Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of California, Berkeley. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Richard R. Flores. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-50).

The maintenance, performance, and practice of Mexican music formed part of a resistance effort against cultural, political, economic, gendered, and geographic marginalization throughout the course of the twentieth century in Tucson, Arizona. This project defines iconic, popular Mexican music as música cósmica, a term inspired by José Velasco’s raza cósmica, and which refers to the music’s role as a unifying cultural expression for individuals of Mexican descent in Tucson and other diaspora communities. This project draws from new and archived interviews, newspapers, recorded performances, radio programs, and other ephemera of Tucson’s musical past to outline how la música cósmica formed part of an organic cultural expression of the people of the U.S. southwest, one that informed and was informed by the corpus being developed and promoted out of Mexico City. The process of maintaining la música cósmica in Tucson as a source of collective identity and resistance involved a deep commitment to maintaining musical places, spaces, and talents in the face of political, social, and geographic marginalization, including the physical destruction of Mexican homes and businesses in the name of urban renewal. Community leaders and music teachers viewed the teaching of música cósmica to Tucson youth as part of a social justice educational revolution, yet to teach the music they first had to overcome the internalization of anti-Mexican sentiment that viewed Mexican cultural expressions as inferior and overtly feminine. They reclaimed pride in this marginalized identity, the feminized fatherland or madre patria, through reframing the interpretation of the music as a cultural expression requiring precision, excellence, and that held monetary value. Music teachers employed a commitment to excellence and an insistence on paid performances to transform the perception of the music from that of an expression of inferior culture to one worthy of pride, respect, and admiration. Tucsonans approached the teaching and performing of la música cósmica with a profound sense of duty, one that inspired heroic acts of dedication and united Tucsonans of Mexican descent in spite of otherwise deep and painful divisions over political ideologies, popular tastes, skin color, personal experience, and the process of social change. The deep scar left by urban renewal, neighborhood demolition, and family relocation left many bitter divisions among members of Tucson’s community of Mexican descent. Nonetheless, la música cósmica continued to play a unifying role, and Tucsonans came together across these differences to ensure its survival, and to ensure their own cultural survival in the city´s public narrative as a result. By the 1980s, Tucson boasted numerous youth mariachi programs and hosted the first annual International Mariachi Conference, converting a city that continued to struggle with its collective identity into a global center for the teaching and performing of Mexican music.

No description available.

Political socialization, defined here as the internalization of supportive norms and values toward the political system, has received new impetus since the early 1960's. Students of the concept have launched a multi-frontal assault in order to accumulate data which will produce knowledge, understanding, and explanations about the state of the field.

Drawing on historical case study methodology informed by critical perspectives of education, this study examines the decision by Tucson United School District (TUSD) to ban its nationally recognized Mexican American Studies (MAS) program in 2012. Framing public education as a site of contestation for equality and democratization, the ban is examined within a five-phase historical context of the struggles of Chicanos for equity in the USA. The research questions address the dismantling of the program in terms of the ongoing historical disparities between the education of Chicanos and Anglo Americans in Tucson, diverse stakeholders’ perspectives on equality and inequality in the decision making, and the response of stakeholders who supported the program to the attempts to dismantle it. The theoretical framework of this study intersects Critical Race Theory and its corollary Latino Critical Theory, Critical Multicultural Pedagogy that centers Critical Pedagogy and Historical Discourse Analysis that focuses attention to the use of power in educational decision making. The interview data from nine study participants who were closely affiliated with the MAS program and selected historical documents and archival data were analyzed to uncover Anglo and Chicano perspectives on education for Mexican Americans in Tucson. The analysis revealed that the differences between Chicano and Anglo perspectives on equity and the role of education in facilitating equality for Chicanos laid the groundwork for the conceptualization of the MAS program by its supporters, and the rationale for its banning by its opponents. The interview data revealed that all participants contextualized their work in the MAS within the history of struggle for Chicano education, they represented a cohesive “Dream Team” committed to implementing a program grounded in critical and culturally relevant pedagogies, and that initial marginalization provided them the space for unimpeded development of the program. Participants’ responses further revealed evidence of the deep psychological toll, intellectual energy demands, and civic engagement required of MAS supporters in the face of this particular episode in the ongoing history of the struggle for Chicano educational equity. The implications for critical multicultural education programs operating within culturally hegemonic policy and social contexts are examined. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Objective: To assess the association between weight dissatisfaction, weight status, and weight loss in Mexican-American children participating in a weight management program. Methods: Participants included 265 Mexican American children recruited for a school-based weight management program. All children completed baseline assessments and changes in standardized body mass index (zBMI) were monitored in at-risk for overweight and overweight children (i.e., >85th BMI percentile) who had been randomized to receive the weight loss intervention (n = 101). Results: Participants classified as at-risk for overweight or overweight reported greater weight dissatisfaction than normal weight children. Lower weight dissatisfaction at baseline was associated with greater changes in zBMI at 6 months. Weight dissatisfaction did not change across the course of treatment. Conclusions: Mexican-American children whose weight status is greater than normal have greater weight dissatisfaction. Children with greater weight dissatisfaction are less likely to lose weight in a weight management program and weight dissatisfaction remains stable over the course of treatment.

No description available.

Inherent in the process of marketing is the notion that consumption requires both time and effort. While shopping, consumers may spend time and effort to complete several tasks such as searching for information, traveling to the store?s location, searching for a parking spot, traveling through the store, locating the product they wish to purchase, and completing the checkout process. Convenience is defined as anything that reduces consumer time and effort expenditures and is becoming increasingly important to consumers in the United States. This dissertation provides insight into an emerging consumer need--the need for retail shopping convenience (NRSC). Specifically, this dissertation has four distinct purposes: 1) to examine the nature of the NRSC construct; 2) to investigate time pressure, role overload, various timestyle dimensions, and the willingness to trade money for convenience as antecedents to the NRSC; 3) to examine the role that culture plays in moderating the relationship between selected antecedents and the NRSC; and 4) to identify the consequences and/or retailer benefits of satisfying a consumer?s NRSC. Cross-cultural comparisons were made by examining data collected from two consumer groups--white, non-Hispanic Americans and Mexican Americans. For each respondent, data were collected across three shopping situations: grocery shopping, mall shopping, and online shopping. In an empirical examination of the NRSC, it was found that this consumer need varies across shopping situations. Antecedents significant in influencing this consumer need include time pressure, temporal orientation, planning orientation, and polychronic orientation. Findings show that culture plays an important role in determining the NRSC. When compared to white, non-Hispanic American consumers, Mexican-American consumers experienced more time pressure. In addition, the influence of temporal orientation and polychronic orientation on the NRSC was stronger for Mexican Americans. White, non-Hispanic American consumers were found to have a stronger relationship between planning orientation and the NRSC than Mexican-American consumers. Additional findings confirm the importance of the NRSC to consumers, showing that retailers who satisfy this emerging consumer need are rewarded with higher levels of commitment, stronger repurchase intentions, and positive word-of-mouth communications. Taken together, these findings show the importance of the NRSC in determining consumer behavior.