Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 338-354).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2003. / "May 2003." Title taken from PDF title screen (viewed October 22, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-184).

This dissertation explores the role of popular religion in a transnational community by examining the performance of devotion to local patron saints, virgin mothers and sacred crosses. Annually in May, Empalme Escobedo, Guanajuato, Mexico celebrates San Isidro Labrador (the patron saint of farmers), Maria Auxiliadora (the patroness of railroad laborers) and the Santa Cruz de Picacho (Sacred Cross of Picacho). Following the celebrations many of the male participants in the fiestas travel to Texas to work in agriculture or the service industry. Consequently, devotion to the saint(s) moves with migrants back and forth across the Mexican-U.S. border. My thesis is that the force of devotion gives voice to the tension between the desire for solidarity (experienced through fiesta performance) and the erosion of the community by migration (experienced as absence and dissolution). What I call the force of devotion refers to the social processes, expressive culture, continuity and change that make up a transnational community's system of beliefs and practices and enable folks to understand, explain or cope with everyday life. The force of devotion is the key analytic frame through which I interpret the articulations of spirituality and popular religion, impermanence and fragmentation, absence and hope. The central questions posed in this dissertation emerge from the stories folks in Empalme Escobedo tell about their lives. Consultants talk about their devotion as an expression of faith, a necessary guidance through daily life and a symbol of hope. Tracking the force of devotion exposes social relationships, emotional and intimate experiences, desires and fears. Memory of and participation in the fiestas not only symbolize the force of devotion, but also serve as a connection to separated family members and place of origin. The everyday reality of the absence of loved ones and the fragmentation of the community as a result of migration amplifies the human desire for sociability and solidarity. The fiesta performance provides a space in which the consciousness of communal boundaries is heightened, thereby confirming and strengthening the experience of the social and the force of devotion. / text

My dissertation, From Vaqueros to Mafiosos: A Community History of Drug Trafficking in Rural South Texas is an ethnographic study of the impact of the drug trade in South Texas, with a specific focus on Starr County. This dissertation examines drug trafficking along the U.S-Mexico Border at two levels of analysis. First, through historical ethnography, I provide a cultural history of South Texas, as well as a specific history of drug trafficking in Starr County. In doing so, I highlight the different trafficking practices that emerge throughout South Texas’ history, and I document the social changes that develop in Starr County as a result of these illicit practices. The second half of my dissertation, however, is devoted to a contemporary analysis of the impact of the drug trade on the border region by analyzing important social practices in Starr County relating to drug abuse, policing and the criminal justice system, youth socialization and family life. Through ethnography I present the devastating effects of the drug trade and border policing on this Mexican American border community in rural South Texas. / text

This analysis of the Downtown areas in US- Mexico Border Cities such as Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, and San Diego will chronicle the history and foundation of each city and also the current revitalization efforts underway in many of these cities. Brownsville, Texas is one of those cities located along the border with a rich history and a unique downtown that some have called the New Orleans on the Rio Grande. The architecture has a heavy New Orleans influence thereby making this downtown the most unique in the Rio Grande Valley. Revitalization Efforts in Brownsville continuously resurface only to be unsuccessful due to many variables including the lack of political will to take on perhaps the biggest challenge to face Brownsville. Nonetheless, revitalization of this area must occur and in order to fully understand the intricacies of Downtown Brownsville one must look back in time to see what exactly made Downtown Brownsville so special. This report will seek those answers and give positive and realistic recommendations that could assist in the revitalization of Downtown Brownsville. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1932. / Vita. Published also as Johns Hopkins university studies in historical and political science, ser. LV, no. 3. Bibliography: p. 187-193.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed November 5, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-149).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-332).

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): Gerald G. Brown. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-42). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--Texas Tech University, 2006. / "August 2006." Title from PDF title screen (viewed Oct. 22, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89).