Hispanic Studies

Estudio sobre el Comportamiento y Salud en los Jóvenes Escolares de la República Dominicana: Resultados de 2009

by Elián Cabrera-Nguyen

Co-authored with Dr. Juan B. Peña, Rosa Fernández, and Diana Chaves.

This scientific report on youth risk behaviors was prepared for the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Education.more This scientific report on youth risk behaviors was prepared for the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Education.

We administered a modified YRBS to a nationally representative sample of public high school youth in the Dominican Republic. The survey asked about mental health, sexual risk behaviors, substance use, and violent behavior. Findings are presented at the national level and for each educational district. I analyzed all data and assisted with preparing the report. I also helped present the results to a delegation from the DR's Ministry of Education.

Dr. Juan B. Peña, assistant professor at the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, is the prinicpal investigator and first author. The remaining authors are presented alphabetically; contribution is equal: Elián P. Cabrera-Nguyen, Diana Chaves, and Rosa Fernández

Review of Nayibe Bermúdez Barrios´s "Latin American Cinemas: Local Views and Transnational Connections." Calgary: U of Calgary P, 2011. Pp. 333. ISBN 978-1-55238-514-2.

by Santiago Juan-Navarro

Published in Hispania 95.2 (2012): 344–75

Hispanic (Hybridity) in Canada: The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora

by Cassandra Eberhardt

Master's Thesis

Ethnic media are powerful, and yet overlooked, spaces that immigrants and ethnic minorities establish to address... more Ethnic media are powerful, and yet overlooked, spaces that immigrants and ethnic minorities establish to address issues that are not discussed in the dominant host society media. With the international migration of over five million people each year from majority to minority world nations, the emergence of ethnic media in countries around the world has increased significantly; however, relatively little is understood about the ways in which these spaces are used by immigrants and ethnic minorities. This thesis adds to a relatively new area of study in sociology, international development, and alternative media studies and investigates the ways in which Spanish-language ethnic media acts as a ‘Third Space’ where Hispanics disseminate, negotiate, (re)construct, and (re)articulate new notions of hybrid Hispanic-Canadian identity, an identity that operates against, and engages with, multiple-forms of difference and exclusion within Canada. A qualitative discourse analysis of 18 articles from Spanish-language ethnic media source El Correo Canadiense reveals the ways in which Hispanics in Canada negotiate hybridized identity by using ethnic media as a space to create a discourse that acts counter-hegemonically to Canadian mass-media. The findings also reveal the ways in which Hispanics are aiming to engage Canadians in the process of de- and re-constructing preconceived notions of what it means to “be Hispanic” in a transnational context.

"Juan in a Hundred: the Faces and Stories of Latinos on the Evening News"

by Otto Santa Ana

This is the prospectus of my completed book-length manuscript on television network news imaging of Latinos. It is forthcoming. University of Texas Press will release it in late 2012.

"Juan in a 100" is a set of 3 studies designed in concentric circles to home in on the character and... more "Juan in a 100" is a set of 3 studies designed in concentric circles to home in on the character and consequence of network evening news reporting on the nation’s fastest growing and largest ethnic-minority group. In spite of recent inroads, the network evening news programs remain the nation's most important and authoritative daily accounting of America's unfolding reality. Thus remains important to study this vital source of information about Latinos.

I first study the distribution of news stories topics, comparing the total 12,000 individual stories that four networks broadcast in 2004 to the subset of those stories (totaling 118) that pertain to Latinos. The fact that less than one-percent of network news stories deal with Latinos as subjects of the story, led to the word-play of the book title. The 1:100 ratio and topic distribution has not changed in the past 15 years. Because there is no discernable change in the network patterns, a study of the 2004 broadcast year will remain relevant in the foreseeable future.

The second study focuses on content. I select 46 stories that encompass the range of news types (from briefs to features) as well as the major Latino news topics that the networks offer viewers. I conduct deep semiotic readings on each of them to provide an in-depth examination of the content of network news about Latinos that are broadcast to the American viewing public. The breadth and depth of this second study allow me to illustrate the techniques that the networks use to render their authoritative portrait of today's Latinos. The picture is not pretty. It is incomplete and often flawed.

In the final study, I move from description to explanation. I map out an explicit procedure by which news consumers build their understandings out of the multimodal stimuli of television news stories. This poses two challenges: how to incorporate into one interpretive framework different modes of lower-order semiotic sign (visual, non-spoken audio, graphic, spoken, etc.), as well as dealing with higher-order semantics. For the first challenge, I start with recent cognitive science scholarship (Lakoff, Fauconnier). To deal with the second, I enlist the aid of venerable humanist theories (Foucault, Calvin McGee, Barthes, Hayden White, Northrup Frye) that offer insight into the nature of complex higher-order meanings. I exemplify my model with immigration news stories that I described in earlier chapters. Thus I combine humanist theory and cognitive science to explain how American news viewers can construct their (albeit limited) understanding of Latinos from the news stories they watch.

Did you call in Mexican? The racial politics of Jay Leno immigrant jokes. (2007) Language in Society, 38(1), 23–45.

by Otto Santa Ana

This article analyzes a set of anti-immigrant jokes with which Jay Leno entertained his national television audience... more This article analyzes a set of anti-immigrant jokes with which Jay Leno entertained his national television audience in 2006, when the U.S. public was focused on unprecedented demonstrations urging justice for immigrants. Leno adroitly mocks immigrants and their cause to give his audience emotional release by distancing them from immigrants. It is argued that political comedy can be an insidious discursive practice that reduces its audience’s critical judgment as it signifies social boundaries. It should be carefully scrutinized because, with a few laughs, Leno can steer sentiment about public policy and instantiate divisiveness for an audience of 6 million who, in the words of Leno’s official website, “are drifting off to dreamland.”

Keywords: Humor, political comedy, late-night television, immigrant rights marches.

La reescritura de la gesta napoleónica en la novela histórica reciente

by antonio dominguez leiva

La violencia y lo macabro en la joven cuentística de los noventa

by antonio dominguez leiva

Galicia caníbal: la barbarie galaicca de Quotidianía delirante a" A lingua das bolboretas"

by antonio dominguez leiva

" La verdad sobre el caso Savolta": de novela postmoderna a cine épico.

by antonio dominguez leiva

" La fea burguesía"(1971-1980), de Miguel Espinosa como deconstrucción ideológica del tardofranquismo

by antonio dominguez leiva

Don’t Forget the Hip-Hop!: Recruiting Economically Disadvantaged Minority Students in Higher Education: An Assessment of Postsecondary Programs at Texas State University

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Cordero, Rafael Ray, "Don’t Forget the Hip-Hop!: Recruiting Economically Disadvantaged Minority Students in Higher Education: An Assessment of Postsecondary Programs at Texas State University" (2008). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 274.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/274

The purpose of this research is four-fold. First, it seeks to develop an ideal program for postsecondary recruitment... more The purpose of this research is four-fold. First, it seeks to develop an ideal program for postsecondary recruitment of economically disadvantaged minority students. Second, it will empirically test elements of the model that have no supporting scholarly literature or research. In addition, it uses the ideal model to assess the effectiveness of the current Texas State program in recruiting economically disadvantaged minority students. Lastly, this research will make recommendations on how Texas State can improve its recruitment of these students to Texas State University. The components of an ideal model for postsecondary recruitment identified in the literature led to the development of a conceptual framework. The framework allowed the researcher to develop an assessment tool that will measure current postsecondary recruitment at Texas State University. A case study approach was utilized, incorporating interview surveys from a sample of high school students currently enrolled in a postsecondary recruitment program. This was used in concurrence with document analysis and survey research. Overall, postsecondary recruitment programs at Texas State University are consistent with components identified in the ideal model. The programs could be improved by allowing for an increase in staff, which in turn would allow for more individualized attention to students.

Evaluation of Structured English Immersion and Bilingual Education on Reading Skills of Limited English Proficient Students in California and Texas

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Sievert, Jessica, "Evaluation of Structured English Immersion and Bilingual Education on Reading Skills of Limited English Proficient Students in California and Texas" (2007). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 262.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/262

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the structured English immersion program and the... more The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the structured English immersion program and the bilingual education program on the reading performance of limited English proficient students. The sample of this study is comprised of fourth grade Hispanic Spanish-speaking limited English proficient students from six campuses in southern California and six campuses in southern Texas who participated in the 2005 Reading National Assessment of Educational Progress. To determine the impact of these English language acquisition programs on these students’ reading skills, a multiple regression analysis was conducted. After controlling for several factors, results of the analysis show that neither structured English immersion nor bilingual education have a significant impact on the reading skills of LEP students. When deciding which program to implement, educators and policymakers may want to compare costs associated with each and determine the priority that a community places on maintaining a student’s native language.

Empowerment and the Latino Community: Does Consciousness Make a Difference?.

by Lorraine Gutierrez

Gesuiti sardi in terra di missione

by raimondo turtas

in 'Bollettino di Studi Sardi', 2009/2, pp. 49-88

Cara y corazón: Raices religiosas en un mexicoamericano

by Gilberto Cavazos-González, OFM

My first published article as it appeared in Critica (Enero 2003) Una revista hecha por mujeres… pero no “para la mujer”

A reflection on my experience of growing up Mexican-American in South Texas. It also reflects my first musings on the... more A reflection on my experience of growing up Mexican-American in South Texas. It also reflects my first musings on the Mesoamerican biphrasism "cara y corazón" as symbolic of culture and spirituality,

Barriers to Health Care Encountered by Hispanics: A Case Study Using the Immunization Division of the Texas Department of Health and the Clinics of the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Pena-Brow, Rocio A., "Barriers to Health Care Encountered by Hispanics: A Case Study Using the Immunization Division of the Texas Department of Health and the Clinics of the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department" (1997). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 213.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/213

The Beginnings of The Hispanic Baptists on The Lone Star State

by Pablo Rivas Perea

The paper discusses the most relevant events in the Hispanic Baptist Church history, delimited intentionally to the... more The paper discusses the most relevant events in the Hispanic Baptist Church history, delimited intentionally to the state of Texas.

Estrategias matrimoniales y dialécticas de poder en la Italia española

by Valentina Caldari

Paper given at IX COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL DE HISTORIOGRAFÍA EUROPEA/ VI JORNADAS DE ESTUDIOS SOBRE LA MODERNIDAD CLÁSICA, Mar del Plata (Argentina), 24, 25 y 26 de Noviembre de 2011

El tema propuesto se enfoca en el análisis del papel estratégico que el Reino de Nápoles había en la Monarquía Hispana... more El tema propuesto se enfoca en el análisis del papel estratégico que el Reino de Nápoles había en la Monarquía Hispana mirando a través de la micropolítica practicata por los linajes nobiliarios especialmente a través de los vínculos matrimoniales para la transmisión del patrimonio con enlaces entre casas españolas e italianas.

Se ententerá demostrar la importancia de las estrategias matrimoniales en las relaciones entre la Monarquía Hispana y sus dominios periféricos. La historiografía ya es concorde en la evaluación de la importancia de los territorios italianos de la Corona de los Austrias y la análisis del matrimonio Pignatelli-Aragona Cortés es emblemático para demonstrar los comportamentos sociales y económicos de la nobleza local, istrumento fundamental para la integración de las élites sociales de los dominadores y de los dominados. La nupcias entre Ettore IV Pignatelli y Juana Aragona Cortés (1639) – además de haber fundado una nueva rama del casado (Aragona Pignatelli Cortés) – comportó ingentes acrecimientos de posesiones territoriales, entre Reino de Napoles, Sicilia y México, incrementando a la vez el prestigio familiar. Los Pignatelli, en particolar, gracias a esta boda y a su fidelidad a la Corona se vieron trasplantados desde un casado aristocrático de nivel local, a partenecer a una nobleza de caracter internacional con varios membro que tuvieron la Grandeza de España y el Cabellerado del Toisón de Oro.

A Failure to Communicate? English Only and Hispanophobia In Modern America

by Graeme Douglas

This article examines the phenomenon of ‘English Only’ groups in the United States. The primary civil society groups... more This article examines the phenomenon of ‘English Only’ groups in the United States. The primary civil society groups behind English Only efforts focus a good deal of their attention on Hispanic/Latino-Americans, a demographic that has increased rapidly over the course of the previous three decades to approximately 15 percent of the total population. English Only groups believe that English in the United States is ‘under siege’ and accuse Hispanic Americans of seeking a parallel society within the United States in which they will not have to learn English or adopt ‘American’ culture. The findings of this study suggest that arguments supporting the positions of these groups lack much empirical basis and ignore both historical realities and current integrative trends among Latino-Americans. Furthermore, the construction of ‘Hispanics’ as a single identifiable ‘racial’ group is highly problematic. Underlying the rationale behind English Only lobbying, this paper argues, is a form of contemporary nativism and even ‘Hispanophobia,’ which seeks to maintain a mythical American identity that is at its heart racist and exclusionary. Importantly, this prejudice serves both to undermine efforts of Hispanics to integrate into broader American society and to reduce some Hispanics’ resolve to learn English and ‘melt’ into the American ‘pot.’

Las relaciones económicas entre Baelo Claudia y la Mauretania Tingitana

by Ildefonso Ruiz López

Actas del XVII Convegno Internazionale di Studi L’Africa Romana (Sevilla, 14-17 diciembre 2006), Roma, 2008, vol. II, pp. 1199-1208.ISBN 978-88-430-4833-5