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Title: Program Review Languages, Linguistics & Comparative Literature, 2012-2013.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2012-2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007616
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Program Review Languages, Linguistics & Comparative Literature, 2013-2014.
Creator: Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Florida Atlantic University Departmental Dashboard Indicators. Department program reviews for Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Florida Atlantic University.
Date Issued: 2013-2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007617
Subject Headings: Florida Atlantic University -- History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: DECIPHERING TOM DISALVO: A FIRST-GENERATION ARTIST BETWEEN SICILY AND SOUTH FLORIDA.
Creator: Diraviam, Domenica Santomaggio, Serra, Ilaria, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This dissertation aims to contextualize the self-taught Sicilian born artist, Tom DiSalvo (1947-2011) among contemporary artists of Italian extraction. It investigates a selection of his corpus of over 300 works of art spanning four decades as an integral contribution to Italian diasporic scholarship. The primarily large-scale paintings, enhanced with underlying textual layers and semiotic translations of famous works of art, reveal distinct ties to American, Italian and hybrid patterns of...
Show moreThis dissertation aims to contextualize the self-taught Sicilian born artist, Tom DiSalvo (1947-2011) among contemporary artists of Italian extraction. It investigates a selection of his corpus of over 300 works of art spanning four decades as an integral contribution to Italian diasporic scholarship. The primarily large-scale paintings, enhanced with underlying textual layers and semiotic translations of famous works of art, reveal distinct ties to American, Italian and hybrid patterns of ethnicity. Much of his work remains unknown in scholarly and public circles, due in part to the limited canon of Italian diasporic visual art (with the exception of film) and to DiSalvo’s own disapproval of the commodification of his art. The project originated with the classification of the artist’s personal artifacts and the interpretation of his canvases displayed in both public and private spaces. The methodology employed in this dissertation is as unique and multifaceted as its topic. I depart from paintings to reveal the man behind the canvas, thanks to the voices and memories of friends and family on both sides of the ocean, anchoring my findings to the foundation of scholarly discussions, and theoretical and critical sources in the disciplines of hybrid cultural studies, Italian and Italian American art and literature, as well as outsider art to verify the intersections between DiSalvo and members of each of these communities.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014053
Subject Headings: Italian American artists, Italian American art, Italian American experience
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: ANIMACY EFFECTS IN SPANISH VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION: A CORPUS STUDY.
Creator: Martin, Micaela, Viktor Kharlamov, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This thesis analyzes if animacy facilitates the visual recognition of words in Spanish. I compared native-speaker reaction times to Spanish words with animate and inanimate referents in a word-nonword identification task, also known as the lexical decision task. Responses were collected from a database and coded for animacy as well as six lexical and semantic variables known to affect reading times. Linear mixed effects modeling suggested that participants responded to animate words...
Show moreThis thesis analyzes if animacy facilitates the visual recognition of words in Spanish. I compared native-speaker reaction times to Spanish words with animate and inanimate referents in a word-nonword identification task, also known as the lexical decision task. Responses were collected from a database and coded for animacy as well as six lexical and semantic variables known to affect reading times. Linear mixed effects modeling suggested that participants responded to animate words significantly more quickly, independently of factors such as frequency and familiarity. The findings are interpreted from the perspective of parallel distributed processing model of word recognition in Seidenberg and McClelland (1989). The present study highlights the importance of animacy to language processing and presents one avenue through which we can understand which dimensions of the referential world are relevant to the processing and organization of language.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014145
Subject Headings: Animacy (Grammar), Spanish language, Grammar, Comparative and general--Animacy
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE EFFECTS OF SPEAKING STYLE ON VOWEL SPACE AND LONG-TERM FORMANT DISTRIBUTIONS.
Creator: Garlitz, Rylen William, Kharlamov, Viktor, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This thesis analyzed the effects of speaking style, either read or spontaneous speech, on vowel spaces and long-term formant distributions (LTFD), alongside other sociolinguistic effects (sex and age). The results indicated that formant frequencies were indeed modulated by speaking style, with vowel spaces showing centralization during spontaneous speech compared to read speech. LTFD showed an increase in frequency during spontaneous speech over read speech, particularly in the third long...
Show moreThis thesis analyzed the effects of speaking style, either read or spontaneous speech, on vowel spaces and long-term formant distributions (LTFD), alongside other sociolinguistic effects (sex and age). The results indicated that formant frequencies were indeed modulated by speaking style, with vowel spaces showing centralization during spontaneous speech compared to read speech. LTFD showed an increase in frequency during spontaneous speech over read speech, particularly in the third long-term formant (LTF3). Sex and age were both significant factors for both vowel space and LTFD, with males and older speakers producing lower frequencies. The examination of the effect of speech style, sex and age on vowel space and LTFD allows us to better understand the factors that play a role in speech production.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014134
Subject Headings: Prosodic analysis (Linguistics), Linguistics
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Manner Saliency and Linguistic Relativity: Verbal and Non-Verbal Experiments with Spanish-English Bilinguals.
Creator: Selecter, Spencer G., Hamilton, Michael, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Talmy (2007) was the first to propose a language typology based on the lexicalization patterns of motion verbs. According to his typology, certain languages tend to encode certain elements within the main verb of motion event descriptions. It has been proposed that Spanish and English exist on opposites sides of this typology and Slobin (1996 & 2006) speculates these structural differences may affect what aspects of external events are more salient to speakers of these languages. The present...
Show moreTalmy (2007) was the first to propose a language typology based on the lexicalization patterns of motion verbs. According to his typology, certain languages tend to encode certain elements within the main verb of motion event descriptions. It has been proposed that Spanish and English exist on opposites sides of this typology and Slobin (1996 & 2006) speculates these structural differences may affect what aspects of external events are more salient to speakers of these languages. The present study investigates the verbal and nonverbal behavior of English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals to see if any differences exist in the aspects of the motion event that they describe in an elicitation task or prefer in a similarity judgement task. This study provides evidence that Spanish-English bilinguals may be less likely to encode manner when speaking in English. The present study provides no evidence that this extends to nonverbal behavior as all groups showed a preference for categorizing motion events based on the manner (e.g., run, walk, crawl, etc.) of motion rather than the path (up, down, left, right, etc.).
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014159
Subject Headings: Bilingualism, Typology (Linguistics), Linguistics
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: PHENOESTHETICS AND THE ARCIMBOLDO CONNECTION: BRIDGING ART, SCIENCE, AND AESTHETICS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE.
Creator: Lindner, Robert W., Serra, Ilaria, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Amid the rapid advancements in clinical aesthetics, there lies an intricate gap between the artistic and sensory experience of facial aesthetics and the technical approach of medical sciences. As the field of clinical aesthetics veers further into the realm of the ideal, tensions arise between patient expectations and the practitioner's delivery. Central to this issue is the growing reliance on technology, which often overlooks the immediate sensory experience crucial for aesthetic...
Show moreAmid the rapid advancements in clinical aesthetics, there lies an intricate gap between the artistic and sensory experience of facial aesthetics and the technical approach of medical sciences. As the field of clinical aesthetics veers further into the realm of the ideal, tensions arise between patient expectations and the practitioner's delivery. Central to this issue is the growing reliance on technology, which often overlooks the immediate sensory experience crucial for aesthetic satisfaction. Drawing inspiration from the arts and humanities, this dissertation introduces "Phenoesthetics" as an epistemological bridge, harmonizing the seemingly disparate domains of sensory experience and scientific analysis. By using visual art, particularly the composite works of the Renaissance artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, as an illustrative tool, this work seeks to elucidate the dual nature of facial aesthetics perception: the universal, tangible forms and the more abstract, cultural interpretations. By weaving together elements from the arts, humanities, and sciences, this study propounds a Phenoesthetics approach — a comprehensive method designed to enhance understanding and communication in clinical aesthetics. The aim is to provide practitioners with a robust framework, fostering more aligned expectations and improving satisfaction rates in the field of aesthetic medicine.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014360
Subject Headings: Esthetics, Aesthetics, Medicine
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE SEMANTICS OF SUSPICION IN THE WRITINGS OF DESMOULINS.
Creator: Gilbert, Ivy, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: An exacting command of language in his employ, journalist Camille Desmoulins was arguably one of the most dangerous and cunning players in the political arena of revolutionary France. His work is a clear synthesis of linguistic and political theory but what, precisely, made it so effective? When his work is regarded collectively, a theme emerges wherein Desmoulins uses language designed to categorically perpetuate suspicion. Using the principles of lexical semantics, rhetoric, and connotation...
Show moreAn exacting command of language in his employ, journalist Camille Desmoulins was arguably one of the most dangerous and cunning players in the political arena of revolutionary France. His work is a clear synthesis of linguistic and political theory but what, precisely, made it so effective? When his work is regarded collectively, a theme emerges wherein Desmoulins uses language designed to categorically perpetuate suspicion. Using the principles of lexical semantics, rhetoric, and connotation, this project seeks to examine the semantic undercurrents of Desmoulins’s works as they relate specifically to the public perception of suspicion, and to define the linguistic parameters within which he operated. An analysis of selected examples will demonstrate how the evocative language speaks to the author’s acute cognizance of his audience and his talent for inflaming the collective unrest through the use of tropes; specifically dehumanization, personification, and the neologism brissoter. Additionally, a feature analysis of nouns and verbs drawn from a sample of Desmoulins’s work further identifies tropes and atypical semantic forms and argues that, through his linguistic manipulation, he was able to sow suspicion among the mercurial Third Estate; both against the monarchy and the ultra-radical Republic.
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Date Issued: 2017
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000379
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: OF RACE AND RESISTANCE: INSIDE AND OUT OF ETHNIC LIVES IN MODERN LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAS.
Creator: Martin, Dyanne K., Esquilín Gosser, Mary Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Race is a pressing issue that pervades discussions of public policy and societal matters in twenty-first century national cultures—even as those populations, paradoxically, turn toward increasing globalization. We need to understand now, more than ever, what race means to us and how and why it means in order for us to understand our deep investments in it. This study explores—through the genres of slave narrative, fiction, and memoir—the process of socio-semiogenesis by which people recognize...
Show moreRace is a pressing issue that pervades discussions of public policy and societal matters in twenty-first century national cultures—even as those populations, paradoxically, turn toward increasing globalization. We need to understand now, more than ever, what race means to us and how and why it means in order for us to understand our deep investments in it. This study explores—through the genres of slave narrative, fiction, and memoir—the process of socio-semiogenesis by which people recognize and perform race; it also examines the customs that allow people not only to form themselves in groups but also to disrupt, remediate, and invert the implicit racial codes that govern human interaction within and among such groups. This study offers a Peircean, triadic approach to the dialectics of race—an approach that seeks to find a space in which dialogue and healing might occur even as it sheds light on those shades of biology and culture that both form and divide us.
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Date Issued: 2021
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013704
Subject Headings: Race, Dialectics, Ethnic studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: CUANDO LAS ISLAS TIENEN ALAS: DIVERSIDAD E INCLUSIÓN ÉTNICO-RACIAL Y DE SEXUALIDAD EN LA DRAMATURGIA FEMENINA HISPANO-CARIBEÑA EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS.
Creator: Duarte, Carmen, Gosser, Esquilín Mary Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: The dramaturgy written by Cuban American, Puerto Rican, and Dominican American women propels Hispanic-Caribbean theater beyond the geographical borders of their islands, thus creating and nurturing, transnational cultural enclaves that support it while also transforming the cultural theatrical environment of the United States. This dramaturgy, with its themes and arguments, puts into practice the feminist and LGBTQ critical theories with a focus on minority groups in US society. This work...
Show moreThe dramaturgy written by Cuban American, Puerto Rican, and Dominican American women propels Hispanic-Caribbean theater beyond the geographical borders of their islands, thus creating and nurturing, transnational cultural enclaves that support it while also transforming the cultural theatrical environment of the United States. This dramaturgy, with its themes and arguments, puts into practice the feminist and LGBTQ critical theories with a focus on minority groups in US society. This work analyzes Hispanic-Caribbean theater traditions from their origins to the transformations they undergo in the United States given the influence of the various Caribbean diasporas. The essential characteristics of this drama, written by women, lead to the creation of a new theater characterized by its hybrid and bilingual roots. This dramatic cultural transformation reveals the diversity and inclusion of ethnic, racial, sexual identities, and the myriad intersectionalities found in the diasporic island communities from which it takes flight.
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Date Issued: 2021
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013672
Subject Headings: Dramaturgy, Theater, Caribbean culture studies, Latin American studies, Women's studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: POSTMEMORIAL STRUCTURES: PORTRAITS OF SURVIVOR-FAMILY HOMES IN SECOND-GENERATION HOLOCAUST LITERATURE AND ORAL HISTORY.
Creator: Wilson, Lucas Frederick William, Berger, Alan L., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This study demonstrates the relationship between intergenerational trauma and domestic space, specifically focusing on how Holocaust survivors’ homes became extensions of their traumatized psyches that their children “inhabited.” Based on my analysis of literature and oral histories of the second generation, my project employs the theory of postmemory to demonstrate how the spatial and temporal conditions of survivor-family homes, along with the domestic practices and objects contained...
Show moreThis study demonstrates the relationship between intergenerational trauma and domestic space, specifically focusing on how Holocaust survivors’ homes became extensions of their traumatized psyches that their children “inhabited.” Based on my analysis of literature and oral histories of the second generation, my project employs the theory of postmemory to demonstrate how the spatial and temporal conditions of survivor-family homes, along with the domestic practices and objects contained therein, rendered these domestic milieus spaces of traumatic contagion. Postmemorial structures often functioned as spaces that afforded few illusions of familial permanency, thereby familiarizing survivors’ children with an intimate and pervading fear of external threat at a young age, which challenged or precluded feelings of parental protection and refuge within the domestic. I discuss the ways by which the second generation’s inherited perceptions of space—along with their inherited perception of matter and time— structured and structure their perceptions of their domestic lives. This study explores how, in turn, postmemorial structures shaped and shape the second generation’s inherited perceptions of space, matter, and time. As survivors’ traumas were registered in the very space of their homes, their homes functioned as material archives of their Holocaust pasts, creating domestic environments that commonly also wounded their children. In addition to survivors’ unspoken traumas, their spoken narratives of the Holocaust were also imbued in the space of postmemorial structures to such an extent that these homes became the very “framework” or “architecture” of their psychosocial lives. I argue that insofar as survivor-family homes were imaginatively transformed by survivors’ children into the sites of their parents’ traumas—whether they were concentration camps, ghettoes, places of hiding, etc.—their domestic spaces became central technologies that catalyzed and perpetuated the intergenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma and embodied experience. I further argue that the ways by which they describe their home lives constitute indirect expressions of their belated relationships to the Holocaust.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014013
Subject Headings: Holocaust survivors in literature, Children of Holocaust survivors, Generational trauma
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: THE BONES WE CARVE: THE AUDACITY OF LATINX POLITICAL NARRATIVES.
Creator: Acosta, Ana-Christina Gaspar de Alba, Munson, Marcella L., Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: This interdisciplinary dissertation examines Latinx political self-representation across a variety of narrative forms including fiction, nonfiction, film, and social media. Beginning with identifying points of political intersection and divergence within the imagined Latinx voting bloc incorrectly homogenized in mainstream discourse, the dissertation looks at how narrative empathy and political concerns for a singular issue– the child migrant crisis–play out differently across fiction and...
Show moreThis interdisciplinary dissertation examines Latinx political self-representation across a variety of narrative forms including fiction, nonfiction, film, and social media. Beginning with identifying points of political intersection and divergence within the imagined Latinx voting bloc incorrectly homogenized in mainstream discourse, the dissertation looks at how narrative empathy and political concerns for a singular issue– the child migrant crisis–play out differently across fiction and nonfiction written narratives. The dissertation then takes a turn towards exploring the lack of prominent Latinx political figures in the cultural imaginary, especially Latinas, by looking back to Latin America for exemplary models, and presenting community organizing as seen in recent filmic representation as an alternative form of political engagement. Finally, it focuses on two Latinx political figures–Oscar Zeta Acosta and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez–who rose to notoriety half a century apart, yet took similar community insider/political outsider approaches to their historic runs for office. Overall, the dissertation stresses the importance of self-representation as a means of creating and controlling narrative empathy, as well as countering a mainstream narrative of a monolithic Latinx bloc that is both politically unengaged and threatening.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014020
Subject Headings: Latinx, Latin Americans, Narratives, Latin Americans--Political and social views
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: DU FANTASTIQUE FRANÇAIS AU RÉEL MERVEILLEUX HAÏTIEN : L’INCONTOURNABLE VA-ET-VIENT LITTÉRAIRE.
Creator: Noel, Lochard, Esquilín, Mary Ann Gosser, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: French literature has undoubtedly exerted a marked influence over Haitian letters. Since the Middle Ages, notable elements of the fantastic, such as loups-garous and talking animals in lais and fables, all the way to the unheimlich narratives of the nineteenth century, are also present in Haitian works with strong overtones of the oral traditions of slave narratives. However, Haitian literature, given its syncretic nature, offers not just an array of talking animals and “magic realist”...
Show moreFrench literature has undoubtedly exerted a marked influence over Haitian letters. Since the Middle Ages, notable elements of the fantastic, such as loups-garous and talking animals in lais and fables, all the way to the unheimlich narratives of the nineteenth century, are also present in Haitian works with strong overtones of the oral traditions of slave narratives. However, Haitian literature, given its syncretic nature, offers not just an array of talking animals and “magic realist” episodes, but a unique “fantastic being,” the zombie. In turn, these figures have made their way not just into the Haitian folkloric tradition, but infused with political undertones, have become pivotal metaphors for contemporary Haitian writers on the island, as well as for those who write in the diaspora, to explore the nation’s oppressive governments. This dissertation traces the origins of such figures and their creative reincarnations today.
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Date Issued: 2020
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013598
Subject Headings: Haitian literature, Comparative literature, French literature, Fantastic literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EL SENO ESCONDIDO: NODRIZAS Y NANAS COMO AGENTES MARAVILLOSOS EN LA NOVELA LATINOAMERICANA DE LA SEGUNDA MITAD DEL SIGLO VEINTE.
Creator: Casanova, Betsaida L., Gosser Esquilín, Mary Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: In Latin America, wet nurses and nannies have played a relevant role in the transmission of legends, myths, medicinal knowledge, popular beliefs, and the religious practices of marginalized groups. This historical reality also ties them closely to the vitality of the marvelous real in Latin American culture and history as theorized by Alejo Carpentier. This dissertation focuses on examining the characters of wet nurses and nannies, especially in connection with the expression of the marvelous...
Show moreIn Latin America, wet nurses and nannies have played a relevant role in the transmission of legends, myths, medicinal knowledge, popular beliefs, and the religious practices of marginalized groups. This historical reality also ties them closely to the vitality of the marvelous real in Latin American culture and history as theorized by Alejo Carpentier. This dissertation focuses on examining the characters of wet nurses and nannies, especially in connection with the expression of the marvelous real in Latin American novels published in the second half of the twentieth century. Employing primarily Alex Woloch’s theory of characterization, this dissertation explores the character space and position within the character system of la Vieja in El acoso (1956) by Alejo Carpentier, Peta Ponce in El obsceno pájaro de la noche (1970) by José Donoso, and Petra Avilés in La casa de la laguna (1996) by Rosario Ferré. They serve as marvelous agents introducing elements of the marvelous real in the narrative. These characters are at the center of an extensive network of cultural codes that signify different sources of the marvelous real in Latin American culture. The marvelous network they establish functions as a vindicating mechanism that leads to the penalization of the families that hire their services, who represent a decadent and oppressive social system, whereas the wet nurses or nannies embody the oppressed groups in society. This is a literary strategy to impart, at a symbolic level, the justice that traditionally has been denied, both textually and socially, to these women.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013361
Subject Headings: Wet nurses in literature, Carpentier, Alejo, 1904-1980 Acoso, Donoso, José, 1924-1996 Obsceno pájaro de la noche English, Ferré, Rosario Casa de la laguna, Characters and characteristics in literature, Nannies--Fiction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Finding a Room of One’s Own: Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Creator: De Tollis, Marianna, Gamboa Tusquets, Yolanda, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: During the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, both in the Old and the New World, the patriarchal social structure had created a set of fixed gender rules based on gender roles to control female sexuality, female voices, and their social freedom because it was considered a threat to male superiority. The Venetian Veronica Franco and the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz are two extraordinary women from different places and a hundred years apart who, with their elaborated writing and body...
Show moreDuring the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, both in the Old and the New World, the patriarchal social structure had created a set of fixed gender rules based on gender roles to control female sexuality, female voices, and their social freedom because it was considered a threat to male superiority. The Venetian Veronica Franco and the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz are two extraordinary women from different places and a hundred years apart who, with their elaborated writing and body-related techniques, escape the gender patriarchal constrains and give voice to their new authorial persona in a female liminal environment. Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz represent the two facets of the same coin that symbolizes the phallocentric patriarchal structure in which these two women happened to live, struggle, and write. These women were pushed to the margins of society, confined in convents, brothels/patrician houses, or the streets, to silence their personae and reinforce their inferiority and, at times, inexistence. There are no works that focus on the comparison between the well-known Mexican nun and the forgotten Venetian courtesan. Therefore, this dissertation aims to analyze the writings of Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz through the lens of feminist theory (Cixous, Irigaray etc.) and the concept of the body as an instrument of subversion and female liberation. In their respective time and marginal places of confinement (the patrician house and the convent), both women were able to create a liminal space that allowed them to go beyond the rigidity of gender binaries and explore different venues of freedom. In this liminal space both Veronica Franco and Sor Juana stopped “performing” the fixed gender roles imposed by the patriarchal social order and created new female creatures at the margins of patriarchal society; a new type of woman who could, through her body and writing, destabilize the patriarchal gender identities and go from a passive silence object to an active writing subject.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013198
Subject Headings: Franco, Veronica, 1546-1591--Criticism and interpretation, Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz, 1651-1695, Feminist theory, Sex role, Persona
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: From Gutenberg to Google: Five Jewish Diasporic Auto/Biographies.
Creator: Mendelow, Elaine Susan Barron, Berger, Alan L., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: I have chosen to begin with an analysis of Megillat/Book of Esther because of its chronological placement as well as its status in Jewish tradition as the prototype of diasporic auto/biography. Briefly, it relates the story of a covertly Jewish queen who makes the decision to risk her life in order to save her people from genocide. (Professor Patricia K. Tull takes credit for the expression, the “Esther moment” to describe Esther’s choice to commit to her life-changing Jewish self...
Show moreI have chosen to begin with an analysis of Megillat/Book of Esther because of its chronological placement as well as its status in Jewish tradition as the prototype of diasporic auto/biography. Briefly, it relates the story of a covertly Jewish queen who makes the decision to risk her life in order to save her people from genocide. (Professor Patricia K. Tull takes credit for the expression, the “Esther moment” to describe Esther’s choice to commit to her life-changing Jewish self-identification, with all its inherent risks.) Determination and recognition of the danger she faces are reflected in Esther’s comment, “If I perish, I perish.” Postcolonial theory is a prism through which to view the ancient story and ultimately relate its elements, particularly “the Esther moment,” to the diasporic auto/biographical narratives included in the dissertation. Robin Cohen’s explanation of the concept of victim diaspora will be contrasted with the Kabbalistic interpretation of diaspora as the divinely orchestrated means to mend the world. The teachings of the Ari, 16th century Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, as well as 20th and 21st century essays illuminate the discussion of the mystical myths and legends which offer a positive interpretation to several millennia of Jewish exile. A general overview of the genre of autobiography/life narrative includes 20th and 21st century theorists, i.e., Philippe Lejeune, Sidonie Smith, Julia Watson and others, who address specific issues related to modern technology’s role in creating life narratives. The journey extends from parchment scrolls through printing press book production to filmic representations. Though thousands of years separate Book of/Megillat Esther from the interviews, they are unified by significant commonalities. The dissertation will focus on some facsimile of an “Esther moment,” where a Jewish calling spoke to participants and altered the course of their lives. Accessible for viewing online, each narrative is informed by a review of the family’s earlier diasporic journey. Diasporic synergies for each narrative will demonstrate a confirmation of the hypothesis. Connecting to one’s Jewish roots can be viewed as reparation of a rupture, a cultural diasporic journey to reach, if not the physical point of origin, a spiritual homecoming.
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Date Issued: 2018
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013122
Subject Headings: Jewish diaspora, Jewish autobiography, Narratives, Biography
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Toxic Island et L’Empreinte à Crusoé : l’individuation de l’identité franco-antillaise.
Creator: Jurawan, Kimberley, Gosser Esquilin, Mary Ann, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Within the Caribbean, the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique are unusual: they are French overseas departments and thus also European Union members. As such, they must assimilate to French national culture even though their heterogeneous populations, mainly descendants of exploited imported labour, have their own unique island identity. Their heavy economic dependence on France and the effects of modernization and globalization pose further identitarian challenges for them. Franco-Antillean...
Show moreWithin the Caribbean, the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique are unusual: they are French overseas departments and thus also European Union members. As such, they must assimilate to French national culture even though their heterogeneous populations, mainly descendants of exploited imported labour, have their own unique island identity. Their heavy economic dependence on France and the effects of modernization and globalization pose further identitarian challenges for them. Franco-Antillean literature clearly reflects this long-standing identity confusion. This thesis explores two very recent novels— Toxic Island by Guadeloupean Ernest Pépin and L’Empreinte à Crusoé by Martinican Patrick Chamoiseau— and their divergent stylistic treatments of individuation. Both are inspired by Édouard Glissant’s theories of Relation and Tout- Monde; both engage questions of language, orality, the island space, race, the subject of alterity and the role of the arts and artists in identity formation. Yet both are also marked by distinctly unique forms of ambivalence.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004447, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004447
Subject Headings: Caribbean literature (French) -- Criticism and interpretation, Chamoiseau, Patrick -- L'Empreinte à Crusoé -- Criticism and interpretation, Group identity, Identity (Philosophical concept), Individuation (Psychology) -- Social aspects, Jungian psychology, Pépin, Ernest -- Toxic island -- Criticism and interpretation, West Indies, French -- In literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jorge Luis Borges: Harbingers of Human Rights.
Creator: Gillespie Elizabeth Joy, Poulson, Nancy Kason, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This dissertation comparatively analyzes the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a nineteenth century American, and Jorge Luis Borges, a twentieth-century Argentinian, within the context of human rights. Through their writings, both Emerson and Borges provided a voice to the voiceless by addressing the most egregious violations of human rights during their respective days: For Emerson, the most virulent social ill was slavery; for Borges, it was fascism. While Emerson and Borges differ in several...
Show moreThis dissertation comparatively analyzes the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a nineteenth century American, and Jorge Luis Borges, a twentieth-century Argentinian, within the context of human rights. Through their writings, both Emerson and Borges provided a voice to the voiceless by addressing the most egregious violations of human rights during their respective days: For Emerson, the most virulent social ill was slavery; for Borges, it was fascism. While Emerson and Borges differ in several ways, they are remarkably similar in their emphasis of natural laws and natural rights, notably egalitarianism and liberty, which underpin humanity and comprise an integral aspect of civilization. By counteracting the antithesis of civilization, barbarism, the works of Emerson and Borges ultimately embody the tenets that would ultimately constitute The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thus, Emerson and Borges are indelibly linked through serving as harbingers of human rights.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013207
Subject Headings: Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882--Criticism and interpretation, Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899-1986--Criticism and interpretation, Human rights
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Punctuated Identities In Contemporary Italian Cinema.
Creator: Iadevaia, Vincenza, Serra, Haria, Guneratne, Anthony, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistic and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: At a time of major political disruption in Italy, this dissertation aims to explore the landscape of contemporary Italian Cinema in connection with the nation’s new demographic trends and social configurations. Focusing on a selected, inherently representative group of filmmakers, the current study proposes a new form of film theory that sees the emergence and recognition of multi-ethnic filmmaking in a hitherto largely monocultural context as an indicator of a profound cultural...
Show moreAt a time of major political disruption in Italy, this dissertation aims to explore the landscape of contemporary Italian Cinema in connection with the nation’s new demographic trends and social configurations. Focusing on a selected, inherently representative group of filmmakers, the current study proposes a new form of film theory that sees the emergence and recognition of multi-ethnic filmmaking in a hitherto largely monocultural context as an indicator of a profound cultural transformation rather than a mere aesthetic tendency. The critical terminology I propose, “punctuated identitties,” document the characteristics of contemporary filmmakers, since they cannot be easily defined under the categories established by previous critical vocabularies. While these multi-ethnic filmmakers are part of a larger trend in European filmmaking as a whole, and hence constitute a case study of the evolution of a particular trend within individual national cinemas, my aim is to show how their punctuated identities complicate and color the Italian mediascape, and perhaps add a pluralistic dimension to the most recent chapter in the story of one of the most influential national cinemas. The filmmakers analyzed are selected according to specific elements and not on any categorization as first-and-second-generation immigrants. The present analysis includes two immigrants who have consciously chosen Italy as their homeland (Ferzan Özpetek and Jonas Carpignano), a migrant other who rejects nationality (Laura Halilovic), a political exile who relishes a certain sense of freedom in his Italian sojourn (Fariborz Kamkari), and a naturalized son of immigrants (Suranga Katugampala). All move in a fluid and conceptual space that creates a new path inside the traditional domain of national cinema, establishing the validity of others’s points of views and proving that coexistence can enrich even established and influential art forms.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013219
Subject Headings: Cinema, Motion pictures, Italian, Contemporary filmmakers, Motion picture producers and directors--Italy
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Oral History as a Means of Moral Repair: Jim Crow Racism and the Mexican Americans of San Antonio, Texas.
Creator: Dominguez-Karimi, Rebecca, Norman, Sandra, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Oral history’s purposes have metamorphosed from a record of lifeways and stories of the elite to a means of healing for minority communities oppressed by trauma. This dissertation focuses on the power of oral history to catalyze the restorative justice process of moral repair for victims—in this case the Mexican Americans of Texas—who were traumatized by the Jim Crow laws and practices prior to 1965. I researched the racial, socio-cultural history of Texas from its colonial days up to the Jim...
Show moreOral history’s purposes have metamorphosed from a record of lifeways and stories of the elite to a means of healing for minority communities oppressed by trauma. This dissertation focuses on the power of oral history to catalyze the restorative justice process of moral repair for victims—in this case the Mexican Americans of Texas—who were traumatized by the Jim Crow laws and practices prior to 1965. I researched the racial, socio-cultural history of Texas from its colonial days up to the Jim Crow historical era of 1876-1965 and utilized archival, legal, and historical sources for my study. Additionally, I explore theories and frameworks of trauma, structural violence, and restorative justice, and analyze twenty-eight oral histories from the Voces Oral History Collection (University of Texas, Austin). Lastly, I apply oral history methodology to collect seventeen oral histories for my own project, Project Aztlan. My findings reveal a community suffering from structural violence—a theory that argues unjust laws harm individuals as much as physical violence. The oral histories unearth several issues: first, both groups of narrators were victims of structural violence as a result of traumatic racism. I anticipated finding traumatic racism, but not on such a broad scale. The results reveal it occurred in all four corners of Texas. Second, these Jim Crow laws and practices targeted members individually and collectively through racially restrictive housing covenants, segregation of schools/public facilities, job discrimination, and disfranchisement or poll taxes. Thirdly, the oral histories demonstrate and legitimize the fact that the Mexican American community deserves atonement, apology and reparation from historically guilty institutions. The State of Texas battered them with mass lynchings, disfranchisement, racially restrictive housing covenants, school segregation, and discrimination, oppressing them for over 100 years. My dissertation concludes that the oral history process helps victims attain moral repair because, similar to moral repair, it also allows them the space to voice their stories of injustice. In turn, the oral historian validates their claims and reconciliation occurs when narrators received vindication through this reparatory process. This acknowledgment fuses broken moral bonds by equalizing members of society.
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Date Issued: 2018
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005963
Subject Headings: Mexican Americans--Texas--San Antonio, Oral histories, Jim Crowism, Racism
Format: Document (PDF)

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