Senior Capstone

Chioma Agbaraji

Salsa dance and music are the site of transnational identity formation and allow ideal conditions to study heteronormativity and hypersexuality as it relates to gendered dance performance through a cultural lens. Built on a desire to redefine gendered dance performance in the context of the D.C. Latin nightclub, this paper discusses and analyzes how culturally-based gender ideals have informed the performance of the woman Latina salsera dancer through clothing and performance style. Furthermore, it deconstructs and ultimately queers gender performance within salsa by revealing a more inclusive, non-binary dance performance predicated on personal enjoyment and outside of societal impositions and definitions of gender.

Ana Ortez-Rivera

Folktales are passed down from generation to generation and keep alive cautionary stories of adventures. Salvadoran folk tales are notoriously vivid in describing tales of paranormal beings whose stories teach moral lessons to audiences. El Salvador is a country rich in culture, and plagued by violence which led to a mass migration to the United States. This paper examines the phenomena of stories traveling across borders as people migrate. Three main Salvadoran stories are used as case studies: La Siguanaba, El Cipitio, and El Cadejo.

Juan Herrera

In this thesis, I will examine the internal struggles of self-definition that Mexican-Americans (Chicanos) go through when crafting their own national identities. I will take a close look at how soccer has plays a large role in helping Chicanos maintain ties to Mexican culture and family tradition. While soccer is an agent that brings together communities from different economic, regional and linguistic backgrounds, at the same time, it can create lines and borders between those same communities. Researcher Alejandra Rodriguez states that as players, Chicanos have used soccer to solidify communal bonds, strengthen ethnic ties and identify themselves. Chicano identity as it’s defined through the scope of soccer is complex and varies from player-to-player as there are numerous factors swaying allegiances in several directions.

Delia Dreher

Langley Park is a vibrant Latino community, located in Prince George’s and Montgomery County, one mile from the Northeastern border of Washington D.C. The inner-suburb of D.C. is a vibrant, dynamic Latino community; however, the physical landscape and infrastructure of Langley Park is characterized by outdated mid-century suburban development. The proposed Purple Line light rail will run through Langley Park, and has the potential to bring better transportation, economic development, and jobs and opportunities to the underdeveloped area; however, it could also exacerbate gentrification and the already changing racial and economic demographics of the area due to the abundance of market-rate rental housing. Public art is touted as a way to beautify and redevelop areas while strengthening community identity; however, this research looks at two community mural projects in Langley Park, and examines how beautification and redevelopment without meaningful community input and participation could potentially undermine rather than strengthen community resiliency to displacement.

Gabriella Davis

The Sandinista government that came to power post revolution in 1979 had the positive intentions of unifying its people, redistributing income and wealth to lower classes, and fostering economic growth. They truly wanted to build a society that functioned in the economic and political interests of the majority. However, accomplishing economic equality while still functioning in a capitalistic and foreign driven economy provided different results for the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas gained traction during a time when the country was experiencing the reign of a power-hungry dictator. Their fight was successful in bringing him down, but not in following through for the people. This paper takes a historical analysis of the events that lead up to and later follow through with agrarian reform in Nicaragua. A statistical analysis of the benefits and setbacks of reform provide an understanding of where reform failed and a literary analysis provides the sentiments of the Nicaraguan people. Agrarian reform was a well-intended system with a faulty implementation plan and this paper seeks to provide an explanation for its failure, but also possible success.

Julian Moreno

This paper situates Zapatista public art within the discourses of locality, nationalism, and globalization in relation to Zapatista identity and solidarity efforts. Public art facilitates identity formation and solidarity between groups by alluding to historical trends, deconstructing preconceptions, and establishing new modes of community. This paper will investigate how Zapatistas use public art to define the movement and call for solidarity within three spatial levels (local, national, and international). An in-depth look at Zapatismo history will help situate the role of public art within the movement. Through most of their history, the Zapatistas utilize public art and performances for various purposes. Subcomandante Marcos/Galeano exemplifies this rhetoric. Zapatistas constructed Marcos’ character, the movement’s spokesperson, to defy media misrepresentation of the movement. When applying their art or performativity to the different spatial level, the Zapatistas refer to various cultural and historical trends. In the local realm, Zapatistas use indigenous communal and resistance traditions to assert the movement’s indigenous identity. The public use of caracoles/conch shells and balaclavas work effectively towards this goal. Within the national sphere, the Zapatistas rely on Mexican icons and muralism to position their movement and identity within national citizenship. The imagery of Emiliano Zapata in murals throughout Zapatista territory connects the locality of Zapatismo with the Mexican nation. Finally, in the international scale, the Zapatistas utilize the Internet to break down barriers and encourage solidarity. The Zapatista website and collaborative work with digital activist, Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), fights for a new outlook on globalization where cooperation replaces exploitation.

Morgan Johnson

“When you free your hair, you are saying that you are free” (Marcha do Orgulho Crespo Brasil, YouTube Video) was a comment shouted as inspiration to the thousands of Afro-Brazilians who participated in the Afro Pride March in Brazil. Black Brazilian women took to the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 26, 2015, to hold the very first Afro Pride March, or Marcha do Orgulho Crespo. This march was the awakening of a new wave of Afro-Brazilian social activism. The act of freeing your hair, in order to free yourself is political and controversial. Hair, although it may seem trivial, is political. Hair can be used as an identifier of race, class, and even gender. In this paper, I will explain how this process of identification works in the context of Brazil. With themes of liberation, resistance against beauty norms, and political organization, Marcha do Orgulho Crespo proves to be a great case study for understanding the significance of the history of race and racial identifiers in Brazil and in Black social movements.

Rubi Perez-Howard

For centuries, indigenous groups in Guatemala have suffered at the hand of repression and inequality, dating back to the Spanish conquest of Latin America. The remaining Mayan indigenous descendants can only look back, and preserve what little they have left. Yet currently, this country is still healing and rebuilding after a 36-year civil war that left the country in shreds. Over 200,000 casualties were reported, a majority being of Mayan indigenous people. But this genocide case was not the first time the Mayan indigenous have suffered discrimination and injustice, and they still have a long and difficult battle ahead to achieve social and political equality. One of the biggest inequalities being suffered in Guatemala is the weak education system in the rural areas. After the signing of the Peace Accords and several educational reform agreements in 1996, the government has implemented bilingual education programs for the Maya indigenous population but only 4 of 22 groups have access to that elementary education. Many others do not even have access to a regular education further in the highlands. Previous educational reform movements in Latin America can provide a model for the next step the indigenous Maya must take to secure a fair education.