The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how Mexican author Cristina Rivera Garza (Matamoros, 1964) critiques gender in her novels. In an era of prolific publications dealing with gender, Rivera Garza's work stands out for its fresh critique of how socially gendered modes of behavior are "written" into the social code. I argue that she exposes latent and explicit gender prejudices and then literally and metaphorically rewrites gender expectations. Central to her objective is to quash binary divisions (masculine/feminine, male/female, privileged/marginalized) to create a space for nuanced, complex characters in her novels. Rivera Garza employs the metaphor of writing to weaken these gendered divisions and in doing so, she destabilizes the division between literary genres. / acase@tulane.edu

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Advisor: Dr. Roberto Fernández, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Feb. 25, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation explores Ainslie's account of self-defeating behaviour as portrayed in Breakdown of Will (2001). Self-defeating behaviour can be described as voluntarily doing that which we know we are going to end up regretting (Ainslie 2001:3). It is puzzling why anyone would willingly choose to behave in such an ill-rewarding manner of which they know the negative consequences it will bear prior to them engaging in that behaviour; yet, at the same time, it is also fascinating, as despite it being behaviour people know that they are undoubtedly going to regret; many can claim to have fallen prey to it. Exploring this weakness of self-defeating behaviour, I refer to Ainslie's explanation of the phenomenon and his suggestions regarding possible strategies for curbing it. One of the strategies Ainslie suggests against self-defeating behaviour is personal rules (also known as the will), which he argues is a form of intertemporal bargaining between the successive interests, or temporal stages of the self (Ainslie 2001:78-85). Although, for the most part, his description is quite detailed, comparing our successive selves to players in an iterated prisoner’s dilemma game, there are limitations in his explanation as he seems, for one, not to consider some of the conditions for cooperation associated to the concept of an iterated prisoners' dilemma game. I, thus, turn to social norm theorist, Bicchieri's The Grammar of society (2006), in an attempt at an improved illustration of personal rules beyond its comparison to an iterated prisoner's dilemma game. I note similarities between social norms (Bicchieri) and personal rules (Ainslie) such that the reasons we follow social norms could be analogous to the reasons behind us following certain personal rules. But Bicchieri's description of social norms can be explained in a more general way, which I suggest may be a better framework for thinking about the will than an iterated prisoner's dilemma. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

By using contemorary work-theory this thesis aim to show how Yarden. En berättelse, puts into play the circumstances of precarian work, circumstances that have gender political as well as identity political overtones. It tries to show how the idea of ”class-jouney” is used as a conciliatory element. An element that, acitvitated increasingly towards the end of the text, is significant for the selfs posisiton in relationship to his class identity and the workers collective around him as well as other spheres. It is also significant in relationship to the work which is the writing, and to the product of that work, which is both Yarden and the litterary persona produced by Yarden. This is something that I try to trace to a conflict between class belonging and other identitory political projects that Yarden expresses. The reality which is produced by the text is not only a staging of a litterary persona and the following class-journey. In my thesis I try to show that it is also possible to read it in it self as something that gives us valuable insights on how reality is produced under the circumstances of precarity. Insights that in turn can show us both how the supression of labour is organised in contemporary late-capitalism, and what expressions resistance in turn might take.

This thesis explores the leadership styles of three female presidents in Latin America: Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (Argentina) y Dilma Rousseff (Brazil). These three women were chosen because each has been the first generally elected female president in their respective countries. Each woman’s profile is divided into two parts: 1) an expository evaluation of the life and career of each woman, and 2) a case study of her specific leadership style based on a particular event or challenge faced during her presidency. It is important to understand the political trajectories of these women because they demonstrate how certain cultural, structural, and institutional barriers have broken over time, allowing more women to ascend to the highest political offices. On the other hand, each case serves to enrich our holistic understanding of some of the current female presidents and in what ways they have been successful leaders. In general, Bachelet has been a transformational leader, Fernández de Kirchner has been a charismatic leader, and Rousseff has been an authentic relational leader. Through these case studies, we see that there is no one “feminine” leadership style, a conclusion which coincides with the existing literature.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 3, 2008). Directed by Karen Kilcup, Alexandra Schultheis; submitted to the Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-41, p. 77-80).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 1999. / Adviser: Elizabeth Ammons. Submitted to the Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-194). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

In this paper I compare two female presidents in Latin America, Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff. Both have had major policy actions they have taken during their time in office that have meet with resistance from the elite members of society who were either happy under the military dictatorships that recently ruled that nations, or are unhappy that their Presidents are trying to change the way thing are. I look at two examples in particular, the first is Media Law 25.552 in Argentina which sought to break up the media conglomerates that held a monopoly on the media, the second, the scandal involving the state-run oil company of Brazil, and subsequent protests and how the elites are using those protests to call for President Rousseff’s resignation, due to their dislike of her social programs to help the poor. For both presidents, they face many difficulties in getting their legislation through and this paper examines the difficulties that exist due to the former military regimes in each nation.

La novela moderna del siglo XIX, pretendía "...acceder a la armonía natural en la constitución del ser humano y de la sociedad, en parangón con la misma naturaleza" ; buscaba la emancipación no sólo cultural, sino también de la propia identidad, a través de los ideales positivistas. Es decir, la novela moderna aspiraba a descubrir los aspectos sociales y materiales de la realidad del ser humano. De esta manera, la novela moderna se presenta como el despliegue de un espectáculo de humanidad; el hombre debía ser mostrado en todas sus dimensiones. Así, de la mano con la razón, cuenta con un narrador analítico, quien actúa sobre lo que narra como un sujeto pleno, que domina todas las dimensiones de la existencia.

O objetivo desta tese é, por um lado, abordar a relação entre o corpo e a linguagem a partir das perspectivas da poesia, do teatro e da performance. Por outro lado, propomos que a compreensão de tal campo relacional pode esclarecer pontos em comum entre essas diferentes artes, trazendo uma nova percepção do fenômeno poético. Para tal, fez-se necessário operar um desvio com relação à concepção moderna que entende o corpo enquanto substância material extensa e a linguagem como algo associado à substância subjetiva ideal do pensamento. Pelo contrário, procuramos trabalhar com a hipótese de que corpo e linguagem se encontram em estado de relação senão necessária ao menos constante, valendo-nos da ideia do corpo-em-vida, e da linguagem enquanto ação e enquanto discurso. A análise opera um recorte contemporâneo entre obras que vão das poetas Angélica Freitas e Marília Garcia até a da atriz e encenadora Cristina Flores, e da performer norte-americana Laurie Anderson. A escrita da tese nos levou a uma combinação entre aspectos formais do ensaio e do drama, numa costura de múltiplas vozes, de modo a concretizar o entrelaçamento entre as ideias vividas ao longo da pesquisa e a experiência física da produção do texto / The aim of this work is, on one side, to approach the connection between body and language considering the outlook obtained from pieces of poetry, theater and performance art. On the other side, we suggest that the understanding of such relational space can point to similarities among these different fields of artistic creation, enabling us a new perception of the aesthetics of poetry. To achieve such goal, it was necessary to avoid the modern conceptions of the body as matter, a substance whose main attribute is extension and its possibilities of measurement, and the language as a tool of the mind, associated with conceptual and ideal thinking. On the contrary, we attempt to work with the hypothesis that body and language are if not necessarily at least constantly connected to each other, throughout the concepts of body-in-life and language as action and discourse. The analysis took in consideration an ensemble of contemporary works, from the poets Angélica Freitas and Marília Garcia, to the actress, writer and theater director Cristina Flores, through the North-American performer Laurie Anderson. We found it necessary to formulate a style of writing that entangled formal aspects from the essay and from the drama, in a sort of entangle of distinct voices, in a way that was possible to achieve the connection between the concepts brought to life during the research and the physical experience of elaborating the text