Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1980.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1980.

abstract: In the midst of historical ruptures and transfiguration caused by a globalization that has restructured new realities marked by violence, Central American and Chicanos realities have come into contact in a global space such the United States. Thus, the interdependence between these two cultures is so close that the literary influences are unavoidable. We argue that there is an asymmetrical relationship in the narrative of globalization, which sets new unpublished orders and generates perceptions of reality. The ideological dimensions of globalization that have caused systemic violence can be traced through military interventions and economic ventures. Thus, the subject of our research is assumed as a literary whole within certain social facts, i.e., as a symbolic aspect of the processes of violence within a culture undermined by globalization. Hence, in using theory of violence by Slavoj Ziek and theory of globalization by Manuel Castells, Tony Shirato, Jenn Webb, James Petra, and Henry Veltmeyer, we explore the narrative and criticism of U.S-Central Americans and Chicano in order to expose the forces of systemic violence that globalization produces. Our results show that, historically, globalization has formulated epistemologies via violence for Chicanos and U.S-Central Americans; such violence marks both groups, allowing for solidarity, through discursive practices of resistance, to take place in the textual space as well as in the real world. Such solidarity disrupts the textual borders, creating a dialogue of mutual understanding. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Spanish 2011

Central American immigrant women living in the Mexico-Guatemala border city of Tapachula routinely face multiple barriers to availing themselves and their children of rights entitled to them by law. In many cases, these denials unfold at the scale of the everyday, through interactions with low-to mid-level officials. As embodiments of the state, low-to mid-level officials such as bureaucrats, educators, social workers and healthcare officials possess the power to regulate immigrant citizenship and belonging through their everyday actions. However, we know very little about how officials working on the ground interpret and implement their power on an everyday basis; how this impacts immigrant experience and exercise of social and political citizenship rights; and how immigrants in turn respond to and negotiate results of interactions in their lives. Women and their Mexican-born children are disproportionately affected by this phenomenon, inducing consequences, such as exclusion from political and social citizenship, barring of children from the education system, and increased vulnerability to exploitation and domestic violence. Building upon literature on the changing geographies of the state, citizenship and migration in Geography, this dissertation seeks to broaden and deepen our understanding of how interactions between immigrant women and the micro-level state play out at the scale of the everyday and how these processes are significant in the lives of immigrants as well as low-to mid-level officials. Another goal of this work is to go beyond one-sided views of officials, to understand the overarching institutional contexts for their actions. To meet these objectives, I analyze data obtained during over a year of fieldwork conducted in Tapachula. My research consisted of in-depth interviews with low-to mid-level officials and Central American immigrant women, participatory workshops, and participant observation working in a local government agency. My findings suggest that low-to-mid level officials' actions constitute a form of everyday restriction, which, implemented through minute, mundane actions has major impacts on immigrant women's sense of citizenship in Tapachula. However, officials' actions are informed by complex institutional and socio-spatial factors and power-relations, which provide valuable context for our understanding of this phenomenon. / text

Citizens of El Salvador and Guatemala have experienced life-threatening situations in their native lands that have forced them to make choices in order to survive. Those choices include coming to the United States in search of political asylum. Travelling through Mexico and arriving and settling in the United States require the use of a variety of adaptive strategies. By employing kinship and friendship networks, using community services, organizing voluntary associations, learning English, and compartmentalizing their own culture while being absorbed into the larger Mexican and Anglo cultures, they are able to meet their needs. Of those who come to Tucson, many leave due to difficulties in finding jobs and the lack of affordable legal aid. Those who stay do so because they are awaiting court dates, desire to remain close to their families or have been successful in finding work.

Viral metagenomics of feces collected from 58 Peruvian children with unexplained diarrhea revealed several small circular ssDNA genomes. Two genomes related to sequences previously reported in feces from chimpanzees and other mammals and recently named smacoviruses were characterized and then detected by PCR in 1.7 % (1/58) and 19 % (11/58) of diarrheal samples, respectively. Another three genomes from a distinct small circular ssDNA viral group provisionally called pecoviruses encoded Cap and Rep proteins with <35 % identity to those in related genomes reported in human, seal, porcine and dromedary feces. Pecovirus DNA was detected in 15.5 % (9/58), 5.9 % (3/51) and 3 % (3/100) of fecal samples from unexplained diarrhea in Peru, Nicaragua and Chile, respectively. Feces containing these ssDNA genomes also contained known human enteric viral pathogens. The cellular origins of these circular ssDNA viruses, whether human cells, ingested plants, animals or fungal foods, or residents of the gut microbiome, are currently unknown.

Thesis advisor: Pratyusha Tummala-Narra / The present-day sociopolitical climate, with its noxious anti-immigrant sentiment and policies, has increased the emotional stress experienced by immigrant-origin populations. This dissertation presents findings from research that explored the relationship between race-and ethnicity-based discrimination, exposure to trauma, and psychological distress among a sample of Central American–origin immigrants and refugees in the United States. Informed by socio-ecological and contemporary acculturation theory, this research extended the traumatic stress and migration literature by examining how a global sense of social connectedness, as well as a sense of belonging to one’s ethnic community or the mainstream community, may mitigate or exacerbate the influence of discrimination and trauma on mental health. In addition, this research explored the potential moderating role of immigrant generation and documentation status. Participants (N=89) between 18 and 70 years of age completed surveys both online (N=28) and in person (N=61). Survey instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the Perceived Racism Scale for Latinos (PRSL), the Trauma History Questionnaire (THQ), the Social Connectedness Scale – Revised (SCS-R), the Social Connectedness in Mainstream (SCMN) and the Social Connectedness in the Ethnic Community (SCETH) scales, as well as measures to assess for symptoms of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), posttraumatic stress (PCL-C), and somatization (SSS-8). Ordinary least-squares regression analyses revealed that discrimination and exposure to trauma significantly predicted psychological distress. Higher levels of social connectedness predicted lower levels of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Mainstream social connectedness was found to moderate the association between exposure to trauma and PTSD such that for individuals with low levels of SCMN, posttraumatic stress was consistently relatively high regardless of the degree of trauma exposure. For those individuals with high SCMN, posttraumatic stress symptoms were low when trauma exposure was low. However, all individuals regardless of their sense of mainstream belonging experienced high PTSD when trauma exposure was high. In addition, a lower sense of mainstream belonging augmented the strength of the association between discrimination on depression, whereas a stronger sense of mainstream belonging reduced the strength of this relation. Specifically, individuals with low SCMN reported higher depressive symptoms with increasing perceived discrimination, while individuals with high SCMN reported similar levels of depression even at increasing levels of discrimination. Analyses did not support moderation effects for ethnic social connectedness, immigrant generation and documentation status. The study’s strengths and limitations as well as its significance for future research and practice are discussed. Implications highlight the multifaceted and dynamic nature of belongingness in the context of discrimination and trauma, and speak to the importance of culturally responsive and multi-systemic interventions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Begonia L. is one of the largest plant genera, comprising over 1500 species. Weak species cohesion, and the rapid evolution of reproductive barriers in allopatry, are two processes that have been postulated to explain the generation of such hyper-diversity of taxa within a single genus of plants. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether these factors are likely to have been important contributors to the diversity of species found in Central American Begonia. Species cohesion was analysed in the widespread Central American species Begonia heracleifolia and B. nelumbiifolia. Interpopulation seed flow was estimated with seven plastid microsatellites. Breeding system estimates and measures of genetic differentiation at nine nuclear microsatellites were used to infer levels of interpopulation pollen flow. Controlled crosses were employed to assess the strength of reproductive barriers both between populations within species, and between species differing in ecology. The potential for gene flow between species in the wild was assessed in natural hybrid zones using molecular markers. Finally a quantitative trait locus (QTL) approach was employed to investigate the genetic basis of reproductive traits that differ between species. No plastid polymorphisms were found in B. nelumbiifolia, suggesting it has been through a recent population bottleneck. In contrast, B. heracleifolia possessed many plastid haplotypes that were strongly differentiated between populations (G’ST = 0.829). Nuclear microsatellites showed high genetic differentiation within species, and both species were self-compatible and self-fertilize at a moderate rate (B. heracleifolia F’ST = 0.506, FIS = 0.249; B. nelumbiifolia F’ST = 0.439, FIS = 0.380). F1s between ecologically similar B. heracleifolia and B. sericoneura were partly fertile (2-5% seed set), and F1s and early generation backcrosses were found in a hybrid swarm. F1s between B. heracleifolia and the ecologically contrasting B. nelumbiifolia were pollen sterile, and 3 hybrid swarms showed no evidence of hybrids beyond the F1 generation. Seven QTL were found for reproductive traits, including: sex ratio, pollen sterility and stamen number. The population biology of Begonia, with limited seed and pollen dispersal, small population sizes and frequent self-fertilization predisposes them to genetic isolation, increasing the chances that reproductive barriers evolve. These characteristics may underlie the large number of endemics in Begonia.

archives@tulane.edu / My dissertation, entitled “Hijas del horror: Rocío Silva Santisteban y Regina José Galindo. El testimonio como herramienta discursiva del arte de la memoria,” focuses on the representation of sexual violence in the poetry of Rocío Silva Santisteban and the performances of Regina José Galindo. I analyze the discursive tools that these artists use to represent violence in a way that allows the public or reader to engage with women’s point of view. Silva Santisteban as well as Galindo were inspired by the thousands of oral testimonies that women survivors told to the truth commission in Peru and Guatemala. First chapter, “Crimes Against Women in the Armed Conflict in Guatemala and Peru,” is a review of the internal wars in Guatemala (1962-1996) and Peru (1980-2000), focusing especially on the crimes and consequences these wars had for women. Second chapter, “Theoretic Foundations of Sexual Violence Against Women: The Role of the Testimonies,” is a review of the different approaches that seek to explain the characteristic of sexual violence against women, why most of women doesn’t denounce it and which is the conception of women that is behind this violence expression. Third chapter, “Daughters of Horror or Experiencing Others’ Pain,” is a close reading of the most recent poetry book by Rocío Silva Santisteban, Las hijas del terror (2007), in which the author represents rape, forced displacement, and fear from the perspective of Peruvian women. I give special attention to the way testimonies inspired the book and are used as a poetic tool. Fourth chapter, “Regina José Galindo or the Body as Testifying to Pain,” is an analysis of two performance pieces –Mientras, ellos siguen libres (2007) and La verdad (2013)–, where Galindo represents the crimes suffered by women during the Guatemalan war. She places her body in the place of the female that suffered rape, torture, destruction, horror. I give special attention to the contradictions that the representation of violence can lead to, without intention, the perpetuation of violence, and the strategies that Galindo uses to avoid that misunderstanding. The fifth concluding chapter established a dialogue between these two artists. / 1 / Bethsabe Huaman Andia

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 323-355). Also available on the Internet.