Thesis (Ph. D. in French)--Vanderbilt University, May 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, August, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-86)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 16, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-10, Section: A, page: 3815. Adviser: Kathleen A. Myers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-203).

abstract: Great disasters can often serve as birthing grounds for national transformation. As communities work to recover and rebuild, opportunities to reassess of prevailing development theories and programs may arise. As traditional development programs, supported by top-down development theories and billions in foreign aid, have not changed Haiti's impoverished status, such an opportunity has been presented to the Caribbean nation. Just a few months removed from the devastating 7.0 earthquake of Jan 12, 2010, this study identified the emergent thinking about development as expressed by key informants (N=21) from six entity types involved in Haiti's rebuilding efforts - government agencies, social ventures, grassroots, diaspora, foreign, and hybrid nonprofits. Findings were supplemented by participant observation of a civil society meeting in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) Framework was used as a lens with which to understand the causes of Haiti's social, institutional, environmental, and economic vulnerabilities. Modified grounded theory was used as the qualitative data analytical method from which five themes emerged: Haitian government, rebuilding, aid work and its effects, Haitian society, and international interference. Participants called for a refoundation, the building a nation from the ground up, of Haiti. Based on these findings, four transformative processes were identified as fundamental to Haiti's refoundation: 1) communication and collaboration with the Haitian government, 2) engagement of the Haitian people and the Haitian diaspora in the redevelopment work, 3) a broad vision of development for the nation, and 4) coordination and collaboration among NGOs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Community Resources and Development 2010

Environmental degradation is accelerating worldwide, yet environmental conservation remains limited by funding. Tackling this limitation requires not only absolute increases in funding, but improved prioritisation of actions. On a global scale island ecosystems are of high priority, with invasive species one of their most significant threats. In this thesis I investigate prioritisation of invasive grazing species control, incorporating ecological, economic, and social concerns, on the island of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. To enable the trade-off of potential grazer control options for their ecological impacts I modelled the relationship between of grazer density and vegetation, and watershed vegetation and the coral reef. I found negative relationships for goat and pig grazing with grass presence, and for donkey grazing with ground cover. Coral cover below 10m showed a positive relationship to ground cover, and, surprisingly, a negative relationship to tree biomass. Because conservation action is most likely to be sustainable when connected to funding, I conducted choice experiments with SCUBA divers, which estimated a positive willingness to pay for reef health improvements achieved using terrestrial grazer control. Through communication with local policy makers and practitioners I identified three options for grazer control, eradication, population reduction, or fencing, and estimated costs and social acceptability for each option. Though the ecological models predicted eradication to have the highest impacts on the terrestrial and marine ecosystem, lower costs and higher social acceptability identified fencing as the most suitable option for grazer control on Bonaire in the short term, with the potential to be funded through a fee on SCUBA divers. Through linking ecological, economic, and social considerations within a real world conservation context I illustrate the importance of looking beyond only ecological improvements when prioritising conservation action. This research is directly applicable to policy and practise on Bonaire.

<p> This grounded theory study explored the competing cultural expectations and cultural approaches by women from Latin American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries living in the United States. The study explored the following questions: In what ways do women from Latin America living in the United States establish priorities among potentially conflicting cultural expectations or roles? What internal conflicts result out of living between two cultures? What does the process for making sense of cultural expectations look like? How do Latin American women living in the United States make sense of this process? Using a constructivist grounded methodology, the research reflects the insights of 20 female participants from various Latin American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries. The data analysis resulted in five major findings, illuminating a framework for understanding the process for making sense of conflicting cultural norms, expectations, and cultural approaches. This is presented in four stages, (1) confronting the new norm/expectation, (2) recognition/acknowledgment of the conflicting cultural value/norm/expectation, (3) adapting to the new context/situation and (4) managing from a cultural standpoint. The main decision-making process related to cultural expectations was tied to: (a) what it meant to be a woman from their native country in the United States and (b) what this means when they return to their country of origin. Concluding with &ldquo;creating a new norm/dynamic,&rdquo; this becomes the &ldquo;balancing act&rdquo; or &ldquo;the dance between cultures.&rdquo;</p><p>

La Caraïbe est un espace multidimensionnel, une mosaïque polyforme et paradoxale qui évoque la diversité, l'éparpillement.Longtemps méconnue, elle est l'objet de toutes les curiosités et est de plus en plus regardé comme un véritable laboratoire par ceux qui s'y intéressent.En effet, la Caraïbe est un ensemble de petites îles plus ou moins pauvres sur le plan économique avec une organisation politique et administrative plurielle. De nombreux statuts politiques sont hérités de la décolonisation. La Caraïbe regroupe 25 pays et 11 territoires non indépendants qui pour la plupart, comptent moins de 500 000 habitants. 24 sont des îles, parties d'îles ou ensembles de territoires insulaires.De nombreux programmes d'aide sont mis en place par les métropoles, les pays de la Caraïbe mènent une politique active d'intégration en constituant des institutions régionales, pourtant ces pays ne semblent pas décoller économiquement.Parallèlement, la région est remarquée pour ces faits de violence accrue, de criminalité, de narcotrafic, de catastrophes naturelles, de maladies vectorielles, autant d'éléments qui influencent l'une des activités économiques prospère, le tourisme.Idées préconçues et réalité, telle est la problématique à laquelle tente de répondre cette thèse en examinant la corrélation entre les organisations institutionnelles et le développement économique à l'heure de la mondialisation.Pour des raisons de cohérence, ma recherche est limitée à la dizaine de pays anglophones de la zone des Caraïbes. / The Caribbean is a multidimensional space, a multi-faceted and paradoxical mosaic that evokes diversity, scattering.For a long time unknown, it is the object of all curiosities and is increasingly regarded as a real laboratory for those who are interested in.Indeed, the Caribbean is a set of small islands more or less poor economically with a plural political and administrative organization. Many political statuses are inherited from decolonization.The Caribbean comprises 25 countries and 11 non-independent territories, most of which have 500,000 inhabitants. 24 are islands, parts of islands or sets of island territories.Many programs of assistance are set up by the metropolis, the Caribbean countries carry out an active policy of integration by constituting regional institutions, yet these countries do not seem to take off economically.At the same time, the region is noticed for these acts of increased violence, crime, drugs trade, natural disasters, vector-borne diseases, all of which influence one of the prosperous economic activities, tourism.Preconceived ideas and reality, this is the problem that this thesis attempts to answer by examining the correlation between institutional organizations and economic development in the globalization era.For coherence reasons, my research is limited to the ten English-speaking countries of the Caribbean zone.

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the processes of consolidation and decomposition of the Venezuelan party system and their relation to democratic stability. Both processes are analyzed through a theoretical framework based on four conditions for institutionalization and three conditions for decomposition of a party system. Preliminary findings reveal that the Venezuelan party system became institutionalized as of 1969 but began to unravel during the 1980s. This particular order, whose legitimacy rested on the distribution of rents, solidified an arrangement that collapsed when confronted with a deteriorating economic environment combined with growing popular disenchantment stemming from its institutional inability to represent and respond to shifting demands. The thesis also concludes that current political developments do not respond to a process of institutionalization of a new party system but to the development of an inchoate system.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of South Florida Haitian migrant radio with regard to its listeners' relations across national borders. The content of several commercials and announcements was analyzed. Different actors--especially broadcasters and Haiti's state and government officials--were found to use the medium to carry out at least one of the following instrumental processes: linking listeners across borders, deterritorialized nation-state building, transnational migrants' politics in the "host" country, and deterritorialization of the "local." The findings demonstrated that South Florida Haitian migrant radio operates in transnational social fields. It is recommended that researchers take a transnational approach to migrant media.