The simultaneous phenomena of a shortage in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) labor force coupled with the growing Latino population in the U.S. dictates a need for higher education institutions to ensure the success of Latino students in the STEM disciplines. Current trends indicate that Latino males are interested in pursuing a STEM major, but are attaining STEM degrees at low rates. Furthermore, prior research has shown that over half of all STEM degree pursuers change majors within the first two years and that the first few weeks of college are critical for Latino students. As such, this dissertation used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to examine the first-semester lived experience of Latino males in the STEM disciplines using a science identity framework. Overall, this study had five major findings. First, the findings from this study challenged the existing science identity framework by emphasizing competence as opposed to recognition. Second, participants considered the importance of having a supportive scientific community within their first semester. At the same time, they also highlighted the competitiveness and exclusivity of the scientific community as a major factor that drew them into pursuing a STEM major. Third, the high-achieving participants in this study stressed the importance of being innovative, thinking out of the box, and connecting patterns in approaching their subject areas. Fourth, students in this study had to negotiate their science identities with other parts of their identities, such as their racial identities, gender identities, religious identities, creative identities, and musical identities. Finally, participants in this study who were enrolled in a critical thinking seminar developed a thorough understanding about science within a broader context, and gained knowledge about how the scientific community interacts with other industries, such as business, law, and politics. Given these findings, this study expanded, challenged, and added to the existing literature about Latino men in the STEM disciplines. / text

This qualitative study focused on the knowledge and perceptions of Latino high school students, as well those of their parents and school personnel, at a southwestern, suburban high school regarding persistence in the math/science pipeline. In the context of the unique school and community setting these students experience, the decision-making process was examined with particular focus on characterizing the relationships that influence the process. While the theoretical framework that informs this study was that of social capital, its primary purpose was to inform the school's processes and policy in support of increased Latino participation in the math and science pipeline. Since course selection may be the most powerful factor affecting school achievement and college-preparedness, and since course selection is influenced by school policy, school personnel, students, parents, and teachers alike, it is important to understand the beliefs and perceptions that characterize the relationships among them. The qualitative research design involved a phenomenological study of nine Latino students, their parents, their teachers and counselors, and certain support personnel from the high school. The school's and community's environment in support of academic intensity served as context for the portrait that developed.Given rapidly changing demographics that bring more and more Latino students to suburban high schools, the persistent achievement gap experienced by Latino students, and the growing dependence of the world economy on a citizenry versed in the math- and science-related fields, a deeper understanding of the decision-making processes Latino students experience can inform school policy as educators struggle to influence those decisions.This study revealed a striking lack of knowledge concerning the college-entrance ramifications of continued course work in math and science beyond that required for graduation, relationships among peers, parents, and school personnel that were markedly lacking in influence over the decision a student makes to continue, or not, course work beyond that required for graduation, and a general dismissal of the value of math- and science-related careers. Also lacking was any evidence of social capital within parental networks that reflected intergenerational closure.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate, through narrative analysis, the arrival stories of Latino/a immigrants into the Canadian school system, and to examine how their migration experience influences their identification process. The data to be analysed was collected during interviews conducted for the Proyecto Latin@ project; a research that looks into the perspectives of Latino/a youth towards school desertion and their experiences as Latino/a students in Canada. Interviews analysed included students with recent arrival dates into Canada ( < 3 years at the time of interviews). Their narratives displayed a shift in ideology as students internalized the dominant discourse and present a conundrum for students struggling in school. This analysis attempts to add to the growing body of knowledge on the specific difficulties faced by the Latino/a youth upon their arrival into Canada, as well as how their identities develop and shift during this process.

The purpose of this study is to investigate, through narrative analysis, the arrival stories of Latino/a immigrants into the Canadian school system, and to examine how their migration experience influences their identification process. The data to be analysed was collected during interviews conducted for the Proyecto Latin@ project; a research that looks into the perspectives of Latino/a youth towards school desertion and their experiences as Latino/a students in Canada. Interviews analysed included students with recent arrival dates into Canada ( < 3 years at the time of interviews). Their narratives displayed a shift in ideology as students internalized the dominant discourse and present a conundrum for students struggling in school. This analysis attempts to add to the growing body of knowledge on the specific difficulties faced by the Latino/a youth upon their arrival into Canada, as well as how their identities develop and shift during this process.

abstract: While the literature on caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders (ADRD) has continued to grow, the relationship of ethnicity and acculturation factors with regards to the coping strategies used by caregivers has not been extensively explored. The current study included participants from the Palo Alto site of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) project. The study examined differences in coping strategies between 140 non-Hispanic White, 45 less acculturated Latina, and 61 more acculturated Latina caregivers. Univariate and Multivariate Analysis of Variance, as well as post hoc analyses, were conducted to determine the differences among the three groups. Results indicated less acculturated Latina caregivers employ more avoidant coping strategies compared to non-Hispanic White caregivers. However, no differences were found among the other groups in their use of avoidance coping. Moreover, there were no differences found in the use of social support seeking, count your blessings, problem focused, and blaming others coping among the three groups. These findings have important implications for the design of culturally relevant psychoeducational and therapeutic interventions aimed towards meeting the individual needs of these three populations. In addition, the findings expand on the understanding of maladaptive coping strategies that may be potentially exacerbating caregiver distress among Latina caregivers. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.C. Counseling 2011

Although scholars have begun to identify individual level predictors of panethnic group consciousness, we still do not have a full understanding of how it develops among Latinos (Padilla1985; Masuoka, 2006, 2008). This study seeks to add to the literature by determining if contextual factors affect panethnic group consciousness. Does the presence of many different Latino country of origin groups affect the development of Latino group consciousness? Relying on previously literature on intergroup relations, I argue that Latino intra-group diversity will lead to two possible outcomes. First, as Latinos of different country of origins subgroups come into more frequent contact this will have a positive effect on panethnic group consciousness because individuals would have developed shared experiences. An alternative possibility is that dominant subgroups (Mexican, Cubans and Puerto Ricans) will react negatively to an increase in out-subgroups due to perceived threat. This in turn would undermine Latino group consciousness. The 2006 Latino National Survey and the 2005-2007 American Community Survey were used to test the proposed relationship between context and group consciousness. Findings suggest that contextual factors do have an effect on group consciousness but only for certain components and country of origin groups.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, Florianópolis, 2010 / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-25T07:44:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Apresenta-se aqui uma discussão sobre as abordagens latino-americanas da cultura e do estatuto da literatura a partir da produção de três importantes críticos: Ángel Rama, Josefina Ludmer e Raúl Antelo. Tais produções se colocam em uma perspectiva de fronteira, de trânsito, de limiar, .em trans., estabelecida pela relação de .amizade. (com-sentimento) com a crítica latino-americana, por um perfil transnacional de trabalho intelectual, e por colocar em tensão elementos da crítica literária moderna, como o valor, no que ele se relaciona com o estatuto da literatura e com pressupostos da modernidade que a fundamentam. Esta tese se apresenta, portanto, como um lugar de passagem por estas leituras latino-americanas do presente. / This work presents a discussion concerning Latin-American approaches of culture and the statute of literature from the analysis of the production of three important critics: Ángel Rama, Josefina Ludmer and Raúl Antelo. Such productions are placed in a border, transit, threshold, .in trans. perspective established by a .friendship. (with-feelings) relation with the Latin-American critique, by a transnational profile of intellectual work and by putting in tension elements of modern literary critique, such as the value in which it relates with the statute of literature and with presuppositions of modernity that fundament it. This thesis presents itself, therefore, as a place of passage through these Latin-American readings of the present.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-graduação em Literatura / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-24T01:50:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 258213.pdf: 528170 bytes, checksum: afa26295281d0ca5880750031c7dd81a (MD5) / As sociedades contemporâneas revelaram ao mundo sujeitos conflitantes e fragmentados, que transitam em tempos e espaços alheios à concepção tradicional de cronologia e linearidade. No mesmo contexto, as nações perderam a prerrogativa da tradição e situam-se menos em territórios de fronteiras determinadas do que em lugares dificilmente identificados. Frente a estas características, o debate atual gira em torno de como lembrar o passado e que identidades são possíveis após a crise do sujeito e o descentramento do "eu". Na literatura, surgem personagens que lidam com essas transformações e, especificamente nos romances latino-americanos, são emblemáticas as figuras que respondem aos questionamentos contemporâneos a partir do enfrentamento de um passado ditatorial e da necessidade de preservação da memória, preconizando a reinterpretação dos fatos e a reestruturação do indivíduo em direção a um futuro incógnito, que se caracteriza pela identidade multifacetada. Trata-se de sujeitos pós-ditatoriais. Contemporaneous societies introduced the world to conflicting and fragmented subjects who transit times and spaces that don't conform to the traditional concepts of chronology and linearity. In the same context, nations lost their prerogative to tradition and are situated less in territories with well-defined borders than in places that are hard to identify. Given those characteristics, the current debate is about how to remember the past and what kinds of identity are possible after the crisis of the subject and the "I" has lost its centrality. The literature has produced new characters that deal with those transformations. In Latin-American romances, in particular, figures that respond to contemporaneous questions based on the confrontation of a dictatorial past and the need for memory preservation are emblematic. They preconize the reinterpretation of facts and the restructuring of the individual in the direction of an unknown future, one that features a multifaceted identity. Those are the post-dictatorial subjects.

Orientador: Antonio Arnoni Prado / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-27T09:12:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VillarragaEslava_Fernando_D.pdf: 7781820 bytes, checksum: df5d2a22e41bb2e702a27a9dfcb384a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2000 / Resumo: A partir da perspectiva teórica do pós-modernismo, procede-se à leitura critica de dois romances latino-americanos contemporâneos. Através da análise dos fatores que participam da composição estrutural e expressiva, procura-se, então, entender como ambos os textos assimilam a lógica de seus referentes, como fazem deles substância da própria representação fictícia e, finalmente, como se afastam dos modelos narrativos que a tradição moderna gerou. A tese fundamental que circula nas páginas do trabalho é a de que as duas obras não apresentam nenhum vínculo com a estética metafísica, pois o sentido da pelformance verbal e semiótica que nelas se realiza elimina toda conotação de busca essencial da verdade humana, de construção de universos utópicos ou materialização de vozes ignoradas. É esse o elo chave que as aproxima. Por isso, o sentido da interpretação é o de desvendar os jogos de linguagem que sustentam os respectivos projetos romanescos, para colocar em destaque os principais artifícios da escrita que alteram o estatuto literário e estético do gênero / Resumen: A partir de Ia perspectiva teórica deI posmodernismo se realiza Ia lectura crítica de dos novelas latinoamericanas contemporáneas. Através dei análisis de los aspectos que participan de Ia composición estructural y expresiva se busca entender cómo ambos textos asimilan Ia lógica de sus referentes, cómo los transforman en substancia de Ia representación ficticia y, finalmente, cómo se alejan de los modelos narrativos que Ia tradición moderna consagró. La tesis fundamental que circula en Ias páginas deI trabajo es Ia de que Ias dos obras no presentan ningún vínculo com Ia estética metafisica, pues el sentido de Ia performance verbal y semiótica que en elIas se realiza elimina toda connotación de búsqueda esencial de Ia verdad humana, de construcción de universos utópicos o de materialización de voces ignoradas. Es este el elemento clave que Ias aproxima. Por eso el sentido de Ia interpretación es el de desvendar los juegos de lenguaje que dan sustentación a Ios respectivos proyectos novelescos, para colocar en destaque, entonces, los principales artificios de Ia escritura que alteram eI estatuto literario y estético deI género / Doutorado / Teoria Literaria / Doutor em Letras