<p> As consciousness develops out of the unconscious, according to Jungian analyst Erich Neumann, it passes through necessary phases, both in the individual and on the collective level. Part of this process is demonizing that which was formerly unconscious, represented in myth and dreams as the archetypal Terrible Mother. In Mexico and the American Southwest, mythological representations of this archetype appear in the ghost story of La Llorona and the mythic historical figure of La Malinche. These myths are examined to show the emergence of consciousness of personal and systemic oppression. The tension that arises from this new level of consciousness gives way to what Carl G. Jung termed the transcendent function, a new paradigm of cultural consciousness beyond oppressor and oppressed. Using hermeneutic methodology, this research additionally explores the transcendent function and active imagination along with liberation psychology&rsquo;s notion of liberation arts to facilitate healing from personal and systemic oppression.</p><p>

<p> The present study described self-care practices and compassion satisfaction among 75 Colombian and Puerto Rican psychologists practicing in United States (21), Colombia (29), and Puerto Rico (25). The relationship between self-care and compassion satisfaction was also examined considering five areas (use of personal therapy, finding and engaging in leisure activities, social support, personal relationships, and cognitive self-care) reported in the literature as influential for Caucasian psychologists. The relationships between compassion satisfaction and self-care was explored in two ways. One, as the total group of Latina (o) psychologists, and two, as subgroups divided by country of practice. The study implemented a mixed methodology design in which participants completed three questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire; the Professional Quality of Life Scale 4 (PROQOL- 4); and the Self-Care Assessment Worksheet (SCAW). Furthermore, eight psychologists (two practicing in the USA, three in Colombia, and three in Puerto Rico), participated in a semi-structured interview. Descriptive statistics and Pearson-moment product correlations were used to analyze the data. A summary of the means, standard deviations, minimums, and maximus are presented here. A qualitative analysis of the interviews is also provided. Overall, quantitative results indicated there is a relationship among Compassion Satisfaction and Self-Care for Latina (o) psychologists practicing in Puerto Rico, but not relationship was found for those working in Colombia or the United States. Future research is needed with a wider sample inclusive of Latina psychologists from countries other than Puerto Rico and Colombia to be able to determine potential differences among Caucasian and Latina psychologists in terms of self-care and compassion satisfaction practices.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explores the possible creation of a new categorization of American Literature as presented in the Andean novel <i>El pez de oro: Retablos del Laykhakuy</i> (1957) by Gamaliel Churata. In <i>El pez de oro</i>, Gamaliel Churata presents a strategy for the recuperation of native Andean cultural agency that enables the Andean subject to reclaim traces of their ancestral past under more verisimilar and verifiable terms. Churata argues that through a recuperation of native language and its infusion into the body of the major colonial language, Spanish, the Andean subject is equipped with a new culture producing tool that enables the recuperation of language, agency, history, and, ultimately, representation and inclusion within cultural and political institutional frameworks. By introducing his own function of bilingualism, vernacular language, and mythological infusions into the body of colonial letters, Gamaliel Churata is able to destabilize and disrupt colonial historical and textual authority to the point where the invented concept of America and the colonial product of American identity can be re-examined. Through this examination emerges a new option for the categorization of American identity as an aesthetic construct. Within this new categorization of aesthetic American identity, the Andean subject can begin his own process of self-identification through his native language toward the production of a future Andean American subject.</p><p>

<p> Conceptualized by Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas Jim&eacute;nez (known as Habacuc), <i>Exposici&oacute;n #1</i> [Exposition #1](or its more infamous moniker &ldquo;starving dog art&rdquo;)(2007) operates as a multifarious transgressive work of art. A main point of contention within the artwork is the rumored starvation of a dog during the course of artwork&rsquo;s exhibition. This thesis analyzes Habacuc&rsquo;s proposition within contemporaneous debates around participatory practices and Internet art. This examination is provided in order to present an alternative interpretation of the work relative to the divisive practices of the artist. Similar to other artists working with the period known as postinternet, Habacuc engages in a form of art that is counter-cultural, utilizing misinformation as a catalyst for his viral proposition. While Habacuc employs a strategy of critique throughout his varied oeuvre, <i>Exposici&oacute;n #1,</i> arguably his most complex work to date, wholly demonstrates his approach to the Internet as an intrinsically hybridized, political, and oppositional medium. Within the following chapters I focus on the types of participatory relations being produced within <i>Exposici&oacute;n #1</i> and Habacuc&rsquo;s authorial intent to challenge the principles of emancipation promised in the discourses around participation in art and the Internet as &ldquo;global village.&rdquo; </p><p>

<p> Between the months of October, 2013 and July, 2014, United States Customs Border protection reported that an estimated 63,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the United States. border, 75% of which came from Central America, specifically Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala (Renwick, 2014). These Central American youth are being pushed out of their home countries due to high levels of violence and poverty that has been caused by gangs and suffering economies. At the same time, they are being pulled into the U.S. to reunite with family, especially parents, many of who migrated to the U.S. during times of war in their home countries. Upon their arrival to this country, these youth are enrolling in U.S. schools, the institution with the highest amount of interaction with these youth as they begin their newcomer journey. </p><p> This qualitative case study focuses on the schooling experiences of immigrant, newcomer youth from Central America in a single high school in a large urban district in Southern California. Conducted through the lenses of Critical Race Theory, Latina/o Critical Theory, and racist nativism, the study asks (1) How does racist nativism mediate the schooling experiences of Central American students at an urban high school in Southern California? (a) How do they negotiate/navigate being students despite the challenges that they may face?; and (2) What does success mean to these youth? (a) How do they become successful on their own terms, and how are they working to get to that? Participants consisted of first-year newcomer youth from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.</p><p>

<p> Although the Latino population is growing in high numbers in the United States, not enough effort is being made to accommodate the cultural needs of Latinos as it relates to mental health services. Latinos&rsquo; underutilization of mental health services is of concern, as not receiving the help they need results in Latinos not having the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential. The purpose of this project was to write a grant and identify a funding source to implement a culturally sensitive mental health program to help Latinos suffering with depression, provide them with available resources, and increase their mental health literacy. Taking care of the mental health needs of Latinos can improve their quality of life and will benefit society as a whole. For this project, a prospective funder was identified, even though actual funding and submission of this grant proposal are not required for the completion of this project.</p><p>

<p> Resilience is defined as the ability to respond adaptively and maintain a high quality of life even after adversity or trauma. Research conducted in Western cultures has identified multiple factors that correlate with resilience for survivors of childhood trauma, including social support, the presence of a stable adult, internal locus of control, supportive spiritual beliefs and lack of self-blame regarding the trauma (Crenshaw, 2013; Brooks &amp; Goldstein, 2004; Goldstein, Brooks, &amp; Devries, 2013). This study explored whether the factors that previous research has identified as predictive of resilience have a similar predictive value when applied to another culture. This research found that the presence of a stable adult, social support, supportive spiritual beliefs and a minimal amount of self-blame all correlated with resilience in the examined population of adolescent Bolivian street girls. However, no correlation was found between internal locus of control and resilience among this population. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation addresses the sonorous attributes of hegemony and subaltern resistance within contemporary Mexico City. In this urban environment, inhabitants use sound to interpret and shift the balance of power that pervades their daily lives. I draw on the interdisciplinary research area of sound studies that regards the acoustic environment not only as an amalgam of sounds but as overlapping sites of cultural inscription, resistance, and reimagining. Recent works in the area of sound studies identify sound not only as a byproduct of social conflict but also as a weapon itself. While these studies emphasize the use of weaponized sounds in war zones, few studies exist concerning the insidious manipulation of acoustic environments by oppressive regimes during peacetime, or the efforts of marginalized groups to challenge this oppression through sound. As a result, a significant aspect of social conflict in urban centers&mdash;that of the sonic&mdash;remains unexamined. </p><p> This dissertation is organized into four case studies that each address distinct yet interrelated manifestations of sonorous struggles for territorial dominance: 1) the specialized listening and sound producing practices of street vendors in Mexico City&rsquo;s Historic Center; 2) the crisis of street harassment as a sonorous practice of patriarchal domination; 3) the mosaic of sonic differentiation found in the Chopo Cultural Bazaar and finally 4) the reconfiguration of <i>son jarocho</i> (a folkloric dance and musical tradition from Veracruz) by urban musicians as a form of counterhegemonic protest during the Ayotzinapa marches of 2014 and 2015. These four case studies represent nodes of broader patterns of oppression and resistance that are indicative of both Mexico City&rsquo;s distinct history and its contemporary condition. The materiality and affective potency of these acoustic environments provide a crucial link between subjective sensory experiences and the social forces that inform them. The selective listening of sonically inundated urbanites, the politics of personal representation and group affiliation shown through aesthetic musical choices, and the occupation and contestation of acoustic space through the use of amplified sound all demonstrate tangible expressions of embodiment that speak to larger patterns of power.</p><p>

This thesis examines the involvement of the United States in the decade-long trade dispute before the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the European Union's preferential banana regime. Washington's justification for bringing this case to the WTO comes from Section 301 of the U.S. trade act, which allows for disputes to be undertaken if U.S. "interests" are violated; however, this is the first case ever undertaken by the United States that does not directly threaten any American banana industry, nor affect any American jobs. Why, then, would the United States involve itself in this European-Caribbean-Latin American dispute? It is the contention of this thesis that the United States thrust itself headlong into this debate for two reasons: domestically, the United States Trade Representative came under pressure, via the White House and Congress, from Chiquita CEO Carl Lindner, who in the past decade donated more than $7.1 million to American politicians to take the case to the WTO. Internationally, the United States used the case as an opportunity to assert its power over Europe, with the Eastern Caribbean islands being caught in the economic crossfire. According to existing literature, in undertaking this case, the United States did as any nation would: it operated within both domestic and international levels, satisfying at each level key interests, with the overall goal of maintaining the nation's best interests.

Since President Hugo Chávez Frias came to power in 1999, the Venezuelan political space has become militarized. The study focused on examining how and why the military entered into the traditional civilian space in Venezuela and militarized the political system. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the participation of the Venezuelan military in state affairs, the reasons why this institution became such an active political actor, and how this process evolved over the last five years. Findings revealed that the Venezuelan military became involved in national politics through a series of prerogatives granted by the government of Hugo Chávez. These military prerogatives were granted in key state areas such as the cabinet, legislature and police/intelligence. Also, by using the Rational Choice Model it could be examined of why President Chávez, as the purposive actor, made the choice of militarizing Venezuelan politics. This was a value-maximizing alternative among a set of other alternatives to accomplish Chávez's major political goals.