Paradoja: Concerto for Orchestra consists of three contrasting movements: slow, fast, slow (Paradoja = "paradox," Sp.). These movements are framed by a motif that opens and closes each of them, and connects them all. This framing motif is based on an alternation between a rhythmical pattern in the bass drum, and a melody sung by a boy mezzo-soprano, both over a string pedal. The first movement, Lamentos (Sorrows), is dramatic in character; it goes from simple to complex in its orchestration, harmony, texture, dynamics and tempo changes. The second movement, Algarabía (Tangle), reflects a festive affection; it presents a contrast to the first in character, tempo and spirit. The third movement, Sosiego (Serenity) provides a peaceful ending to the piece; it is lighter than the other two movements in texture and orchestration. The general harmonic language of Paradoja: Concerto for Orchestra is non-tonal yet centric, with surface references to functional harmony. However, the pitch content varies from movement to movement. The first movement is highly chromatic and based in the twelve-tone collection. The melodies are created by a combination of small pitch-class sets and sometimes are broken down and distributed among different instruments. Harmony is the result of the juxtaposition and counterpoint of these melodies, which vertically reiterate the same cells or creates new sets. The second movement is based on smaller collections than the first, and it is less chromatic. Contrast is often created by changing the collections or simply transposing them. The third movement is the most homophonic and the least chromatic of all three. It is based on a combination and juxtaposition of diatonic and non-diatonic collections that interact with each other. Paradoja: Concerto for Orchestra is examined in two broad categories. The first is a structural analysis, which includes details of form and pitch selection such as pitch collections, set classes and motives. The second is a stylistic analysis, which includes aspects of style such as rhythm, orchestration. The conclusion refers to the influence of historical models and aspects of the compositional process. Both the structural and stylistic analyses demonstrate how I have tried to merge diverse stylistic music elements to obtain a new personal idiom. / Music Composition / Accompanied by one .pdf score: Paradoja: Concerto for Orchestra: Full Orchestral Score.

The study was designed to examine the causal relationship between the Venezuelan inflation and the monetarist variables--money supply--and the structuralist variables-- exchange rate and balance of payments. The data (1964-1982) was gathered from the International Financial Statistic Yearbook, 1983 and the Statistical Yearbook, 1974, 1982. Chapter I is an introduction to the research problem. Chapter II does a review of the related literature. Chapter III deals with the methods and procedures for treating the data. Chapter IV presents an statistical analysis of the data. And, Chapter V contains a summary of the study and its findings, conclusions and recommendations. The study only found a significant relationship between inflation and the monetarist variables money supply and GNP, though supporting the monetarist theory. A similar investigation is suggested, but selecting a longer time period, other.variables, and more refined methodologies and analysis.

The Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (b.1923) is an exemplar of modernism both in Europe and in Latin America. This thesis offers a broader understanding of his work by discussing his early paintings as a precedent to his more recognized production. Cruz-Diez's chief aim as an artist is the liberation of colour, a process undertaken with the motivation of being part of art history, in an avant-garde quest for what his original contribution to art could be. Transition, interaction, colour, space and time: these are the crucial concepts of the work of Cruz-Diez investigated in this thesis and positioned in the Latin American/European and Kinetic/Optical context. Today, Cruz-Diez's works from his first Physichromie (1959) onwards have been extensively explored both by him in numerous commentaries and by scholars. In contrast, only few works of the 1950s have been displayed and discussed. The key aspect of my argument is that 1959 is not an abrupt beginning to Cruz-Diez's work but the conclusive stage of a ten-year process of transition from figuration to abstraction. I demonstrate that there is indeed a drawn-out “passage” made of readings and experiments, of “successes” and" “failures”. I argue that this “passage” is articulated along three parallel paths: 1) the detachment from naturalistic or figurative representation; 2) the detachment from the concept of colour as a synonym of pigment on a support; and 3) the shift in emphasis from a “passive” to an “active” spectator.

During the 1950s, Venezuela embarked in an architectural venture marked by aesthetic, programmatic, and technological explorations. Politically framed by the international tension of the Cold War, this period was distinguished by multiple commercial exchanges between Venezuela and the United States, specially based on the oil industry. Many cultural aspects of the Venezuelan life, including its urban and architectural production, changed because of this interrelationship. Yet the conventional view is that architecture in Venezuela was torn between the repetition of U.S. models and the purest creativity of its local designers. Based on periodical publications of that time, and methodologically framed by the contemporary notion of transculturation and Gianni Vattimo’s weak though, this research demonstrates that modern architecture in Venezuela, produced by both locals and Americans, went beyond a unilateral center-periphery influence, and ended up being the hyperrealization (intensified version) of U.S. ideals. In this sense, the research analyzes an aspect not studied yet in depth: the connection between the long-term geographical profile of Venezuela and a unique geopolitical situation, as the basis for an outstanding architecture. The dissertation examines how the Edificio Creole in Caracas, designed by American architect Lathrop Douglass for Standard Oil, and completed in 1955, was not the subsequent version but the advanced prototype of the Esso office buildings both in Louisiana and New Jersey. It shows as well how the Electricity Building in Caracas (1955), also designed by Douglass, and whose authorship has remained unknown until now, represented a unique opportunity both to explore the insertion of an “horizontal skyscraper” in downtown, and to reveal a complex network of professional and political relations. By examining Higuerote Beach Resort, a vacation and residential complex located near Caracas, the dissertation also demonstrates how American magazines were used by Venezuelans as the basis for an architecture that became original without the inspiration of a genius designer. Finally, this research analyzes the production of a supernatural architecture through the Helicoid Shopping Center in Caracas (designed by Arquitectura y Urbanismo C.A. in 1955), one of the most paradigmatic examples of modern Venezuelan creativity, and probably the utmost realization of the American Utopia. / text

In this dissertation, I address the relationship between the content and design of governmental websites and the ideological interests of the overseeing political administrations. Three case studies contrast the contemporary political climates in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Republic of Colombia, and the United Stastes with the form and function of their respective military recruitment homepages. Through a semiotic, and specifically multimodal lens, I aim to determine to what degree there is evidence of the governing poltical party’s ideological perspective on the websites. To accomplish this task, each case study is introduced by a brief contemporary history in order to provide a summary of key political events within state. Each case study then includes a detailed analysis of 3-4 governmental homepages. Within those analyses, a comprehensive multimodal analysis is conducted for the most evocative content on each homepage. Finally, conclusions are reached for each case study, paying special attention to the content found along the reading path.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Text in Spanish; abstract in English and Spanish. Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-185). Print copy also available.

In this dissertation, I address the relationship between the content and design of governmental websites and the ideological interests of the overseeing political administrations. Three case studies contrast the contemporary political climates in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Republic of Colombia, and the United Stastes with the form and function of their respective military recruitment homepages. Through a semiotic, and specifically multimodal lens, I aim to determine to what degree there is evidence of the governing poltical party’s ideological perspective on the websites. To accomplish this task, each case study is introduced by a brief contemporary history in order to provide a summary of key political events within state. Each case study then includes a detailed analysis of 3-4 governmental homepages. Within those analyses, a comprehensive multimodal analysis is conducted for the most evocative content on each homepage. Finally, conclusions are reached for each case study, paying special attention to the content found along the reading path.

The natural resource curse is a widely debated phenomenon usually proposing a connection between large extractive resource wealth and substandard economic performance. This paper concerns the connection between large extractive resource wealth and the potential for its effects on long term political stability. Using Venezuela as a case study, this paper delves into the political history of Venezuela, plagued by endemic political instability, and attempts to test the political aspect of the resource curse, analysing history with a focus on the oil industry. The conclusion is that there is a clear connection between oil price volatility and political instability, but only evident starting in the latter half of the 20th -century. Further research into specific regimes, eras, as well as comparative analyses between Venezuela and other states is required to provide additional answers in regard to specific causes for political instability in the early 20th -century and the pre-oil period.

The conception of Human Rights is relatively new to international relations and their analysis and, accordingly, their location within this field, theoretically as well as practically, has not yet been ultimately identified. Their role varies among differing theoretical approaches. The aim of this work is to contribute to this discussion through working towards a theoretical framework which allows to place the normative conception of Human Rights in a rather realist analysis of foreign policy. Visualizing this attempt through reviewing the foreign policy measures initiated by the United States and the European Union towards the Maduro government throughout the Venezuelan presidential crisis, the potential impact of the Human Rights discourse for the means of legitimizing such measures becomes apparent. Eventually, the power potential the discourse holds when instrumentalized as a tool of foreign policy contributes to the understanding of its role in contemporary international relations.

Submitted by Izabel Franco (izabel-franco@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-28T14:33:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissDVMB.pdf: 2728788 bytes, checksum: eafaa9a80b790125f509cdcd84f1ddd2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-04T17:53:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissDVMB.pdf: 2728788 bytes, checksum: eafaa9a80b790125f509cdcd84f1ddd2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-04T17:53:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissDVMB.pdf: 2728788 bytes, checksum: eafaa9a80b790125f509cdcd84f1ddd2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-04T17:53:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissDVMB.pdf: 2728788 bytes, checksum: eafaa9a80b790125f509cdcd84f1ddd2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-17 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / This work presents the results of a survey on narrative features found on contemporary Venezuelan documentary, specifically, the feature and medium length (over 30 minutes) films released in Venezuelan theaters between 2005 and 2013. We go through the work of several film critics who have written about Venezuelan documentary from the 1960s to the 1990s. In the critical review of this framework, we distinguished paradigmatic moments of documentary activity in the country, which unfold in particular forms and practices of representation. These paradigms, practices and forms dialogue with our contemporary corpus and allow us to identify three sets of films: one of leftist and militant documentaries; another, of works revolving a nationalist-populist paradigm; and finally, one we call of "ideological diversity", which moves away from the representation of Venezuelan working classes and the popular culture. The thesis describes ideological, aesthetic, narrative and thematic peculiarities of these three groups of films, and produces a film analysis of three titles, each of them belonging to one of these groups. / Esta dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa sobre as características narrativas do documentário venezuelano contemporâneo, especificamente, dos filmes em longa e média metragem lançados em salas de cinema venezuelanas entre 2005 e 2013. Partimos da obra de vários críticos que escreveram sobre o documentário venezuelano das décadas de 1960 a 1990. Na revisão crítica deste referencial, distinguimos momentos paradigmáticos da atividade documentária no país os quais se desdobram em práticas de representação e formas de representação particulares. Estes paradigmas, práticas e formas de representação dialogam com nosso corpus contemporâneo e nos levam a identificar três grupos de filmes nele: um conjunto de documentários de corte político-militante de esquerda; um conjunto de obras em torno de um paradigma nacionalista-populista e um terceiro conjunto que chamamos de “diversificação ideológica”, que representa o distanciamento da representação das classes populares e da cultura popular da Venezuela. O trabalho descreve particularidades ideológicas, narrativas, temáticas e estéticas destes três grupos de filmes, e faz uma análise fílmica de três obras pertencentes a cada um deles.