Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references.

My purpose in writing this collection of lyric essays is to examine my evolution during one decade, from age 19 to 29. Essential questions have guided me: What stimulated change? What formed my decisions? What predisposed me to my relationship with my partner? Why did I want to have a child? What kind of relationship do I have with my son? How did my relationship with my partner evolve? Why did we decide to leave Miami? Hopefully, I have given the reader a glimpse into my movement from self-centeredness to motherhood, from aloof adolescent to committed partner, from timid daughter to self-aware individual. The nature of my inquiry led me to confessional conclusions that clarified my reactive behavior or lack of initiative, which my initial memories of the same events often disguised. These confessions are sometimes as satisfying as the more celebratory moments themselves, because they challenge older notions of self and invite the possibility of change. Specific authors who have provided models of substance and style include, but are not limited to Annie Dillard, Maxine Hong Kingston, Sharon Olds, Michael Ondaatje, and Richard Rodriguez. I use lyrical techniques to translate my experiences into crafted prose. I incorporate recurring lines to create links between essays that stand alone, thereby forming a sequence. Some experiences are so personal and specific to me that using an adopted form, such as a repurposed fairy tale, a cento, and the inverted pyramid, has allowed me to create a measure of distance from the subject, which I found necessary for rendering it clearly. I allude to specific songs to help me establish exposition and lend tone and texture to my scenes. I chose to use the second person and direct my words to a specific audience, such as my mother, my partner, or my son, because at times it feels more authentic to let the reader listen to the way I speak to that person than to tell about the relationship. I also chose to capture the voices of certain people speaking directly to me in order to establish the most authentic speaker. My effort to answer essential questions sometimes conjured scenes from the distant past. I use line breaks to let the reader fill in the gaps or make the leap to explore connections across time. Juxtaposition and prolepsis link these tableaus so the reader can see my life and uncover the answers along with me.

Despite progress that has been made in the areas of maternal acculturation and internalizing symptoms in Hispanic youth, much remains to be learned about the relation between maternal acculturation and youth anxiety. The inclusion of cognitive vulnerabilities such as anxiety sensitivity (AS) further adds to the understanding the development of anxiety in Hispanic youth. Examining the role that youth age and youth sex play in the relation between AS and youth anxiety symptoms also can further understanding of the development of youth anxiety. Thus, the specific aims of this dissertation were to examine whether: (1) a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) would yield a two factor structure of the Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Measure (SMAS; Stephenson, 2000); (2) maternal acculturation as measured by the SMAS is related to youth anxiety symptoms; (3) mother country of origin (i.e, Cuban or another Latin country) moderates the relation between youth AS and youth anxiety symptoms; (4) youth age moderates the relation between youth AS and youth anxiety symptoms; (5) youth sex moderates the relation between youth AS and youth anxiety symptoms. In addition, research has shown Hispanic youth report more anxiety symptoms than non-Hispanic youth. The Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale’s (RCMAS; Reynolds & Richmond, 1978) Lie Scale was included to examine whether it relates to Hispanic youths’ reporting of anxiety symptoms in the current sample. There were no significant differences in youth anxiety associated with the mother country of origin. Specifically, Cuban mothers and mothers from other Hispanic countries of origin did not significantly differ in their ratings of their child’s anxiety symptoms. Mother country of origin did not moderate the relation between AS and youth anxiety symptoms. Also, no significant findings were found with respect to effects of age on the relation between anxiety sensitivity and anxiety. The study’s main contributions and potential implications on theoretical, empirical, and clinical levels are further discussed.

The purpose of this thesis is to create a collection of short stories that are influenced by the author’s own upbringing. experiences, and heritage. This short story collection is about a community of characters that are influenced by their relationships with each other, their culture, and their faith. Each short story is a window into the lives of this Tampa community. This collection's purpose is to offer a glimpse at the struggle between faith and desires. It depicts the pitfalls and benefits of blind faith and its effects on marriage, the agony of Alzheimer's and the toll it takes on a family. It casts a new light on a Tampa tradition, and it shows how loss affects people in different ways. Most importantly, it is meant as an attempt to cliscove1: what forms an identity and makes an individual and a community special.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-07-24Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:57:42Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 morrone_p_me_mar.pdf: 511209 bytes, checksum: bdbd295a6628155bd53961c752aeed05 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a atuação dos cubano-americanos organizados sob a Fundação Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA) na política externa dos Estados Unidos para Cuba. Para tanto, abordamos o processo migratório cubano para os Estados Unidos, com ênfase no período posterior à Revolução Cubana, quando essa emigração passa a ser concebida como base social da contra-revolução e promovida pelo governo norte-americano. Nessa direção, apresentamos o tratamento particular oferecido a essa emigração pela administração Ronald Reagan, que estimulou a formação da FNCA como uma organização política contrarevolucionária capaz de pressionar o Congresso em temas cubanos, e a inserção dos cubanos organizados sob esta instituição na vida doméstica do país, sinalizada por seus votos e por suas contribuições financeiras às campanhas eleitorais. Por fim, analisamos os atuais objetivos da FNCA, traduzidos na promoção de uma transição política em Cuba para a democracia e favorecidos pela administração George W. Bush, que financia e apóia programas para esse fim. / This dissertation has as objective to analyse the cuban-americans’ role, organized under the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), in the United States’ foreign policy towards Cuba. For this purpose, we analyzed the cuban migration process directed to the United States, emphasizing the post Revolution period, when this emigration is conceived as the social basis of the counter-revolution and promoted by the U.S. government. In this direction, we presented the particular treatment offered to this emigration by the Reagan administration, which stimulated the CANF creation as a counter-revolutionary political organization capable of pressing the Congress in cuban themes, and the insertion of the cubans organized under this institution in the domestic affairs of the country through their votes and financial contributions. Finally, we analyzed the actual objectives of CANF, translated in the promotion of a political transition in Cuba for democracy and favored by Bush’s administration, which finances and supports programs towards this end.

Orientador: Luís Fernando Ayerbe / Banca: Héctor Saint-Pierre / Banca: Harry E. Vanden / O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais é instituído em parceria com a Unesp/Unicamp/PUC-SP, em projeto subsidiado pela CAPES, intitulado "Programa San Tiago Dantas" / Resumo: Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a atuação dos cubano-americanos organizados sob a Fundação Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA) na política externa dos Estados Unidos para Cuba. Para tanto, abordamos o processo migratório cubano para os Estados Unidos, com ênfase no período posterior à Revolução Cubana, quando essa emigração passa a ser concebida como base social da contra-revolução e promovida pelo governo norte-americano. Nessa direção, apresentamos o tratamento particular oferecido a essa emigração pela administração Ronald Reagan, que estimulou a formação da FNCA como uma organização política contrarevolucionária capaz de pressionar o Congresso em temas cubanos, e a inserção dos cubanos organizados sob esta instituição na vida doméstica do país, sinalizada por seus votos e por suas contribuições financeiras às campanhas eleitorais. Por fim, analisamos os atuais objetivos da FNCA, traduzidos na promoção de uma transição política em Cuba para a democracia e favorecidos pela administração George W. Bush, que financia e apóia programas para esse fim. / Abstract: This dissertation has as objective to analyse the cuban-americans' role, organized under the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), in the United States' foreign policy towards Cuba. For this purpose, we analyzed the cuban migration process directed to the United States, emphasizing the post Revolution period, when this emigration is conceived as the social basis of the counter-revolution and promoted by the U.S. government. In this direction, we presented the particular treatment offered to this emigration by the Reagan administration, which stimulated the CANF creation as a counter-revolutionary political organization capable of pressing the Congress in cuban themes, and the insertion of the cubans organized under this institution in the domestic affairs of the country through their votes and financial contributions. Finally, we analyzed the actual objectives of CANF, translated in the promotion of a political transition in Cuba for democracy and favored by Bush's administration, which finances and supports programs towards this end. / Mestre

Cette thèse de doctorat s'intéresse aux questions identitaires des sujets multiculturels cubains-américains, hantés par l'île mais habitants du continent nord-américain, ainsi qu'aux phénomènes de passation mémorielle inter-générationnelle exacerbés par l'expérience de l'exil post-castriste. Au cours de cette étude, sont présentées les relations complexes entre Cuba et les Etats-Unis, les grandes étapes de formation de la diaspora cubaine-américaine, en particulier les vagues successives de l'émigration post-castriste (1959) qui ont bouleversé la carte identitaire de la communauté translatée, mais en particulier l'identité d'une ville périphérique du sud de la Floride: Miami. Nous verrons pourquoi cette mégalopole états-unienne est souvent considérée aujourd'hui comme la capitale des Caraïbes, voire la capitale des Amériques. A travers l'étude des mémoires cubains-américains, seront discutées les questions de la nature de l'exil cubain post-castriste, en particulier sa temporalité, et la perception paradoxale de l'exil, à la fois associé par certains à un moment donné de leur vie d'adulte comme foyer et/ou fardeau. La thèse fait une part importante à l'enfance mutilée des membres de la génération dite 'une-et-demi', leur hybridité identitaire qui s'exprime par un nomadisme culturel et linguistique. Leurs témoignages décrivent également de nombreux phénomènes de pollinisations interculturelles, contrebalancés et/ou complétés par une répétition mémorielle obsessive des aïeux conteurs. Un dernier temps de cette étude sera consacré à l'écriture de soi qui est à la fois transcendance et rémanence de l'exil, du passé. Les mémoires cubains-américains illustrent aussi souvent le passage d'une tradition cubaine orale vers une tradition américaine de réalisation de soi par l'écriture. Ils s'inspirent de l'intime pour tendre vers l'universel, tout du moins ils tendent à s'inscrire dans le domaine de la littérature autobiographique latino-américaine, voire dans l'écriture de soi états-unienne. / This dissertation is centered on the questions of identity of the multicultural Cuban-American 'I's, haunted by the island but inhabiting the North-American continent, as well as on the phenomena of intergenerational transmission of memory, exacerbated by the traumatic experience of post-Castro exile. Along this study we discuss the complex relationship between Cuba and the United States of America, the important stages of the emergence of the Cuban-American disapora, particularly the successive post-castrist waves of emigration, which have completely altered the identity card of the displaced community but also redefined the identity and role of a peripheral southern city of Florida: Miami. How and why is this American megalopolis often considered today as the capital of the Caribbean, to some extent even of the Americas?Through a close reading of Cuban-American memoirs, we examine the post-castrist Cuban exile, more precisely its temporality, as well as its paradoxical perception by certain Cuban-Americans, at a certain point in their adult life as both a haven and a burden. The dissertation also considers the mutilated childhood of the 'one-and-a-halfers', their identity hybridity transpiring through their cultural and linguistic nomadism. Their personal testimonies depict multiple phenomena of crosscultural pollinization, counterbalanced and/or completed by an obsessive repetition of their cultural memory thanks to their story-telling grandparents. In the final part of this study we explore self-writing, which is both transcendance and resurgence of their exile and their past. Besides, Cuban-American memoirs often shed light on the passage from a Cuban oral tradition to an American tradition of self-fufilment through writing. They root their inspiration in intimacy to reach the universal, they participate in inscribing their presence their presence both within the realms of Latin-American literature and U.S. self-writing.

Leaving Little Havana is the story of a young girl who leaves her comfortable middle-class home in La Habana just after the Cuban Revolution and, fighting to overcome cultural and language barriers, forges a new life in Miami. Dealing with a torn identity and discovering her voice are at the center of the narrative. After an endless string of escapades, she finally pulls herself together, learns the value of her inner strength by rising above bleak circumstances and gets accepted to journalism school in California. The book examines the devastating effects of immigration on a family and the struggle of a child of Cuban exiles, coming of age in a foreign society, to beat the obstacles that stand in her way to a stable and satisfying life. The narrator shows that Cuban immigrants share similar challenges with all who have aspired to make America their home.