Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, Spanish and Portuguese

This doctoral thesis talks about voice in the testimonial pieces entitled Loyal Soldiers in the Cocaine Kingdom: tales of drugs, mules and gunmen and La Sierra. In the context of this work of reflection, I consider voice in a broad sense, to include body gestures in their performance and prosody. These contemporary literary practices are about historical processes that have to do with the dynamics of the illegal drug trade and the armed conflict. In that sense, what is presented in the next pages is an interaction between the voice with its gestural dimension and the social contexts. In order to cope with this relation in a group of testimonials in written and in audio-visual form, I make use of the Sanskrit theory of dhvani, that allows me to listen through the eyes, the suggestive clothing that dresses the voices. In doing so, in this thesis I explore the stories told by The Mule Driver, Scuzzball, Hanged Man, Sharon, The Nun, The Puppet, Edison, Cielo and Jesus, proposing that through the epithelium of suggestion with which the voices are covered, is possible to hear and see, the emergence of a contemporary archetype of a warrior. All these reflections are bound together to establish a historical trial in which the character's ventriloquist voices constitute precocious testimonies, in other words, they shoot ahead through the gestural dimension, some of the effects that the hegemonic orders are having over societies. In this historical trial, that takes place in the courtroom proper to the studied literary practices, the evidences, consequently, represent a challenge to the legal language. As an ultimate goal, the explorations of these thesis intent to get closer to the force and intensity of the manifested experiences expressed by the voices in the testimonies, that by means of psychoanalytic reasoning, highlight the impossibility of being symbolized, therefore, the image of the warrior is just a metaphorical vehicle that tries to sight the real.

Committee: Ileana Rodriguez Humanities Distinguished Professor (Advisor); Laura Podalsky PhD (Committee Member); Ignacio Corona PhD (Committee Member); James Moore III PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Latin American Literature; Law; Literature

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, History

This thesis focuses on banana women's representations and how capitalism reinforces the patriarchal system in Honduras by utilizing three distinct yet interconnected discourses: The United Fruit Company, Honduran banana novels, and female banana union workers' testimonials. The Roosevelt Administration's Good Neighbor Policy (1933) with the collective help of the United Fruit Company and Hollywood presented Latin America and Latin American women stereotypically representing them as a sexualized and exotic persona in US mass media as observed through Carmen Miranda and shortly following, the creation of Miss Chiquita Banana.The three Honduran banana novels utilized in this thesis are: Prision verde (1950), Destacamento rojo (1962) by Ramon Amaya Amador, and Barro (1951) by Pacas Navas Miralda, that act as a counter United Fruit and Hollywood discourse. I analyze that although the novels provide a strong anti-United Fruit sentiment, the authors are also under a patriarchal discourse through their stereotypical representations of their female characters. I explore the testimonials of unionized banana women who have begun to take back their history by pursuing direct political action against gender discrimination and workers' exploitation.

Committee: Valeria Grinberg Pla PhD (Advisor); Amilcar Challu PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Francisco Cabanillas PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Spanish

This thesis focuses on banana women's representations and how capitalism reinforces the patriarchal system in Honduras by utilizing three distinct yet interconnected discourses: The United Fruit Company, Honduran banana novels, and female banana union workers' testimonials. The Roosevelt Administration's Good Neighbor Policy (1933) with the collective help of the United Fruit Company and Hollywood presented Latin America and Latin American women stereotypically representing them as a sexualized and exotic persona in US mass media as observed through Carmen Miranda and shortly following, the creation of Miss Chiquita Banana. The three Honduran banana novels utilized in this thesis are: Prision verde (1950), Destacamento rojo (1962) by Ramon Amaya Amador, and Barro (1951) by Pacas Navas Miralda, that act as a counter United Fruit and Hollywood discourse. I analyze that although the novels provide a strong anti-United Fruit sentiment, the authors are also under a patriarchal discourse through their stereotypical representations of their female characters. I explore the testimonials of unionized banana women who have begun to take back their history by pursuing direct political action against gender discrimination and workers' exploitation.

Committee: Valeria Grinberg Pla PhD (Advisor); Amilcar Challu PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Francisco Cabanillas PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies