This project analyzes the Spanish dubbing of Glee for Latin American audiences in order to understand how identity—gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, and (dis)ability—is shaped by the adaptation process. I make two primary interventions within the field of global television studies. First, I expand adaptation analysis by adding industrial norms and production processes to the traditional theorizations of technical and cultural aspects; secondly, I use this web of elements as an interpretive lens for analyzing television translations, thus providing a model for making sense of how the adaptation process affects the representation of race, sexuality, and other forms of identity. Glee is translated for all of Latin America by the Mexico City company New Art Dub, and so I spent three weeks there doing field work. In addition to interviewing Glee’s Spanish-language script writer, director, actors, engineers, and technicians, and observing their work at every stage, I reviewed dubbed scripts and conducted textual analysis of the dubbed episodes. As this project demonstrates, the translation process negotiates complex international forces along with numerous industrial, technical, and cultural constraints as it shapes representations of and discourses about sexual, gender, racial, and ethnic identities. This research demonstrates that between imperialism and indigenization is an entire adaptation industry which simultaneously exaggerates and downplays cross-cultural similarities and differences.

The study explored relationships among discrimination experiences, mental health (i.e., anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms), risky behaviors (i.e., suicidal ideation, illicit substance use), religiosity, and social support in LGBT adults residing in Latin America. First, multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify patterns of connections among discrimination, mental health, suicidal ideation, and illicit substance use in sexual and gender minority adults from Latin American. Harassment/Rejection discrimination, but neither Work/School nor Other discrimination predicted suicidal ideation. None of the three discrimination subscales predicted illicit substance use. Work/School discrimination predicted mental health problems (Anxiety and Depression subscales of HSCL-25 combined), while Harassment/Rejection and Other discrimination did not. Depression predicted suicidal ideation, but failed to predict illicit substance use, and anxiety symptoms alone neither uniquely predicted suicidal ideation nor illicit substance use. Subsequently, separate mediational models were conducted to examine whether depression mediated relationships between Work/School discrimination and suicidal ideation, as well as Harassment/Rejection discrimination and suicidal ideation. Depression was a significant mediator of both of these relationships. To assess whether the relationships among discrimination, depression symptoms, and suicidal ideation varied as a function of religiosity and social support, the two mediation models were expanded to six moderated mediations. Depression symptoms mediated the effects of Work/School and Harassment/Rejection discrimination on suicidal ideation when participants had low to moderate levels of social support, but not high social support. Depression symptoms also mediated the effects of Work/School discrimination on suicidal ideation when participants had low to moderate levels of both Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Religiosity, but not when participants had high levels. Finally, Depression symptoms mediated the effect of Harassment/Rejection discrimination on suicidal ideation when participants had low to moderate levels of Intrapersonal Religiosity, but not when participants had high levels; depression symptoms mediated the effect of Harassment/Rejection discrimination on suicidal ideation at all levels of Interpersonal Religiosity. Limitations to the current study included a homogenous sample with respect to country of residence, education level, and socioeconomic status, with participants primarily residing in Mexico, having high levels of education, and being primarily middle class. These drawbacks limit generalizability of study findings to sociodemographically and demographically diverse samples of LGBT adults in Latin America. Nevertheless, results from this study indicate that high, but not low or moderate levels of social support and religiosity seem to buffer LGBT adults in Latin America against discrimination, specifically by weakening links among discrimination, depression symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Clinical intervention research with LGBT adults in Latin America should focus on increasing social support networks for this population and on helping LGBT adults reconcile conflicts between religious identities and sexual or gender minority identities, as religiosity may serve as a protective factor against mental health problems generally, and suicidal ideation specifically.

Civil-military relations theory stresses the importance of civilian control of the military and clearly defined roles for the military in democratic societies. There are two distinct perspectives regarding military roles. Traditionalist thinkers argue that the military should be restricted solely to its traditional role of national defense. On the other hand, some scholars propose additional, diverse, non-traditional roles for the military such as humanitarian assistance, law enforcement activities, peace-keeping operations, and disaster management, as “new military roles.†Guatemala serves as a case study where a military institution has received much criticism for past political involvement and lack of respect for civil authority. The 1996 Peace Accords stipulated a reduction and new mission for the Guatemalan military, which put new emphasis on disaster management, and serves as the research starting point. This study describes Guatemalan military involvement in disaster management during 1997-2002. In order to determine the nature of Guatemalan military involvement in disaster management, three indicators are examined: 1) organization, 2) training, and 3) participation in disaster response. Analysis of military compliance with Peace Accord directives, and the three indicators, is conducted to assess how well the Guatemalan military respected civil authority during the study period. This dissertation argues that the post-1996 Guatemalan military was involved in disaster management yet stayed within the bounds of civilian control of the military. The implications of these findings will add to the existing literature concerning civil-military relations, disaster management, and the controversial topic of non-traditional roles for the military. / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

The dissertation addresses the impact of the medieval notion of what scholastic theologians termed "invincible ignorance" upon later Spanish attitudes toward and actual treatment of their New World Indian subjects. Once sixteenth-century theologians expanded the range of topics of which "invincible" – and thereby excusable – ignorance could theoretically be had, official Spanish policy towards the pagan and culturally alien Native Americans became noticeably less inhumane and oppressive. This study adds significantly to our knowledge of the interaction between Native Americans and their European conquerors during the first century of Iberian settlement. First, it uncovers the ideological justification for the aforementioned shift in Spain's treatment of its Indian subjects. Second, this study successfully explains why Spanish attitudes towards the American Indians changed at the moment they did. Third, it provides an alternative to the largely discredited but inadequately replaced explanation that Spanish colonial administrators introduced more moderate policies because they increasingly abandoned the position that the Indians were not fully human. This dissertation, moreover, presents a critical contribution to our understanding of the genesis of the concept of individual human rights. As sixteenth-century theologians concluded that insurmountable ignorance constituted valid grounds to excuse some individuals for such "sins" as unbelief, idolatry, and human sacrifice, what became progressively obvious was that no single moral standard could be applied to all human beings, irrespective of upbringing and education. As a result, morality became more subjective and dependent upon the individual circumstances of the actor. Thus, in order to maintain a minimum of justice, what was morally "right" came to be seen in an increasingly direct relation to the individual. Although the connection between moral subjectivity and individual human rights has been well-established in the secondary literature, the underlying issue of invincible ignorance in relation to the problem of colonial conquest has so far not been recognized. Indeed, the very concept of "invincible ignorance" has never been systematically studied. This project reintroduces this critical notion to the center of the conversation.

The Irish throughout their tumultuous history immigrated not only to North America but across Latin America, particularly to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. Ireland and many of these Latin American countries share a close yet under-examined relationship, inasmuch as they are predominantly Catholic, post-colonial, hybrid populations with fraught immigrant experiences abroad and long histories of resisting Anglo-centric imperialism at home. More particularly, the peoples of these nations engage intimately with the dead (as shown, for example, by the Mexican Day of the Dead and Celtic roots of Halloween), and the dead appear frequently in literature from these countries that takes up issues of colonialism and anti-colonial struggles. The dead can function as repositories for forgotten history and allies in counter-imperial struggle; these roles become particularly important in the 20th century, wherein the forces of economic modernization have rushed to erase the memories of the dead. From the speech of the dead in the prose works of Juan Rulfo, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Samuel Beckett, and Carlos Fuentes, to the anticolonial poetics of William Butler Yeats and Julia de Burgos, this thesis examines how these two regions have, both in parallel and in concert, utilized the dead to bolster various nationalistic projects. This dissertation also explores patterns of Irish/Latin American literary citation and influence, tracing, for example, how Jorge Luis Borges’s responded to James Joyce, or how a scene from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is re-enacted in the novels of Flann O’Brien and Gabriel García Márquez. This project contributes to comparative approaches to Irish literary and modernist studies, improves our nascent understanding of how the Irish and Latin Americans have interacted throughout their overlapping histories, and expands our comprehension of how the dead have been and continue to be utilized across the developing world to resist economic neo-colonialism.

The deterioration of the Argentine public health system has lead to an increase in non-governmental involvement in the provision of health services. The emerging relationship between these sectors is filled with tensions, contradictions, and negotiations, reflecting the historical trajectory of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the transformations of the public health system. These problems are specifically evident in programs that focus on pediatric oncology treatment due to the fact that ideas about childhood, chronic disease, and mortality construct an unusual collaborative framework between governmental and non-governmental healthcare professionals. Pediatric cancer contradicts traditional notions of childhood; it points out the ambivalences associated with death; and represents a challenge to biomedical practice. This thesis provides a historical reconstruction of pediatric medicine in Argentina with an emphasis on the involvement of non-governmental actors in treatment and policymaking. Furthermore, it presents an analysis of the discourses and practices of the staff of an NGO that collaborates with 5 public hospitals in Buenos Aires, providing medical treatment, psychotherapy, and other forms of assistance to pediatric oncology patients and their families. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the main difficulties experienced by the NGO's staff members and the strategies they used to deal with problems. By carrying out thirty open-ended structured interviews and participant observation in two public hospitals in Buenos Aires, the research indicated that the main problems were the lack of training on medical procedures and hospital policies received by the staff and the fact that they were not offered counseling to cope with the emotional consequences of working with pediatric oncology patients and their families. As a consequence, many staff members experienced feelings of frustration and abandoned the organization prematurely, affecting the type of services provided to the children and their families. This information was formulated into a report with recommendations for improving the training offered to the staff and the internal communication of the organization.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing distance learning readiness of institutions in Latin America for international projects of food and agriculture with higher education institutions in the U.S. The data collection followed two approaches: a quantitative, which was processed statistically, including mean (percentage), mode and cross-tabulation, and a qualitative, through semi-structured interviews. The population of this research was animal biotechnology institutions in Latin American countries, Spanish speaking, partners with the major funding organizations in the U.S., with Web pages on the Internet. Population included 17 countries with N=150, a random sample of n=83 for the quantitative analysis and n=20 for the qualitative approach. The instrument was developed by the researcher. Items were based on readiness surveys used widely in the U.S., and founded in two culture theories: Bank’s (2001) cultural elements and Hosfstede’s (1984) cultural dimensions. Using Bank’s theory it was concluded that English proficiency was considered an essential tool for research. Interviews exposed that researchers were aware of nonverbal communication differences between Latinos and Americans. Cultural cognitiveness showed to be exposed when researchers were confronted with another culture. The perspective of distance education showed to be considered different from face to face education. There was an appropriate perception of the need, ownership, and use of computer technologies and Internet accessibility with fast connections. Researchers perceived computer technology equipment as a measurement of the quality of their institution. Using Hofstede’s (1984) dimensions it was concluded that Latin American countries were considered to have high power distance on four of the six items assessed; had strong uncertainty avoidance with four of the six items assessed, where a collectivist society, with five items out of six. Interviews determined that a masculine dimension was predominant in the study. Assessment of technology involved: Internet, technological resources, computer proficiency, distance education and instructional design experience. Results of this assessment showed that technology must be measured through a cultural perspective to achieve accurate responses because people express and understand through their mental constructs which are tainted with their cultural experiences and their perception of life, work, academics, and society.

Mit dem Amtsantritt von Präsident Santos 2010 hat sich das politische Klima in Kolumbien spürbar verändert. Der ehemalige Verteidigungsminister Uribes distanziert sich von seinem einstigen Vorgesetzten: Außenpolitisch sucht Santos Kontakt zu den Nachbarstaaten, im Land selbst darf wieder über den bewaffneten Konflikt mit der Guerilla diskutiert werden. An der neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik hält jedoch auch Präsident Santos fest.

Weltweit brodelt es, Bürger gehen auf die Straße. In Chile will man sich die Ungerechtigkeiten des Bildungssystems nicht länger gefallen lassen. Nur wer zahlt, darf lernen – dagegen wehrt sich vor allem die Jugend mit aller Macht, auch mit der Macht der Neuen Medien. Öffentlichkeitswirksam werden die Proteste inszeniert. Wird die chilenische Regierung weiterhin mit Knüppeln auf Demonstranten einschlagen oder einlenken?