acase@tulane.edu

The dissertation addresses the impact of the medieval notion of what scholastic theologians termed "invincible ignorance" upon later Spanish attitudes toward and actual treatment of their New World Indian subjects. Once sixteenth-century theologians expanded the range of topics of which "invincible" – and thereby excusable – ignorance could theoretically be had, official Spanish policy towards the pagan and culturally alien Native Americans became noticeably less inhumane and oppressive. This study adds significantly to our knowledge of the interaction between Native Americans and their European conquerors during the first century of Iberian settlement. First, it uncovers the ideological justification for the aforementioned shift in Spain's treatment of its Indian subjects. Second, this study successfully explains why Spanish attitudes towards the American Indians changed at the moment they did. Third, it provides an alternative to the largely discredited but inadequately replaced explanation that Spanish colonial administrators introduced more moderate policies because they increasingly abandoned the position that the Indians were not fully human. This dissertation, moreover, presents a critical contribution to our understanding of the genesis of the concept of individual human rights. As sixteenth-century theologians concluded that insurmountable ignorance constituted valid grounds to excuse some individuals for such "sins" as unbelief, idolatry, and human sacrifice, what became progressively obvious was that no single moral standard could be applied to all human beings, irrespective of upbringing and education. As a result, morality became more subjective and dependent upon the individual circumstances of the actor. Thus, in order to maintain a minimum of justice, what was morally "right" came to be seen in an increasingly direct relation to the individual. Although the connection between moral subjectivity and individual human rights has been well-established in the secondary literature, the underlying issue of invincible ignorance in relation to the problem of colonial conquest has so far not been recognized. Indeed, the very concept of "invincible ignorance" has never been systematically studied. This project reintroduces this critical notion to the center of the conversation.

The Irish throughout their tumultuous history immigrated not only to North America but across Latin America, particularly to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. Ireland and many of these Latin American countries share a close yet under-examined relationship, inasmuch as they are predominantly Catholic, post-colonial, hybrid populations with fraught immigrant experiences abroad and long histories of resisting Anglo-centric imperialism at home. More particularly, the peoples of these nations engage intimately with the dead (as shown, for example, by the Mexican Day of the Dead and Celtic roots of Halloween), and the dead appear frequently in literature from these countries that takes up issues of colonialism and anti-colonial struggles. The dead can function as repositories for forgotten history and allies in counter-imperial struggle; these roles become particularly important in the 20th century, wherein the forces of economic modernization have rushed to erase the memories of the dead. From the speech of the dead in the prose works of Juan Rulfo, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Samuel Beckett, and Carlos Fuentes, to the anticolonial poetics of William Butler Yeats and Julia de Burgos, this thesis examines how these two regions have, both in parallel and in concert, utilized the dead to bolster various nationalistic projects. This dissertation also explores patterns of Irish/Latin American literary citation and influence, tracing, for example, how Jorge Luis Borges’s responded to James Joyce, or how a scene from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is re-enacted in the novels of Flann O’Brien and Gabriel García Márquez. This project contributes to comparative approaches to Irish literary and modernist studies, improves our nascent understanding of how the Irish and Latin Americans have interacted throughout their overlapping histories, and expands our comprehension of how the dead have been and continue to be utilized across the developing world to resist economic neo-colonialism.

The deterioration of the Argentine public health system has lead to an increase in non-governmental involvement in the provision of health services. The emerging relationship between these sectors is filled with tensions, contradictions, and negotiations, reflecting the historical trajectory of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the transformations of the public health system. These problems are specifically evident in programs that focus on pediatric oncology treatment due to the fact that ideas about childhood, chronic disease, and mortality construct an unusual collaborative framework between governmental and non-governmental healthcare professionals. Pediatric cancer contradicts traditional notions of childhood; it points out the ambivalences associated with death; and represents a challenge to biomedical practice. This thesis provides a historical reconstruction of pediatric medicine in Argentina with an emphasis on the involvement of non-governmental actors in treatment and policymaking. Furthermore, it presents an analysis of the discourses and practices of the staff of an NGO that collaborates with 5 public hospitals in Buenos Aires, providing medical treatment, psychotherapy, and other forms of assistance to pediatric oncology patients and their families. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the main difficulties experienced by the NGO's staff members and the strategies they used to deal with problems. By carrying out thirty open-ended structured interviews and participant observation in two public hospitals in Buenos Aires, the research indicated that the main problems were the lack of training on medical procedures and hospital policies received by the staff and the fact that they were not offered counseling to cope with the emotional consequences of working with pediatric oncology patients and their families. As a consequence, many staff members experienced feelings of frustration and abandoned the organization prematurely, affecting the type of services provided to the children and their families. This information was formulated into a report with recommendations for improving the training offered to the staff and the internal communication of the organization.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing distance learning readiness of institutions in Latin America for international projects of food and agriculture with higher education institutions in the U.S. The data collection followed two approaches: a quantitative, which was processed statistically, including mean (percentage), mode and cross-tabulation, and a qualitative, through semi-structured interviews. The population of this research was animal biotechnology institutions in Latin American countries, Spanish speaking, partners with the major funding organizations in the U.S., with Web pages on the Internet. Population included 17 countries with N=150, a random sample of n=83 for the quantitative analysis and n=20 for the qualitative approach. The instrument was developed by the researcher. Items were based on readiness surveys used widely in the U.S., and founded in two culture theories: Bank’s (2001) cultural elements and Hosfstede’s (1984) cultural dimensions. Using Bank’s theory it was concluded that English proficiency was considered an essential tool for research. Interviews exposed that researchers were aware of nonverbal communication differences between Latinos and Americans. Cultural cognitiveness showed to be exposed when researchers were confronted with another culture. The perspective of distance education showed to be considered different from face to face education. There was an appropriate perception of the need, ownership, and use of computer technologies and Internet accessibility with fast connections. Researchers perceived computer technology equipment as a measurement of the quality of their institution. Using Hofstede’s (1984) dimensions it was concluded that Latin American countries were considered to have high power distance on four of the six items assessed; had strong uncertainty avoidance with four of the six items assessed, where a collectivist society, with five items out of six. Interviews determined that a masculine dimension was predominant in the study. Assessment of technology involved: Internet, technological resources, computer proficiency, distance education and instructional design experience. Results of this assessment showed that technology must be measured through a cultural perspective to achieve accurate responses because people express and understand through their mental constructs which are tainted with their cultural experiences and their perception of life, work, academics, and society.

Mit dem Amtsantritt von Präsident Santos 2010 hat sich das politische Klima in Kolumbien spürbar verändert. Der ehemalige Verteidigungsminister Uribes distanziert sich von seinem einstigen Vorgesetzten: Außenpolitisch sucht Santos Kontakt zu den Nachbarstaaten, im Land selbst darf wieder über den bewaffneten Konflikt mit der Guerilla diskutiert werden. An der neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik hält jedoch auch Präsident Santos fest.

Weltweit brodelt es, Bürger gehen auf die Straße. In Chile will man sich die Ungerechtigkeiten des Bildungssystems nicht länger gefallen lassen. Nur wer zahlt, darf lernen – dagegen wehrt sich vor allem die Jugend mit aller Macht, auch mit der Macht der Neuen Medien. Öffentlichkeitswirksam werden die Proteste inszeniert. Wird die chilenische Regierung weiterhin mit Knüppeln auf Demonstranten einschlagen oder einlenken?

The thesis focuses on the environmental sustainability ofwater projects. The concept is analysed from the theoreticaland the implementation viewpoints The evolution of the conceptof sustainable development is presented, with an in-depthdiscussion on the present status of the environmentalsustainability of water projects. Several case studies areanalysed on different important aspects of environmentalsustainability. These case studies include the analysis ofissues like the role of institutions, effectiveness of legalframeworks, participation of stakeholders, contributions ofwater development projects to regional development,consideration of environmental and social issues, and impactsof social and environmental movements. The impacts of the Ataturk dam, within the SoutheasternAnatolia (GAP) Project, Turkey, are analysed in terms ofplanning, policy making, institutional arrangements,infrastructural development, and human resources development.Its economic, social and environmental impacts during theconstruction phase and the first seven years of operation arereviewed. The role of large dams in poverty alleviation andsocio-economic development are analysed, especially in terms ofresettlement. The current global thinking on involuntaryresettlement is reviewed, as are the experiences onresettlement of the people affected by water projects. Anassessment of the participatory process that was formulated forthe resettlement of the people affected by the construction ofthe Birecik dam, GAP Project, Turkey, is presented. Institutional arrangements for integrated river basinmanagement in Latin America is analysed, with special emphasison the Brazilian and the Mexican experiences of watermanagement at the river basin level. Brazil and Mexico werechosen since they are by far the most advanced in this area,compared to all the other Latin American countries. It is concluded that economic, social and environmentaldimensions should be considered concurrently within the goalsof water development. Social considerations are essentialbecause poverty is both a cause and an effect of environmentaldegradation, and societies festering with poverty and socialtensions will not have the means, or inclination, to makesustainable development a priority issue. There are noblueprints for a transition to sustainability, but there arepolicy reforms that could reduce environmental degradation,income disparity and persistent poverty. The water sector isnot an exception to this conclusion. There is now considerable discussion on the operationalfeasibility of the sustainable development concept. It issuggested that sustainable development should be considered tobe a journey and not a destination. The world is nothomogeneous, and thus there cannot be one unique path tosustainable development that would be equally valid andapplicable for all countries of the world, and for alldevelopment sectors. Each country will have to base its waterdevelopment agendas depending on their own social, economic,cultural and environmental conditions, available managerial,technical and administrative capacities and societalexpectations and aspirations. For developing countries, as longas water development policies, programmes and projects cancontribute to socio-economic development, reduction in povertyand income disparity, and environmental conservation, they arewell on course in their long journey to sustainabledevelopment. Definitional debates as to what constitutessustainable water development are likely to beunproductive.

Understanding how these networks and opportunities formed and the effect of these relationships on social movements and global politics is crucial for the future of the dam resistance movement. I hypothesize that the formation of networks and the larger role of civil society in decision-making has altered institutional decision-making, thus allowing for the development of new counter-hegemonic ideas of development and methods of organizing. Through a broad analysis of the dam resistance movement and specific dam resistance campaigns, this thesis examines how and under what circumstances transnational networks provide new opportunities for participation and greater influence over national policy and multilateral institutions. I will seek to answer the questions - how do anti-dam advocacy networks affect national and international policy and under what conditions are these networks successful?

This dissertation comprises two essays. While the topics of both essays are different both are interrelated on the base of economic development. The first essay examines ethnic wage gaps on segmented labor markets with evidence from Latin American countries. The second essay revisits the determinants of fiscal decentralization with an emphasis on the role that geography plays in determining fiscal decentralization. The first essay contributes to limited literature on ethnic wage gaps in Latin America. It examines ethnic wage gaps for workers in formal and informal labor markets. Using data from Latin American countries we estimate and examine across-ethnic wage gaps for informal and formal markets, their changes over time, factors that explain their differences, and the wage gap distribution. More specifically, we verify that different ethnic wage gaps do exist across formal and informal markets; they behave differently not only at their means but also along the wage distribution. The results indicate that higher ethnic wage gaps in informal sectors exist not only on average but also throughout the distribution. In addition, we find that wage gaps have declined significantly over the last 10 years. we explain this by examining changes in the prices of institutional factors and changes in human capital endowments. The distributional analysis shows a decrease in the unexplained component, especially in the top part of the distribution. The second essay contributes to the existing literature on the determinants of fiscal decentralization by motivating theoretically and exploiting in depth the empirical relevance that geography has as a determinant of fiscal decentralization. The relationship between decentralization and geography is based on the logic that more geographically diverse countries show greater heterogeneity among their citizens, including their preferences and needs for public goods and services provisions. Communications and physical distance are also a very important issue and play a key role on the effect of geography over time. (Lora et. al., 2003) argue geography plays a key role in economic and social development, as well as in the institutional design of the countries; yet, this effect could be enhanced (or diminished) in the presence of better physical infrastructure or communications. The theoretical model in this paper builds on the work by Arzaghi and Henderson (2002) and Panizza (1999). For the empirical estimation, we use a panel data set for approximately 91 countries for the period 1960-2005. Physical geography is measured along several dimensions, including elevation, land area and climate. We construct a geographical fragmentation index and test its effect on fiscal decentralization. In addition, we interact the geographical fragmentation index with time-variant infrastructure variables in order to test the effect that infrastructure and communications have on the relationship between geography and fiscal decentralization. For robustness, we construct Gini coefficients for in-country elevation and climate. We find a positive and strong correlation between geographical factors and fiscal decentralization. We also find that while the development of infrastructure (in transportation, communications, etc.) tends to reduce the effect of geography on decentralization, this effect is rather small and mostly statistically insignificant, meaning that the impact of geography survives over time. The strategy has additional value because geography may be used as an instrument for decentralization in future econometric estimations where decentralization is used as an explanatory variable, but may be suspected to be endogenous to the economic process being studied (economic growth, political instability, macroeconomic stability, income distribution, etc.).