Songs of exile: music, activism, and solidarity in the Latin American diaspora

This article addresses the long-standing connection between music and social activism in Latin America, centering on a discussion of ‘the music of exile’ as a cultural artifact of historical and conceptual significance for diasporic Latin American communities. The music produced by artists who were persecuted during the years of military rule was characterized by an engagement with social and political affairs, and often helped bring people together in the struggle for democratization. Despite censorship laws and other repressive measures enacted by the dictatorships, the music not only endured, but traveled across nations and continents, carried by the millions of people who were displaced due to State-sponsored violence. Now distributed through new media platforms such as YouTube, this music functions as a repository of memory and an emblem of solidarity that connects dispersed Latin American communities. Using Cultural Studies as a theoretical framework and employing an interpretive methodology, this study focuses on a selection of songs written between 1963 and 1992, presenting an analysis that centers on their lyrics and connects their meanings to larger social processes

Parent perspectives on inclusive bookclubs

An inclusive book club was created to examine the effectiveness of incorporating literacy enhancing techniques and art to aid comprehension. This study focused on the parent perspective of their child participating in the book club and how it affected their child’s life at home. Two parents were interviewed after their child participated in a 3-month book club. The significance of this study is to show educators and families the benefits of having their children participate in inclusive environments. The study also explored how inclusive book clubs can benefit students with different comprehension levels and how families viewed the outcome of participating in a book club. Results indicated that both families saw an increase in confidence when reading books and the ability to choose new types of genres to read. Additional results and clinical implementations are discussed

A Forced Hand: Natives, Africans, and the Population of Brazil, 1545-1850

The settlement and expansion of the Portuguese colonies in South America were made possible by slave labour; however, the historical size of enslaved Native and African groups is largely unknown. This investigation compiles extant statistics on the population of «Brazil» by race and state for the pre-census period from 1545 to 1850, complementing them with headcount estimates based on sugar, gold, and coffee production; pre-contact indigenous populations; and trans-Atlantic slave voyages. The resulting panel of demographic data illustrates national and regional racial transitions encompassing the colonial era. Brazil’s population was of Native descent but became predominantly African in the 18th century; people of European ancestry remained a minority for another 200 years.El establecimiento y la expansión de las colonias portuguesas en Sudamérica fueron posibles gracias al trabajo de los esclavos; sin embargo, el tamaño histórico de los grupos nativos y africanos esclavizados es desconocido. Esta investigación compila las estadísticas existentes sobre la población de «Brasil» según raza y estado para el periodo pre-censo 1545-1850, complementándolas con estimaciones basadas en la producción de azúcar, oro, y café; poblaciones indígenas precolombinas; y viajes transatlánticos. El panel resultante de datos demográficos ilustra transiciones raciales nacionales y regionales, a lo largo de la era colonial. La población de Brasil era nativa pero se volvió predominantemente africana durante el siglo XVIII; gente de origen europeo siguió siendo una minoría por otros 200 años

Finding Community in a Women’s Shelter Open Studio: Implementation of an Art Therapy Method

People facing housing insecurity and homelessness are at a greater risk of loneliness than the average American. In the current decade, the number of unaccompanied women who face housing insecurity has grown. Organizations like day shelters and community resource centers can be places where this population can engage in socialization and lay down the foundation for communities within a larger systematic framework. Literature has identified the open studio method of art therapy in community centers as an effective method for participants to freely create art. In this intervention, the open studio was explored as a method of cultivating community and increasing socialization for women at a day shelter. An open studio method of art therapy is implemented in three sessions to observe the factors that contribute to social connection in the space and the participant’s responses to weekly open-ended questions about what the space means to them. The group consisted of visitors to the shelter who self-identify as women ages 21-65. Data is collected through a written response prompt for participants, facilitator observations, journals, and art responses. The results found that adaptability, authenticity, autonomy, and safety are all factors that lead to a successful implementation of this method. Further research could explore the evolution of an open studio community over a longer period of time

Economic Restructuring and Poverty/Income Inequality in Latin America

This study uses an econometric approach to evaluate whether structural reforms in Latin America contributed to poverty and income inequality over the period from 1985 to 2000. Data on structural reforms is employed from the Inter-American Development Bank‟s Structural Policy Index, and poverty and income inequality data is obtained from the World Bank‟s PovcalNet database. Using a panel data analysis with controls for GDP per-capita and political institutions, the overall openness level is found to be significantly positively related to the percent of the population living under the poverty line, the poverty gap, the Gini coefficient, the income ratio of the richest to poorest deciles of the population, and the mean log deviation. Specific reforms that are significantly positively related to poverty and/or inequality include privatizations and financial deregulation. Trade liberalization, average income, and democratic institutions demonstrate a negative, albeit weak, relationship to poverty and inequality

Simultaneous radio-interferometric and high-energy TeV observations of the gamma-ray blazar Mkn 421

The TeV-emitting BL Lac object Mkn 421 was observed with very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) at three closely-spaced epochs one-month apart in March-April 1998. The source was also monitored at very-high gamma-ray energies (TeV measurements) during the same period in an attempt to search for correlations between TeV variability and the evolution of the radio morphology on parsec scales. While the VLBI maps show no temporal changes in the Mkn 421 VLBI jet, there is strong evidence of complex variability in both the total and polarized fluxes of the VLBI core of Mkn 421 and in its spectrum over the two-month span of our data. The high-energy measurements indicate that the overall TeV activity of the source was rising during this period, with a gamma-ray flare detected just three days prior to our second VLBI observing run. Although no firm correlation can be established, our data suggest that the two phenomena (TeV activity and VLBI core variability) are connected, with the VLBI core at 22 GHz being the self-absorbed radio counterpart of synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission at high energies. Based on the size of the VLBI core, we could derive an upper limit of 0.1 pc (3 x 10**17 cm) for the projected size of the SSC zone. This determination is the first model-free estimate of the size of the gamma-ray emitting region in a blazar.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Inclusion: learning without barriers

This study analyzes the literature that has been written about inclusive education and the effect on students in the classroom and compares the information in the literature to three interviews with mothers who have had experiences with inclusive classrooms. Inclusive education is defined as the concept that students with disabilities, regardless of the nature and extent of their disability, should be educated with age-appropriate peers in regular classrooms (with needed supplementary aids and services) in the neighborhood school (Gartner, 2002). The main focus in this study is to examine how the parents view the learning of their child and how the parents view each type of specific learning environments. The study also focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the different learning environments the families have experienced. The significance of the study is to help inform families about the advantages and disadvantages of inclusive education from other parent’s perspectives. The study was also made to help schools realize the difference inclusive classrooms can make for their students. Overall, the research found that inclusive settings were the most beneficial to students if the right supports were provided, but due to perceived budget cuts, many schools were not able to provide the support students might need

The Economic Geography of Race in Post-Conquest Brazil

I investigate the economic determinants of the spatial distribution of race in Brazil from 1500 to 2000 C.E. I construct time-series for the populations of European, African, and Native peoples within the borders of twenty modern states and find that areas with more valuable natural resources adopted slavery but the race of those slaves (African or Native) depended on their relative cost. In Chapter Two, I compile all published statistics on the demographic history of Brazil. I discuss the political economy of each period, and trace the evolution of each region from a population of Indigenous, to African or European, and then European or African descent. I examine population growth rates and map the extent of Portuguese settlement over time. In Chapter Three, I evaluate these figures with respect to population estimates based on the production of staples and African slave imports. Surprisingly, I find that the African and Mulatto population had positive rates of natural increase earlier than thought. The results indicate that the population data have acceptable margins of error. In Chapter Four, I quantify the size of the indigenous population and its spatial distribution at Contact. Predator-prey and agricultural-yields models are combined to calculate the sustainable carrying capacity of Natives. Furthermore, I consider the allocation of resources to farming versus hunting-and-gathering. My resulting population estimates are within the range of existing figures (but may be revised upwards) and at a fine resolution. Using these data, in Chapter Five I examine the determinants of spatial and temporal variation of race in Brazil. I present a model in which slave owners choose the optimal mix of slaves based on their productivity, mortality, and price. Using transportation costs to proxy for prices, I evaluate the model and conclude that increased scarcity of Native labor led to the adoption of African slaves, particularly where most profitable. In this dissertation, I present a reliable consolidated source of disaggregated population data over the history of Brazil that explicitly considers the dynamics of African and Native populations. The data confirm that the racial composition of Brazil is largely a vestige of the pre-abolition economy