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Title: Bar splendor: Francesco Meriano e la (ri)illuminizaione delle parole in libertáa.
Creator: Patel, Erin., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This thesis focuses on the translation of parole in libertáa, an early twentieth century poetic styling that combines a visual and written code proposed by F.T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, the Italian avant-garde literary and artistic movement. A translation of 5 "tavole parolibere" from the collection Equatore Notturno, parole in libertáa (1916) by the relatively unknown poet Francesco Meriano will lay the groundwork for the analysis of the obstacles a translator faces in regards to...
Show moreThis thesis focuses on the translation of parole in libertáa, an early twentieth century poetic styling that combines a visual and written code proposed by F.T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, the Italian avant-garde literary and artistic movement. A translation of 5 "tavole parolibere" from the collection Equatore Notturno, parole in libertáa (1916) by the relatively unknown poet Francesco Meriano will lay the groundwork for the analysis of the obstacles a translator faces in regards to maintaining the faithfulness to the original while keeping in mind the rules Marinetti set forth in his manifestos on literature and poetry between 1909 and 1914. Meriano adhered to many of these Futurist literary conditions, and thus the translartor's task becomes more challengind as the rules dictate the style, content and form so uniquely interwoven within these pages. The aim of this thesis in not only to shine a new light upon Meriano through the English translation of some of his poems, but also to readdress translation theories with regards to parole in libertáa.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358752
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Futurism (Art), Futurism (Literary movement), Graphic design (Typography)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Birth across borders: a comparative study of Guatemalan-Maya maternal care in San Miguel Acatán and Palm Beach County.
Creator: Mazar, Inbal, Cameron, Mary, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Birth across borders: a comparative study of Guatemalan Maya maternal care in San Miguel Acatán and Palm Beach County
Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004389, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004389
Subject Headings: Prenatal care--Guatemala--San Miguel Acatan., Prenatal care--Florida--Palm Beach County, Maternal health services--Florida--Palm Beach County, Maternal health services--Guatemala--San Miguel Acatan, Women's health services--Florida--Palm Beach County, Women's health services--Guatemala--San Miguel Acatan
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Building a character: a somaesthetics approach to Comedias and women of the stage.
Creator: Cruz Peterson, Elizabeth Marie., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This dissertation focuses on the elements of performance that contribute to the actress's development of somatic practices. By mastering the art of articulation and vocalization, by transforming their bodies and their environment, these actors created their own agency. The female actors lived the life of the characters they portrayed, which were full of multicultural models from various social and economic classes. Somaesthetics, as a focus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation and somatic...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the elements of performance that contribute to the actress's development of somatic practices. By mastering the art of articulation and vocalization, by transforming their bodies and their environment, these actors created their own agency. The female actors lived the life of the characters they portrayed, which were full of multicultural models from various social and economic classes. Somaesthetics, as a focus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation and somatic awareness, provides a pragmatic approach to understanding the unique way in which the woman of the early modern Spanish stage, while dedicating herself to the art of acting, challenged the negative cultural and social constructs imposed on her. Drawing from early modern plays and treatises on the precepts and practices of the acting process, I use somaesthetics to shed light on how the actor might have prepared for a role in a comedia, selfconsciously cultivating her body in order to meet the challenges of the stage.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360968
Subject Headings: Women in the performing arts, Criticism and interpretation, Comic, The, Criticism and interpretation, European drama, Criticism and interpretation, Feminist drama, Criticism and interpretation, Spanish drama, Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Physiological aspects, Body, Human (Philosophy), Mind and body
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Examining principled L1 use in the foreign language classroom.
Creator: Osswald, Isabel., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This study examines the potential benefits of using the native language of learners in a principled way by reviewing research that represents the dominant view of using only the second or target language (L2) against a growing body of literature that argues for principled L1 use. The development of the direct and monolingual method and its key aspects are discussed, and bilingual methods and arguments for implementing the first language (L1) in a foreign language classroom are reviewed and...
Show moreThis study examines the potential benefits of using the native language of learners in a principled way by reviewing research that represents the dominant view of using only the second or target language (L2) against a growing body of literature that argues for principled L1 use. The development of the direct and monolingual method and its key aspects are discussed, and bilingual methods and arguments for implementing the first language (L1) in a foreign language classroom are reviewed and evaluated. An attitudinal case study investigating learners' attitudes towards L1 use in the classroom showed that students prefer a mixture of L1 and L2, and that the principled use of the L1 has positive effects on the learner.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2978943
Subject Headings: Language and languages, Study and teaching, Monolingual method, Language and languages, Study and teaching, Bilingual method, Second language acquisition, Curriculum planning, Communication in education
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Cross-cultural stories of race and change: a re-languaging of the public discourse on race and ethnicity.
Creator: Oliver, Eloise D. (Kitty), Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: A progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls....
Show moreA progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls. This study proposed the Race and Change Dialogue Model to facilitate the exploration of how race operates in society on an interpersonal level in everyday lives of people across cultures and how changes in racial attitudes occur over time. Theories of race and ethnicity, language, effective communication strategies, and social change provided a starting point, but a "re-languaging" approach was used to advance the innovative nature of this work. In audiorecorded oral histories for public dissemination and interviews in a documentary series on public television, cross-cultural narrators were provided with a safe rhetorical space to tell their stories and to be heard, and a framework of "racenicity" allowed for the discussion of the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, and culture as fused aspects of the same issue. An environment was created that enhanced effective communication of a difficult subject. Despite the challenges that arose in the patterns of talk about racial change, the door has been opened to bring change into the dialogue in a more prominent way that moves the discourse on differences in more productive directions. An alternate model for public discussions on race as "racenicity" was created that has the potential to build coalition in the U.S. and has implications for other societies as well.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337184
Subject Headings: Pluralism (Social sciences), Discourse analysis, Psychological aspects, Language and culture, Social change, Ethnic relations, Psychological aspects, Race relations, Psychological aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida.
Creator: Seiden, Carolina M., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study is to understand culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers of Spanish to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida. 59 participants divided into three groups of heritage speakers of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton participated in a questionnaire survey, for a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Subjects were grouped according to the degree of involvement in Spanish-related activities at the college...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to understand culture as a factor in the motivation of heritage speakers of Spanish to study Spanish at the college level in South Florida. 59 participants divided into three groups of heritage speakers of Spanish at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton participated in a questionnaire survey, for a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Subjects were grouped according to the degree of involvement in Spanish-related activities at the college-level. The instrument was a combination of Likert-scale questions as well as open-ended questions aimed at clarifying or expanding on topics presented during the Likert-scale part of the questionnaire. The findings of this study indicate that most heritage speakers understood culture as a part of their identity. Students who were enrolled in Spanish classes were not just looking to expand their Spanish knowledge, but to re-connect and re-establish links with their cultural heritage. Finally, those who chose not to study Spanish cite as their most important reason a dislike for the Spanish language. The results revealed the following implications for the heritage speaker curriculum: the need to address the unique demographic make-up of Spanish heritage speakers in South Florida; the necessity for a consistent and reliable methodology for the identification of heritage speakers, and; the importance of instructors' sensitivity to regional and social dialect variation.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77651
Subject Headings: Cognition and culture, Spanish language, Study and teaching (Higher), Spanish speakers, Language and languages, Study and teaching (Higher), Social aspects, Language and culture, Study and teaching (Higher), Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Death Becomes Us: An Examination of Memento Mori Rhetoric in the Art and Literature of the Counter-Reformation.
Creator: Dutton, Amanda M., Conrod, Frederic, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: The use of death iconography, especially in the mode of memento mori, was a prevalent and effective means of conveying the Roman Catholic Church’s message of eternal reward through faith to provide hope to those who would follow. This contributed to the success of the Church’s internal reformation in the 16th century. This dissertation will explore a heretofore unexamined shift in the specific artistic mode of memento mori and its rhetorical function in ameliorating the image of the Church...
Show moreThe use of death iconography, especially in the mode of memento mori, was a prevalent and effective means of conveying the Roman Catholic Church’s message of eternal reward through faith to provide hope to those who would follow. This contributed to the success of the Church’s internal reformation in the 16th century. This dissertation will explore a heretofore unexamined shift in the specific artistic mode of memento mori and its rhetorical function in ameliorating the image of the Church during the Counter- Reformation. Specifically, it examines in the mode of sculpture, the works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Ossuary of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini; for the mode of painting, the works of Michelangelo Caravaggio and Pietro da Cortona; and for the mode of literature, the works of Giambattista Marino and Cesare Ripa. The artists and works selected for this study provide salient examples of memento mori of the Italian Baroque and its rhetorical function in the preservation of the Catholic faith. These works mark a distinct shift from the medieval modes of death representation which also indicates a shift in presentation of teleological theology in the eschatological message of the Church that is at the core of the faith. This change in rhetorical approach had a positive effect on the Church’s image and reputation that would comfort followers and encourage new converts. Close reading is performed on each of the sample works and their embedded rhetoric is examined. Since the fear of death and the hope for eternal life are the driving sentiments that these works evoke, their power to influence people is strong. Naturally, this increased the chances of the message of the Church being recognized, remembered, and spread. The use of transformed death iconography, especially in the mode of memento mori, was a prevalent and effective means of conveying the Church’s message of eternal reward through faith to provide hope to those who would follow. This contributed, in part, to the success of the Roman Catholic Church’s internal reformation at the time of the Protestant Schism in the 16th century.
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Date Issued: 2019
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013201
Subject Headings: Memento mori, Counter-Reformation and art
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Imaganes de la mujer transgresora en la tradiciâon romancera: el Romance Celestinesco y la adâultera câomo eco de las normas sociales Sefardâies.
Creator: Mazar, Inbal, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: The Sephardic ballad collection contains ballads of varying themes, many of which have been forgotten in Spain, where they were originally sung by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. A popular theme within this genre is that of women committing adultery and transgressions which in many of the ballads is punishable by death. A brief history of the Sephardic Jews and their literary and oral tradition is included. An emphasis is placed on women's role in ballad tradition and the importance of...
Show moreThe Sephardic ballad collection contains ballads of varying themes, many of which have been forgotten in Spain, where they were originally sung by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. A popular theme within this genre is that of women committing adultery and transgressions which in many of the ballads is punishable by death. A brief history of the Sephardic Jews and their literary and oral tradition is included. An emphasis is placed on women's role in ballad tradition and the importance of transculturation and mimesis within the oral tradition, both significant to the survival of a tradition that has been continued for over five centuries, encompassing various regions around the world. The analysis focuses on two ballads in particular ; the "Celestine Romance", which shares a similar plot to La Celestina, written by Fernando de Rojas, and the ballad of "The Adulteress", a popular ballad within several traditions.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165944
Subject Headings: Spanish literature, Criticism and interpretation, Ballads, Ladino, Criticism and interpretation, Sephardim, Songs and music, Adultery, Folklore
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Prepare, process, package: the consumption of Haiti in Hispanic Caribbean literature.
Creator: Tucker, Walteria C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Since Alejo Carpentier's 1944 encounter with the "real maravilloso" in the ruins of the Citadelle La Ferriáere, Haiti has been linked with the notion of Latin American identity, in particular, and American identity, in general. Interesting to me are the ways and the means by which Haiti resurfaces in Cuban and Puerto Rican narratives and what allusions to Haiti in these texts imply about its relationship to the Hispanic Caribbean. I will combine the ideas of John Beverley, Sybille Fischer,...
Show moreSince Alejo Carpentier's 1944 encounter with the "real maravilloso" in the ruins of the Citadelle La Ferriáere, Haiti has been linked with the notion of Latin American identity, in particular, and American identity, in general. Interesting to me are the ways and the means by which Haiti resurfaces in Cuban and Puerto Rican narratives and what allusions to Haiti in these texts imply about its relationship to the Hispanic Caribbean. I will combine the ideas of John Beverley, Sybille Fischer, and Mimi Sheller to discuss how representations of Haiti work to perpetuate its disavowal and render it a consumable product for the rest of the Caribbean as a whole, and for the Hispanic Caribbean specifically. I will focus on works by Cuban and Puerto Rican authors who have prepared, processed, and packaged Haiti in such a way that its culture, language, and even sexuality are able to satisfy long-held cravings for that which is local and exotic. Thus, I hope to explain how it has been and will continue to be possible for the Hispanic Caribbean to consume Haiti positively as a symbol of its marvelous reality and negatively as an Afro-Caribbean personification of racial, cultural, and political decadence in literature.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322521
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Identity (Psychology) in literature, Latin American literature, Criticism and interpretation, Caribbean fiction (French), Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Toward a pragmatics of intent: cognitive approaches in creative and critical writing.
Creator: Wolfe, Lois., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Locus of an author poses questions of intentionality, how intention is discovered, expressed, hidden, revealed and interpreted. The purpose of the study is to find and apply productive interdisciplinary concepts in intentionality detection, decoding and evaluation in fictional texts. The investigation integrates traditions in literature, linguistics, cognitive science and creative writing, posing a pragmatics of intent that complements and complicates precepts in reader reception-based...
Show moreLocus of an author poses questions of intentionality, how intention is discovered, expressed, hidden, revealed and interpreted. The purpose of the study is to find and apply productive interdisciplinary concepts in intentionality detection, decoding and evaluation in fictional texts. The investigation integrates traditions in literature, linguistics, cognitive science and creative writing, posing a pragmatics of intent that complements and complicates precepts in reader reception-based constructivism. Basic to a vision of pragmatic strategies: 1) situating effect and affect in an embodied mind; 2) acknowledging mutual and/or oppositional intentionalities which an embodied author and embodied reader bring to the process of fictional communication; 3) accepting language as communication that requires cognitive translation of consensually-agreed upon symbols into private representations in an embodied mind; 4) assuming that an author's fictionalizing consciousness is more discernible w hen it is navigating tensions of selection, proportion, intervention and perspective. Perceptual and close reading of J.M. Coetzee's Foe yields descriptive problematics. Analytical readings in a neglected byway of I.A. Richards' New Criticism provide pragmatic cues for detecting and evaluating intentionalities in prose. Three cross-disciplinary strategies emerge to enhance perceptual and close readings of fictional texts: 1) awareness of priming effects in form and content; 2) identification of markedness patterns; and 3) perception of tensible connections in prosaic language and artistic devices., The study concludes that: reading in tensible awareness of author intentionality adds productively to critical analysis and argument; acknowledging positioned voices in texts supports ethical criticism and multicultural aesthetics; reading to apprehend perceptual units (image structures sensed through story) supports and contextualizes close reading of propositional units(discourse/language) . The formal element of perspective emerges as the most intensive locus of the reader's sense of integrated consciousness and management of effect in fiction. Perspective can create the most ergative construction of authorial perspective, i.e., one in which transitive energy appears equalized and the subject and patient / writer and reader positions in syntax can pivot.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165946
Subject Headings: Intentionality (Philosophy), Philosophy of mind, Attribution (Social psychology), Reportage literature (Authorship), Creative writing, Methodology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The moral authority of the child in two fairy tales: Perrault's Le Petit Chaperon rouge and the Grimms' Rotkèappchen and Aschenputtel.
Creator: Cedeno, Alyssa., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Although many studies focus specifically on the child's reception of fairy tales, few have considered whether the (step)child in the tales is more aware or more equipped with a knowledge of "moral authority" and "correct" conduct than the (step)parent. This thesis will consider the (step)parent/ (step)child relationship motif in two French and German fairy tales by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm: Perrault's Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre and Le Petit Chaperon rouge; and the...
Show moreAlthough many studies focus specifically on the child's reception of fairy tales, few have considered whether the (step)child in the tales is more aware or more equipped with a knowledge of "moral authority" and "correct" conduct than the (step)parent. This thesis will consider the (step)parent/ (step)child relationship motif in two French and German fairy tales by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm: Perrault's Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de verre and Le Petit Chaperon rouge; and the Grimms' Aschenputtel and Rotkèappchen. In analyzing the genre's depiction of children, the thesis will examine the ways in which the narrative voice constructs the moral authority of the child (both as intradiegetic character and as extradiegetic reader), while simultaneously diminishing the moral authority of the parent as intradiegetic character.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2974435
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Narration (Rhetoric)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Vision of Theophilus: resistance through orality among the persecuted Copts.
Creator: Guirguis, Fatin Morris., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has...
Show moreThis study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has helped them resist the erosion of those aspects of their cultural identity targeted by colonial practices through its promotion of the Coptic language, pride in Coptic history, and Christianization of the landscape. This study also suggests that The Vision tradition has helped alleviate the conditions of material and economic oppression of Copts. Drawing upon theories of Foucauldian genealogy and postcolonialism my research examines the development of Coptic identity and subjectivity in relation to assimilation practices. Using oral studies and ethnopoetics, this study traces the process of composition, transmission, stabilization and systemization of The Vision over sixteen hundred years and its dispersion over a wide geographic region from Egypt to Ethiopia, Syria, and the US. My research suggests that the resilience and effectiveness of The Vision as oral tradition lies in the stability of its core message and its ability to absorb and adapt peripheral changes to the needs of each given historical period. Close analysis of this core message as gleaned through comparative manuscript study also supports important revisions to its datation, and enables us to claim its Coptic authenticity. Previously, the only academic scholarly work concerning The Vision centered on its diffused Syrian and Ethiopian variants while its Coptic manuscript history remained largely unknown., This study, which emphasizes the specifically Coptic origins, history and significance of The Vision of Theophilus, therefore fills a vital scholarly gap: Locating cultural resistance and agency in orality, this study shows how The Vision has historically acted (and still acts today) as a repository of Coptic history and culture enabling Copts to articulate a separate identity over long periods of time, and amidst a wide range of historical and socio-economic factors.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927607
Subject Headings: Copts, History, Oral tradition, Religion and politics, Persecution, History, Copts, Ethnic identity, Ethnic relations, Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The amorous doctor: the French seventeenth-century text in modern translation.
Creator: Cantor, Elsa., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: The anonymous French seventeenth-century play le Docteur Amoureux (1691) was written for theThéâtre Italien, the Italian troupe acting in Paris. It incorporated the techniques of both Old French farce and the commedia dell'arte into mainstream comic modes, in the manner of Moliáere but with some amusing twists. Le Docteur Amoureux remains a significant part of the French comic canon and the historical corpus of drama, yet it has never been translated into English. With prefatory commentary on...
Show moreThe anonymous French seventeenth-century play le Docteur Amoureux (1691) was written for theThéâtre Italien, the Italian troupe acting in Paris. It incorporated the techniques of both Old French farce and the commedia dell'arte into mainstream comic modes, in the manner of Moliáere but with some amusing twists. Le Docteur Amoureux remains a significant part of the French comic canon and the historical corpus of drama, yet it has never been translated into English. With prefatory commentary on the text and the period, the genres of stage performance, and the challenges involved in translating historical texts, this first translation of le Docteur Amoureux is intended to serve contemporary theater research into this rich and prolific period in the history of the French theater under Louis XIV.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/187207
Subject Headings: Translation into English, French literature, Criticism and interpretation, French drama, Translations into English
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The intersection of gender and Italian/Americaness: hegemony in The Sopranos.
Creator: Wilson, Niki Caputo., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This dissertation uses a multiperspectival approach that analyzes production, text, and audience consumption to explore representations of gender and ethnicity in The Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) original program The Sopranos. I first present the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the continued critical and commercial success of the show. The hybrid genre of the show - an intermingling of the gangster and soap opera genres - proves particularly significant in its...
Show moreThis dissertation uses a multiperspectival approach that analyzes production, text, and audience consumption to explore representations of gender and ethnicity in The Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) original program The Sopranos. I first present the social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the continued critical and commercial success of the show. The hybrid genre of the show - an intermingling of the gangster and soap opera genres - proves particularly significant in its representation of gender and ethnicity. Both textual and audience analyses allow me to respond to the question central to this dissertation: Does The Sopranos reinforce or challenge hegemonic notions of masculinity, femininity, and ethnicity? My textual and paratextual analysis identifies the embodiment of hegemonic masculinity in the male characters, including the ways in which that hegemonic behavior leads to male violence, as depicted in the narrative, and reveals the performances of emphasized femininity and pariah femininities, class, and Italian/Americaness at play amongst the female characters in The Sopranos. Audience analysis reveals that The Sopranos broadly appeals to many Italian/Americans and self-proclaimed feminists, yet the vast majority of fans, particularly those who create fan fiction and frequent chat rooms, are drawn to the show for its violence, sexist imagery, and macho male characters. Thus, the multiperspectival approach of this dissertation proved particularly useful in determining that The Sopranos, in its entirety, ultimately repackages, but yet still reinforces hegemonic notions of gender and Italian/Americaness.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2979374
Subject Headings: Sopranos (Television program), Mass media and culture, Group identity, Television viewers, Ethnicity
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A novel on Albanian emigration to Italy: "They Were Seeking Happiness" a translation of Ata Kerkonin Lumturine by Viktor Canosinaj.
Creator: Lubonja, Edna, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337188
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, History, Politics and government, Emigration and immigration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Interrogating social conceptualizations of childbirth and gender: an ecofeminist analysis.
Creator: Nall, Jeff., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to...
Show moreThis dissertation draws on feminist theory and ecofeminist philosophy to examine the connections between understandings of women and nature and the construction of pervasive conceptualizations and practices of childbirth. It also examines the relationship between conceptualizations of men and masculinity, culture and nature, and childbirth. In order to conduct such an examination, this study explores the dominant Western discourse around gender and childbirth. Specifically, the work aims to identify prominent characteristics and themes related to childbirth in both popular culture, such as Hollywood films (Knocked Up, The Backup Plan), documentaries (The Business of Being Born), birth guides, magazines, news articles, websites, and scholarly, medical and alternative healthcare discourse. This work seeks to consider how various conceptualizations of childbirth are used to legitimate, or, alternately, to undermine, patriarchal gender norms such as emphasized femininity and patriarchal (hegemonic) masculinity and, more generally, what ecofeminist philosopher Val Plumwood calls "master consciousness" (Val Plumwood 1993), a way of understanding the world that is reliant on an unjustifiably dualistic thinking and that is responsible for fostering social practices of domination. In particular, this work seeks to determine to what extent is our conceptualization of childbirth, and subsequent practice, based on potentially erroneous presumptions about the hierarchical division between the realms of culture and nature and masculinity and femininity? Perhaps most importantly, this dissertation sets out to consider the implications of alternative conceptualizations of childbirth emerging in the context of the natural birth movement. Specifically, I aim to determine whether or not these alternatives interpretations of childbirth counteract patriarchal gender categories and the culture/nature dualism.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3333055
Subject Headings: Childbirth, Cross-cultural studies, Childbirth, Social aspects, Feminist theory, Human body, Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: LA REPRESENTACIÓN DEL TRAUMA PERMANENTE EN COLOMBIA SECUNDARIO AL CONFLICTO ARMADO EN LOS EJÉRCITOS DE EVELIO ROSERO.
Creator: Morrison, Claudia, Poulson, Nancy, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: The Colombian armed conflict has affected Colombia’s civil population of all walks of life and has been a long-term problem. Within these, the most affected are people from the rural areas, minorities such as women, adolescents, children, and the indigenous communities. This work analyses the literary representation of trauma and the internal displacement in Colombia in Los ejércitos (2007) by Evelio Rosero. The introduction provides historical context and definitions of trauma. The analysis...
Show moreThe Colombian armed conflict has affected Colombia’s civil population of all walks of life and has been a long-term problem. Within these, the most affected are people from the rural areas, minorities such as women, adolescents, children, and the indigenous communities. This work analyses the literary representation of trauma and the internal displacement in Colombia in Los ejércitos (2007) by Evelio Rosero. The introduction provides historical context and definitions of trauma. The analysis of the impact of trauma on the collective and the minorities follows. For theoretical and historical references, this thesis draws concepts mostly from psychoanalysis, Irene Visser’s modified Grid Theory of social thought, and official Colombian documents. The thesis examines how the structure of Los ejércitos and some of its characters provide the representation of trauma in relation to the armed conflict in Colombia and the internal displacement that ensued.
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Date Issued: 2020
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013597
Subject Headings: Rosero Diago, Evelio, 1958-, Comparative literature, Latin American studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Studied girlhoods: consciousness, context, and negotiation of identity in the memoirs of Dorothy Allison, Mary Karr, and Barbara Robinette Moss.
Creator: Dilgen, Regina., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her....
Show moreDorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her. An application of the foundational work on girlhood in developmental psychology provides for an analysis of each memoirist's depiction of girlhood as a time of authentic insight and developing agency. Referencing feminist literary criticism allows for an interpretation of how the girls at the center of these works develop agency through growing awareness of the circumstances of their marginalization. And a semiotic literary interpretation adds to the analysis of these works as creative autobiogra phical writing in affording a close reading of how the memoirists portray younger selves learning to read the signs and texts of a culture and becoming aware of their status as girls in working-class families. Each memoirist uses a dual vocal presentation as both the adult memoirist and a younger self give shape to the narrative. Each memoirist represents a distinct southern space intersecting with specifics of the era to form a cultural moment. Social Construction Theory makes available a basis for considering how the memoirists narrate their increasing understanding of race and gender within these specific contexts as well as their resistive voicing of these insights., Through a Cultural Studies focus this dissertation examines how each memoirist represents a younger self's negotiations with cultural products of the era that work to construct girlhood. Adding to this unpacking of how the memoirists study their own girlhoods, the tools of Postco for an analysis of how the memoirists theorize their own girlhoods in ways that parallel these approaches. This dissertation adds to the evolving field of Girls' Studies in using contemporary theoretical frameworks to interpret how girlhood is constructed, represented, and negotiated with in these memoirs.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332175
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Self in literature, Popular culture, Working class women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Migrant collectives as new twenty-first century transnational movements: the case of the Jamaican Diaspora.
Creator: Johnson, Nadja., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: In the past two decades the tendency to view migrant communities as victimized, without agency, or oppressed has been challenged by the new rhetoric of "Diaspora". The recent formation of Diaspora movements globally suggests that these groups of migrants are not just financial remitters but are organized, visible collectives that influence the geo-political status quo in many ways. ... Utilizing qualitative methodology in conjunction with the analytical lenses of social movement theory and...
Show moreIn the past two decades the tendency to view migrant communities as victimized, without agency, or oppressed has been challenged by the new rhetoric of "Diaspora". The recent formation of Diaspora movements globally suggests that these groups of migrants are not just financial remitters but are organized, visible collectives that influence the geo-political status quo in many ways. ... Utilizing qualitative methodology in conjunction with the analytical lenses of social movement theory and the rhetoric of movements, the study addresses the gaps in the literature on Diasporas by exploring the factors that contributed to the formation of the Jamaican Diaspora during the years 1962 to 2011. ... Moving even beyond our conceptualization of movements, this study also connects Diasporas to the notion of publics. Migrant communities, like the Jamaican Diaspora, negotiate global and local terrains, operate as self-organized publics and form new public spaces in which a common identity goal and imagination connects and motivates strangers.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358595
Subject Headings: Emigration and immigration, Social aspects, Globalization, Political aspects, Transnationalism, Emigration and immigration, Political aspects, Emigration and immigration, Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Teaching to transform: toward an action-oriented feminist pedagogy in women’s studies.
Creator: Siddiqui, Shereen, Brown, Susan Love, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This qualitative study was conducted to develop a better understanding of the place of praxis in higher education women’s studies programs in the U.S. Built upon theories of feminist pedagogy, feminist praxis, activism, experiential education, and academic service-learning, the research explores how praxis is reflected and taught in women’s studies programs, how these programs impact students’ understanding of feminist theory and practice, and what factors affect the implementation of action...
Show moreThis qualitative study was conducted to develop a better understanding of the place of praxis in higher education women’s studies programs in the U.S. Built upon theories of feminist pedagogy, feminist praxis, activism, experiential education, and academic service-learning, the research explores how praxis is reflected and taught in women’s studies programs, how these programs impact students’ understanding of feminist theory and practice, and what factors affect the implementation of action-oriented pedagogy. Examples of several action-oriented projects that have successfully been implemented in women’s studies courses are offered, and a case study demonstrates the impact of these projects. The methods used include document review of women’s studies mission statements and syllabi, and interviews with women’s studies faculty and alumnae. The interview data were coded and analyzed using a grounded theory approach.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004410, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004410
Subject Headings: Communication in social action -- Study and teaching, Critical pedagogy, Feminism -- Study and teaching (Higher), Feminism and higher education, Mentoring in education, Social action -- Study and teaching, Women's studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Criticism and interpretation (9)	+ -
Language, Linguistics (5)	+ -
Literature, Comparative (4)	+ -
Literature, Romance (4)	+ -
Social aspects (4)	+ -

Emigration and immigration (3)	+ -
Aesthetics (2)	+ -
Comparative literature (2)	+ -
Ethnic relations (2)	+ -
Feminist theory (2)	+ -
French literature (2)	+ -
Group identity (2)	+ -
History (2)	+ -
Language and culture (2)	+ -
Language and languages (2)	+ -
Latin American studies (2)	+ -
Linguistics (2)	+ -
Literature, Latin American (2)	+ -
Narratives (2)	+ -
Second language acquisition (2)	+ -
Sociolinguistics (2)	+ -
Spanish language (2)	+ -
Theater (2)	+ -
Women's studies (2)	+ -
Adultery (1)	+ -
African American (1)	+ -
Anarchists--Spain--History--20th century. (1)	+ -
Animacy (Grammar) (1)	+ -
Anthropology, Cultural (1)	+ -
Attribution (Social psychology) (1)	+ -

United States (4)	+ -
Albania (1)	+ -
Egypt (1)	+ -
Jamaica (1)	+ -
Middle East (1)	+ -

17th century (2)	+ -
20th century (2)	+ -
Classical period, 1500-1700 (2)	+ -
640-1250 (1)	+ -

Aschenputtel. (1)	+ -
Ata kerkonin lumturine. (1)	+ -
Cedrillon. (1)	+ -
Celestial jukebox. (1)	+ -
Celestina. (1)	+ -

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