El Caribe ha sido reconocido por considerarse una pluralidad de espacios que simultáneamente son solo uno. Contrario al contexto de su fragmentada geografía, su segregada historia colonial y su diversidad racial y lingüística, los intelectuales caribeños han establecido puentes de unidad cultural con la intención de configurar una identidad pan-caribeña. Por consiguiente, los ensayistas del siglo XX se enfrentan a la necesidad de examinar críticamente los factores que formulan sus respectivas identidades, en contraste con aquellas tradicionalmente impuestas bajo el discurso colonial y metropolitano. Desde el tercer cuarto del siglo, pensadores como Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969), Fidel Castro (1926-), George Lamming (1927-), Kamau Brathwaite (1930-), Juan I. Jiménes-Grullón (1903-1983), Hubert Devonish (1953-), Edouard Glissant (1928-2011), Antonio Benítez-Rojo (1931-2005), Arcadio Díaz Quiñones y Maryse Condé (1937-), entre otros, cuestionan el sistema colonial, los procesos étnicos y las propuestas lingüísticas, relacionándolos con conceptos tales como la hibridez, el sincretismo, la transculturación y la heterogeneidad. Estas teorías culturales, de alguna manera, reescriben ideas antecedentes en reacción a discursos hegemónicos previos como consecuencia de los cambios políticos que trajeron las guerras de independencia en América Latina durante el siglo XIX. En mi tesis demuestro que estos planteamientos delinean un mapa de modelos epistemológicos de la cultura del Caribe. Para indicar que estas propuestas constituyen metáforas que muestran una consciencia cultural, las proposiciones acerca de la cultura de Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) y Hayden White (1928-) sirven como marco teórico apropiado. Así, a través de las representaciones literarias ensayísticas de los modelos metafóricos de la cultura caribeña, este trabajo redefine algunos aspectos importantes de la identidad cultural vis a vis la mirada parcial que usualmente se utiliza para estudiar el archipiélago antillano. Igualmente, incluso aunque estos modelos proponen una representación metafórica de la cultura pan-caribeña, la construcción de un modelo del Caribe puede ser utilizado en otras regiones y espacios culturales en el contexto de la globalización, ya que elucida una gnoseología cultural que sirve para describir distintas realidades globales.

William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) theatrical work The Tempest was first performed in 1611 at the court of James I. Since the XVII century until today this work of art has travelled the world and has been (re)interpreted from the perspective of multiple ideologies. This thesis seeks to understand the representations and uses that Caliban has had in different spaces and historical moments. The anti-colonial interpretations of Roberto Fernández Retamar authorize us to read metaphorically the current socio-political situation of Latin immigrants in the United States through the perspective of The Tempest. The first chapter of this thesis studies and critically analyzes the way in which the character Caliban is negatively constructed. This chapter concludes that many of the critics that are cited base their interpretations of Caliban not necessarily on textual evidence but rather on their own colonial and oppressive ideologies. To illustrate this tension I present a detailed analysis of the supposed rape of Miranda by Caliban, I analyze Caliban’s poetic voice and give historical context of the theatrical work’s production and its critical reception by the European literary tradition. The second chapter seeks to present an ideological and analytic counterpoint to this European tradition. This chapter presents the anti-colonial project of Roberto Fernández Retamar who throughout his many essays on Caliban turned this character into a symbol of Latin-American and revolutionary identity. In this section I study the evolution of Fernández Retamar’s thinking through his many essays on Caliban. To understand the importance of his literary reinterpretation I analyze the Cuban historical context of the 60’s and 70’s while paying particular attention to the controversies surrounding the “Padilla affair”. The third chapter applies a metaphorical historic reading of contemporary Latin communities in the United States using the characters of The Tempest. This chapter seeks to centralize the importance of the feminine voice in this theatrical work by combating the supposed silence of Sycorax, Caliban’s mother. In this section I do a detailed textual study to demonstrate that Sycorax, even though she has no lines of her own, is an important character in the play and can be seen as a correction to a long masculinist trajectory that has silenced the importance of women in colonial literature. This last chapter seeks to synthesize the analyzing and theorizing of literature, the studying of social movements in Massachusetts and the political and social status of Latin people using Sycorax + Caliban as an identity metaphor.

Nontraditional college student enrollment in the United States is rapidly growing and is predicted to continue to increase. Similarly, female students are currently the majority student population on college campuses. Although numerous studies document college student experiences, few focus on first-generation Latinas who are student-mothers at community colleges. The purpose of this study was to explore the educational experiences of first-generation Latina nontraditional student-mothers enrolled at a community college in California to identify the ways in which grit (ganas) and mindsets influenced their success. This inquiry followed Moustakas’s (1994) transcendental phenomenology research process. Individual interviews of five Latinas were analyzed using Moustakas’s modification of the Van Kaam method of analysis. The findings indicate that each woman had a similar yet unique story based upon their intersectional identities and the space in which they lived in at the time of this study. These stories collectively echoed a phenomenon rooted in cultural pervasiveness and generational continuity, an urgency to break cultural norms, and the grasp on ganas and mindsets that each participant held onto while striving to reach their educational goals. The participants’ stories illuminated an unanticipated connection to my own story as a Latina student-mother in search of a higher education. This connection provided me with a deeper understanding of my educational path and the realization that ganas and mindsets also influenced my educational experiences. The implications from this study offer ways to support this specific group of students both collectively and individually. La inscripción de estudiantes del colegio no tradicionales en los Estados Unidos está creciendo rápidamente y se prevé que continúe aumentando. Del mismo modo, las alumnas son actualmente la población estudiantil mayoritaria en los colegios. Aunque numerosos estudios documentan experiencias de estudiantes de colegio, pocos se centran en latinas de primera generación que son estudiantes-madres en colegios comunitarios. El propósito de este estudio fue explorar las experiencias educativas de las madres Latinas que son estudiantes no tradicionales de primera generación inscritas en un colegio comunitario en California para identificar las maneras en que sus ganas y mentalidades influyeron en su éxito. Este estudio siguió al proceso de investigación de fenomenología trascendental de Moustakas (1994). Las entrevistas individuales de cinco Latinas fueron analizadas utilizando la modificación de Moustakas del método de análisis de Van Kaam. Los hallazgos indican que cada mujer tenía una historia similar pero única basada en sus identidades interseccionales y el espacio en el que vivían en el momento de este estudio. Estas historias hicieron eco colectivamente de un fenómeno arraigado en la omnipresencia cultural y la continuidad generacional, la urgencia de romper las normas culturales y la comprensión de las ganas y las mentalidades que cada participante aferró mientras se esforzaba por alcanzar sus metas educativas. Las historias de los participantes iluminaron una conexión imprevista con mi propia historia como estudiante-madre Latina en busca de una educación superior. Esta conexión me proporcionó una comprensión más profunda de mi camino educativo y la comprensión de que las ganas y las mentalidades también influyeron en mis experiencias educativas. Las implicaciones de este estudio ofrecen maneras de apoyar a este grupo específico de estudiantes tanto colectiva como individualmente.

Bolivia in the 1980s was wracked by monetary inflation approaching levels of the German Weimar Republic. Immediately following this time of great financial crisis in Bolivia, the U.N. founded a project through the U.N.D.P. to encourage peasant farmers in Bolivia to switch from growing coca (the plant used manufacture cocaine) to growing other cash crops for market. This crop substitution and development program, called the Agroyungas Project, lasted from 1985 to 1991 and is the focus of this study. While many U.N. pundits and journalists considered the program’s initial small successes promising, it has been considered since its conclusion to be a failure. The program was poorly conceived, poorly funded and poorly executed from the start. So one question remains: why was the Agroyungas Project a failure? Additionally, was the project simply a way to steer Bolivians away from the illicit coca/cocaine economy? While on the surface this might appear to be the case, one must probe the complex situations in Bolivia deeply to uncover the true missteps behind this U.N. program. By looking at the evidence, it is apparent that crop substitution programs like the Agroyungas Project failed for a variety of reasons. Besides poor planning and execution of project plans, the project’s developers, planners and workers simply did not understand Bolivian indigenous culture and Bolivian history. However, the project was not doomed to fail. The lack of knowledge and understanding of indigenous Bolivian realities, Bolivian geography and Bolivian history directly led to the failures of the Agroyungas Project.

The twentieth century is revealing a steady increase in the influence of the United States in the Caribbean region, both in politics and economic development. The arm of America has been gradually forcing out the European nations. Counting colonies and protectorates, the United States has under its supervision a greater Caribbean population than the population of the thirteen colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence. In trade the United States is the best customer of Central America and the West Indies. The region is one of the chief sources of our raw-materials imports. The majority of the citizens of the United Statesdo not recognize the importance of the Caribbean to us. They are unaware of the manner in which the United States is increasing its power and influence. It is a distinct shock to many to learn of our imperialistic policy. The purpose of this paper is to trade one specific example of the intervention of the United States in the Caribbean. Nicaragua has been chosen largely because of recent troubles there and because it affords an excellent example of a virtual though unrecognized American protectorate. The difficulties in the way of a careful study of the country are very great. Historical works are especially unsatisfactory. The colonial period is much more ably treated than the recent period. The most satisfactory book on the subject is "The Five Republics of Central America" by Dana G. Munro. The thread of this paper is largely taken from the material of this one book supplemented by other shorter accounts. A large part of the material is taken from government documents, magazine articles and pamphlets of the Pan-American Union. Much of the magazine material is difficult to use because of ignorance of the ulterior motives of the writers, but there is enough of value to reveal the broad tendencies of political development. The economic development is more obscure. Data concerning the condition of the country at the present time is almost totally lacking due to the unreliability of newspaper accounts. Diplomacy prevents the giving out of material by members of the Consular service.

This paper will identify and analyze the literary phenomenon of the preponderance of the transfer of dumb animal. traits, including mannerisms, instincts and brute social behavior to human beings as found in the prose of Rafael Arevalo Martlnez of Guatemala. This literary phenomenon has been called.zoomorphimn and psychozoology.