The instance of rice aid in Haiti definitively demands a reevaluation of humanitarian aid in today's world. In this thesis, I will outline the effects of rice aid on Haitian society and theoretically analyze humanitarian aid’s presence in “developing” countries. In addition to ruining many Haitian farmers' livelihoods, rice imports have aggravated Haiti's economic situation and national stability, the consequences of which have fallen primarily on the poor woman. I focus on the effects on the peasant woman in this thesis. Food insecurity remains a crisis. Throughout my thesis, I draw from the texts of scholars Slavoj Zizek, Jacques Rancière, and Noam Chomsky, in order to attempt at understanding what is really going on here. Such theorists illuminate the historical and theoretical analysis of humanitarian aid and the concept of human rights that said-aid seeks to protect. The purpose of my thesis is to shed new light on the business of humanitarian aid, using rice in Haiti as a case study of sorts. I seek to uncover the role international donor institutions have played in reinforcing the fragile state in Haiti as a result of rice aid, arguing that humanitarian aid has done more to prevent than to inspire sustainable progress in Haiti especially in rural Haiti that continually gets hit the hardest during economic crises such as the one brought on by humanitarian aid in the form of rice.

The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the ars poetica in the work of Eladia Blázquez (1936-2005), and to appreciate to what extent it converges or separates detaches itself from the traditional tango lyrics. Due to her numerous pieces, she is the first and only woman to write both music and lyrics consistently, while proposing a different viewpoint in tone and themes in order to update them to current times. Among them, the major are Buenos Aires, life and identity. The researcher proposes that Blázquez nourished herself on the classics, recreating them while offering new expressive possibilities, shifting at times from their melancholic tone and the moaning sound of the bandoneón, tango’s soul-haunting instrument, to a more hopeful one. Definitely, Blázquez’s renovated vanguard brought about change in Argentinean tango poetry, and the genre back to life when it was agonizing. INDEX WORDS: Tango, Lyrics, Eladia Blázquez, Buenos Aires, Life, National identity.

Este trabajo explora los temas de la nostalgia y la amnesia, de los africanos inmigrantes así como de los españoles, representados en tres películas contemporáneas españolas que se tratan de la inmigración de los africanos a España. Va a explorar estos temas de la amnesia y la nostalgia a través de los pasos de un inmigrante africano – 1ª paso) el viaje difícil de África a España, 2ª paso) la vida del inmigrante dentro de España, y 3ª paso) el regreso a África - como representados, respectivamente, en las siguientes películas: 14 kilómetros (2008), Said (1998), y Pobladores (2006).

Gerade zur Zeit der beiden grossen Weltkriege wurden sehr viele Soldatentotenzettel gedruckt. Diese waren grundsätzlich als religiöse Erinnerungsstücke gemeint, jedoch kann man bei ihrer Betrachtung den weltlichen Aspekt nicht ausser Acht lassen. Im folgenden soll argumentiert werden, dass die Darstellungen und Texte auf diesen sterbezetteln einen sozialen Einfluss auch auf die Darstellung der Männlichkeit für die Gesellschaft ausüben sollten. Dabei wurden vierundvierzig Totenzettel des Ersten- und fünfzig des Zweiten Weltkriegs des münsteraner Raumes aufgefunden und analysiert.

Robert Musils Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß handelt von der Entwicklung eines Kadetten angesichts des grausamen Missbrauchs eines anderen Jungen Basini. Dieser Aufsatz analysiert die protofaschistischen Eigenschaften von Haupttätern Reiting und Beineberg, sowie die ästhetische und apolitische Haltung von Törleß gegenüber diesen Verletzungen. Indem dieser Roman eine geschichtliche Interpretation der Zeit erlaubt, muss die „verbesserte“ Position der erwachsenen Hauptfigur, deren Beschreibung vom Erzähler die Handlung unterbricht und einfärbt, als apolitisch und kritisch gesehen werden.

This thesis is an ethnography and biographical study that examines the impact of the immense socioeconomic changes underway in Cuba at the turn of the 21st century and the flexible identity categories through which individuals navigate a social crisis. The biography and ethnography in this thesis are centered on the life of Violeta Aldama, an aging revolutionary and Afro-Cuban mother who struggles to make ends meet while fighting to steer her son, Brian, through a classical music education and into a music career. Amid growing racial inequalities when many Afro-Cubans are locked out of the most lucrative jobs in the new tourism sector and less likely to have family abroad sending remittances, the booming dance music industry offers the greatest promise for advancement and wealth than possibly any other profession. With the retraction of the state in a growing market economy, Violeta must scramble to build new networks of support while also coming to terms with the idea that the system she fought for all of her life will no longer be able to sustain her son. This study argues that individuals navigate through social crises through identity categories that are both socially constructed and subjectively fluid. In the process, they rely on these identity categories to build new contacts for support while also finding in them meaning and agency. I frame this thesis around three broad identity categories - race, class and national identity. The study also shows how Violeta in turn experienced these categories - as well as motherhood and her revolutionary roles - and the ways that she used them to build networks of support. The thesis is guided by the theory on lo informal developed by scholar Damián Fernández: the split in individuals between ideals and passionate beliefs versus life on the black market to help loved ones survive. The study's methodology draws from feminist ethnography, examining not only Violeta's position in society as an Afro-Cuban woman and aging revolutionary, but also my relationship with her and her son as a white, middle-class American researcher during a time when relationships with foreigners became a crucial means of social advancement. This research bridges academic areas of study regarding Cuba's growing racial inequalities and the rising economic power of the music industry. It also contributes to the academic canon on social movements by highlighting roles of individuals - not just the state or opposition alliances - as social actors.

The last decades of the 19th Century and the first decades of the 20th Century encompass a revolutionary movement worldwide. The growth and advances throughout all disciplines of study and especially the collaboration across Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Culture and Politics became stronger and more evident than ever before. As the Mexican Revolution (1910) developed in frightening fights, the country became increasingly insecure and violent. It was the duty of the living artist to create pathways to escape reality, embellishing the surroundings with its music, paintings and poetry. This climate is what paved the way to the bohemian living-style that developed in the main cities gaining power and acceptance, especially in Mexico City. Maria Grever, Tata Nacho and Agustín Lara represent a handful of composers/performers who wrote in the style of canciones contributing to the ideal of stability, hope and love in all forms and fashions. They represent the complexity of an era thru an outpouring of songs, depicting the romanticism of Mexico's ever changing times. They are also key figures for the growth and expansion of Mexican music throughout the world, aided by the technological advances such as the first recordings and radio broadcasting.

The instance of rice aid in Haiti definitively demands a reevaluation of humanitarian aid in today's world. In this thesis, I will outline the effects of rice aid on Haitian society and theoretically analyze humanitarian aid’s presence in “developing” countries. In addition to ruining many Haitian farmers' livelihoods, rice imports have aggravated Haiti's economic situation and national stability, the consequences of which have fallen primarily on the poor woman. I focus on the effects on the peasant woman in this thesis. Food insecurity remains a crisis. Throughout my thesis, I draw from the texts of scholars Slavoj Zizek, Jacques Rancière, and Noam Chomsky, in order to attempt at understanding what is really going on here. Such theorists illuminate the historical and theoretical analysis of humanitarian aid and the concept of human rights that said-aid seeks to protect. The purpose of my thesis is to shed new light on the business of humanitarian aid, using rice in Haiti as a case study of sorts. I seek to uncover the role international donor institutions have played in reinforcing the fragile state in Haiti as a result of rice aid, arguing that humanitarian aid has done more to prevent than to inspire sustainable progress in Haiti especially in rural Haiti that continually gets hit the hardest during economic crises such as the one brought on by humanitarian aid in the form of rice.

The transformation of the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey involved reforming the government, redefining the relationship between the population and the ruling elite, and navigating ethnic and religious identities and how those identities affected the national identity. Unfortunately, these processes were accompanied by the suppression of religious and ethnic minorities, deportations, violence, and murder.

El objetivo de esta investigación es buscar y analizar las causas que han mantenido la discriminación racial dentro de Cuba después de 1959. En mi investigación pretendo examinar cómo la Revolución Cubana no eliminó la continuidad histórica de discriminación racial heredada del pasado. En mi análisis quiero verificar cómo el estereotipo y la imagen política del afrocubano que ha sido formada tras los cambios sociales ocurridos después del 1959, no es más que el resultado de una falacia política montada en nombre de la igualdad. Muchas de las políticas adoptadas por el estado se hicieron en pos de eliminar la mayoría de los vestigios y rasgos de la discriminación, pero la principal estrategia radicó en manipular la memoria histórica de los afrocubanos haciendo alusión al periodo esclavista para crear un compromiso partidista. En realidad, se camufló el verdadero objetivo de estas políticas. Si bien se borraron las leyes discriminatorias del sistema jurídico, no ocurrió de la misma manera del pensamiento de los individuos ya que muchas políticas adoptadas a través de los años, contribuyeron a su persistencia. Otro aspecto importante es hacer referencia a la emigración de la población blanca y el impacto económico de este proceso en la constitución racial de la población de la isla. La diferencia de los niveles de vida entre blancos y afrocubanos después de casi sesenta años arroja índices de desigualdad y ratifica que la discriminación se ha identificado bajo las nuevas demandas políticas. Paralelamente, la lucha por la igualdad racial en la revolución se convirtió en agenda alternativa al sistema segregacionista que caracterizaba a los Estados Unidos a finales en la década de los cincuenta, pero aunque esta competencia le trajo cambios positivos a los afrocubanos, al tomar un nuevo tipo de identidad, hizo diferencias. La nueva sociedad cubana ofrecía oportunidades a cambio de lealtad. En la actualidad, los cubanos de cualquier raza son caracterizados por su fidelidad para el gobierno, el color de la raza cubana es por afiliación política y no por la pigmentación de la piel. En mi tesis quiero demostrar que el mito existente detrás del igualitarismo no es más que una primitiva propaganda que perdura desde la época de la era de la Guerra Fría. Citando a autores como Fernando Ortiz, Manuel Moreno Fraginals, Carlos Mesa-Lago, Mark Sawyer, entre otros, analizaré los diferentes espacios sociales de los afrocubanos para demostrar que ellos siguen siendo el sector más quebrantado de la sociedad. El lector encontrará libros muy fundamentales en cuanto a la raza cubana, pero también encontrará citas de periódicos, páginas de la internet, y otros medios, que ayudan a incorporar un pensamiento inmediato y actual que se mueve en los medios de comunicación que demuestre que el racismo solo se puede combatir dentro de una sociedad civil en discusión y no por decretos, haciéndolo un asunto social, no cultural ni político.