Thesiss

My research focused on understanding how viceregal authority was accepted in Mesoamerica. Rather than approaching the problems from the perspective of institutional history, I drew on prosopographical techniques and the court-studies tradition to focus on the practice of governm…

This paper seeks to examine how registered, 501(c)3 short-term medical missions (STMMs) create and define accountability, responsibility, and success within their organization. To explore this question, a survey measuring volunteer motivations was cross-analyzed with volunteer-w…

In this dissertation, I examine the works of Rubén Darío (1867-1916) and Sergio Ramírez (b. 1942) with the goal of determining their contributions to the construction and representation of sound, music, and sound technology in twentieth-century Nicaragua literature. I consider: …

The global energy trilemma has brought attention to the importance of energy access, in particular to the 1.3 billion people worldwide without access to electricity. Vital for addressing poverty, improving people s quality of lives and meeting the Millennium Development Goals, s…

From March 2006 until March 2008 I worked and did research with young people in El Salvador. I coordinated a local youth participation project in the capital, where, at the same time, I conducted fieldwork for my PhD research. The youth project aimed at empowering young people t…

This thesis analyzes the 1947 National Security Act, a Truman enacted policy that restructured and reorganized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), & the National Security Act (NSC) as key organization concerned with U.S. national security, intelli…

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (Trypanosomatida: Trypanosomatidae) is the etiological agent of Chagas disease, reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) as responsible for over 10,000 deaths in 2015. Chagas disease is considered a Neglected Tropical Disease by th…

Following the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1838, Costa Rica and Honduras were highly underdeveloped politically and economically, while at the same time lacking a strong conservative presence found in the more politically established and economically…

This project focuses on educational and life trajectories of Central American youth in St. Louis, Missouri, who have immigrated unaccompanied from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. By tracking and telling their stories, I hope to amplify these young immigrants’ vo…

This dissertation explores how Pentecostal Christians in the small town of Copán Ruinas, Honduras strive to remake both individual subjectivities and the national body as part of a drive towards development and modernization. In the process, these Spirit-filled Christians, which…

This dissertation is a study of the “Vietnam Syndrome,” a history of the continued power of the Vietnam War experience as a complicated symbol of previous American foreign policy and its effects on later policies through four presidential administrations. In the wake of the Viet…