According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 64% of primate species are declining in the wild and 49% face a significant risk of extinction. This crisis is largely the result of human activity, including logging, ranching, and hunting. In this study I examine the impacts of the anthropogenic habitat disturbances associated with cattle ranching on a primate community. Research was conducted at the preeminent site for the study of rain forest fragmentation, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Manaus, Brazil. I surveyed 8 line transects totaling 13 km that sampled: 1) secondary forest on abandoned cattle pasture,2) selectively logged primary forest, and 3) undisturbed primary forest. Specifically, I tested for edge effects, niche partitioning, and interhabitat differences in population density. Primate presence in edge habitats was negatively related to the amount of fruit consumed, a relationship that was also apparent in the densities of individual species. Four species were more abundant in edge habitats: Alouatta macconnelli (folivore-frugivore), Chiropotes chiropotes (seed predator), Saguinus midas (generalist), and Sapajus apella (generalist); one was less abundant: Ateles paniscus (frugivore); and the last showed no edge-related pattern: Pithecia chrysocephala (seed predator). Niche partitioning was evident in diet and macrohabitat use. In addition, in primary forest there was partitioning along several microhabitat variables. In secondary forest, however, microhabitat partitioning was absent, possibly due to habitat constraints or low encounter rates. Body size was positively related to use of vertical strata in both habitats, hence a combination of body size and competition may drive vertical niche partitioning. Primate characteristics were not related to their presence in selectively logged or undisturbed primary forest, though body size was inversely related to presence in secondary forest. Only the two generalists (Saguinus and Sapajus) heavily utilized secondary forest. The two largest species, Ateles (frugivore) and Alouatta (folivore-frugivore), showed an equal preference for all primary forest (logged and undisturbed) over secondary forest. Chiropotes (seed predator) also preferred undisturbed primary forest while Pithecia (seed predator) was relatively uniformly distributed. / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

For two hundred years the history of the Battle of New Orleans has suffered from the neglected state of the historiography on the War of 1812 and the static state of the Battle's orthodox narrative. This dissertation identifies and deconstructs the central themes of the Battle's orthodox narrative. It reveals how these long standing presumptions surfaced through the Battle's public commemoration in the nineteenth century and have fostered misleading perceptions about Louisiana’s involvement in the war, the defense preparations undertaken in New Orleans prior to Andrew Jackson's arrival, and the so-called unity that was achieved through the victory. By incorporating the actions and experiences of women and the enslaved into the Battle's history, this dissertation exposes the traditional marginalization of these groups in accounts of the Battle and its subsequent memorialization. It shows that the absence of women and the enslaved in the cultivation of the Battle's public memory was a deliberate measure taken by white slaveholding elites to preserve racial and social divisions that were blurred by the Battle's symbolic message of the power of unity. The actions of a third group, free men of color, are examined to illustrate how critical they were to the victory and how dangerous the memory of their service was to white slaveholding elites, especially in the 1850s. These new perspectives on the Battle and its public commemoration challenge the unchanging nature of the Battle's history and indicate that there is far more to the Battle's story than has ever been told. / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation analyzes the wills left behind by African-born ex-slaves in nineteenth-century Salvador in order to shed light on the lives that they led in the Bahian capital upon their arrival as slaves from Africa, and upon the re-acquisition of their freedom through the alforria system. The material assets and the slave ownership of libertos are studied in depth, as well as their religiosity, and the larger world and networks within which they operated in their Brazilian lives, with a specific eye towards African agency and processes of community formation. The qualitative and in-depth study of post-mortem testaments and inventories as meaningful texts in their own right provides the opportunity to decipher the individual voices of freed Africans, as well as to acquire insight into their Bahian worlds. The relationships, affective ties, and kinship networks of libertos, as well as their efforts to exercise agency and deliberation over their own lives, and the lives of others to whom they were connected, also become evident in the process. The testaments also make it possible to acquire a deeper understanding of African cosmologies in Brazil, through the ways in which libertos understood the passage from the worldly life to the afterlife, the meanings they gave to death, to funerals and other last rites. Understandings of justice, legality, and honor also come to the forefront, while the complex context of nineteenth century Bahia (and Brazil in general) constitutes the constant backdrop against which all these discussions acquire meaning. Understanding the lives, belief systems, and connections of African libertos also has important repercussions for understanding the experiences of Africans and their descendants in slave societies all over the Atlantic World. Insights deriving from the in-depth analysis of libertos’ wills have important implications for furthering our knowledge with regards to the Atlantic slave trade, slave ownership, and enslavement, as well as processes of identity and community formation, retention, adaptation, and resistance in the African Diaspora as a whole. / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

Over the years, a number of quantitative studies have attempted and failed to capture the positive psychological growth that comes from participation in outdoor adventure education, as well as the precise source of that growth. The logical conclusion from this is either that such growth is an illusion, such growth can’t be measured, or that the studies were in some way methodologically flawed. The present study takes an intensive ethnographic/autoethnographic approach to study the progress of six teenage boys in a bifurcated eight-week summer camp program evenly divided between adventure travel and apprenticeship as staff to younger children. The study set out to find out what antecedent factors predicated the development of resilience and self-efficacy, with a particular focus on the culture of the camp as a whole and the expectations placed on staff conduct; the developmental trajectory of the individual; the individual’s past experience with adversity; the individual’s self-concept both at a given point of observation and over time; the group dynamic of the CIT cohort; the mentorship of older staff; the formal training as a counselor; and the expectations of a caregiver role. In addition to clear measures of self-efficacy, and, in some cases, resilience, the study also revealed generalized positive psychological growth as a result of a healthy, value-setting group dynamic. Of particular interest was the development of the study itself, with its reflective interviews and focus groups focused on positive adaptation to challenges, as an additional antecedent factor. / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation explores representations of race and gender embodied by Clementina de Jesus (1901-1987), samba singer, and Carolina de Jesus (1915-1977), author of the autobiographical memoir Quarto de Despejo (1960). Both women were "discovered" by middle class intellectual men from outside of their communities. Once they achieved renown, they were promoted as symbols of Brazil's social reality by cultural mediators of a different class and race, representing the commonly gendered and racialized archetypes of the mãe preta and the discriminated favelada. Through analysis of literary, musical, journalistic, and photographic portrayals of both women, I explore the role of cultural mediation in the construction of Brazilian identity in the 1960s and 70s, a time of intense social debate over race, poverty, and national identity. Both women achieved recognition shortly before the military coup d'etat and subsequent dictatorship (1964-1985), a time when the Brazilian middle class was engaged in a constant search for the "roots" of national identity within popular cultural forms. The cultural mediators examined in this project formed bridges between creators and audiences from radically different backgrounds, smoothing the transition between groups and framing the cultural production of others in specific ways. By eventually acting as cultural mediators themselves, Carolina and Clementina prove that the process of cultural mediation is dynamic instead of static, shifting over time and relationships of power. This study demonstrates that both the process of cultural mediation and the quest for authenticity were inherently linked to relations of class, race, and gender, affirming instead of transcending the social divisions between groups in twentieth century Brazil. / acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation addresses the theorization of immigration policymaking from a perspective that encompasses all possible roles held in migration management. It discusses how simultaneous roles as a sending, receiving and transit country in the migration phenomenon can become intertwined and inherently affect policymaking on all fronts. Using Mexico as a case study, this dissertation finds that the most compelling variables in the construction of immigration policy are: consideration of the state’s relationship with its emigrant population; grievances expressed by civil society; and complaints of regional partners. Mexico combined emigration and immigration policy in order to produce an optimal situation for all aspects of migration management, which was done through the strategy of soft reciprocity. By utilizing international human rights norms in the construction of its new Migration Law, Mexico was able to secure legitimacy and moral authority to broaden emigration policy and enhance protection of Mexicans abroad. / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

Based on ethnographic field research conducted in the summer of 2014, this thesis explores how Bolivian migrants garner rights and recognition in São Paulo, Brazil. By performing a Bolivian ethnonational identity in São Paulo public space, migrants reflect municipal government priorities of social inclusion and multiculturalism to emerge as meritorious citizens. Alongside cultural displays, migrants leverage new institutional channels of political participation to negotiate their relationship with São Paulo municipal and Bolivian state representatives. Chapter One explores the two dominant spaces associated with Bolivian migration in São Paulo – the garment workshop and the weekly ethnic market of Praça Kantuta. Chapter Two analyzes the intersection between Bolivian cultural celebrations and migrant political agendas. Through the ethnic market and cultural celebrations, Bolivian migrant elites emerge as representatives of a Bolivian collectivity, paper over intra-community class dynamics, and divert attention from exploitative labor practices in the garment industry. Chapter Three analyzes emigrant claims-making of Bolivian state representatives following the extension of emigrant voting rights in the 2009 Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. / acase@tulane.edu