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This dissertation, "Andean Spanish in Peru: Acquisition, Variation and Change in the Speech of Huancayo," focuses on the maintenance of Andean Spanish, a linguistic variety spoken on the Peruvian Andes, which is the result of centuries of interaction between Spanish and Quechua societies. The importance of my research lies in the awareness that global processes are changing and restructuring the ways in which Andean people, a historical marginalized social group in Peru, develop and construct a range of new global identities, while still preserving their local ones. Using a qualitative and quantitative approach, the analysis explores the effects of social factors upon language use and the maintenance or loss of Quechua features in the language and culture of the Andean city of Huancayo. / Spanish

2023 / This dissertation addresses the first generation of academically-trained artists from Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela who studied in Europe through government scholarships as a way to understand how regional fine arts institutions emerged through transatlantic dialogues with French and Italian artistic institutions. I follow the travel accounts of three artists from the Northern Andes – Epifanio Garay, Arturo Michelena, and Luis Cadena, who were the first beneficiaries of government scholarships and who played decisive roles in the foundation of art academies in their native countries. Each chapter compares the initial motivations of each government to sponsor these artists’ travels, the official participation of these governments in international events, the emerging efforts to build local artistic institutions, the individual experience of these artists in either Paris or Rome, and how the paintings produced in Europe were received in their home countries. In doing so, this study reveals a polyphony of strategies, motivations, and actors interested in importing European culture into the region of the former Nueva Granada.

2025 / This dissertation explores the mutual influence between gender and sexuality, music-making and sonic practices in the Carnaval de Barranquilla, the Carnaval Gay de Barranquilla, and the feminist collective Raras no tan Raras. I show that heteronormativity, macho attitudes, and homophobia are reified in music-making and sonic practices in Barranquilla and its carnival expressions. Nevertheless, I also argue that music-making and sonic practices can alter how gender and sexuality are experienced. Through ethnographical observations, I show how exclusion and gender roles can be transferred into music and sonic practices and how music and sound have helped women and LGTBIQ+ people in Barranquilla fight against these systems of oppression. In this way, this dissertation studies how gender and sexuality intersect one of the most important genres in the Carnaval de Barranquilla, Cumbia. Carnaval Gay de Barranquilla practitioners dance to cumbia by playing it in stereos or hiring millo ensembles. Contrarily, Raras no tan Raras play and compose their own music despite not being experienced musicians. In these two cases, I suggest that both forms of musicality can serve to reshape gender and sexuality relationality. To understand the interrelationality between music and sound, and gender and sexuality, I analyze three aspects of Barranquilla and its Carnival expressions: the normativities that govern gender and sexuality, the pre-subjective and subjective effects of music and sound, and the spontaneous and ephemeral relationships that emerge during performances. For this reason, the theoretical perspectives that serve to analyze such aspects are homonormativity (a recurring concept that offers some critical lenses to uncover the adaptations with which heteronormativity is perpetuated), music affect theory (the notion that sound and music are affective forces that have pre-subjective effects on people) and the social production of space (space not as a physical void waiting to be filled but as the product of relations between social entities).Ultimately, this dissertation posits that analyzing the interrelationality between gender and sexuality and music and sound offers different insights into how systems of oppression are perpetuated and how they can be challenged.

I will argue that a discussion of sovereignty as it relates to internal conflict deepens our understanding of the Colombian conflict, and in turn, the Colombian conflict deepens the ongoing discussion on sovereignty. Internal armed conflict is a tool to free and dominate populations, to save and kill individuals, and to destroy and build institutions. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke set an initial framework for understanding sovereignty. Armed actors use violence to create a sphere of influence that overlaps with the state’s legal jurisdiction: armed actors use violence as a strategy of hegemonic state building. Overlapping territorial claims challenge the integrity of Colombian sovereignty. I will argue in this thesis that the Colombian example demonstrates that a government’s sovereignty can be threatened by an ideological competitor (FARC), outlaws -- whether state created (AUC) or independent of the state (drug cartels) -- and by foreign nations (US). If the collective actions of these actors can effectively contest the state’s legitimacy, comparative advantage in violence, and territorial claims, armed actors can effectively undermine the state’s sovereignty. In this way, the Colombian example is a rich case study in domestic sovereignty.

This paper serves to further investigate factors influencing partisanship in Mexican politics with a focus on state spending and drug violence. With state spending, this paper builds on prior literature about political effects of federal social spending (Handelman 1997, Domínguez and Chappell 2004, Díaz-Cayeros 2009) to propose a similar theory regarding state social spending. The proposed panel data model for national elections between 2000 and 2012 finds that for diputados elections, a thousand-peso increase in state spending had a statistically significant influence on party voting – boosting PRI candidates (typically incumbents) by 0.66% and hurting both PAN and PRD candidates by 0.78% and 1.57% respectively. This paper also proposes an alternative theory of state spending whereby the effect comes from a linkage of spending and economic performance. With drug violence, this paper studies the importance of the Mexican Drug War on the Mexican political environment but finds no consistent party impact of instability (modeled with intentional homicide statistics) in national elections from 2000 to 2012. This paper delves into potential explanations for this finding including different effects by election, distrust of political parties, and the perception of little difference between parties. Finally, the paper outlines other responses to instability and drug violence to demonstrate approaches taken by Mexican citizens outside of the ballot box. These alternative strategies include protesting, lobbying, migration, and the rise of private security.

This study aimed to investigate parent-child verbal interactions in Spanish in a group of Latino preschoolers growing up in the United States through a parent-mediated program at home, and the effects of the program on their receptive vocabulary in Spanish. A single subject multiple baseline across participants design was used in the study. The participants were 3 Latino mothers and their sons, with low family income, living in the United States. The intervention taught the mothers strategies to enhance their children’s language through a sharing-book activity. The study lasted for 6 weeks during which baseline and intervention conditions data were collected through videotapes of the Dyads’ mealtimes. The results of the study showed that their verbal interactions were functional, brief, and typically not extended to children’s activities. The number of verbal interactions increased for 2 of the 3 Dyads from baseline to intervention condition and decreased for 1 of them. The children’s receptive vocabulary and school readiness skills increased after the intervention as showed by pre and post intervention assessments. The social validity survey suggested that Latina mothers found the project beneficial since, it not only increased their children’s interest in books, but also their own motivation to share books with them. Research and practical implications were discussed.

The purpose of this research study was to analyze the success of the Peace Corps’ Municipal Development Program in its role as a change agent in the empowerment of rural Guatemalan women, and includes an exploration into the intercultural factors that may have affected the outcomes. I used my Peace Corps site of Santa Cruz El Chol, Guatemala as the case study for this research. I reviewed literature in five areas to use as a foundation to guide my research. This included literature regarding Guatemalan history and Guatemalan women’s issues, women’s empowerment in the international development context, Peace Corps, change agentry, and intercultural relations. I obtained data from four different groups. I interviewed a focus group of female leaders from El Chol, obtained questionnaires from 42 rural women from El Chol and its surrounding villages, interviewed three Peace Corps Guatemala staff members, and gathered surveys from 18 returned Peace Corps volunteers. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered via open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions, and scale-based questions. An analysis of the findings revealed implications in three areas. The first area focused on Guatemalan women who are especially vulnerable to institutional and domestic violence, which leads to a lack of educational and economic opportunities and continues to prevent their empowerment. Next, the Peace Corps volunteers were generally satisfied with their service, but felt traits of Guatemalan society and culture prevented them from positively influencing women’s empowerment. Additionally, findings revealed that Peace Corps volunteers served as change agents in that they saw themselves and were seen by others as positive role models for the Guatemalan women with whom they worked. Finally, time management styles, differences in perception of gender roles, and direct versus indirect communication styles sometimes clashed to cause issues in U. S. American and Guatemalan abilities to work effectively together.

Acculturation research has gained interest due to the increasing levels of immigration to the United States. The population of interest for this study was the Latino immigrant population in the United States, as they represent the largest and fastest growing minority in the country. One challenge Latino immigrants can face during the acculturation process is a phenomenon described as nonreciprocal language. This phenomenon is present when first generation parents speak in their native language of Spanish and their children, who are second-generation immigrants, speak in the host culture language of English. The purpose of this study was to focus on the role of nonreciprocal language in the mother-child relationship between first generation Latino immigrant mothers and their second-generation children. A qualitative, ethnographic study was used to investigate 10 participants, including first generation Latino immigrant mothers and their second-generation children in Charlotte, North Carolina. Findings from this content analysis study include mothers' and children's experiences with nonreciprocal language and their acculturation categories, which led to recommendations for new strategies for ESL education and the need to develop programs to help parents raise bilingual children. This information can benefit advocates, policymakers, and other stakeholders involved in programs that are focused on helping children be more proficient in their parents' language or helping parents become more proficient in English. Information from this study can also allow immigrant parents to make informed decisions about their language use and the possible impact on their relationships.

Abstract Many young adult Haitian immigrant students (YAHIS) move to the United States hoping to achieve better lives. This growing population faces many challenges when acculturating to a new country and educational system. Some obstacles include inadequate family and social support, language barriers, limited education, distinct cultural values, a lack of academic materials, a shortage of Haitian teachers, and inadequate educational programs. These psychosocial factors often prevent Haitian immigrants from succeeding in U.S. schools. This study explored YAHIS' experiences of acculturation and education as they relate to these psychosocial factors. Qualitative phenomenological techniques, guided by Adlerian theory, revealed the assumptions, meanings, and feelings of the study participants via in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 YAHIS. Key findings included the identification of common themes regarding critical factors for academic success: (a) family support; (b) role of culture; (c) educational opportunities; (d) challenges of acculturation; (e) questioning of self-identify; and (f) personal attitude. These findings may inform schools, universities, and professionals who seek to assist YAHIS acculturate and succeed in the U.S. educational system. The study findings may facilitate positive social change by enabling scholars, school psychologists, educators, and family members to help YAHIS integrate into U.S. society, succeed in education, and contribute to their communities. Specifically, results suggest that administrators must provide increased transparency regarding access to education in the United States and additional information about the registration process to ensure YAHIS acculturate and have all necessary support to succeed in higher education.