This study is an interpretation of the poetic work of the Puerto Rican poet Francisco Matos Paoli from 1937 to 1962 focusing on the creation and metamorphorsis of the poetic voice. This approach views the poetic voice as a linguistic device, autonomous from the real author. It establishes a distance between the I of the poem and the concept of mask or persona. The study interprets the poetic voice as a combination of several poetic modes which represent different accents in the major ideological perspectives of the discourse. The various modes of the poetic, patriotical, metaphysical I (subdivided into Christian, spiritualist and espiritista I), and the family I (subdivided into father, son, brother and lover) constitute the space of the poetic voice as one of tension between these discourses. These modes of the poetic voice express the basic binary opposition life/death which is transformed as it passes through the various books according to the movement of the poetic modes and their discourses. In Cardo labriego (1937) the opposition life/death begins in the first part of the book assuming the form of the opposition productivity/dearth. In Habitante del eco (1944) and Teoria del olvido (1944) the basic opposition is in the context of the spiritualist communication between the world of "here" and the world of "beyond." In Canto a Puerto Rico (1952), Luz de los heroes (1954), and Canto nacional a Borinquen (1982) written in 1955, the opposition life-death becomes the opposition freedom/colonialism. In Criatura del rocio (1958) the opposition uses the Christian signs in the context of espiritista communication. Finally, in Canto de la locura (1962) the different forms of opposition are all present in an attempt to reconcile them in the utopian space of the poetic voice. This reading of Matos Paoli's poetic journey comes to the conclusion that during this period of poetic production the discourse of the poet is creating a poetics based on a demand made of the reader. The implicit reader of this poetry knows the various contexts of the several modes of the poetic voice.

La lirica de Dulce Maria Loynaz (Cuba 1902) ha sido considerada por el canon academico como perteneciente al post-modernismo hispanoamericano. Tal lectura no satisface la plenitud metaforica que la constituye. Esta disertacion propone una relectura de su obra lirica desde las teorias de Helene Cixous, Luce Irigaray y Julia Kristeva en torno a la identidad femenina. Se inicia con dos capitulos socio-historicos. El primero revisa la aportacion lirica de las mujeres poetas cubanas al canon literario desde sus camienzos hasta la generacion de Loynaz. Para la organicazion del esquema generacional se sigue a Raimundo Lazo. A caballo entre el post-modernismo y la vanguardia, el segundo capitulo analiza la produccion de estos movimientos en Cuba, deteniendose en unas consideraciones sobre la "poesia pura", para concluir que la lirica de Loynaz amplifica su poder significativo si se plantea su lectura desde los presupuestos de la Modernidad. Loynaz utiliza su textualidad poetica para disenar un Imaginario o identidad femenina basado en la liberacion de los presupuestos patriarcales que lo configuran tradicionalmente. Su estrategia reside en la metaforizacion acuatica, desde la que el yo lirico, paradojicamente, al adquirir una posicion marginal alcanza la integridad deseada. En una combinacion con imagenes de aire se desarrollan instancias misticas que contribuyen a la ausencia de limites. Lo inefable de la experiencia mistica se textualiza en el poema a traves de la liquidificacion. Al recuperar la voz a traves de la metafora, la voz lirica lleva a cabo un des-exilio, una ruptura de la especularidad que le hacia ser imagen de otro. Se copia la mimica del proceso mistico pero se transgrede pues, al alejarse del silencio, se lleva a cabo un proceso de des-histerizacion en la voz lirica. El pensamiento binario se suspende y se pasa a la fluidez. En la asimilacion de la tradicion literaria femenina que le precede, Loynaz recoge el misticismo de La Avellaneda, de Juana Borrero y de Emilia Bernal, para innovarlo a nivel estructural y otorgarle la dinamicidad de los enclaves liquidos en la constitucion del Imaginario femenino.

archives@tulane.edu / Using newly discovered sources from Spanish and French archives, “Subjects of the King: Royalism and the Origins of the Haitian Revolution, 1763-1806,” re-examines the social, political, and cultural history of the Haitian Revolution. Specifically, I explore the royalist origins of the August 1791 slave revolts in the French colony of Saint Domingue that sparked the famous 1791-1804 Revolution. In addition to tracing the movements of multilingual border crossers of uncertain loyalty, I document a royalist counterrevolutionary movement that sought to destroy the republican ideals of the French Revolution and restore Louis XVI to the throne. The current scholarly consensus posits that important causal factors in igniting the revolts were French Republicanism and Enlightenment-era abolitionism. I do not refute these claims, but I contest their centrality, filling a historiographical void by pointing to royalism, a venerable phenomenon with African as well as European roots, as a counterintuitive emancipatory model. I show that Saint Dominguan revolutionaries were part of a long-entangled history on the shared island of Hispaniola within which African descendants acted as pivot points between the two colonies, often crossing the border and manipulating both French and Spanish institutions. In doing so, they fashioned a multifaceted royalist viewpoint that paradoxically depended on monarchical articulations of rights and freedoms. Ultimately, my study calls upon scholars to rethink the way in which the enslaved in Saint Domingue conceptualized freedom, challenging the assumption that royalism was a rigid historical counterpoint to Enlightenment ideals. / 1 / Jesus G. Ruiz

Research on North American and European students have reported moderate to severe levels of stress in more than 90% of students, which has been linked to negative health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of data on the stress of Caribbean students. Higher education in the Caribbean has undergone a transformation with wider access and higher enrollment; thus, it is important that the effects and characteristics of this transformation are researched and documented. Accordingly, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the experience of students in 2 year community colleges in the Caribbean. Using the theoretical foundation of Lazarus and Folkman's (1989) appraisal theory of stress, the research questions focused on the predictors of stress, socioeconomic differences in the levels of stress, and coping styles. The undergraduate stress questionnaire, the perceived stress scale, and the brief cope questionnaire assessed 150 students recruited through response to flyers posted on campuses. Data were analyzed using generalized linear model, ANOVA and MANOVA. Results indicated student status and marital status significantly predicted the stress level of students, but significant socioeconomic status differences in stress and coping styles did not. The research contributes to positive social change by helping to inform educators, administrators, and parents on the particular stressors students face, thus contributing to a better understanding of the phenomena of stress and coping among Caribbean students. It also broadens the body of research, extending it to populations outside of the North American and European contexts and providing valuable data for subsequent research.

Throughout history states have pursued both cooperative and power-oriented strategies. Moralists and realists have long questioned the appropriateness of using force to gain state objectives. Recent analysts have stressed that states have a moral duty to manage international uncertainty in the best interests of their citizens. While this might involve utilizing both power-seeking and order-seeking strategies, it has been suggested that pursuing order-seeking strategies could help alleviate international uncertainty. An historical survey, as well as recent case studies in Grenada and Nicaragua, indicate that the United States often has relied upon military strategies in the Caribbean Basin. The United States has employed a variety of techniques including "shows-of-force," threats, coercive diplomacy, intervention, and covert activities. These policies appear to have been based upon the assumption that military policies can be carefully calculated to alter the behavior of another state. Due to classified information, sensitive information is often restricted regarding this topic. However, available information indicates that American foreign policy regarding the use of force in the Caribbean Basin has not been useful. While such policies may appear to have been successful in the short run, the same policies often have brought negative repercussions in the long run. Not only has the United States been regarded unfavorably, but it has been portrayed as a nation which only observes international law when it is convenient to do so. Further, international uncertainty has often been exacerbated by U.S. actions. Also, it is not clear that such military strategies always have been carefully designed~ and even if they were, such policies would not be completely predictable. The United States needs to design new foreign policy strategies, relying less upon military force.

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The dissertation examines the significant yet historically marginalized Backtime Religion of the Danish West Indies (present-day United States Virgin Islands), an African Heritage religion that established spiritual connections between regions and peoples of Sub-Saharan West Africa and the enslaved people of the Caribbean. The timeline encompassed in the dissertation is 1700-1880, a period which includes the era of slavery and the post-slavery or estate serfdom era, which ended following the Fireburn labor revolt. During that time, most African-descended people in the Danish West Indies lived in slave villages on the sugar estates. Using musical improvisation as an investigative methodology, this dissertation argues the Backtime Religion was a distinct African heritage religion and included a musical/performance repertoire drawn from numerous West African traditions, a communopathic and spirit-centered pharmocosm or folk medical complex administered by Weed Women, Moravian and other Christianities adopted by enslaved people for their own spiritual benefit, and divination and related material cultures from the African Caribbean discourse called Obeah. This religion was centered within the slave villages established on each sugar estate, and grew to include churches, weekend markets, and other spaces that were useful to the enslaved population of the Danish West Indies.

The Geometrinae, commonly known as emerald moths, are a diverse group of Lepidoptera with over 450 Neotropical species. However, Caribbean Geometrinae have received relatively little attention compared to the Geometrinae of mainland Central and South America. Using the method of Lee and Brown (2006), whole body mounts of descaled specimens of both Caribbean and mainland Neotropical Geometrinae were prepared. Morphological variation of exo- and endoskeletal characters among species, genera, and tribes of Neotropical Geometrinae is described. A faunistic study of Caribbean Geometrinae was also conducted using material from museums and private collections. The study includes definitions of species of Caribbean Geometrinae, descriptions of new species, and illustrations of adult imagos, genitalia, and other external characters. A key to the species of Caribbean Geometrinae is also provided.

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