Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Spanish and Portuguese

This dissertation analyzes the construction of a pervasive social imaginary of unequal order in Central America between 1870 and 1900. This period was crucial in the region, which underwent a series of economic, political, and social reforms that would forever transform the natural and social landscapes of the isthmus. Although most of these structural changes have already been studied, it is still unclear how literary and cultural production intersected with the liberal elites' endeavors of social classification, economic modernization, and political institutionalization. This dissertation addresses that problem through theoretical elaborations on the social imaginary (Cornelius Castoriadis) and the distribution of the sensible (Jacques Ranciere). I specifically analyze three different types of cultural texts: household economy guides for girls and young women; cuadros costumbristas (sketches of manners); and sentimental novels and theater plays. Part 1 deals with the cultural measures that contributed to a symbolic and material division of public spaces and private spaces, both ruled by the rationale of capitalism. Chapters 1 through 3 study in detail the role of household economy manuals in the dissemination and implementation of the new capitalist logics of productivity, rationalization, and accumulation across the domestic or private spaces. Chapter 1 analyzes how these cultural texts created two opposing female archetypes: the "economic woman" or "productive housewife", figured as an agent of domestic modernization, and the "abject servant", a subaltern subject that would undergo a set of new domestic policies of surveillance, discipline, and exploitation. Chapter 2 addresses the role of the productive housewives in the implementation of new modes of regulation of time and desire within the urban households, while Chapter 3 covers the rearrangements in domestic spaces brought by the new concepts of comfort and hygiene. Part 2 deals with the simultaneous reo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Abril Trigo (Advisor); Ana Del Sarto (Committee Member); Fernando Unzueta (Committee Member); Marta Elena Casaus Arzu (Committee Member) Subjects: Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2013, East Asian Languages and Literatures

In the first decade of the new century, within the composition of China's economy there developed a number of increasingly extreme characteristics, frequently referred to as "imbalances". This paper uses China's flow of funds tables to examine these imbalances. In order to provide a context for the use of China's flow of funds tables, this paper describes the basic economic model on which the flow of funds tables are based, and illustrates how to use the flow of funds tables to construct a number of commonly used economic measurements. Following an explanation of the flow of funds tables, this paper then turns to identifying key changes within the composition of China's economy. Through a combination of the flow of funds tables and a survey of relevant work, this paper concludes by showing that the development of the changes within the composition of China's economy are due to a continuation of long term post-reform trends.

Committee: Galal Walker (Advisor); Jianqi Wang (Committee Member); Xiaobin Jian (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Economics