The thesis develops a Central Americanised model of regional integration by building on neofunctionalist concepts through the use of a constructivist approach. Distortions, strategic modification and stagnation phases of integration in that region are conventionally attributed, often implicitly, to the “unwillingness” of the governments. The problem with this approach, however, is that it neglects the role of what I identify as Normative Elites in the process. In order to overcome this limitation, the thesis formulates the concept of Social Will, conceptualised as the interplay of the ideas, identity and interest of the Central American normative elites—and it refers to the predisposition or disinclination of these elites to support the integration process. The formulation of social will leads the analysis to re-conceptualise the interaction between the state and normative elites. This reconsideration necessitates the elaboration of modified models of socialisation and norm diffusion—which I label Ideational Drive and Circumscribed-Statist respectively—to reflect certain Central American specificities. Empirically, the thesis assesses the existence and role of both political will and social will in Central America by using discourse analysis of a series of interviews and detailed readings of published position documents. Regarding political will, it identifies a latent integrative strategy and a significant ideational convergence among the participants in the study. It concludes that indeed in that region there is a fair degree of political will. This conclusion is partially supported by the uncovering of Constitutional Regionalism, or the constitutional bestowals of special citizenship status on nationals of other Central American countries, and the inclusion of specific constitutional provisions conducive to integration. The thesis contemplates the existence of social will at two points: the reactivation of the Central American integration process during the 1990s, and in the 2005-08 period. In the first instance, the thesis identifies the leading role that normative elites, through economic groups, played in the reactivation of the process. In that sense, it argues that at that time there existed a degree of social will. In the second instance, the thesis identifies discursive differences among normative elites. One discourse conceives of the region from a Central Americanist view striving for the development of the region and crucially, its people. The other discourse is Instrumentalist aiming at improving the region’s competitive positioning in the global economy. This ideational incongruence signals a limited degree of social will. The thesis concludes by arguing that partial social will delimits and imposes meaning on the spaces wherein the political will could thrive. Hence the process experiences distortions, strategic modifications and stagnant phases.

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This research project investigates the sources of legitimacy in hegemonic Cuban discourse, understood to have supported the stability of the Cuban system during crises and challenging times, such as the end of the Cold War and the 1990s Special Period. Evidence was drawn from the Cuban press, namely Granma, Bohemia and Verde Olivo, in two critical periods: the 1980 Mariel episode and the 1994 Maleconazo disturbances as two examples before and after 1989 in order to compare the sources of legitimacy and identify continuities and shifts. The two periods represent recent examples of instability, which dominated the attention of the whole nation. The evidence is based on textual examination using discourse analysis as the method of investigation. The research is written in the discipline of political history, with elements taken from cultural studies and political communication. The project is based on the assumption that the sources of legitimacy represented a significant, but not exclusive factor which may have encouraged the population's loyalty by reflecting their attitudes and concerns and channelling them in a particular direction. The discourse also interpreted reality to support the legitimacy of the system. This might have contributed significantly to the stability of the whole system, and its ability to survive the post-1989 transitions experienced in other communist countries. The research examines the content and internal mechanics of the discourse, its assumptions and endogenous references, taking into account the specific context of the single-party communist state in control of the country's media and mass organisations. By suppressing alternative discourses, the system increased the impact of the hegemonic discourse, especially if compared to pluralist political systems. The discourse might have contributed to the continuing loyalty of the population by explicitly and implicitly stressing endogenous sources of legitimacy intelligible to the Cuban audience, reflecting its particular historical experience and political culture. The research investigates the sources of legitimacy traceable in the discourse, to demonstrate what made it tick internally and why some Cubans might have decided to remain loyal to a system that they perceived as legitimate and defending their interests, attitudes, concerns and identities. Collaterally, the research addresses the topic of migration, which was a main issue during both crises, and the way the perceptions of migration shifted over time in order to protect the legitimacy of the system confronting large outflows of discontented people. The research demonstrates how the system interpreted events in its favour, and how it prioritised different sources of legitimacy, such as independence, patriotism, socialism, material prosperity, social provision, culturalism and the US embargo in order to encourage loyalty. The research takes into account the regional Hispano-Caribbean context, reflecting the identities of the Cuban population in their perceived difference from Anglo-Saxon America and its socio-political model. The research looks in more detail at the key sources of legitimacy during the challenging 1990s when the system was near a possible collapse. The research enhances our understanding of how the sources of legitimacy shifted over time to reflect new realities and to support the system. The research sheds further light on the system and the structure of the system's endogenous ideology in a post-structuralist sense, stressing the role of language and the complex and extended definition of ideology. For this reason it takes into account Cuban semantics, linguistics and endogenous meaning of words and concepts. The existing academic literature focuses on explaining the stability of the system before and after 1989 by analysing Cuban history, institutions, culture, international relations and other aspects, but there is insufficient focus on legitimacy, politics and media addressed to the population as a possible factor in the system's stability. It does not investigate sources of legitimacy in relation to the content and internal mechanics of the discourse constructed to appeal to Cubans. This research answers these questions and thus enhances our understanding of the system. The research provides one possible answer to the question of how the system might have maintained stability, what sources of legitimacy it argued for, how it argued for them and how it interpreted current issues to encourage loyalty. It demonstrates how the system interpreted migration to cancel its potentially destabilising impact, and how it shifted the interpretations of the sources of legitimacy over time, especially in relation to the different global context before and after 1989.

This thesis proposes a new paradigm for understanding the historical roots of the myth of racial democracy in Brazil. In order to better comprehend the co-existence of race discrimination and racial democracy in Brazil it is argued that the myth itself needs to be subjected to an analysis which foregrounds the historically unequal relations of both race and gender. This study demonstrates how the enigma that is Brazilian race relations is the result of two major oversights in the scholarly work to date. First, the lack of critical attention to the historical processes and practices which gave rise to the so-called unique version of race relations in Brazil: manumission and miscegenation. Second, the sidelining of the role of gender and sex, as well as the specific and central place of black women’s labour, in theoretical formulations about Brazilian race relations. The overarching intellectual aim of this thesis is to invert the way notions of familiarity and intimacy have been represented in the history of miscegenation and manumission in Brazilian slave society. The role of intimacy in the social history of race relations is instead shown to be firmly located within a hierarchy of race and gender inequalities predicated on the inferiority of blacks and women. In turn, this thesis explores how these race and gender inequalities intersected to inform and shape enslaved women’s versions of resistance and visions of freedom. In doing so this study unpicks some of the notions of advantage and privilege traditionally associated with women in general and light skin colour in particular in the processes of manumission and miscegenation; notions that are foundational to the myth of racial democracy. Through an examination and analysis of primary sources pertaining to the lives of enslaved and freedwomen and their descendants in nineteenth-century Bahia, this study brings together different areas of their lived experiences of enslavement, manumission, miscegenation and freedom as these women came into contact with the authorities at pivotal moments in their lives. Collectively, these sources and the analysis thereof expose the limitations of advantage or privilege that have been associated with being female, parda or mulatta in the historiography of Brazilian slave society in general and the literature on manumission in particular. By foregrounding and highlighting the ways in which overlapping inequalities of race, gender and status determined experiences of enslavement and expectations of freedom during slavery, this study produces a new approach to interpreting race and gender history in Brazil, and a more comprehensive understanding of Brazilian slave labour relations.

The Colombian conflict is one of the world’s longest running civil wars. The country is home to the highest number of internally displaced people in the world, estimated to be up to 5.5 million in 2012. Spanning almost seven decades, the undeclared war has cost the lives of millions. However, despite these alarming figures, Colombia remains one of the least studied of the major Latin American countries. The conceptualisation of the Colombian conflict has been overwhelmingly shaped by two theories of civil conflict, “New Wars” and “Greed vs. Grievance”. Whilst these studies have provided an insight into some of the dynamics of Colombian conflict, such as the drugs trade, the historical continuities of violence and internal drivers of insecurity have been largely ignored. This study re-interprets the long-standing Colombian conflict with an emphasis on a history ‘from below’. It addresses this lacuna in the current literature and offers an alternative historical analysis of the conflict by exploring government policies and local dynamics. This research contributes the existing literature by providing local nuances to the two parallel theories of civil war that have dominated the discourse of violence in Colombia. The “new” characteristics of modern civil war are not new to Colombia. For almost seven decades, Colombia has seen high levels of violence against a civilian population, paramilitary and criminal activity. The idea that “greed” fuels violent conflict fails to explain why thousands have joined various guerrilla movements and endure harsh living conditions in which they risk their lives for a political cause. Importantly, this theory neglects the internal socio-economic problems in countries with persistent levels of violence. Using an area studies approach and drawing upon recently declassified material from the US and UK governments, press clippings and fieldwork in Colombia, this study highlights the historical continuities of violence in Colombia, which are characterised by economic and security grievances. It examines the conflict from the ‘forgotten civil war’, known as la Violencia, and goes on to illustrate how persistent failures by the Colombian government to solve the rural and agrarian problem and the political exclusion of those claiming to represent the rural population have constituted the fundamental motor of violence over several decades.

One of the defining debates of sociology is the nature of the relationship between the individual and society. One sociologist, Seymour Martin Lipset, investigated this relationship through his analysis of Canadian and American value differences. Lipset (1964) argues that Canadian and American values are different and have remained parallel to each other over time. The following dissertation tests Lipset's thesis of cross-national value differences through seven hypotheses derived from Canadian and American media portrayals of Native issues. Testing these hypotheses is accomplished through quantitative and qualitative measures to determine if Canadian and American media content support or refute Lipset's thesis. Documenting each country's values was achieved by a content analysis of articles from a leading newsmagazine from each country, Maclean's and Newsweek, and comparing their presentations of Native issues. This research found that the majority of Lipset's pattern-variables did not accurately predict cross-national media portrayals of Native issues. However, Lipset's approach to studying national values is applicable far beyond those defined by the 49th. parallel. His typology could be applied to the study of value differences between nations and offer valuable insights into national value systems and what makes them different. Applying Lipset's approach to societies beyond those in North America would add to our understanding of the individual's relationship to society through a fuller appreciation of their values. / Graduate

Tesis para optar al Grado de Magíster en Urbanismo / Land grabbing1 se ha entendido como un proceso para la adquisición de grandes extensiones de tierra global, preferentemente rural, a través de la compra, arrendamiento u otro mecanismo, por parte de actores públicos y/o privados, para múltiples fines a largo plazo, tales como alimentarios, energéticos, extractivos, turísticos, conservación ecológica, políticos, ideológicos y sin duda, para rentabilizar. Actualmente se ha transformado en un fenómeno de mayor complejidad ya que ha ido adquiriendo capacidades, entrelazando problemáticas globales, acentuando una serie de desequilibrios y generando efectos territoriales a considerar. Desde el año 2007, el estudio del fenómeno land grabbing se ha centrado especialmente en “darle un sentido” [make sense] (Edelman, et al, 2015, pág. 1) pudiendo identificar la existencia de éste y en cierta medida, cuantificarlo y evaluar sus efectos en diferentes localizaciones. Land grabbing es un fenómeno que todavía está en desarrollo y no ha sido propiamente definido. La investigación teórica ha descuidado el análisis integral de los procesos relacionados con lo urbano y sus dimensiones macro del ámbito global. Su conceptualización actual se presenta insuficiente para abordarlo frente a los efectos territoriales que ocasiona, a la celeridad de su propagación y a sus manifestaciones dentro del ámbito urbano. El acercamiento inicial al fenómeno de land grabbing desde la metodología tradicional con un estudio de caso, se hizo limitado para fundamentar las lógicas que se presentaban en un territorio local. Es decir, fue imperativo para esta investigación dar un giro hacia la exploración del fenómeno, bajo la motivación de lo que dice Saskia Sassen, “¿qué se está construyendo que no vemos?”. Es por ello, que la presente tesis tiene como objetivo investigar el fenómeno de land grabbing desde los espacios de la exploración y la reflexión teórica acogiendo el desafío de avanzar y enriquecer su construcción conceptual en la búsqueda de nuevos enfoques, respuestas y entendimientos a dinámicas globales y urbanas asociadas a éste. En la búsqueda de mecanismos alternativos para la exploración e investigación del fenómeno de land grabbing, se acoge como estrategia metodológica experimental, lo que Saskia Sassen define como “la zona antes del método” [The zone before Method], (Sassen, 2014c; 2013a). Con ello se logra identificar tres hallazgos iniciales que determinan la orientación de la construcción teórica de la tesis: a) land grabbing sólo hace sentido asociado a una red global y es una pieza clave dentro de procesos globales; b) infraestructuras globales integradas; y c) el despliegue de la dimensión territorial de la globalización. Los resultados de la investigación intentan aportar fundamentos iniciales de land grabbing en relación a su colaboración y capacidad para afectar, fragmentar y reconstituir el territorio a gran escala, facilitando y desplegando nuevas formas de re-territorialización de lo global y de la pobreza. Además, pretende visibilizar algunas manifestaciones en relación a este fenómeno en la región de América Latina y el Caribe, y contribuir a la discusión académica para suministrar insumos para estrategias prospectivas en la anticipación de escenarios posibles.

The aim of this study is to research how pedagogues in the American preschool work with girls and boys from a gender perspective. The research questions that are central in the study include how the pedagogues treat the children, how they form the pedagogical environment and if they bear a gender perspective in mind when planning activities. The method that is used in the study is qualitative through interviews. In the result the pedagogues state that they use the same phrases towards girls and boys, that all their toys and other materials are for both sexes and that they work towards getting the children to play in the same areas of the classroom. Although, the examples from the pedagogues show that they do make differences towards girls and boys in wordings and tone of voice, generalizations depending on sex and over-acknowledged transgendered behaviors. The conclusion of the study is that the pedagogues believe that they are creating a gender equal environment for girls and boys but the fact is that they make differences towards them. This creates an environment where gender norms are maintained.

Aloysia Palau is the third largest genus of tribe Lantaneae, after Lippia L. and Lantana L., in the Verbenaceae. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies have circumscribed genus Aloysia as 31 species, with the transfer of most species of Acantholippia Griseb. and the inclusion of the monotypic Xeroaloysia Tronc., as well as the exclusion of several North American Aloysia species that nest within a Lippia Lantana Glade. Newly circumscribed Aloysia are found mostly in South America, where the genus is represented by 28 species and six varieties. Only four Aloysia species are found in North America, A. coalcomana Siedo, A. macrostachya (Ton.) Moldenke, A. wrightii A. Heller, and A. gratissima (Gullies & Hook.) Tronc. var. gratissima, this last being the only taxon found in both North and South America. A taxonomic revision of the genus Aloysia for South America is provided with detailed morphological descriptions, as well as keys for taxonomic identification, illustrations or indication of iconography, and distribution and herbarium specimen lists. The genus Xeroaloysia Tronc. is here considered a synonym of Aloysia, and nine new taxonomic synonyms are here established. Lectotypification is designated for Verbena L. sect. Aloysioides Walp., and neotypification is designated for V. salviifolia Hook. & Am.

This paper is devoted to a study of the opinions, criticisms, and praises made by Thomas Wolfe on his America as found in his four main novels.