<p> Drawing on critical currents in the study of contentious politics and the formation of class, racial and political identities, this dissertation seeks to account for the intellectual origins and global resonance of Zapatismo, the distinctive political discourse and practices of the <i> Ejercito Zapatista de Liberaci&oacute;n Nacional </i> (Zapatista National Liberation Army or EZLN) in Chiapas, Mexico. It is an historical sociological case study that combines archival research and interviews with participants in, and observers of, the indigenous campesino movement in Chiapas to construct an intellectual history of the indigenous Mayan communities that form the EZLN's bases of popular support. It elaborates a theoretical account of anti-systemic social movements and other forms of contentious politics as expressions of what Marx called the realization of "species being," "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things" or communism. The study finds that the training of catechists by the Diocese of San Crist&oacute;bal de Las Casas produced a layer of organic indigenous campesino intellectuals who became first the leaders of the indigenous campesino movement and later of the EZLN. The study argues that Zapatismo is a product not only of transformations in the political economy of Chiapas and Mexico but of a process of emergent collective revolutionary political subjectivity on the part of the indigenous communities that occurred in the context of a global crisis in revolutionary theory arising out of the contradictory experiences of the socialist revolutions of the 20^th century. Specifically the study argues that Zapatismo is a synthesis of proto-communist elements from the traditional religious worldview of their communities, the liberation theology of the Diocese, the Maoism of several organizations that assisted the communities in the construction of independent peasant organizations, and the left-wing revolutionary nationalism of the EZLN's parent organization, the <i>Fuerzas de Liberaci&oacute;n Nacional </i> (FLN) inspired by the Cuban and Nicaraguan Revolutions. The dissertation is a contribution both to the literature on the origins of the Zapatistas and to the development of a Marxist theory of revolutionary social movements and peasant insurgencies.</p>

This dissertation is a critical ethnography conducted in the Amazon jungle city of Iquitos, Peru--a city where sex work and sex tourism are becoming increasingly prevalent, and where AIDS cases in women are on the rise. In recent years, HIV positive and sex worker women activists in Iquitos have made significant strides to respond to the AIDS crisis through social movement organizing and educational outreach. This dissertation exposes the nuanced gender relations perspectives of HIV positive and sex worker women activists and underscores the importance of including these subjugated knowledges in solution-oriented discourses in HIV/AIDS education. I deployed a combination of gender relations and postcolonial feminist theories to pursue two lines of inquiry. First, I investigated HIV positive women and sex worker women activists' own understandings of gender relations and gender-related risk factors for HIV. Second, I explored the varied educational spaces that activist women produced to disseminate this knowledge to other affected populations and the wider public. Results show that women activists' collective organizing around their stigmatized identities positioned them to critically comment about how gender influences HIV risk for both women and men and also enabled them to encourage their stakeholders to re-think and re-learn gender in ways that would reduce their risk to HIV. As the title of this dissertation reads, women activists asserted that they are "part of the solution" to combat HIV/AIDS in Peru. My dissertation shows that "activist knowledge" is critical to re-conceptualize the ways that local expressions of masculinities, femininities and gender relations are taken up in HIV/AIDS education initiatives.

This dissertation is a critical ethnography conducted in the Amazon jungle city of Iquitos, Peru--a city where sex work and sex tourism are becoming increasingly prevalent, and where AIDS cases in women are on the rise. In recent years, HIV positive and sex worker women activists in Iquitos have made significant strides to respond to the AIDS crisis through social movement organizing and educational outreach. This dissertation exposes the nuanced gender relations perspectives of HIV positive and sex worker women activists and underscores the importance of including these subjugated knowledges in solution-oriented discourses in HIV/AIDS education. I deployed a combination of gender relations and postcolonial feminist theories to pursue two lines of inquiry. First, I investigated HIV positive women and sex worker women activists' own understandings of gender relations and gender-related risk factors for HIV. Second, I explored the varied educational spaces that activist women produced to disseminate this knowledge to other affected populations and the wider public. Results show that women activists' collective organizing around their stigmatized identities positioned them to critically comment about how gender influences HIV risk for both women and men and also enabled them to encourage their stakeholders to re-think and re-learn gender in ways that would reduce their risk to HIV. As the title of this dissertation reads, women activists asserted that they are "part of the solution" to combat HIV/AIDS in Peru. My dissertation shows that "activist knowledge" is critical to re-conceptualize the ways that local expressions of masculinities, femininities and gender relations are taken up in HIV/AIDS education initiatives.

<p>This dissertation argues that the civilian "political class" played an understudied yet decisive role in toppling Brazil's 1964-1985 military dictatorship. In contrast with existing explanations for the regime's fall, which emphasize either the isolated initiative of the generals or the independent resistance of civil society, this dissertation highlights the inadvertent opposition of civilian politicians, connected by familial and social ties to both the military and social movements. Between 1968 and 1985, the relationship between all three shifted significantly, as politicians first resisted the military's challenge to their presumed right to rule on behalf of the masses and later came to defend a role for those masses in ruling the nation. It offers a deeper understanding of the dispositions, worldview, and behavioral codes that united politicians regardless of ideology or party and turned them against the regime that many of them had helped bring to power. </p><p>In contrast to the Southern Cone, where the military sought to abolish political activity, Brazilian officers cast themselves as democracy's saviors. Yet even as they maintained elections, they also imposed authoritarian reforms on politicians. The first four chapters offer the most detailed study to date of this project and politicians' indignant reaction. In 1968, as the regime repressed leftist student activists, politicians, tied to students by blood and social class, took to the streets to defend their children in a nearly forgotten act of defiance. Then, when the military demanded the prosecution of a congressman for insulting them, Congress refused to lift his immunity. In response, the military placed Congress in recess, arrested several politicians, removed many others from office, and decided to turn their reforms into tutelage. Amidst the repression, a few politicians opted for courageous denunciation, but most chose to wait out the storm until the generals believed them sufficiently cowed. Still others adopted the strategy proved most successful - working within the rules to build their careers despite constraints.</p><p>The final three chapters show how the military's project collapsed amidst bolder challenges from politicians, especially in the vitally important state of São Paulo. In 1974, after five years of breathtaking economic growth, the powerless opposition party decisively won legislative elections. This study offers fresh insights into the opposition's success by examinging its novel appeal to working class voters. By 1978, restiveness in São Paulo spread to the military's own allied party, as in São Paulo they nominated a dissident gubernatorial candidate against the generals' wishes. As the regime turned toward political opening, in 1979-1980, opposition politicians took to the streets to protect striking workers from repression, demonstrating a greater acceptance of popular mobilization. Politicians changed under military rule, but rather than collaborating with a demobilizing regime, many allied with an emerging civil society to oppose it.</p><p>This study draws on transcripts and audio recordings of legislative speeches, electoral court records, public opinion surveys, police records, classified Brazilian intelligence reports, newspapers, and correspondence from the foreign embassies. It cites the personal archives of key politicians, as well as oral histories, biographies, and memoirs. The sources enable a dynamic and culturally informed analysis of the "political class" to explain how, through resistance to tutelage and the acceptance of popular participation, civilian politicians helped topple the military regime and lay the groundwork for an unprecedented expansion of citizenship in the following decades.</p> / Dissertation

Abstract: When former President Calderón declared war on the cartels in 2006, Mexico was plunged into insecurity, and the government has been trying to reassert control of the security situation ever since. While the situation has improved, the fight will not be over until the police are in control of the streets. Historical and structural problems have plagued the police, forcing the military to play a central role in internal security operations. While a number of positive reforms have been implemented in recent years, there is still much work to do. This paper will examine some of these past reforms and their effects. Current tactics as well as potential reforms and strategies for the future will also be discussed, with a focus on the police reassuming the central role in internal security.

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers of access to health care amongst the Latino Immigrant population in the United States. This was accomplished by performing a quantitative study analyzing secondary data obtained from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). The results revealed that Latino immigrants with lower level of English proficiency had fewer doctor's visits, reported lower levels of acculturation, and the majority were born in Mexico whom reported having no health insurance in the entire year. The variables of gender, citizenship status, general health status, and insurance coverage within the past 12 months had a strong correlation with the utilization of the emergency room. The findings may be beneficial in providing awareness to the barriers Latino immigrants face while accessing health care services in the United States.</p>

<p> Since age has been identified as a leading risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) and as the U.S. population ages, ADRD has become a community concern. Latinos face greater risk due to systemic psychosocial stressors such as limited community-based supportive services, lack of trained bilingual health care professionals, and low quality of treatment and preventative care. The purpose of this project was to develop a dementia program targeting the underserved Latino community of Orange County, California, identify potential funding sources, and develop a grant proposal on behalf of the Orange County Vital Brain Aging Program at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. The proposed program will increase awareness on ADRD while decreasing barriers in health care utilization through community-based education and psychosocial and cognitive assessments. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant were not requirements for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant proposal for a program designed to prepare Latino immigrant youth for high school graduation and college readiness through education, mentoring, and parental involvement. The proposed program was designed to be implemented at Estancia High School located in Costa Mesa, California. The program will provide students and their families with an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills needed to navigate high school and postsecondary education. This will be accomplished through participation in educational workshops, mentoring sessions, college tours, and financial aid advising. If funded, the program will address many of the educational needs of Latino immigrant students who often encounter multiple barriers that may put them at greater risk for truancy, school dropout, low-wage jobs, and risky behaviors. Actual submission for funding was not required for successful completion of this project.</p>

This research utilizes an intersectionality framework to examine the complexity of social location and its effects on women's health. By examining connections among the state, processes of globalization, and the production of health inequalities for poor women in a rural community in southern Veracruz, Mexico, the research highlights the nexus of nationality, class, and gender. Four interconnected contexts are explored: (1) women's increasing paid and unpaid labor in the context of a poverty of resources brought on by sustained economic crisis; (2) the maintenance of reproductive labor as the responsibility of women; (3) the development of migrant "illegality" and its consequences for the well being of women who are consistently anxious about the lives of their migrant family members and the stability of remittances that sustain the household, and (4) the increasing neoliberalization of public health care that includes the heightened surveillance of women's hygienic activities and chronic underfunding of public health resources. Using an ethnographic methodology including interviews, case studies, and participant observation, the research explores the daily lives of wives and mothers of transnational migrants as well as those women who, although they do not have migrant family members, live within the context of transnationalism because it pervades the community. In addition, all women in the research confront the inadequacy of public health services because most never have the resources to utilize private health services. The research makes three important contributions to medical anthropology and the social sciences. First, it contributes to ongoing debates concerning the potential uses of the intersectionality framework in anthropology and related social sciences. Second, it contributes to border studies by elaborating an example of productive ways that the border can be theoretically extended to include examinations of the lives of migrant family members living far from the border. Third, it critically examines a public health insurance program that has the potential to fulfill Mexico's constitutional right to health care for all citizens and to be a model for global health care policy. By doing so, it provides a basis for future study and development of progressive health care policy in Mexico and beyond.

Teotihuacan was the most influential city in the Classic Mesoamerican worldsystem. Like other influential cities in the ancient world, however, Teotihuacan did not homogenously affect the various cultural landscapes that thrived in Mesoamerica during the Classic period (300-900 CE). Even where strong central Mexican influences appear outside the Basin of Mexico, the nature, extent, and strength of these influences are discontinuous over time and space. Every place within the Classic Mesoamerican landscape has a unique Teotihuacan story. In the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico, Matacapan, located in the Catemaco Valley, drew heavily upon ideas and symbols fostered at Teotihuacan, while Totocapan, a peer political capital located in the neighboring Tepango Valley, emphasized social institutions well-entrenched within Gulf Coast cultural traditions. Through a detailed comparison of these two river valleys, I demonstrate that each polity developed along different trajectories. By the Middle Classic (450-650 CE) each polity displayed different political, economic, and ritual institutions. While they shared an underlying material culture style, the data suggest that the regimes of both polities promoted a different ideology. These cultural divergences did not, however, cause hostilities between them. To the contrary, compositional sourcing of Coarse Orange jars indicates that they engaged in material exchanges with each other. Agents at each settlement within the study region made unique decisions with regard to their involvement in local, regional, and macroregional interaction networks, particularly with regard to the adoption or rejection of Teotihuacan cultural elements. As a result, the Classic period Tuxtlas comprised multiple overlapping, but disjoint, landscapes of interaction. Places of human settlement were nodes on the landscape where these disjoint landscapes intersected in space and time. By examining these disjunctures, world-system studies can reveal a trend of increasing cultural diversity that parallels the better-theorized trend of homogenization emphasized by core-periphery models. In this dissertation, I take the initial steps toward developing an archaeology of disjuncture that examines the cultural variability that develops where groups across the landscape employ different strategies of interaction within the world-system.