VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Bixler, Jacqueline E."

Browsing by Author "Bixler, Jacqueline E."

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Against The World, Against Life: The Use and Abuse of the Autobiographical Genre in the Works of Fernando Vallejo
Fonseca, Alberto (Virginia Tech, 2004-06-25)
This thesis explores the works of the Colombian writer Fernando Vallejo in terms of autobiography and fiction. Using the theoretical approaches of Philippe Lejeune in his book On Autobiography and Serge Doubrovsky in his book Fils: Roman this thesis will draw distinctions between autobiography and what Doubrovsky calls "autofiction" in Vallejo's collection of five texts known as El rio del tiempo. Lejeune has shown that the canonical form of autobiography is characterized by the equation author=narrator=character. However, if we apply this clear-cut definition to Vallejo's book, a series of question arise: Who is speaking in his novels? Can we unequivocally attribute the narrator's ideas to Vallejo himself? Or if his novels are mere autobiographies, why does Vallejo use some blatantly fictitious situations? Fernando Vallejo's work underscores the fine boundary between fiction and autobiography and the impact that this relation has on his readers. In his writing, the present time and past time are fused in the capricious channel of his memory, confirming that every autobiography, no matter how sincere it is, is also a form of storytelling.
Alejandro Ricano's Idiots Contemplating the Snow: The Challenges of Translating Mexican Theater
Morris, Shana Michelle McDaniel (Virginia Tech, 2011-04-21)
The purpose of this thesis is to introduce a young Mexican dramatist and to situate his plays within the context of contemporary Mexican theater, highlighting how Alejandro Ricano's work reflects and differs from his theatrical heritage. Later in the introduction, I describe the theoretical framework and the process that I followed in translating Idiots Contemplating the Snow.
Autonomy Supportive Instruction as it relates to Students' Motivational Beliefs on an ePortfolio Project: The Moderating Role of Culturally Based Learning Preferences
Woodyard, Jacquelyn Claire (Virginia Tech, 2016-11-07)
This study investigated students' perceptions of autonomy support from an instructor in relation to students' motivational beliefs on an ePortfolio project. The motivational beliefs of interest included: Effort/Importance, felt Pressure/Tension, and Value/Usefulness. These relationships were further examined with particular focus on the potential moderating role of students' culturally based learning preferences as outlined in Parrish and Linder-VanBerschot's (2010) Cultural Dimensions of Learning Framework (CDLF). This study was quasi-experimental, survey-based research supported by self-reported data collected from a convenience sample of graduate and undergraduate students. Students enrolled in a variety of courses that assigned an ePortfolio assignment received an email invitation from their instructor and self-selected to participate. Based on the responses of 35 students, the findings from this research showed significant relationships between three culturally based learning preferences and the motivational belief of Value/Usefulness. A summary of findings, limitations, and implications for further research are discussed.
The Colonizers and Their Colonized
Grene, Ruth (Virginia Tech, 2019-01-09)
This study is concerned with the Self/Other dichotomy, originally formulated by scholars of South Asian history in the context of European imperialistic treatments of the peoples whom they colonized for centuries, as applied to Mexican history. I have chosen some visual, cinematic, and literary representations of indigenous and other dispossessed peoples from both colonial and post-colonial Mexico in order to gain some insights into the vision of the powerless, (the 'Other'), held by the powerful (the colonizers, whether internal or external), especially, but not exclusively, in the context of race. Some public and private works of Mexican art from the 18th , 19th. and the 20th centuries are used to understand the perceptions of the Other in Colonial Mexico City, at the time of Independence, in state-sponsored pre and post-Revolutionary spectacles representing indigenous peoples, cinematic representations of the marginalized and the dispossessed from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and in the representation of the marginalized in the literary and photographic works of Juan Rulfo. I conclude that an ambivalent mixture co-existed in Mexican culture through the centuries, on the one hand, honoring the blending that is expressed in the word 'mestizaje', and on the other, adhering to a thoroughly Eurocentric world view. This ambivalence persisted from the 18th century through Independence and the Revolution and its aftermath, albeit in transformed '
Crossing the Border Through Service-Learning: The Power of Cross-Cultural Relationships
Tilley-Lubbs, Gresilda A. (Virginia Tech, 2003-07-21)
The overarching objective of this study is to examine the nexus of relationships that emerged between university students and Latino families paired through a university service-learning course. The relationships crossed socially constructed boundaries of ethnic groups, language, educational levels, and socioeconomic status, exploring the intersection of community service, scholarship, and teaching-and-learning. The research questions necessitated the use of qualitative research methods. The narrative attempts to capture the essence of the setting, the actors, and the resultant relationships by describing and examining the spontaneous relationships that occurred. The researcher spent 1½ years as an interpreter/participatory member in the Latino community prior to beginning the research study. She collected data collected for this case study over 2½ years, examining the backgrounds of the participants, their perspectives toward their partners, and the role of service-learning in the development of relationships between two disparate groups. She conducted 46 interviews with students and community members while collecting over 2500 reflection papers, 100 transformation papers, and 25 PowerPoint presentations from students. The participants developed relationships at different levels, some resulting in friendships that will probably continue for some time; others sharing respect and concern for each other only during the placement. A few unsuccessful partnerships had to be changed. Student and community voices presented an appreciation for the partner's language and culture. The data illustrated satisfying reciprocal relationships in which students and families emerged united in solidarity against a society they deemed unjust. This study seeks to provide information for educators considering service-learning programs, examining a course that provides opportunities for interaction between university students and community members. Through the participants' voices, the reader can explore the integration of academic learning with learning lived in the community. Finally, this study submits general proposals for the inclusion of service-learning programs in Foreign Language and Teacher Education programs as a means of nurturing paradigm shifts in student attitudes toward members of other cultures as well as paradigm shifts in the Latinos' attitudes toward their new culture, suggesting possible deeper societal transformation as the academy and the community become agents of change through service-learning in the Latino community.
Destabilizing Machismo: Masculine and Feminine Constructions in the Theater of Susana Torres Molina
Osenda, Natacha Veronica (Virginia Tech, 2003-05-16)
This thesis explores the construction of masculinity in Argentina, as represented in two plays by Susana Torres Molina, _...Y a otra cosa mariposa_ (1981) and _Una noche cualquiera_ (1999). In these two plays, the construction of sexual difference is portrayed as occurring within a masculine point of view, wherein it is explicit that men have the power to define, from a self-referential standpoint, their masculine identity, through contrast with a construction of the female. Rather than consider masculine and feminine as two parts of the same whole, gender, Torres Molina's works represent machismo as a two-part system, with masculine and female as distinct wholes, fundamentally different. The self-referentiality of machismo rejects the participation of women, subordinating and reducing them to the level of the object of conversation, characterized by biological essentialisms, instead of a constructed, subjective identity.
Environmetal Education in Mexico: A Content Analysis of Primary School Textbooks
Razzino, Marianne Pauline (Virginia Tech, 2003-05-01)
The focus of this study is change in environmental content in Mexican primary school textbooks before and after the decentralization of public education in 1993. The literature review in the opening chapter gives the background information on environmental education, internationally and in Mexico. The authors mention and discuss the major groups involved in the development and initiation of programs and curriculum such as the UNESCO, Man and the Biosphere (MAB), and the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The gradual Mexican ownership of the environmental cause and the promotion of awareness in Mexico lead to the main part of the study. This study employs both manifest and latent content analysis to find trends and themes in the textbooks. The primary focus of the manifest content analysis is individual words while the latent content analysis stresses excerpts and images from the textbooks. The use of an Excel database and PivotTables generated by Excel to correlate data indicates areas to examine for differences in content between the textbooks. In addition, the use of the two forms of analysis provides validation and significance when the data agree. The final portion of the study offers some general conclusions for the analysis and a summary of how the environmental content has increased in the primary school textbooks over the period studied. There are also suggestions for future research on the content of textbooks, surveys of environmental knowledge and attitudes, and alternatives to the formal education implied by the use of textbooks in the classroom.
Face Paint & Feathers: Ethnic Identity as Symbolic Resource in the Indigenous Movement of Ecuador
McCloud, Jennifer Sink (Virginia Tech, 2005-12-02)
The indigenous of the Amazon region of Ecuador unite against the petroleum industry and destructive resource extraction practices in order to preserve environment and indigenous cultures. Since the 1990s, the indigenous movement of Ecuador has played out in the international arena and become a transnational movement, which includes social actors from the international legal, human rights, and environmental communities. This transnational movement exemplifies identity politics through the projection of ethnicity and essentialized signifiers of indigenousness. Indigenous actors, Ecuadoran nongovernmental organizations, international filmmakers, and US nongovernmental organizations all use ethnic identity and signifiers via documentaries and cyberspace as symbolic resources to represent the movement. This thesis explores the intersection of external actors (international community of filmmakers and NGOs) and internal actors' (the indigenous themselves and Ecuadoran NGOs) projection of ethnicity as symbolic resource. Utilizing resource mobilization theory and new social movement theory as a syncretic to understand the movement and theoretical contributions of identity and representation to explore the process of mobilization, the study explores the question of ethnic identity as symbolic resource in four documentaries and on fifteen websites. The discourse analysis of the four documentaries and content analysis of the fifteen websites illustrate that there is consistency in the message within the transnational social movement community of actors who strive to work for and on behalf of the indigenous of the Ecuadoran Amazon.
FBOs in Central America: A Critique of Power, Religion and Social Development in Maurice Echeverría’s Diccionario esotérico
Owens, Ashby (Virginia Tech, 2012-04-30)
Latin American literature has a rich tradition of translating recreated realities and social commentaries into fictional works. In Central America, especially in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, these commentaries often speak to the plight of the people and the unjust actions of many governments during and after their still fresh civil wars. One Guatemalan author, Maurice Echeverría, stays within the broader trajectory of Central American literature with his novel Diccionario esotérico by creating a fictional work that speaks to a reality and asserts social commentary. This text differs from the corpus, though, by moving beyond the war and the postwar eras to a very current and prominent reality. This novel, which presents a critique of abuses of power in all of their manifestations, gives way to a striking commentary on evangelical organizations. This study will focus on extrapolating this critique to an actual evangelical organization working in Central America, thereby drawing connections between Echeverría’s critical/theological stance and real systems of power.
From Bible to Babel Fish: The Evolution of Translation and Translation Theory
Settle, Lori Louise (Virginia Tech, 2004-04-28)
Translation, the transfer of the written word from one language to another, has a long history, and many important scholars have helped shape its perceptions, accepted processes, and theories. Machine translation, translation by computer software requiring little or no human input, is the latest movement in the translation field, a possible way for the profession to keep abreast of the enormous demand for scientific, business, and technical translations. This study examines MT by placing it in a historical context — first exploring the history of translation and translation theory, then following that explanation with one of machine translation, its problems, and its potential.
From Kerry to Chiconcuac: Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets and Sabina Berman’s eXtras
Bixler, Jacqueline E. (2020-05)
This article focuses on the Mexican play, eXtras, Sabina Berman's translation and adaptation of the Irish hit play Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones. Linda Hutcheon, Thomas Leitch, and other contributors to adaptation studies shed light on the process used by Berman to tradapt and glocalize Stones in His Pockets for the Mexican stage, where the combined forces of Hollywood and globalization have likewise ravaged the local economy and where Jones's tragicomic story of exploitation and anonymization played every bit as well as it did in Ireland.
Imagined Contested Spaces: The Imaging of the Patagonian Region (1840-1881)
Magoia, Rosana Cecilia (Virginia Tech, 2006-09-22)
This study underscores the importance of press discourse as means of production and circulation of representations regarding land and people. Considering the press has a strong influence on the construction of social imaginaries, this study explores how textual images in The (London) Times and The New York Times shaped public opinion about Patagonia and Patagonians and how those images relate to the United States and British national and international political agendas and to the historical/cultural context. In other words, this study proposes to analyze the relationship between media and agency. The time period under study is the second half of the nineteenth century the era during which Argentina focused on the need for exercising sovereignty over Patagonia as a way of expanding the state's frontier, incorporating new commercially productive lands to respond to the demands of the international market, contesting in this way the Chilean interests in the area, and responding to the demands of the aspirations of a ruling class "landed aristocrats" who wanted to attract Europeans. The analysis of this research draws on a total number of 669 articles which have been coded with the purpose of assessing the differences between the United States and British imaging of Patagonia and Patagonians, taking into consideration that England was directly linked through financial investment to Argentina while the United States had chosen a military policy to expand its control of western lands (1865-1890), similar to the Argentine policy for controlling northern and southern lands.
The Influence of the Mexican Muralists in the United States. From the New Deal to the Abstract Expressionism
Alvarez, Leticia (Virginia Tech, 2001-04-26)
This thesis proposes to investigate the influence of the Mexican muralists in the United States, from the Depression to the Cold War. This thesis begins with the origins of the Mexican mural movement, which will provide the background to understand the artists' ideologies and their relationship and conflicts with the Mexican government. Then, I will discuss the presence of Mexican artists in the United States, their repercussions, and the interaction between censorship and freedom of expression as well as the controversies that arose from their murals. This thesis will explore the influence that the Mexican mural movement had in the United States in the creation of a government-sponsored program for the arts (The New Deal, Works Progress Administration). During the 1930s, sociological factors caused that not only the art, but also the political ideologies of the Mexican artists to spread across the United States. The Depression provided the environment for a public art of social content, as well as a context that allowed some American artists to accept and follow the Marxist ideologies of the Mexican artists. This influence of radical politics will be also described. Later, I will examine the repercussions of the Mexican artists' work on the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s. Finally I will also examine the iconography of certain murals by Mexican and American artists to appreciate the reaction of their audience, their acceptance among a circle of artists, and the historical context that allowed those murals to be created.
La Vida en el Norte [Life in the North], Three Mexican Women in the Roanoke Valley
Uribe Leon, Marcela (Virginia Tech, 2005-12-12)
The purpose of this work was to investigate how identity is transformed by the experience of immigration. Two research questions were conceptualized in order to address the essence of the inquiry. How do Mexican immigrant women living in the Roanoke Valley describe their lives back in Mexico? How do Mexican immigrant women living in the Roanoke Valley describe their lives in the United States? Interviews with three first-generation Mexican female immigrants currently living in Southwest Virginia formed the basis of the qualitative study presented in this work. The study was designed to understand Mexican women immigrants through their personal experiences and stories. The two main findings about their perceptions of life back in Mexico were related to lack of economic resources and the limited opportunities they had. Also, their memories of Mexico were paired with nostalgia of their loss in terms of family relations and cultural understanding. In general, the participants perceived themselves to be in a better economic position that encourages them to stay in the United States. An unexpected finding was that in all three cases domestic violence was a constant in the women's lives. However, despite the gender construction of Mexican women as passive females, the commonality in the three cases was that they looked for alternatives on how to resist violence by seeking support and resources to escape from it on either side of the border.
Latin American Women's Perceptions of Divorce: An Exploratory Study of the Situation and Image of Divorced Women in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic
López, Nancy P. (Virginia Tech, 2004-02-10)
The identity of Latin America is composed of elements inherited from Europe, Asia and Africa. This identity has been defined with a series of images, roles, behaviors and rules created to maintain a particular unification among the citizens of these societies. Cultural ideologies involving marriage, separation and divorce have been subjected to historical changes. Divorce in Latin America typically has had a negative connotation and communities have considered divorced women as outcasts. The purpose of this study is to examine Puerto Rican and Dominican women's perception of divorce with particular emphasis on divorced women's image and experience in these countries. There are similarities and differences between the two countries based on geographical, cultural, historical, economic and legal issues. Due to the cultural presence of the United States in Puerto Rico, many issues now separate the two countries. I consider this "duality" (Traditional/Latin American and Westernized/American) to be an interesting context for exploration particularly as it relates to women's perception of divorce.
The Media as an Image Maker/Breaker: The Case of Tina Modotti and Its Literary Representation
Alvarez, Araceli (Virginia Tech, 2000-07-31)
This thesis examines the role the media played in shaping Tina Modotti's public image during the 1920s in Mexico and the representation of this image in the novel Tinísima by Elena Poniatowska. In Chapter I, the present study tackles also the issues behind the press attitude in relation to the Mexican political situation and the communist influence during the 1920s. Chapter II provides a review of the existing literature on Modotti's life and her involvement in the Mexican Communist Party. It also includes a brief summary of the Mexican Communist Party's origins and development, since the political environment affected the approach of the press upon Modotti. Chapter III focuses on social research through content analysis of press articles about Tina Modotti, which were published by the Mexican newspaper Excélsior in January 1929. The purpose is to analyze the language employed in these accounts in order to uncover a possible bias behavior on the part of the press when covering Modotti's case. Chapter IV deals with the analysis of Poniatowska's novel Tinísima through a postmodern perspective. The connecting theme between this and the former chapter is based on the insertion of articles from Excélsior that function as latent and manifest intertexts in the novel. The objective is to study these insertions in order to interpret Modotti's public and private images within this literary framework. Postmodernism is a pertinent theory since it examines the transgressions of widely accepted views to uncover or demystify reality. Finally, the conclusion in Chapter V links the use of the media as an image breaker to the Mexican social and political context in the 1920s, and suggests political reasons behind Modotti's mistreatment by the press. In addition, the literary representation of Modotti in Tinísima and the analysis through postmodernism provides strong support to this conclusion and points at the role of this novel as an image maker.
The Myth of La Malinche: From the Chronicles to Modern Mexican Theater
Perez-Lagunes, Rosario (Virginia Tech, 2001-05-01)
In the changing discourse on Mexican history, La Malinche has evolved from a historical figure of the Conquest to a national myth and a symbol of all those who have allied themselves with foreigners against their own country and its native values and traditions. On the other hand, La Malinche is regarded as the symbolic mother of the mestizos. This thesis proposes to analyze the figure of La Malinche as both a historical actor in the Conquest of Mexico and as a myth in the creation of contemporary Mexican national identity. Consequently, this study takes into account the chronicles of the conquerors, later Romantic versions, and contemporary cultural and historiographical studies. This study analyzes the changing image of La Malinche in national discourse, especially following Mexico's independence from Spain and the Mexican Revolution, whereupon Mexicans searched for a national identity. It also analyzes different interpretations of twentieth-century scholars as they attempt to vindicate La Malinche from her myth as traitor. Instead, in these interpretations, La Malinche is seen playing important roles as interpreter, strategist, mediator between two different cultures, and feminist symbol. Finally, I rely on twentieth-century Mexican theater to show how the myth of La Malinche is being used, questioned, and revised on stage in accordance with current historiography and socio-economic conditions in Mexico.
Performing culture(s): Extras and extra-texts in Sabina Berman's 'eXtras'
Bixler, Jacqueline E. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004-10)
For almost thirty years, Mexican dramatist Sabina Berman has been writing and producing plays that question and often ridicule notions of gender, political credibility, historical authority, and cultural identity. Her latest play, eXtras (2003), is not a Berman original, but rather a translation and adaptation of Marie Jones's highly acclaimed Stones in His Pockets. The bold, capital "X" and multiple connotations of the title are but the external wrapping of a complicated text / translation / performance that extends from Ireland to Mexico, from actor to audience, and finally from Hollywood to the rest of global culture. Theories of performance and cultural resistance shed light on the complexity and playfulness with which Berman translates, adapts, stages, and ultimately subverts Hollywood's hold on cultural representation and, by extension, the hold of US culture on those parts of the world where dire economic conditions and free-trade capitalism force local culture to sell out to global (i.e., first world) culture. In this intercultural performance of texts and extra-texts, Berman and her own hired "extras" underscore what it means to be an extra in the full sense of the word and in today's global(ized) society.
Policies, Pedagogy, and Practices: Educational Experiences of Latino English Language Learners in Virginia
Travieso-Parker, Lourdes Lucia (Virginia Tech, 2006-03-20)
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to analyze the impact of the policies of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) on the teaching and learning of 10 Latino English language learners (ELLs) in an urban high school in Virginia. Using ethnographic methodology, the researcher examined the nexus of the policy of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001) with the pedagogy of the English as a Second Language (ESL) and content area teachers, and the practices employed by teachers to enable students to acquire a second language in an academic setting. This enabled the researcher to examine the contextual framework of a large urban school and factors converging to help Latino ELLs learn academic English to succeed in high school. By reviewing the policy, pedagogy, and practices used in this school, I observed the connectedness of an entire school and the relationships fostered by students and faculty to support a learning climate for ELLs. The findings of this study show that the sociocultural environment and the educational experiences play a significant role in the adaptive process of learning a second language for Latino English language learners. Pedagogy that was built on respect for the Latino English language learners' cultural identity, linguistic abilities, and critical thinking skills helped learners become actively engaged, and facilitated learning in the second language that was academically rigorous. The practices of caring teachers enabled them to serve as advocates for ELLs, helped forge relationships of respect and trust, and encouraged Latino ELLs to succeed academically as they navigated the high school environment.

Browsing by Author "Bixler, Jacqueline E."

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