Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item The Cowbell in Music and Culture(2023) McGovern, John; Votta, Michael; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cowbells are used as percussion instruments in a variety of musical settings today. Such uses represent a number of distinct musical practices. In this dissertation I attempt to chronicle cowbells in music from the first such use (the mid-19th century) to the present day, with a focus on historically linking and differentiating cowbell practices in orchestral music, in early musical theater and popular music, and in Cuban and Cuban-derived music. I argue furthermore that perceptions of the cowbell and its connotations, in the cultures that produce these musical practices, affect the way that the instrument is used and perceived. The word “cowbell” makes no differentiation between cowbells used historically for farming and the modern instruments descended from them. This, coupled with historical associations between cowbells and the carnivalesque exemplified by charivari practices, has led to perceptions of the cowbell, throughout its musical history, as an object of othering, humor, and/or derision.Item Embargoed Exchange: A Critical Case Study of Study Abroad Programming Between the United States and Cuba(2018) Woodman, Taylor C.; Klees, Steven J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Internationalization continues to remain a central focus within the U.S. university environment. Internationalization motives are under question as neoliberal policies continue to limit sustained, long-term state funding for public universities and undermine the academic mission of these universities. Universities are leveraging internationalization practices, like study abroad programming, in response to the pressures of neoliberalism. Using both an academic capitalist and post-colonial lens, this dissertation seeks to understand how study abroad programming, specifically in non-traditional locations (viz., Cuba), operates within and is shaped by political and economic contexts. In this study, qualitative case study methods were used to critically examine study abroad programming between the United States and Cuba before, during and after the Obama Administration’s announcement changing diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba on December 17, 2014. The perspectives of 12 of the main actors in the field, including educational administrators and faculty from U.S universities, Cuban universities, and study abroad program providers, were captured to provide a more comprehensive view of U.S. study abroad implementation in Cuba. The findings illustrate four key aspects of the political and economic context that significantly impact study abroad programming. First, the U.S. blockade (embargo) on Cuba is shown to hinder academic operation and impede international relationship building. Additionally, the neoliberal and neo-colonial university environment in which study abroad programming is situated leads to the reproduction of colonial dynamics and amplifies inequities and power dynamics within North-South study abroad programs. Yet, in the face of neoliberal and neo-colonial pressures, solidarity building emerged as a key area for resistance within these programs. Thus, two opposing approaches, market-based and solidarity building, are dictating how study abroad programming is developed and implemented. The tensions between these approaches provide insight into the liminal space within which educational administrators and faculty develop and facilitate study abroad programming. Therefore, this dissertation critically analyzes the political and economic environment in which study abroad operates to determine implications for internationalization practice and policy in an effort to guide the future international dimensions of the university.Item JOURNEYING THROUGH EXODUS, DISPLACEMENT, AND MY CUBAN-AMERICAN IDENTITY: THE ODYSSEY OF MAKING AND BECOMING WAKING DARKNESS. WAITING LIGHT.(2017) Krogol, Colette Elaine; Widrig, Patrik; Dance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Waking Darkness. Waiting Light. was an evening-length dance/multimedia event performed on October 7-9, 2016, in the Kogod Theatre at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Created in collaboration with my artistic partner, Matt Reeves, the work explored themes of identity, family, displacement, journeying, and exile through the lens of research into my maternal family’s stories of life and exodus from Cuba, as well as investigations into my own identity as a Cuban-American. This paper journeys through the autobiographical research and collaboration process that went into creating Waking Darkness. Waiting Light. Sewn into the fabric of this paper is personal poetry written as part of my creative practice. The performance work and this paper journey between the start of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and present day America.Item The Cartooned Revolution: Images and the Revolutionary Citizen in Cuba, 1959-1963(2009) Someillan, Yamile Regalado; Williams, Daryle; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Document: THE CARTOONED REVOLUTION: IMAGES AND THE REVOLUTIONARY CITIZEN IN CUBA, 1959-1963 Yamile Regalado Someillan, Ph.D., 2009 Directed By: Associate Professor, Daryle Williams, Department of History "The Cartooned Revolution: Imagery and Political Culture in Cuba, 1959-1963" traces the relationship between cartooning and citizenship in the early phases of the Cuban Revolution. Through a broad analysis of cartoons and advertisements produced in the Havana press between January 1959 and December 1963, this study analyzes the interplay of state-regulated visual communication that fueled cultural transformation and defined a new revolutionary citizenry. A close reading of an "imagined narrative," drawn by the new revolutionary press and consumed by Havana readers, I argue, casts a new light on the fundamental changes in political culture and society that took place in Cuba following January 1, 1959. My choice to analyze cartoons, advertisements as well as the institutions and personalities responsible for their production, draws upon the powerful interplay of revolutionary vision, reform, politics, and ideology within the imagined narrative. The institutional and functional conversion of these forms of revolutionary imagery into official propaganda occurred as a result of a deconstruction of the pre-revolutionary press and an institutional takeover and re-staffing of newspaper offices and printing presses; the deregulation of the cartooning profession; and the reorganization of pre-revolutionary advertising enterprises into a government-controlled, central clearinghouse. Initially, images portrayed the young Castro state as champion of reform within a longer tradition of Cuban liberalism. But in short time, the resistance of holdovers from the deposed Batista political class in combination with the souring of relations with the United States, engendered an emergent revolutionary visual culture. The early forms of its new visuality were exemplified in images cultivating the bearded rebel. As it matured, especially in visual communication associated with the Literacy Campaign of 1961 and the Socialist Emulation Campaign of 1962-63, the rebel image stood alongside a cast of stock characters representative of the new political regime. If, on the one hand, revolutionary imagery projected a dangerous political landscape filled with subversive plots and looming "enemies of the people," it also gave visual clues to the new forms of political belonging. Cartoons and advertisements communicated vital policies and campaigns in which Cubans with varying levels of commitment to the Revolution might be projected into an imagined, yet official revolutionary narrative. As Cubans increased their level of integration into revolutionary society, they began to redefine themselves into a more ideologically sophisticated citizenry both inside and outside of the image world.Item Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC: Image, Site, Program(2008-08-11) Fishman, Ian C; Williams, Isaac; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis postulates the design of an official Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC, following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries. An embassy serves as its state's proxy image and public interface within the host country. The research and analysis in this thesis explores how the image, program, and site of an embassy can be used as instruments of policy to promote the representing nation's political and social agenda. The program of the Embassy of Cuba is modeled after existing embassies. Many such buildings succeed in generating social capital by encouraging public activity within and around their sites as well as fostering both local and global connections. In addition to accommodating the administrative functions of diplomacy, great embassies encourage cultural exchange. A major goal of this thesis is to adapt the embassy program to a uniquely Cuban arrangement and use of space.