shifts to their economics, yet their success at shifting those policies have not been studied sufficiently. The dominant explanation for social movement success involves analyzing political opportunities or seeing the social movement as an actor with limited resources. These existent methods fail to answer how nuances about internal decisions or forms of protest could influence the …

The Past And Future Of Migration, Poverty, And Small-Scale Agriculture In Mexico, Kimberly Zamora Delgado

CMC Senior Theses

The conflated pattern between poverty, rurality, and indigeneity in Mexico signifies drastic inequality between populations. Poor, rural communities often do not receive as much public services, infrastructure improvements, and employment opportunities as urban areas, which causes out-migration into the cities. Some of the few jobs available in rural areas are in the agriculture sector, either through small-scale subsistence farming or seasonal employment on a large-scale farm. Historically, certain wealthy states such as Sinaloa, Michoacán, and Sonora received greater support to up-scale into modernized agriculture, which made them into the largest agro-exporters. On the other hand, poor states with greater indigenous …

The Traveling Memories Project: A Digital Collection Of Lived Experiences Of Teachers Who Served In The 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign, Kimberly Waller

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The 1961 Campaña de la Alfabetización (CLC) [Cuban Literacy Campaign] looms large in the Cuban historical imagination as a moment of transformation, sacrifice, and triumph. Yet, until recently, the unique aspects of the CLC that made it a national success were in danger of being forgotten, thus losing its potential as a model for future ways to mobilize a nation toward an important social goal. The primary objectives of this project were to: (1) expand the scope of the discourse to include a much larger range of lived experiences; (2) collect and preserve lived experiences as shared by the teachers …

Creating A Sense Of Belonging For Latinx Students In Community College: You Matter, You Fit In, And You Belong, Francisco Javier Bataz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the perceptions of Latinx sense of belonging in a Midwest community college and how their academic and social experiences are impacted. Sense of belonging is meaningful to community college students because Latinx students are historically underserved in postsecondary education. The goal is to better understand the perceptions of Latinx students in a community college setting and to find out what factors impact sense of belonging. This study is significant because Latinx student retention outcomes in higher education are very low. The Latinx population is the fastest growing group in the United States. Therefore, providing support and an …