This study investigates the imbrications and porosity between journalism and narrative fiction in Latin America. It examines how three journalist-writers, Afonso de Lima Barreto (Brazil), José Marín Cañas (Costa Rica) and Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) write in a fluid double-sided process of textual creation during the twentieth century. In their journalistic production, these writers include characters or situations that are false or imagined and, at the same time, while working in newspapers, write novels based on their journalistic reports. This discursive dialogism results in works with different degrees of hybridity that relativize the argument of those who see rigid boundaries between journalism and literature in Latin America. The literary figure of the journalist-writer, who produces narrative fiction while simultaneously working full-time for newspapers, magazines and news services, is a deeply rooted tradition in Latin American letters. In this study, special attention is given to the complex deployment of reference, hyperbole, deception and lying. During the twentieth century, when Latin American newspapers wanted to appear less political and more commercial to their readers, the journalist-writers continually masked their political views under the cloak of a fact-oriented journalistic discourse. This dissertation analyzes genre borders and develops concepts like "favela de las letras" ("Favela" in contradistinction to the Republic of Letters) and "diarismo magico" ("magical journalism"). The dissertation also examines the conundrums of verisimilitude raised by the imbrication of journalism and literature referred to above. The notion "magical journalism," which echoes "magical realism" yet structurally is more akin to the ambivalence that Tzvetan Todorov detects in the fantastic, produces its effect by the doubt that arises from the tangle of two principles of decoding: the realist, naturalist one that is expected of journalism and the preternatural. The latter is not the realm of the supernatural, as in marvelous verisimilitude, but ensues from apparently immeasurable political power, which in the texts of these writers is presented not only in a realist mode but coded through literary devices like allusion, allegory, hyperbole. In this way, the texts both refer to a concrete reality and simultaneously register it in a literary mode that produces astonishment, consternation and a range of effects of verisimilitude. / Romance Languages and Literatures

Background: In the last two decades Bogota, Colombia has seen a massive influx of internally displaced people (IDP) settling in its periphery where residents face the worst living, social, and economic conditions despite the 2011 passing of The Victims Law entitling IDP victims access to free shelter, food, education, and healthcare. Objective: To understand the circumstances and health care needs of Colombian IDPs, determine trends of health perceptions among IDPs and assess and quality of health services among IDPs in Bogota. Methods: Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 professionals who work with IDPs and 36 IDPs. Interviews explored opinions of common health conditions and barriers to access health services in IDP communities. The EQ-5D survey about perceptions of health was administered measuring mobility, self-care, daily activities, pain, and depression/anxiety. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded for analysis. Results: Most IDPs did not indicate suffering with mobility, self-care, and ability to conduct daily activities. Seventy-five percent of participants indicated moderate to severe pain and 86.85% expressed feeling some form of depression or anxiety. Environmental factors are common contributors to poor health conditions. Individual and societal factors surfaced as detriments to accessing health services. The process to be included in The Victims Law registry is arduous. Although the Victims Law allows IDPs to access health services, many missing links in the system thwart quality health care delivery and discourage IDPs to utilize the health care system. Conclusion: Despite efforts to mitigate the struggles IPDs suffer there remain much needed health services and organizational improvements for the IDP community in Bogota.

This paper examines the history of civil military relations in Mexico and Argentina in an attempt to understand why Mexico was able to subordinate its military following the fall of the Porfírian military regime, while Argentina experienced decades of military intervention into the civilian sphere. It argues that strong governmental and political institutions in Mexico were the key to subordinating the Mexican military to civilian control, while patterns of populist political movements in Argentina hampered the formation of strong governmental institutions that would have enabled the subordination of the military to civilian control.

This thesis measures the economic value and social impact of tourism associated with crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) in Tárcoles, Costa Rica. Crocodile tourism is unique compared to other tourism operations in Costa Rica because it is managed locally and has grown in an organic matter. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from tourists and key informants who work, directly or indirectly, in crocodile tourism in the region. The results demonstrated that the economic benefits derived from nature-based tourism is an important strength and incentive for C. acutus conservation in Tárcoles. Bringing in an estimated USD 5,292,073.81 per year (estimated for 2014) in indirect sales, tourism is one of the main economic drivers and is central to the economic development of the region. Furthermore, understanding the social impacts of the tourism in Tárcoles is vital for ecosystem management and sustainability of the crocodile tourism industry.

abstract: ABSTRACT The analytical sensitivity of Nellie Campobello allows her to perceive and draw several contexts into her fiction. Her work offers the reader a glimpse of the subtle connections between the individual experience and the social milieu that make up history. In the two editions of Cartucho (1931 and 1940) the reader encounters the Mexican Revolution as a plausible setting. By transferring this context into fiction, the author deals with core social matters that fostered the disfunctionality of Mexican society, at the time the novel was written. Furthermore, her intuition allows her to depict in her literary work many aspects of dehumanization that are timeless and universal. This depth of social cognition is expressed freely, producing a literary style that communicates a modern worldview. Therefore, a critical analysis of the book should supersede historical facts to discern the expression of an object of ethical appreciation. The active reading of Cartucho forces us to appreciate the precise aesthetic form that communicates, through a plurality of voices, history to reconfigure -through discourse- diverse social contexts that are accessible, identifiable and pertinent to readers from different epochs. This is perhaps the value of the book for the social sciences. However, our study seeks to understand the social and historic minutiae of the text to better equip the reader to achieve an ethical catharsis through the reading of fiction. We believe that it is only when the reader surpasses the historic level of discourse that he or she can fully identify himself or herself with the characters, thus restoring their humanity and at the same time becoming more fully human. SÍNTESIS El temperamento analítico y sensible de Nellie Campobello le permite abordar aspectos sociológicos de múltiples contextos; derivando además los puntos de contacto entre el desarrollo social y la experiencia individual. Cartucho nos presenta, en sus dos versiones (1931 y 1940), la Revolución Mexicana como un contexto verosímil que permite expresar los temas que preocupan a la autora. A partir de esta ambientación ficcional, ella expone las causas del estado en el que se encuentra la nación en el momento en el que escribe la obra. Además, su intuición la lleva a trazar procesos de deshumanización inherentemente humanos con los que se puede identificar un lector universal. Esta profundidad de pensamiento se formula libremente dando lugar a un estilo propio que comunica una cosmovisión moderna. Una lectura crítica de la obra debe partir del contexto de la Revolución Mexicana. Pero debe también rebasarlo para observar que Cartucho no es un receptáculo de voces rescatadas del pasado, sino la expresión de un objeto de apreciación ética formulado mediante una estética precisa que complementa y enuncia el discurso de la autora con la pluralidad de voces que reconstituyen, discursivamente, contextos sociales con los que el lector de cualquier época se puede identificar. En esta observación recae el valor de la obra camposiana para las ciencias sociales. Sin embargo, nuestro trabajo busca alcanzar una mejor apreciación del discurso histórico y sociológico para que el mensaje de la obra surta un efecto ético. Consideramos que es mediante este tipo de análisis que el lector logra identificarse con los personajes de Cartucho humanizándolos y humanizándose mediante la lectura de un texto de ficción. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Spanish 2014

abstract: This research aims to develop a narration theory based on Argentinian writer Juan José Saer’s (1937-2005) four collections of essays: El río sin orillas (The River Without Banks) (1991) —which is thought by critics to be the Facundo of the 20th century—, El concepto de ficción (The Concept of Fiction) (1995), La narración-objeto (The Narrative Object) (1999) and Trabajos (Works) (2005). His essays examine the Latin American novel from 1960 to 2000, in other words, from the founding of the modern novel during the Latin American boom to its establishment as the most commercial genre upon the arrival of neoliberalism in Latin America in the 1990’s. Saer not only questions the novel in literary terms, but also contextually: from its relationship to politics and the Cuban Revolution and the years of literary compromise à la Sarte and the historical novel’s insurgency as the favored genre that settled the region’s past and present in the 1980’s to the conception of the genre as a commodity as large transnational entertainment consortia purchased all publishers. Within this context, Saer simultaneously critiques and formulates a theory on narration to oppose the novel. He presents narration as a continuation of a wasted and formulaic genre such as the historical novel. He juxtaposes the “real” to realism, ponders the impossibility of the historical novel, defends and rehabilitates the French noveau roman, which was much vilified by authors of the boom, demystifies Borges’ reading of the Argentinian tradition and at the same time confronts it with Witold Gombrowicz. He removes literature from the bonds of nationalism and Latin Americanism and contrasts Sartre’s ideas with German philosopher Theodore W. Adorno’s proposals about the novel during the cultural industry era. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Spanish 2015

abstract: This project is a comparative exploration of the connection between descriptive representation and the substantive and symbolic representation of ethnic minorities: do Afro and indigenous representatives effectively “stand for” group members by introducing identity and empowering descriptive constituents? Featuring reserved seats for both minority groups, Colombia is an ideal case. In combination, the institutional design of reserved seats and the tradition of mestizaje and racial democracy add complexity to analyzing these populations. Consequently, in order to assess minority representation this work adds to extant representational theory by taking into account the crystallization of minority constituencies across elections. I use quantitative and qualitative data to comparatively assess the use of reserved seats for integrating minority identity to the deliberative process and measuring empowerment impacts for minority-majority municipalities. This data includes an original dataset of electoral outcomes across seven cycles (1990-2010) and transcripts of congressional plenaries spanning three legislative periods (2002-2014). I take into account constituency dynamics identifying the concentration and geographical sources of votes in minority districts. These outcomes translate to expectations of representative behavior, hinging on the theoretical belief that constituency dynamics act as signals of legislator accountability to minority constituents. This dissertation is located at the intersection of the comparative politics literature on minority quotas and representation, on one hand, and ethno-racial minority politics in Latin America, on the other. I find that ongoing electoral reforms have impacted constituency outcomes in post-reform cycles. More importantly, I observe that reserved representatives from both groups have integrated identity into deliberative processes often, but that only in the case of indigenous representation has the use of identity in plenaries been responsive to constituency variables. In addition, empowerment effects are identified in indigenous-majority communities that have strong linkages to minority districts, while the same empowerment cannot be conclusively identified in Afro-majority communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Political Science 2015

abstract: The purpose of this study was to: (1) record and describe a brief history of the life and career of Bolivian composer Dr. Nicolás Suárez Eyzaguirre, and (2) write an analysis from a vocal performer's perspective of Suárez's song cycle for soprano and piano, Monólogos del Desierto, with texts by Dr. Guillermo Mariaca Iturri. In August of 2013, I traveled to La Paz, Cochabamba, and Coroico, Bolivia, with translator Dr. Marie Cooper Hoffman for thirteen days in order to conduct interviews with Suárez, his family, his colleagues, his composition professors, and other professional musicians. In addition to both in-person and e-mail interviews, I reviewed television productions, videos, and newspaper/magazine articles that featured interviews with Suárez and/or reviews of his works. Also, I familiarized myself with Suárez's compositional style by performing a leading role in the 2011 world premiere of his opera El Compadre; collecting and listening to as many recordings of his works as I could find; and reading the transcript of Suárez's Doctor of Musical Arts Lecture Recital. For this study, I focused specifically on the compositional style of his three-song cycle Monólogos del Desierto. A performance of the work will be part of my defense of this paper. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2015

abstract: The worldviews and associated healing traditions of West and West Central sub-Saharan Africans and their Afro-Mexican descendants influenced the development of curanderismo, the traditional healing system of Mexico and the Southwest United States. Previous research on curanderismo, e.g. Colson (1976), Foster (1987), Ortiz de Montellano (1990), and Treviño (2001), generally emphasizes the cultural contributions of Spanish and Mesoamerican peoples to curanderismo; however, little research focuses on the cultural contributions of blacks in colonial Mexico. Mexico had the second-largest enslaved African population and the largest free black population in the Western Hemisphere until the early nineteenth century (Bennett 2003:1). Afro-Mexican curanderos were regularly consulted by members of every level of Spanish colonial society (ibid:150, 165, 254–55; Restall 2009:144–45, 275), often more commonly than indigenous healers (Bristol and Restall 2009:174), placing Afro-Mexican curanderos “squarely in the mainstream of colonial curing practices” (Bristol 2007:168). Through analysis of literature on African medicine, enslaved Africans in colonial Mexico, and Afro-Mexican healing practices, I suggest that the ideas and practices of colonial blacks played a more important role in the formation and practice of curanderismo than previously acknowledged. The black population plummeted after Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821 CE; however, through analysis of African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Latino religious and healing traditions, La Santa Muerte, and yerberías and their products in twentieth and twenty first century Mexico, I suggest that black healing traditions continued to influence curanderismo throughout Mexico’s history. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Religious Studies 2016

abstract: The purpose of this research was to understand the migration process as experienced by unaccompanied immigrant minors (UIMs). That is, to form a better understanding of why they seek migration, what motivates their migration, what happens to them on their migration journey, and how they adapt to their new communities in the United States. Using qualitative research methods, 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews were collected, along with 12 ethnographic interviews, and participant observations. The immigrants’ narratives were rich with data, and capture the plight that UIMs undertake as they leave their home countries. This study analyzes the dynamic of age in all facets of the migration process, by taking into account that children are participants of the migration process just as much as adults. The dissertation generated several findings; the first was to provide a profile of an Unaccompanied Minor, and for the sake of the study, only participants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were interviewed. From those interviewed, we learned that UIMs are a heterogeneous group. They come from diverse backgrounds in terms of household structures; (nuclear family structures, single-parent structures, extended-family structures, and migrant-family structures). Also, education levels varied; (some finished elementary or even secondary school, but for those living in rural areas it was harder to attend school due to the distance and availability of educational facilities). Many also worked in the labor force from an early age. One salient theme that UIMs talked about in relation to their home life was how the increase in violence in many Latin American countries was threatening their safety, especially for UIMs from El Salvador and Honduras. The next major finding was the ability to see the multiple stages UIMs experience, including: initiation/decisions to migrate, journey, arrival/adaptation and what takes place in each of these stages. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sociology 2016