The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the processes of consolidation and decomposition of the Venezuelan party system and their relation to democratic stability. Both processes are analyzed through a theoretical framework based on four conditions for institutionalization and three conditions for decomposition of a party system. Preliminary findings reveal that the Venezuelan party system became institutionalized as of 1969 but began to unravel during the 1980s. This particular order, whose legitimacy rested on the distribution of rents, solidified an arrangement that collapsed when confronted with a deteriorating economic environment combined with growing popular disenchantment stemming from its institutional inability to represent and respond to shifting demands. The thesis also concludes that current political developments do not respond to a process of institutionalization of a new party system but to the development of an inchoate system.

Female sexuality has commonly been viewed as the passive counterpart of male sexuality. Building upon Adrienne Rich's theory of compulsive heterosexuality, I would suggest that the fundamental location of this problem lies within the subconscious. Cristina Escofet's stance on this issue is to argue in favor of a deconstruction of Jungian archetypes, revealing their constructed rather than intrinsic character. In this dissertation, I study representative texts by Escofet and Isabel Allende and show not only how they depict patriarchal compulsive heterosexuality, but also try to reconceptualize female sexuality through surrealist and postmodern techniques such as self-reflection, dialogue with our double or Other, and sensorial perception. These techniques are designed to create a new epistemology of jouissance and excess, as defined by contemporary French theory. The significance of my study resides in the interdisciplinary analysis of female sexuality in Hispanic feminist writers. The first chapter proposes that surrealism, postmodernism, and feminism are theoretical frameworks which create new paradigms for social change. In their feminist philosophies, Escofet and Allende emphasize the use of subconscious knowledge as a means of helping them understand the world and create alternative realities. The second chapter shows how Escofet and Allende deconstruct the mysoginist archetype of Eve, which has been largely responsible for identifying women's sexual identity with the disreputable qualities of the femme fatale and whose mirror-image has long plagued women. In accordance with this stereotype, Lillith (Adam's sexually active ex-partner), has typically been portrayed as the negative Other, and for generations the she-devil myth which surrounds her has resurfaced in the media, where she assumes the role of innumerable evil female characters. In the third chapter, I examine how class and race differences have been used to intensify the demonization of different types of sexuality. In the same manner as Lillith and Eve, black and indigenous characters express dissent by retelling their stories in words and performance, and by seeking to form a dialog with their readers. The last chapter deals with the importance of the senses for female characters as they try to create their own sexuality from the fragmented bodies we find in surrealist and postmodern art. In this section we shall see how Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous's theories about multiple sexualities are in evidence when Escofet and Allende reconceptualize female sexuality. As no previous scholarship has analyzed the use of the subconscious, the senses, and performance when understanding female sexuality in Latin American literature, this dissertation seeks to provide a tentative exploration of the issues that may help to open up a new field of research in Hispanic feminist cultural studies.

Brazil is commonly viewed as a racial paradise on the world front due to its highly mixed-race population. Compared to the United States and South Africa, race-based discriminatory laws and racially motivated violence in Brazil have been absent. Despite these factors, African descendants in Brazil have been at a socioeconomic disadvantage since the nation's birth. Brazilian anthropologist Gilberto Freyre put forth the racial democracy ideology, stating that anyone can ascend the socioeconomic ladder no matter their race. This thesis opposes the racial democracy theory by exposing the various aspects in which Afro-Brazilians are systemically oppressed. In education, jobs & wages, living conditions, and violence, Afro-Brazilians are disproportionately hindered, causing generational cycles of poverty.

Several foreign language teaching methods facilitate the acquisition of a second language. This research proposes a new pedagogical method for teaching second languages, which is especially practical for younger L2 learners. Lenneberg (1967) has proposed the Critical Period Hypothesis which states that the critical period for foreign language acquisition ends when the acquirer reaches puberty (DeKeyser 2000). Therefore, his work may imply that learning a second language during this “critical period” is useful for foreign language learning. Furthermore, Krashen’s (1982) “Affective Filter Hypothesis” links authentic input as a useful tool in the second language classroom because this type of input can lower the “Affective Filter” of the second language learner. The current study examines if authentic input leads to acquisition of lexical chunks , acquisition of vocabulary and the beginning stages of the acquisition of some aspects of the lexicon, such as root morphemes and plural morphemes, and in some cases, gender morphemes in Spanish for a group of second language learners whose native language is English. Authentic input is incorporated into the language instruction through the use of songs, games, stories that are derived from the target language and culture. This research proposes that language transference is occurring from first language, or L1, to second language, or L2, as the participants may fall under Minimal Trees Hypothesis of Vainikka and Young Scholten (1994; 1996a; 1996b). Since the participants are still developing lexicon and lexical chunks in their L1, this occurrence may aide in the transference from the L1 to the L2. The subjects of the study are seventeen kindergarten, first and second grade students, who have not previously learned a second language. The results from the study confirm that the participants did learn lexical chunks in the target language after being introduced to the L2 via the authentic materials. Additionally, the participants were able to demonstrate acquisition of agreement in number in the L2. The long-term results also confirm the initial set of results.

While the movement for fair trading practices in the world market dates back to the 1940s, the labeling and certification initiative “Fairtrade” has existed for about 25 years. My thesis is based on independent research I conducted in November 2013 in La Convención Valley, Peru. Through in-depth interviews with fifteen small farmers and several cooperative officials at La Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras (COCLA), I examine the discrepancies between what Fairtrade’s claims and what farmers themselves perceive to be the benefits and failures of the certification system. I argue that while in theory farmers receive a competitive price for their Fairtrade coffee, in reality this price is subject to many deductions at the cooperative level such that many certified farmers express little understanding of their role in Fairtrade. Additionally, claims of corruption within the cooperative point to deeply entrenched local hierarchies of power. Comparing La Convencion’s history of exploitative feudal systems to present-day complaints of farmers – that the majority of money remains in the hands of cooperative officials, who limit farmers’ access to important market information and flaunt a higher quality of life – suggests that Fairtrade is actually reproducing harmful conditions of the past. I conclude that Fairtrade certification fails to empower farmers to escape local hierarchies of power and the exploitative conditions of the capitalist neoliberal world market. Making global trade truly fair requires an emphasis on an alternative international economic world order that holds consumers more accountable and places more value on the lives and experiences of producers.

The writings and life of Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa (1942-2004) have had an immense impact in a variety of disciplines. Her oft-cited text Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987) is included in many university courses’ reading lists for its contributions to discourses of hybridity, linguistics, intersectionality and women of color feminism, among others. Unfortunately, most scholars content themselves with the intricacies of Borderlands to the neglect of her corpus of work, which includes essays, books, edited volumes, children’s literature and fiction/autohistorias. This analysis presented here wishes to expand our understandings of Anzaldúa’s work by engaging with her pre- and post-Borderlands writings in an attempt to highlight the unrecognized contributions Anzaldúa offers to feminist theory, spirituality, spiritual activism, queer theory, expansive ideas of queerness and an articulation of alternative, non-Western epistemology. This project offers close readings of published and archival Anzaldúan text and draws parallels between her life and her writing.

La larga historia de colonización europea en Chile ha impactado enormemente a los pueblos indígenas en el país, y este pasado afligido solo ha mutado en el neocolonialismo del mundo actual. Como víctima recurrente del colonialismo, el estado-nación Mapuche ha sufrido el desplazamiento de sus tierras ancestrales, la asimilación cultural forzada y la negación sistemática de sus propias prácticas culturales, incluso de sus prácticas ancestrales en la salud. La fragmentación de las comunidades mapuches en Chile y la desposesión en cuanto a sus tierras han amenazado continuamente al bienestar de la gente. Sin embargo, existe una corriente de resistencia dentro de las comunidades como existen hoy, que reta la devaluación de las vidas indígenas y la invisibilización de la cultura mapuche. El presente trabajo considera las varias teorías y prácticas en salud que intentan construir sistemas de salud nacionales que abordan el bienestar de las poblaciones indígenas, y considera los méritos y problemáticos de tales sistemas a partir de otro mapa conceptual: la metáfora del tejido social. Esta metáfora repiensa los sistemas de salud desde la paradójica “complejidad organizativa” de las redes sociales existentes, y enfatiza las raíces autónomas y comunitarias de sistemas de salud equilibrados. Una encarnación posible de la metáfora surge de una “casa de salud” mapuche en la región metropolitana, que demuestra los principios de integralidad y auto-empoderamiento que nutren a la comunidad inmediata, y a la red más grande de comunidades mapuches en Chile.

The purpose of this article is to establish a textual parallel between Hunter S. Thompson`s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Ernest Hemingway`s Green Hills of Africa. Thompson took Hemingway’s novel as a challenge to write under extreme duress. Thompson twisted many passages from Green Hills to fit his own text. He used bitter irony to translate Hemingway`s text into his own “Gonzo” reportage. Thompson`s friend and traveling companion, Oscar Z. Acosta, is used as an example of how Thompson rewrote Hemingway. Acosta`s Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is referenced as the nexus of the two novels, making Acosta the primary focus of Thompson`s rewrite. These men, their methods, and their works fit together under Thompson`s pen. Hemingway`s religious, racial, and bestial imagery are included in Thompson`s narrative. However, these images are made ironic and do not plagiarize the original copy.

La influencia española y latinoamericana es muy evidente en el NBA. Hay muchos jugadores de América Latina y España que cambiaron la liga. El éxito de jugadores de América Latina y España ha aumentado el número de aficionados latinos y españoles en todo el mundo, y por eso el NBA está cambiando de una perspectiva de mercadeo y de negocios para globalizar la liga.

This thesis examines the commercialization of ethnic tourism in Guatemala and Morocco in a postcolonial world. Addressing notions of authenticity, Western expectations of the ethnic tourism experience, and colonial portrayals of the Mayas and the Berbers, the thesis argues that the Guatemalan and Moroccan governments reduce their indigenous populations to ‘authentic’ living museums in their touristic promotions targeting Western tourists. Catering to Western tourists’ expectations, the Guatemalan and Moroccan governments perpetuate the stereotypes of their indigenous populations that were established during colonialism. Despite Guatemalan and Moroccan cultural repression of the Maya and the Berber populations, respectively, the governments exploit their indigenous populations for touristic purposes.