The dissertation is a major scholastic project that students undertake at the end of their degree program and is a major stepping stone in their professional development. Using critical analysis skills to examine a subject of their choosing, the writer presents original research demonstrating their skill in using the scholarly method to investigate and discuss their topic. A dissertation is an academic undertaking that marks the student’s transition to scholar. A list of dissertations produced by Hispanic Studies students can be found in the OAKTrust Digital Repository.
Recent Dissertations
2022
Instructional, Social, And Institutional Factors Affecting Teachers’ Application Of Technology In L2 Secondary Spanish Classrooms
Allen, Rachel Leah
This case study examined second language (L2) instructors’ use of technology in high school and junior high Spanish classrooms in the state of Texas. Specifically, this work sought to investigate the kinds of technologies teachers employ in their practice and how they apply them in the classroom, and what personal and institutional factors influence their choices.
«¡Hideputa Que Os Parió!»: Idios Pragmaticus, Vestigios De Afrentas E Injurias En El Quijote Traducido (1607-1620)
Robles García, Damián
Bernal Rios
Rocha de Luna, Rubria
2021
Narrando con Vos: Central American Transnational Narrative in the United States
Cortez, Daniela Alexandra
By the first decade of the 21st century, the Central American population in the United States has become the third largest group of Hispanic or Latinx origin; however, their involvement in various aspects of US society (e.g. literature) is still disproportionally representative of the population. The purpose of this dissertation is to critically study transnational Central American narratives, including literature and film, produced in the United States from 1980 to the present, seeking to contribute to the effort of expanding the representation in the academic realm of this rapidly growing transmigrant community.
La Iglesia Contra los Derechos Del Colectivo LGBTIQ+ Valoracion de las Relaciones Estado-Iglesia en Cuba, 1510-2020
Díaz Sardiñas, Leanee
This dissertation joins a conversation in the social sciences about the effects of religion on civil rights. It takes Cuba as a case study, examining the influence of right-wing American evangelicals on the rights of LGBTIQ+ communities in Cuba.
Under the Eye of the Camera: Gitano Film and Photography in Spain (1950-1970)
Rocha-Rojas, Sueli
This dissertation discusses the changes and construction of the image of the Gitano population in Spain from the 1950s to the 1970s. It deals with the representations of the figure of the Gitano in a set of films and photographs produced under the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco, encompassing the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. The objective of this research is to show how perceptions of, on, or from Gitano culture acquired through the eye of a camera may construct and/or interrupt established narratives and social discourses.
Misidentification, the Trouble with Assimilation Politics in Latinx Literature
Yagüe González, David.
This dissertation analyzes the hegemonic and counterhegemonic movements that have entangled the Latinx community from a historical, literary, and artistic perspective and how the processes of exclusion and assimilation inscribed in both of these concepts aided to further marginalize non-normative masculinities.
2019
Reimagining Latinidad in Mexican-American Biopics
Arenivar, Angela
This study examines how Mexican-American identity has been performed in six biographical films produced by the North American film industry from the 1980s to 2015.
Humor in the Service of Social Criticism in Iconic Examples from Four Filmic Traditions (United States, Spain, Mexico, and India)
Byabartta, Debarati
This dissertation is a critical comparative study of four distinguished cinematographic traditions, namely the USA, Spain, Mexico, and India, where their respective societies, politics, histories, and cultures form the relevant background.
Ira y deseo: impulsos timóticos en la Grecia hispana
Cabrera Ortega, Yoandy
This study analyzes the differences and similarities among the multiple portrayals of mythological figures as embodiments of human emotions (or “affects” as Freud calls them), especially rage and erotic desire, from Ancient Greece to the present.
Minority Dialects in Contact: Peruvian Spanish in the United States
Harper, Kelsey E
This study provides the background of Peru’s ethnic and linguistic history, leading up to reasons for transnational migration and ultimately the linguistic and social positioning of the Peruvian diaspora with respect to other U.S. Hispanic groups.
Historia Natural de la República. Ezequiel Martínez Estrada y el Problema de la Fundación
Valero Martinez, Jose Angel
This dissertation proposes a political reading of the Argentinian writer Ezequiel Martínez Estrada. Considering his essay production between the years 1933 and 1956, I illustrate in which manner the paramount problem in Martínez Estrada’s work lies in the critique of the republican thinking of the creole elites of the 19th Century.