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
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Fight or Flight: The Commitment of German-Americans to the Union Cause during the American Civil War(2017) Cade, II, Anthony J; Sumida, Jon T; History; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)German-Americans fighting for or supporting the Union during the American Civil War felt humiliated on several occasions because of the failures of German units on the battlefields of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and the command mistakes of the German general, Franz Sigel, at New Market. Nativist Americans exploited these events to question the loyalty and fighting ability of all German-Americans fighting for the Union. This thesis examines the commitment of German-Americans to the Union cause and the resiliency they demonstrated when they experienced disgrace and hostility during the Civil War.Item NEGOTIATED TASTES: A STUDY OF THE AMERICANIZATION OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS BY SOCIAL WORKERS, REFORMERS AND NUTRITIONAL SCIENTISTS.(2014) Fronk-Giordano, Catharine Annemarie; Freund, David; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis aims to prove that the efforts of settlement workers, immigrant aid organization workers, home economists, reformers and nutritional scientists to Americanize the foodways of the southern and eastern European immigrants between the 1890s and the 1920s was not a systematic and homogenous enterprise motivated by a single idea and driven by a single goal, but a far more nuanced and contested process in which social workers with various backgrounds and beliefs mediated between American identity, science and immigrant food culture. Far outnumbered by the new immigrants, the social workers concentrated on alleviating immediate needs of the poor in the industrial centers, focusing on increasing their buying power and improving the nutritional value of their diets. Servicing all immigrants as well as Americans, the social workers often adapted their teachings to respect the immigrant food cultures and tastes, some even praising ethnic cuisines over the American diet.Item Socialization practices in low-income immigrants and their young children: A qualitative approach(2011) Aldoney Ramirez, Daniela; Cabrera, Natasha J.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Latinos are the largest ethnic group in the U.S., yet little is known about how these families socialize their children to function in the U.S. Based on ecocultural theory, this study utilized focus groups interviews with 28 parents to explore the socialization practices of low-income Latino immigrant parents with their young children. Findings from this study suggest that parents model their expectations/values according to environmental demands developing diverse strategies to combine what they view to be Latino and American values. Research results also indicate that participating parents cope with the challenges in socializing their children by being optimistic and highly investing time and resources on their children. This study provides a basis for generating hypotheses to be tested with larger datasets; identifying areas that policies and programs might develop to support effective parenting in Latino immigrant families; and, informing the development of culturally sensitive measures to evaluate Latino parenting.Item Hechos de orillas: Nuevas expresiones de la identidad judeo-argentina contemporanea(2007-04-13) Ran, Amalia; Sosnowski, Saul; Spanish Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The search of the Jewish immigrants for a consolidated identity, social and cultural integration, and recognition within the "official" History of Argentina is narrated through a web of personal stories and family genealogies that disclose the struggles with the collective memories in order to create a new "text": the story of the Jewish Argentineans. After more than a century of Jewish presence in Argentina, what is the importance of these stories for the current identification of these individuals? What is the significance of "being a Jew" -a descendant of immigrants, the other for many generations-, and of "being Argentinean" -a citizen with full political rights and a social actor? This dissertation focuses on novels created in Argentina, Spain, France, United States and Israel by descendants of Jewish immigrants to Argentina and by those born in that country. It examines the current shifting trends in defining the personal and collective identity of Jewish Argentineans in Argentina and its Diaspora. I assess the relevance of geographical spaces, national boundaries, languages and gender for the personal identification with the "imagined community" of the argentinidad and propose different ways to resolve the identity crisis of these individuals whose personal stories had been excluded from the canonical History documented by the state. I argue that the nostalgic return to the migrant past, the revision of symbolic national patrimonies and the redefinition of the collective identity enable new self expressions, and analyze the significance of these discourses through three different perspectives: first, I examine the impact of the distance created by the passing of time. The novels use the "Wandering Jew" as a literary resort in order to dialogue with past events and present an alternative version of it. Second, I evaluate the relevance of geographical distances and linguistic gaps in the formation of the national, cultural and personal identities, upon the nostalgic return to the past, and a sense of dislocation associated with this act. Finally, I examine the importance of biographical elements, such as gender, class and generational differences, for the Jewish and Argentinean identification at the beginning of the XXI century.