The yahui is a little studied creature depicted in Mixtec codices, sculpture and relief. The present study catalogues, categorizes and analyzes yahui imagery in order to ascertain its forms and functions. The following chapters provide formal, historical and linguistic analyses of yahui symbolism. My study concludes that there are three types of yahui imagery. The first type depicts an animal occurring in cosmological sequences. The second type of imagery is the nahual yahui imagery, in which the yahui is depicted as a half man, half animal figure performing ritual and ceremonial acts of sacrifice. The third type has linguistic connections, in that the main yahui symbolism, or the yahui motif, is attached to objects, place names and curanderos, or priestly human figures, in order to identify those objects and people as related to sacrifice. The involvement of yahui symbolism in sacrificial imagery is consistent with the Mesoamerican practice of sacrifice and supports the argument that sacrifice is a predominant theme Precolumbian Mixtec pictorial manuscripts. Additionally, the usage of yahui symbolism to signify objects, people and places indicates that Mixtec artists used it as a form of writing. My research suggests that there is probably a greater link between Mixteco, the language of the Mixtecs, and that codex imagery probably served a somewhat literary purpose / acase@tulane.edu

This thesis reevaluates the prevailing interpretation of the Oruro rebellion of 1781. The uprising is usually portrayed as a Creole-Indian undertaking, and is often offered as evidence of the possibilities of such collaboration in effecting social change. The Oruro rebellion in fact consisted of two largely distinct uprisings--Creole/Mestizo and Indian--each with their own origins, dynamics and antithetical visions of the future While the Creoles and their Mestizo supporters sought to replace the Spanish and give a limited degree of additional liberty to the native peoples, the Indians believed they were presiding over a divinely-assisted and long-prophesied cataclysm which would restore native rule and pre-hispanic ways The Oruro rebellion also demonstrates the often unrecognized fact that the Quechua-speaking Tupac Amaru had enthusiastic and explicit, if nominal, support in Aymara regions as the long-awaited hero-savior come to liberate the Indians. While this highlights the decentralized nature of the regional uprising, it also reflects the widespread eschatological expectations in the region. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) / acase@tulane.edu

The New Argentine Film Movement, a loose conglomeration of filmmakers that have altered conceptions of what it means to make national and political cinema in Argentina since the 1990's, has often located itself on the margins in terms of both geography and ideology. It is telling that in the four films analyzed in this study---La Cienaga and La Nina Santa by Lucrecia Martel, and Bolivia and Un Oso Rojo by Adrian Caetano---the downtown Buenos Aires is never shown. While the plaza de mayo and the casa rosada are the political and social centerpieces of Argentina, and the obelisco the prominent symbol of modern progress and nationalism, the structural analyses of these films reveals the formation of new national ideologies surging from the fringes of both the capital and the country. I argue that Martel and Caetano present this 'new' Argentina, imbued not with an uncontested 'European' heritage and stable middle class, but instead with multiple identities and intimately connected to the chaotic overhaul of the 2001 economic crisis which left many searching for new meanings, new jobs, and new residences. Specifically, I consider Bolivian influences in the films---in many ways 'Bolivians,' as discussed by scholars such as Alejandro Grimson and Cristina Garcia Vazquez, has come to designate the 'Other' in Argentine society. I find that both Martel and Caetano consistently investigate the 'Other' in their films, and while 'Bolivia' and 'Bolivians' are specifically referenced and prominent in their first feature-length works, their second films (completed after the crisis) generally take slightly different approaches / acase@tulane.edu

This study addressed the effects of background music on preschool children during block play. Music was manipulated to examine its observed effects on children's movement and dramatic play, as well as on the occurrence of group play. The tempo in the background music was manipulated to produce equal and counterbalanced days of slow, fast, and no background music While significant differences in the active/quiet qualities of play themes relative to music conditions were expected, no differences were noted. This is possibly due to the low frequency of identifiable play themes and to the redundancy of themes that were identified. It was noted, however, that the emergence of active versus quiet themes coincided with the tempo of music on the day the theme emerged. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) / acase@tulane.edu

Ethnographic interviews (n = 62) in the congregations of Huntsville, Texas provide a basis to interpret religious statements in a small American community. These statements were found to contain coding devices which function primarily to distinguish denominational groups from one another rather than functioning to represent what a group 'believes.' Analysis of the interview tape recordings revealed 28 rhetorical coding devices which were used on 14 binary continua. Each rhetorical coding device had an opposite coding device which occurred in a group with a different denominational identity. The most prevalent coding devices related to baptism. The 14 coding device continua used tangible symbolic distinctions related to the human body, including gender, or group customs much more often than they used abstract theological distinctions. The coding devices functioned to maintained community social solidarity to support the institutional aims of the local law enforcement sub-culture operating eight area prison units / acase@tulane.edu

This thesis examines women's education in Cajamarca, Peru and documents the personal experiences of those women who initiated and experienced the change in this field. On November 15, 1934, Law Number 7983 created the first normal school for women in Cajamarca The social and economic impact of this institution was tremendous not only locally for the city and department of Cajamarca, but regionally for northern Peru. Young women came from many cities in northern Peru to study in Cajamarca. Many of these women returned to their communities and pursued careers in education A recorded history of Santa Teresita Normal School and the women responsible for it serves as a testimony of the positive cultural change still being realized in Cajamarca, Peru. The history of this institution and the lives of the women affected by it are integral for understanding the role of women in the history of Peru / acase@tulane.edu

The Aaron Douglas Collection of works of art in the Amistad Research Center, now at Tulane University, includes works of art little known to scholars of American art. It is a collection of two hundred and seventy examples by black and minority artists, most dating from 1925 to 1954. Fifty-two of this number have been illustrated with several in color. There is no published catalog. Though individual works have been shown in specialized exhibitions, virtually none of this group has been included in standard survey books used in courses teaching American art history. The vitality of these works of art, the message they convey, should be included with the discipline of American art history The Aaron Douglas Collection represents a portion of a larger assemblage made by the Harmon Foundation of New York City. The details of the Collection's history are discussed in Chapter One Chapters Two and Three of this thesis provide a necessary foundation to the appreciation of the artists and their works. Several of these artists have slipped into obscurity. For that reason, background information about their times, the 20s and 30s, will perhaps serve to fill in some of the inherent gaps. Chapter Four gives a basic profile of each artist highlighting, whenever possible, pertinent information about them. The end of each profile contains catalog information for each of their pieces in the Collection / acase@tulane.edu

An examination of the role of women in contemporary Mexican politics, using original quantitative research, interviews and literature review. The author compiled a database of 283 female politicians and bureaucrats who have held office in the Mexican government since women first attained the rights of citizenship, voting and standing for office in 1953. Characteristics such as age, geographic and socioeconomic origins, level and place of education, national and local political experience, office-holding in unions, women's organizations and political parties, and repeat office-holding were examined. This information was examined against similar statistics for male politicians from a prior, comparable database. Comparisons were drawn against previous studies of female politicians in Mexico and other countries when possible. Finally, the increasing domination of Mexican politics by a technocratic ideology is examined in the context of the opportunities or obstacles it may present for female politicians / acase@tulane.edu

Literature review -- Methodology -- Body of project : Fire in the belly. / Dept. of Journalism

The purpose of this study was to explore individual variables affecting preferences for natural or managed landscapes. Environmental attitudes and value systems of student participants (N = 147) were assessed using the revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale and the Scenarios for the Measurement of Collectivism and Individualism (SMCI) scale, respectively. In addition, feminist orientation was assessed using the Attitudes toward Woman scale (AWS). The hypothesis that proenvironmental attitudes would be positively correlated with a preference for natural landscapes was supported. However, hypotheses that alignment with collectivist values would correlate positively with a preference for natural landscapes and that a feminist orientation would be positively correlated with a preference for natural landscapes were not supported. Demographic variables are discussed with respect to landscape preference. Caveats of the individualism-collectivism variable are also discussed.