Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cuban education'

Abstract During the fourteen years between 1898 and 1912, the influences imparted upon the School System of Cuba were substantial. In the period immediately following the conflict with Spain, known in the U.S. as the Spanish American War, a concerted effort was underway to annex the island of Cuba. This study was undertaken to discover what courses were introduced into the K-12 curricula following the U.S. intervention, who introduced those changes, and what, if any influence those changes brought to the culture of the island. This investigation and analysis was necessary to reinvigorate the discussion regarding the history of the Cuban education system in view of the attempted cultural change brought about by the U.S. intervention. While many actions were underway by various factions both within the U.S. government and without to ensure that the annexation would be successful, one concerted effort was undertaken through the reconstruction of Cuba's schools. Changes that were made include: coursework, textbooks, structure of schools, selection process for teachers and professors at the University of Havana, holiday schedule, and the school-day and school-year. While the language of instruction remained Spanish, the method of delivery and training of Cuban school teachers was adapted through an extended summer Normal School program in association with Harvard University and a fulltime program at the New Paltz Normal School in New York. From the results collected regarding the coursework, individuals involved, and the changes imparted upon the culture of Cuba, it appears that a concerted effort was underway to impose a U.S.-styled school system on Cuba with the intended result of annexation of the island of Cuba by acclamation of the Cuban people.

This research attempted to provide a comprehensive overview of the Eastern Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary within the context of theological education in Cuba and the Cuban Revolution. Three major purposes directed this research. The first one was historical: to document and evaluate the rise, survival and achievements of the Eastern Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary, which has continued its mission through extraordinary political opposition and economical difficulties. The second major purpose was institutional: to gain insight into Cuban seminary modus operandi. The third purpose of the study was to identify perceived needs of the seminary. This study sought to provide information that can facilitate a better understanding of Cuban Christian theological higher education. The Eastern Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary was founded in the city of Santiago the Cuba on October 10, 1949 by the Eastern Baptist Convention. This seminary exists for the purpose of training pastors for the Eastern Baptist Convention. The school offers a four-year program leading to a bachelor in theology degree. The Eastern Cuba Baptist Convention experienced the same oppression from the communist revolution as the rest of the evangelical denominations during the sixties and seventies. The worst period for the convention and the Eastern Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary started in 1965 when many important people were recruited to work at the Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP). Fidel Castro recognized in 1991 that the Cuban Communist Party erroneously made atheism its religion. Although the Cuban communist regime never issued an antireligious policy, in subtle ways Christians suffered the consequences of the religious ideological conflict. Nevertheless, today the Eastern Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary operates independently and without the direction of the Cuban government. Communism and Christianity have learned to live together in Cuba even though they started with difficulties. Theological education in Cuba not only survived the negative effects of the Cuban revolution, but also has emerged stronger than ever. Economic resources are the primary need of the Eastern Cuba Baptist Theological Seminary. The seminary has been through many difficulties during its history. Nevertheless, these days represent the best time in the seminary history.

Thesis advisor: Hosffman Ospino
The Catholic Church’s formal documents throughout the centuries have celebrated and affirmed the role of parents educating their children on faith matters in the context of the home. Nevertheless, the Church offers parents very little practical guidance as to how they can make their home a domestic church or what they can do to organically and consistently incorporate the faith into daily life. As the Church analyzes why presently 6 Catholics are disaffiliating for every new member that joins, it must reconsider the lack of attention the home has received as an authoritative space for religious transmission. The home, as a sacramental space, has the potential to call attention to the divinity that surrounds us and invites us to action and awakening. It is also the haven where we nurture our most important and loving relationships that initiate us into the faith. The home is also a space for negotiation, that is, where we learn to wrestle with mystery and ambiguity. Critical dialogues within the home are imperative to engaging the present world from a Catholic perspective. This dissertation conducted an ethnographic study of a group of Miami-based Cuban American Catholic women across two generations. The women were chosen based on their active involvement within the Catholic Church. The study found that 100% of the women were successful in transmitting their Catholic faith to their daughters due to four socialization practices. Faith modeling by extended kin, engagement in social justice vocations across the community, explicitly affirming the personalization of daily rituals such as prayer, and finally, ongoing intergenerational dialogues were found in the stories of all the women participants. Religious imagination is the glue that holds all of the moving pieces (home, women and socializing praxis) in this dissertation. I provide herein a midrash of Matthew 27:57-61 to illustrate how the physical and relational components of the Cuban-American home serve to negotiate a hermeneutic that is matriarchal, bottom-up, and interdisciplinary. The hermeneutic echoes the message of the women studied herein; namely, that a community working together in the midst of dislocation is already being liberated. Noting the psycho-social importance of a cohesive narrative identity and its impact on authentic faith transmission calls into question whether the pedestrian nature of the home has led to mistaken notions of this pedagogy being too simplistic. Nevertheless, in telling stories and (de/re)constructing life narratives, individuals are placed within the larger scheme of history, redemptive sequences are analyzed and building resilience, and the stories themselves become a safe space from which to discern larger questions. This dissertation proposes communal, home-based activities as an effective method for faith transmission as it fosters the necessary intimacy to share relevant and passionate stories that powerfully answer why being Catholic truly matters now and to our next generation
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry

Cubans arrive in the U.S. with more formal education than other Latino immigrants, and they arrive to communities with long standing networks of support. Though their baccalaureate degree attainment is better than their non-Cuban Latina counterparts, Cuban women still lag behind White, non-Latina women. The qualitative study aims to explore the principal influences and non-academic factors that 15 adult Cuban non-native English-speaking women in South Florida attribute to the successful attainment of their baccalaureate degree. There are many differences among the various immigrant Latino communities in the U.S., and Cuban women are largely absent from the research. Nearly 75% of Cuban women who start Miami Dade College with English as a second language course-work drop out within one year of matriculation. Understanding the principal influences and non-academic factors related to the baccalaureate attainment rate of this group may assist educators and administrators in providing the support these women need to enhance their degree completion. The literature says that the baccalaureate degree attainment of Latinos is influenced by age-at-the-time-of-immigration, country of origin, and gender, yet little research was found on the degree attainment specifically of female Cubans who entered the U.S. having already completed most of their education in Cuba. My dissertation explores the journey of 15 Cuban women who arrived in the U.S. as teens during the 1990s and had to learn English as a second language at an urban community college prior to completing a baccalaureate degree. The purpose of the research is to describe the principal influences and non-academic factors that these women attribute to their baccalaureate degree attainment.

Parasitic infections are ubiquitous in nature, and host-parasite dynamics can have powerful effects on wildlife populations. Many species have evolved behavioral responses to infection that can help mitigate damage from parasites. Anorexia is a common response to infection observed throughout the animal kingdom. Reducing nutrient intake can help shift host resources from digestion to immunity, as well as limit resources available to parasites. Reduced feeding can weaken the host, but in some host-parasite interactions, this cost is less than that of maintaining an infection. Here, I describe an experiment aimed to explore the effects of the parasitic nematode Aplectana hamatospicula on the Cuban treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) across life stages. Tadpoles were exposed to A. hamatospicula larvae or a sham exposure and growth and behavior were quantified. After metamorphosis, the jumping performance of these frogs was assessed. I revealed that A. hamatospicula could infect and complete its lifecycle in tadpoles. This infection was unique in that it persisted through metamorphosis with the worm continuing to reproduce in the intestinal tract of the terrestrial frogs. These infections reduced the relative mass gain of tadpoles. However, post-metamorphic frogs were able to compensate for this lower growth when provided an ad libitum diet, and infection did not directly or indirectly impact jumping performance, perhaps because of this compensation. Tadpoles that prevented or cleared the infection had a higher rate of anorexia, suggesting that anorexia might be a successful disease-mitigation response to A. hamatospicula.

In this study, I investigate the model of English language teacher education developed in Cuba. It includes features that would be considered innovative, contemporary, good practice anywhere in the Western world, as well as having distinctly Cuban elements. English is widely taught in Cuba in the education system and on television by Cuban teachers who are prepared in five-year courses at pedagogical universities by bilingual Cuban teacher educators. This case study explores the identity and pedagogy of six English language teacher educators at Cuba’s largest university of pedagogical sciences. Postcolonial theory provides a framework for examining how the Cuban pedagogy of English language teacher education resists the negative representation of Cuba in hegemonic Western discourse; and challenges neoliberal Western dogma. Postcolonial concepts of representation, resistance and hybridity are used in this examination. Cuban teacher education features a distinctive ‘pedagogy of tenderness’. Teacher educators build on caring relationships and institutionalised values of solidarity, collectivism and collaboration. Communicative English language teaching strategies are contextualised to enhance the pedagogical and communicative competence of student teachers, and intercultural intelligibility is emphasised. The collaborative pedagogy of Cuban English language teacher education features peer observation, mentoring and continuing professional development; as well as extensive pre-service classroom teaching and research skill development for student teachers. Being Cuban and bilingual are significant aspects of the professional identity of case members, who regard their profession as a vocation and who are committed to preparing good English language teachers.

The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade of 1980, carried out in the aftermath,of a long and destructive revolution, was able, in five months time, to decrease the nation's illiteracy rate from 50 percent to 13 percent. The newly fonned Nicaraguan government, recognizing the political nature of education, viewed its Literacy Crusade as a major step· in the development of a "new", post-revolutionary Nicaragua. As a means of comparison, two other literacy campaigns are also examined: the Cuban campaign of 1961, and the UNESCO-sponsored Experimental World Literacy Programme, in place from 1965-1973. The Cuban campaign served as a precursor to the Nicaraguan effort. It, too, occurred after a revolution, with education also,viewed as a key to the consolidation of a new 2 government. Likewise, the effort in Cuba depended upon an intense and massive effort by the public, to participate as students, teachers, or both. In less than one year, the illiteracy rate in Cuba decreased from 26 percent to 4 percent, with 700,000 Cubans achieving minimal literacy. In addition, the campaign was simply the first step in a series of educational changes. Follow-up campaigns, as well as increased emphasis on formal schooling, has continued in Cuba. The UNESCO effort proved to be much less successful. The EWLP was to include intensive and selective literacy projects in eleven designated nations. The literacy projects were based upon work-oriented definitions of literacy, and were, for the most part, planned and administered by international experts. The lack of involvement by national leaders or educators proved to be a great hinderance, especially since many of the nations were interested in mass literacy programs, not selective literacy projects. At the conclusion of the EWLP, thirty-two million dollars had been spent, but only 120,000 adults had been classified as new literates. UNESCO's own assessment of the EWLP pointed to a number of problems in organization, personnel, methods and materials that contributed to this lack of success. The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade was able to take the best parts of both of these previous efforts, and achieve some remarkable successes. The mass involvement of the people, and the commitment of time and resources at the national level made the Nicaraguan effort a national priority. While experts from other nations and international agencies participated in the Crusade, it was a decidedly Nicaraguan effort. Unlike the EWLP, the idea of literacy in both Nicaraguan and Cuba was tied to an overall change in the structures and attitudes of society; literacy was to be integrated into the people's lives, not to just be a way to improve job skills. For Nicaragua, the Literacy Crusade decreased the illiteracy rate, created 400,000 new literates, and led to follow-up efforts meant to further develop the educational and social process. From the comparison of these literacy efforts, three factors stand out as keys to successful increases in literacy in developing nations. Education must first be seen as part of an overall development strategy, created by and for a particular nation. A literacy campaign must also involve a majority of citizens in some way, especially those with no previous access to education. Finally, to enact these goals of overall development and mass participation, a literacy campaign must have support from all levels of government, who must be willing to sacrifice other goals in order to achieve long-term change.

In the inner city municipalities of Havana eighty percent of the primary schools are located in houses known as "casas adaptadas". These buildings accommodate more than twenty-seven thousand pupils. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the value of using houses for primary educational needs. The practice of adapting buildings for a different function from the one for which they were originally designed has been carried out for generations. However, this concept raises some fundamental questions relating to the basic principles of design. First, through an analysis of the overall relationship between, and the effect of, building type, form, function and aesthetic meaning in relation to the adaptive reuse of buildings, the study demonstrates how a wider range of solutions can be applied if the focus is placed on the new function rather than on the existing building fabric. The main body of the research then focuses on the contextual reasons behind the concept of adapting houses for primary schools in Cuba. Using a hybrid exploratory and descriptive strategy the purpose is to show how contextual factors provided the motivating force that initially instigated and then sustained the process of recycling obsolete buildings. This is achieved by focusing on the relationship between three specific components:- the evolution of elementary education; the development of architecture and urban growth in Havana; and the contextual factors comprising political policies, economic strategies, and the changing social and cultural development The rationale for the emphasis on the historical analysis is to maintain objectivity and continuity of context The study reveals that the use of houses as primary schools was an acceptable solution for educating young children that was driven by social, economic and political policies of each successive period of government The analysis of the empirical study of the casas adaptadas then illustrates how the houses contribute value to the educational process despite their lack of quality. This is followed by an evaluation of the research findings and their relevance to the real problems that currently face primary school education in the urban areas of Havana, and concludes with a discussion of possible strategies and proposals for future research in this field.

The possible impacts of the level of formal education on different aspects of disaster management, prevention, alarm, emergency, or postdisaster activities, were studied in a comparative perspective for three countries with a comparable exposure to hurricane hazards but different capacities for preventing harm. The study focused on the role of formal education in reducing vulnerability operating through a long-term learning process and put particular emphasis on the education of women. The comparative statistical analysis of the three countries was complemented through qualitative studies in Cuba and the Dominican Republic collected in 2010-2011. We also analyzed to what degree targeted efforts to reduce vulnerability were interconnected with other policy domains, including education and science, health, national defense, regional development, and cultural factors. We found that better education in the population had clear short-term effects on reducing vulnerability through awareness about crucial information, faster and more efficient responses to alerts, and better postdisaster recuperation. However, there were also important longer term effects of educational efforts to reduce social vulnerability through the empowerment of women, its effect on the quality of institutions and social networks for mutual assistance creating a general culture of safety and preparedness. Not surprisingly, on all three accounts Cuba clearly did the best; whereas Haiti was worst, and the Dominican Republic took an intermediate position. (authors' abstract)

Esta pesquisa possui como tema as políticas públicas de educação básica do Brasil e de Cuba. O objetivo central é analisar nos países a constituição e implementação das políticas educacionais e o papel da psicologia nesse processo, entre as décadas de 1960 e 1990. Tratase de um estudo comparado na perspectiva do materialismo histórico e dialético. Para tanto, reconstituímos a história dos processos políticos e econômicos de cada nação e a relação com a política econômica internacional, utilizando sobretudo a legislação e documentos oficiais. No Brasil, o modelo de desenvolvimento de um capitalismo dependente ficou longe de priorizar uma educação para todos e de qualidade, e a participação da psicologia nas políticas educacionais se deu de forma indireta e sem uma organização dos profissionais da área. Ao passo que Cuba articulou a construção de uma sociedade socialista a uma educação universal e de qualidade, em que a psicologia atuou de forma direta e coletiva. Concluímos que há uma íntima relação entre economia, políticas educacionais e psicologia que se expressa nos resultados alcançados na educação pública dos dois países, ainda que tais resultados sejam extremamente distintos.
This research covers as a theme the public policies of the basic education in Brazil and Cuban. Its main purpose is to analyze the constitution and implementation of such educational policies in the referred countries and the role of the psychology in this process, in the time lapse between the decades of 1960 and 1990. It is a study comparative tanking into the perspectives of the historic materialism and dialectic. For such, we reconstitute the history of the political and economics processes of each Nation and their relation to the international economic policy, using above all the legislation and official documents. In Brazil, the development model of a dependent capitalism did not prioritize an education to all and with quality, by far, and the psychology role in the educational policy took place in an indirect manner and without an organization from the professionals in this field. On the other hand, Cuba articulated the construction of a socialist society and a quality universal education, in which the psychology acted direct and collectively. We have concluded that there is an intimate relation between economy, educational policies and psychology that is shown in the results achieved in the public education of those two countries, despite the fact that such results are extremely distinct.

Chemistry
Ph.D.
This work describes the culmination of two separate projects. In the first endeavor, efforts to synthesize peptidomimetics are described using trans-hydroxy proline to make a functionalized bis-peptides, or spiroligomers. The bis- peptide was then tested for catalytic activity on esterification reactions. The remainder of this manuscript describes a method to create complex molecular scaffolds using [4 + 4] photocycloaddition of trimethylsilyl substituted benzyl ethers tethered to 2 – pyridones. Upon irradiation at low concentrations, these structures intramolecularly react to give cyclobutanoid compounds. Initially, it was thought that [4 +4] photoreactions would would yield cyclooctanoid structures. Finally, a meta substituted methyl ester is intramoleculary reacted with a benzyl pyridone and eventually transformed into a dimethyl alcohol, creating a cubane – like structure. This caged structure is then subjected to rearrangement when exposed to strong acid conditions.
Temple University--Theses

The development methods mostly applied until today provoked severe environmental imbalances in the world. To deal with this, almost twenty-five years ago the environmental issues were introduced in the agenda of discussions in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, intending to introduce a more sustainable approach of development (Desai and Potter, 2002, p 478). The current study explores how sustainability is transferred, interpreted and integrated into national education, through the comparison of experiences between Cuba and Sweden. Based on a qualitative research approach, the study first presents and analyses the international discourse on the topic, as well as the conceptual and theoretical framework that has been formed mainly from the narrative of UNESCO and UNEVOC. Afterwards, national education curricula are being examined to understand ow the sustainability concept is addressed in TVET, while an empirical analysis presents how the university teachers and the students of two Agroecology programs perceive and interpret sustainability. To achieve this, the methods of document analysis and semi-structured interviews have been employed. The findings of the study indicate that the international discourse has detected the main goals of sustainability for TVET, the conditions that lead to this necessity and the importance of this part of education, since it is the only one that is directly connected to labour. However, the interpretation is different in each case, since it is affected by the socio-political, economical and historical context of each country. In Cuba, sustainability is the means of autochthonous development, efficient use of the natural resources with respect to the environment, in order to deal with the economic crisis and food insecurity of the Special Period. In Sweden, sustainability emerged as a need of alternative ways of producing energy and consuming, as environmental awareness raised against the exploitation of the natural environment. Using the two contrary cases, the study intends to explore the dimensions that the concept can have. The World Commission on Environment and Development’s report in 1987 (p.41) first defined sustainable development as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. To conclude, this study intends to contribute to a better understanding of what sustainable development means. The experiences of university teachers and students present sustainability, as understood in the set of agroecology in higher vocational institute. This study is a small contribution in the total work towards sustainability. It could be the beginning of exploring in the future how sustainability is interpreted and integrated in other countries of the world.

The aim of this study is to describe two strategies of professional teacher development in Cuba and analyse how they affect the professional growth of the teachers. The strategies investigated are methodological work sessions and further education at the university. Eight upper-secondary school teachers were interviewed and it was analysed how their professional growth was affected by the Cuban professional development strategies. The model utilized was the interconnected model of professional growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002).The results show that, four of the eight interviewed teachers experienced change sequences and growth networks as a consequence of participating in the two investigated strategies. The methodological work sessions promote a collaborative approach among the teachers to developing the education in their school. Further education in the university, on the other hand, encourages the teachers to reflect individually on practical school-related problems. The results indicate that the organization of the work both the professional development strategies provided acted as an incentive for the interviewed teachers’ development.
Målet med den här studien är att beskriva två lärarutvecklingsstrategier i Kuba och analysera hur de påverkar lärarnas professionella utveckling. De undersökta strategierna är metodologiska arbetsmöten och vidareutbildning vid universitet. Åtta gymnasielärare intervjuades och det analyserades hur deras professionella utveckling påverkats av de kubanska lärarutvecklingsstrategierna. Modellen som använts är the interconnected model of professional growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002).Resultaten visar att de metodologiska arbetsmötena uppmuntrar lärarna att arbeta kollektivt med att utveckla utbildningen i sin skola. Universitetsvidareutbildning, vad andra sidan, främjar individuell reflektion över praktiska skolrelaterade problem. Resultatet indikerar att den organisation av arbetet som båda lärarutvecklingsstrategierna medför stimulerar lärarna att utvecklas.

Submitted by LUDMILA LEE CASTILLO null (ludmilee2@gmail.com) on 2016-08-17T05:12:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação ludmila completa português.pdf: 3649670 bytes, checksum: 7a1434e1caa7ecfbc457f013fdf3d305 (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-08-18T13:52:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 castillo_ll_me_ia.pdf: 3649670 bytes, checksum: 7a1434e1caa7ecfbc457f013fdf3d305 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-18T13:52:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 castillo_ll_me_ia.pdf: 3649670 bytes, checksum: 7a1434e1caa7ecfbc457f013fdf3d305 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-17
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
A Arteducação em Cuba é um campo ainda a ser definido e aprofundado. Seu surgimento está relacionado ao contexto de liminaridade da ilha a partir dos anos noventa. É neste período que se torna visível um esvaziamento do conceito do político, provocado pela operação do dispositivo da institucionalização. Para quebrar a ação do mesmo, se usaram as práticas arteducativas como táticas profanadoras. Elas se distinguem pela presença do político, reativando novas configurações do ser e do agir. Nesse sentido, a dissertação pretende refletir a partir de uma experiência arteducativa juvenil acontecida na ilha entre 2008-2013 e à luz da perspectiva contemporânea, sobre a incidência do político na ressignificação da condição ética de seus participantes.
La Arteducación en Cuba es un campo en definición. Su surgimiento está relacionado al contexto de liminaridad de la isla a partir de los años noventa. Es en este período que se visibiliza un vaciamiento del concepto de lo político, provocado por la operación del dispositivo de la institucionalización. Para romper la acción del mismo, se emplearon las prácticas arteducativas como tácticas profanadoras. Ellas se distinguen por la presencia de lo político, reactivando nuevas configuraciones del ser y el actuar. En ese sentido, la disertación pretende reflexionar a partir de una experiencia arteducativa juvenil acontecida en la isla entre 2008-2013 y a la luz de la perspectiva posmoderna, sobre la incidencia de lo político en la resignificación de la condición ética de sus participantes.
The Art-education in Cuba is a field still in definition. Their emergence is related to the context of liminality lived on the island from the nineties. It is in this period that made visible an emptying of the concept of the political, caused by the operation of the device of institutionalization. To interrupt the action of this, were employed the art-educative practices as desecrator tactics. They are distinguished by the presence of the political, reactivating new configurations of being and acting. In that sense, the dissertation aims to reflect, from the youthful experience art-educative that took place on the island between 2008-2013 and in the light of the perspective postmodern, on the incidence of the political in the redefinition of ethics condition of its participants.
CNPq: 190377/2013-5

The author presents that Cuban house churches lack leaders who can evangelize their own people without help from Christians of other countries. This is a problem in ministry for the indigenous house church leaders in Cuba. The project was “experimental research,” in which an intervention in evangelism training was introduced and then evaluated. He recruited 60 participants and used a 40-item Evangelism-Ready Checklist to measure participants’ perceived confidence levels in their ability to do evangelism. The researcher interviewed 60 participants and searched for indicators of increased confidence levels in students’ ability to do evangelism on their own. The true picture of the participants’ confidence in their evangelism-readiness was to take into account their sense that some topics were not covered sufficiently. Both the quantitative data and their interview data at six months post revealed great confidence and was combined with qualitative interview data to give the full picture. Recommendations were offered on how the evangelism training course could be improved.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-05-31Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:31:07Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_ea_me_prud.pdf: 991878 bytes, checksum: d28ec7ddf88418369957df2f0080fbb0 (MD5)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
A presente pesquisa apresenta os resultados acerca da investigação sobre O Jogo na Perspectiva da Teoria Histórico-Cultural na Educação Infantil de Cuba. Vincula-se à Linha de Pesquisa Práticas Educativas e Formação de Professores e teve origem no conhecimento empírico de que os docentes brasileiros, em geral, parecem apresentar dificuldades de conceber o jogo e a brincadeira como atividade principal da criança, capaz de promover desenvolvimento das capacidades superiores de pensamento; na inquietação provocada pela utilização de jogos, pelas Instituições de Educação Infantil do Brasil, como meio didático para ensino de conteúdos específicos, o que reduz o ato de brincar a um fim utilitarista; e no modo como o Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil (BRASIL, 1998) concebe o brincar. Optou-se pela análise do Sistema Nacional de Educação de Cuba, enfatizando o subsistema da educação Pré-escolar. O objeto do trabalho se constituiu no estudo do jogo relacionado à criança pequena, no contexto da Educação Infantil em Cuba, iluminado pela Teoria Histórico-Cultural de Vygotsky e seguidores, com base nos seguintes pressupostos: o conceito de jogo (principalmente o de papéis) como atividade principal, os conceitos de mediação, de zona de desenvolvimento proximal e de atividade principal. A investigação ocorreu com base na análise dos Documentos Normativos para a Educação Infantil de Cuba, a partir dos objetivos: caracterização do contexto sociocultural de Cuba; mapeamento da situação escolar no país, com ênfase na educação pré-escolar, e análise do currículo dos programas destinados a essa faixa...
The present work presents the findings of the research on “The role of playing from the historic-cultural theory perspective in Pre-school Education in Cuba”. It has been linked to the issue of “Educational Practice and Formation of Teachers” and it has also been originated from the empirical knowledge that Brazilian teachers in general seem to show some difficulties to consider playing and games as the main activity of children, which favors the development of advanced capabilities of thinking. It was also based on the interest of studying the use of games in institutions of Pre-school Education in Brazil as a didactic means for teaching specific contents that reduces the fact of playing to a utilitarian aim. The way the National Curricular Referential for the Pre-school Education (BRASIL, 1998) conceives playing has been considered as well. The analysis of the National System of Education in Cuba has been chosen and the emphasis is on Pre-school Education. The object of study was shaped by studying playing in relation to small children within the context of Pre-school Education in Cuba, seen from the historic-cultural perspective of Vygotsky and followers. It has its bases on the following assumptions: the concept of playing (mainly playing roles) as the main activity, concepts of mediation, concepts of zone of proximal development and that of main activity. The research was done by analysing the Documentos Normativos for Preschool Education in Cuba with two objectives: caracterization of the socio-cultural context of Cuba and the mapping of the school situation in the country ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Music Education
M.M.
One of the most distinctive musical genres that originated in Cuba over the last century has been Cha-Cha-Chá, which was created by Enrique Jorrín in the 1950s. The popularity of this music has grown considerably since its genesis, evidenced by the vast array of repertoire associated with the style of music, the multitude of bands performing it and its prevalence in popular culture. The music has traveled the world via aural transmission; advances in technology have helped to disseminate Cha-Cha-Chá and have contributed to its prevalence. Very little research—particularly research written in the English language—exists on this genre and its creator. Due to its musical significance and social impact, it is important to understand Cha-Cha-Chá’s place in modern Cuba and how it has been preserved over time. The purpose of this study is to discuss Enrique Jorrín’s influence on the creation and performance of Cha-Cha-Chá, and to discuss the importance of Cha-Cha-Chá in American music education.
Temple University--Theses

This dissertation examines the modernization of aspects of Cuba’s public health programs through the influence of the Rockefeller Foundation. As a result of its sponsorship of projects, the Rockefeller Foundation contributed to the spread of modernizing practices and policies from 1913 through 1945. An evaluation of medical modernization remains an important chapter in the study of post-colonial development. Current research has often portrayed public health modernization efforts as unidirectional with the United States imposing its ideas and practices onto developing nations. By examining institutional records, personal correspondence, and reports, this dissertation provides a more nuanced analysis of the relationship between Cuba and the United States during this period. This dissertation also argues that efforts to modernize Cuban public health were in fact the result of bilateral cooperation between Cubans and the United States. This study evaluates efforts made by scientists, researchers, and professionals to expand educational programs, to implement public health structures, and to develop new techniques for treating disease. During its occupations of Cuba at the turn of the century, the United States advanced public health programs and infrastructure. This work was later continued under the Cuban Republic with the support of private US interests, the Rockefeller Foundation. This dissertation addresses a significant gap in existing research by providing a different lens with which to view public health modernization in Cuba. Despite the past and ongoing presence of United States government interests in Cuba, the Rockefeller Foundation only pursued projects in Cuba after obtaining permission by the Cuban government. In one instance, Cuban physicians persistently requested for the involvement of the Foundation to forward their own aims. Both the Foundation and the Cuban government were interested in adopting successful programs established elsewhere and in using scientific findings from surrounding regions to advance research in Cuba. Instability in the newly formed Cuban Republic undermined these projects and prevented them from achieving their primary aims. Although these public health modernization plans made strong gains in some areas, at times they fell short in their primary agendas.

Resumo: A presente pesquisa apresenta os resultados acerca da investigação sobre O Jogo na Perspectiva da Teoria Histórico-Cultural na Educação Infantil de Cuba. Vincula-se à Linha de Pesquisa "Práticas Educativas e Formação de Professores" e teve origem no conhecimento empírico de que os docentes brasileiros, em geral, parecem apresentar dificuldades de conceber o jogo e a brincadeira como atividade principal da criança, capaz de promover desenvolvimento das capacidades superiores de pensamento; na inquietação provocada pela utilização de jogos, pelas Instituições de Educação Infantil do Brasil, como meio didático para ensino de conteúdos específicos, o que reduz o ato de brincar a um fim utilitarista; e no modo como o Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil (BRASIL, 1998) concebe o brincar. Optou-se pela análise do Sistema Nacional de Educação de Cuba, enfatizando o subsistema da educação Pré-escolar. O objeto do trabalho se constituiu no estudo do jogo relacionado à criança pequena, no contexto da Educação Infantil em Cuba, iluminado pela Teoria Histórico-Cultural de Vygotsky e seguidores, com base nos seguintes pressupostos: o conceito de jogo (principalmente o de papéis) como atividade principal, os conceitos de mediação, de zona de desenvolvimento proximal e de atividade principal. A investigação ocorreu com base na análise dos Documentos Normativos para a Educação Infantil de Cuba, a partir dos objetivos: caracterização do contexto sociocultural de Cuba; mapeamento da situação escolar no país, com ênfase na educação pré-escolar, e análise do currículo dos programas destinados a essa faixa ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: The present work presents the findings of the research on "The role of playing from the historic-cultural theory perspective in Pre-school Education in Cuba". It has been linked to the issue of "Educational Practice and Formation of Teachers" and it has also been originated from the empirical knowledge that Brazilian teachers in general seem to show some difficulties to consider playing and games as the main activity of children, which favors the development of advanced capabilities of thinking. It was also based on the interest of studying the use of games in institutions of Pre-school Education in Brazil as a didactic means for teaching specific contents that reduces the fact of playing to a utilitarian aim. The way the National Curricular Referential for the Pre-school Education (BRASIL, 1998) conceives playing has been considered as well. The analysis of the National System of Education in Cuba has been chosen and the emphasis is on Pre-school Education. The object of study was shaped by studying playing in relation to small children within the context of Pre-school Education in Cuba, seen from the historic-cultural perspective of Vygotsky and followers. It has its bases on the following assumptions: the concept of playing (mainly playing roles) as the main activity, concepts of mediation, concepts of zone of proximal development and that of main activity. The research was done by analysing the Documentos Normativos for Preschool Education in Cuba with two objectives: caracterization of the socio-cultural context of Cuba and the mapping of the school situation in the country ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
Orientador: José Milton de Lima
Coorientador: Gilza Maria Zauhy Garms
Banca: Zilma de Moraes Ramos de Oliveira
Banca: Laura Marisa Carnielo Calejon
Mestre

Architecture in its primitive form enacted a relationship of making between intentions and outcome. Post- industrialized modernization has created a multiplication of complexities, resulting in a profession that has disengaged theory and practice through the specialization of the architect and the craftsman. Design-build has the ability to be an educational process that re-engages a direct dialog and collaboration of the roles of designer and maker, reinforcing the resilience of culture and place through joining intentions and built reality. Design-build projects have the ability to be an integral part of design education because of their ability to engage in physical manifestation that is fundamentally different than formal education of designing through drawing or design at a distance. Exploring the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center's Design-Build ethos as a primary case study, I intend to support this claim by providing evidence of how a Design-Build process can engage the designer, tools, methods, and materials, with the cultural, social, and environmental context that is sensible to place. By utilizing creativity and ingenuity of available resources as an opportunity for adaptation, an organic sense of place is perceptible, the place is created. Representation beyond drawing encourages one to be proactive in connecting the qualities and characteristics of existing space; this leads to a sustainable practice of continued investment in object, materiality, time, and place. Hybrid approaches to design, or the assembly of both design and building as an academic practice, are no longer insular, but are encouraged as a way to interrelate and connect the built environment with its unbuilt opportunities and impressions.
Master of Architecture

By learning and developing continuously in practice, many teachers are trying to improve their teaching. In order to support this process, schools promote models of professional development (PD). Previous studies point out the educational system of Cuba as especially successful in the PD of their teachers. To understand why their model is successful, the author of this study visited and participated in the field for three months observing and speaking with Cuban teachers. What is their model of PD and what are its opportunities and constraints? The study was conducted with an ethnographic approach, with field visits at foreign language departments of a university and an upper secondary school. Observations of different activities were made. Interviews and conversations took place with actors in the field. Much PD appeared to originate from collaboration, so this became the focus of the study. Wenger’s concept of learning in communities of practice formed a theoretical basis. To understand aspects of collaborative learning, Engeström’s theory of learning by expanding was also applied. The PD model is regulated and controlled from a top-down perspective, but at the same time ensures much time and space for continuous learning together in communities and gives teachers a meta-language to talk about development. Much learning in the communities is based on less experienced teachers learning from more experienced or from methodologists. These teacher communities may be interpreted as professional learning autonomies where individual and collective change and creativity is seen, sometimes even in conflict with other ideas in the educational system. This study also indicates that teacher PD is very intertwined in a context with a fine balance between opportunities and constraints. This high level of complexity implies that selecting and transferring separate success factors into other contexts may be difficult.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-05-14T13:58:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 María Julieta Abba_.pdf: 3862112 bytes, checksum: a313c0629e62dc9eb23f302af2fcaa89 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-14T13:58:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 María Julieta Abba_.pdf: 3862112 bytes, checksum: a313c0629e62dc9eb23f302af2fcaa89 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-26
CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
No atual contexto de internacionalização da educação superior na América Latina, este trabalho investiga os limites que enfrentam e as potencialidades que apresentam os estudos de caso da Universidade Federal para a Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA-Brasil), e a Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM-Cuba), para se desenvolver como experiências de universidades e de internacionalização necessária. Desta forma, se realiza um estudo qualitativo, de tipo descritivo e exploratório, que se fundamenta mediante um enfoque histórico, estrutural e dialético. Utilizaram-se diversas fontes de dados como entrevistas semi-estruturadas, questionários, observações registradas no caderno de campo e um registro fotográfico; enquanto as técnicas escolhidas para a análise das informações foram a triangulação de dados e a análise documental. Na dimensão teórica, a pesquisa se sustenta em autores clássicos e contemporâneos que colaboram para o estudo da identidade e do pensamento latino-americano, assim como da universidade e da internacionalização da educação superior como elementos que envolvem forças em constante tensão. A este respeito, se utiliza a antinomia construída por Darcy Ribeiro sobre a universidade questionada e a universidade necessária, para problematizar a abordagem das principais temáticas deste trabalho. As categorias de análise se construíram a partir destes aportes teóricos, contemplando três categorias em cada modelo de universidade. Na universidade questionada: 1) Dependência, 2) Exclusão, e 3) Relação inorgânica entre universidade-sociedade; e na universidade necessária: 1) Autonomia, 2) Diálogo intercultural crítico e transversal, e 3) Relação orgânica entre universidade-sociedade. Após a implementação dos instrumentos de coleta de dados, desenvolvida no campo empírico, se efetuou a matriz de análises, organizada por eixos que incluíam uma relação de tensão entre diversas categorias dos dois modelos de universidade, assim como por dimensões, construídas a partir dos atores da investigação: gestores, docentes e estudantes/graduados. A triangulação de dados permitiu constatar que as experiências da UNILA e da ELAM apresentam semelhanças enquanto aos limites e potencialidades significativas para desenvolver-se como experiências de universidades e de internacionalização necessária. Entre os limites pode-se destacar a vulnerabilidade às mudanças de contexto econômico-político nacional, regional e internacional, o qual trouxe consigo um segundo limite que foi a modificação do projeto institucional que deu origem a ambas universidades. As potencialidade encontradas foram a promoção da integração regional; a preocupação pela formação de pensamento crítico; o ambiente de interculturalidade e diversidade; o enriquecimento pessoal e acadêmico a partir do intercâmbio com diferentes culturas; a formação através de valores como a solidariedade e o humanismo; e a resistência frente aos embates e mudanças políticas-econômicas em diferentes níveis. Considera-se que os limites e as potencialidades encontradas na UNILA e na ELAM convivem sob uma relação de tensão desde o interior de cada uma delas, sendo estas disputas um motor essencial para conseguir viabilizar esta concepção de outra internacionalização: a necessária.
Within the current context of internationalization of higher education in Latin America, this work investigates the potentialities and the limits encountered in the case study approach of the Universidade Federal para a Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA-Brasil) and the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM-Cuba), to develop themselves as needed experiences of universities and internationalization in higher education. Thus, it is realized a qualitative study of descriptive and exploratory type, which is based through a historical, structural and dialectical approach. It was used diverse data sources as semi structured interviews, questionnaires, observations registered in the fieldnotes and photographic register; whilst the techniques chosen to analyze this data were the data triangulation and documental analysis. In the theoretical dimension, this research is based in classic and contemporary authors which collaborate to the studies of the identity and the Latin American thinking, as well as the university and the internationalization of higher education as elements which implicate constant straining forces. Thereupon, it was used the clash between two ideas designed by Darcy Ribeiro about the questioned university and the needed university, to problematize the approach of the dominant themes of this work. The analyzed categories were built from those theoretical contribution, contemplating tree categories in each university model. In the questioned university: 1) Dependency, 2) Exclusion, and 3) Inorganic relation between university – society; and in the needed university: 1) Autonomy, 2) Critic intercultural and transversal dialogue, and 3) Organic relation between university-society. After the implementation of the data collecting instruments, developed in the empirical field, the analyses were performed, it was organized in axes which included a strained relation between various categories of the two models of university, within some dimensions built from the investigated actors such as: managers, professors and students/alumni. The data triangulation allowed to verify that the experiences of UNILA and ELAM show significative resemblance concerning the limits and potentialities of those two universities to develop themselves in experiences of university and internationalization needed. Among the limits stands out the vulnerability to changes in the economical – political and national context, which brought forward a second limit which was the modification of the institutional project the very one which gave origin to both universities. The potentialities found were the promotion of regional integration; the concern for formation of a critical thinking; the intercultural and diverse environment; the personal and academic enrichment from the perspective of interchange with diverse cultures; the formation through values such as solidarity and humanism; and the resistance in face of blows and political – economical changes at distinct levels. It is considered that the limits and potentialities found at UNILA and ELAM live together under a strain relation in the indwelling of each one of them, being these quarrels the essential engine to get to make feasible this conception of other internationalization: the needed one.
En el actual contexto de internacionalización de la educación superior en América Latina, este trabajo investiga los límites que enfrentan y las potencialidades que presentan los estudios de caso de la Universidade Federal para a Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA-Brasil), y la Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (ELAM-Cuba), para desarrollarse como experiencias de universidades y de internacionalización necesaria. Para ello, se lleva a cabo un estudio cualitativo, de tipo descriptivo y exploratorio, que se fundamenta mediante un enfoque histórico, estructural y dialéctico. Se utilizaron diversas fuentes de datos como entrevistas semi-estructuradas, cuestionarios, observaciones registradas en cuaderno de campo y un registro fotográfico; mientras que las técnicas escogidas para el análisis de las informaciones fueron la triangulación de datos y el análisis documental. En la dimensión teórica, la investigación se sustenta en autores clásicos y contemporáneos que colaboran para el estudio de la identidad y del pensamiento latinoamericano, así como de la universidad y de la internacionalización de la educación superior como elementos que involucran fuerzas en constante tensión. Al respecto, se utiliza la antinomia construida por Darcy Ribeiro sobre la universidad cuestionada y la universidad necesaria, para problematizar el abordaje de las principales temáticas de este trabajo. Las categorías de análisis se construyeron a partir de estos aportes teóricos, contemplando tres categorías en cada modelo de universidad. En la universidad cuestionada: 1) Dependencia, 2) Exclusión, y 3) Relación inorgánica entre universidad-sociedad; y en la universidad necesaria: 1) Autonomía, 2) Dialogo intercultural crítico y transversal, y 3) Relación orgánica entre universidad-sociedad. Luego de la implementación de los instrumentos de recolección de datos, desarrollada en el campo empírico, se efectuó la matriz de análisis, organizada por ejes que incluían una relación de tensión entre diversas categorías de los dos modelos de universidad, así como por dimensiones, construidas a partir de los actores de la investigación: gestores, docentes y estudiantes/graduados. La triangulación de datos permitió constatar que las experiencias de UNILA y la ELAM presentan similitudes en cuanto a los límites y potencialidades significativas para desarrollarse como experiencias de universidades y de internacionalización necesaria. Entre los límites se puede destacar la vulnerabilidad a los cambios del contexto económico-político nacional, regional e internacional, lo cual trajo aparejado un segundo límite que fue la modificación del proyecto institucional que dio origen a ambas universidades. Las potencialidades encontradas fueron la promoción de la integración regional; la preocupación por la formación de pensamiento crítico; el ambiente de interculturalidad y diversidad; el enriquecimiento personal y académico a partir del intercambio con diferentes culturas; la formación a través de valores como la solidaridad y el humanismo; y la resistencia frente a los embates y cambios políticos-económicos en diferentes niveles. Se considera que los límites y potencialidades encontrados en la UNILA y la ELAM conviven bajo una relación de tensión hacia el interior de cada una de ellas, siendo estas disputas un motor esencial para conseguir viabilizar esa concepción de otra universidad y de otra internacionalización: la necesaria.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
In 1959 the popular Revolution of national liberation and independence triumphed in Cuba, extended a few years later into a Marxist-Leninist strategy for building socialism and communism on the island. In this radical social and political context, conditions were ripe for a radical alternative approach to secondary school education. This research confirms and extends existing evidence and analyses, showing that the model of secondary schooling established in revolutionary Cuba shared fundamental aspects of dominant models throughout the world. In particular, Cuba’s revolutionary schools are shown to have adopted a similar approach to mass education, as an investment in human capital and citizen formation. In the analysis of this historical phenomenon, a world-systems geocultural approach is used to describe and explain the non-exceptional form and character of Cuba’s secondary schools. The approach synthesises world-system level economic and cultural aspects, within the concept of a world-systems ‘geoculture’ of development, describing how these interrelated influences historically conditioned secondary school education policy and practice in Cuba. This process is traced through the impact of the world-economy, and related world-systems geocultural assumptions and objectives, over the political economy of Cuba’s socialist project, with direct implications for secondary school education. The world-system level conditioning influence on school policy and practice is shown to have been mediated by the particular national conditions, such that features specific to Cuba’s secondary schools are identified within the broad framework and constraints of the world-system level influence. The world-systems geocultural approach provides a viable, historical account of secondary school policy and practice in revolutionary Cuba. General continuity is identified, in accordance with the broad, world-system level influence. The historical analysis demonstrates the need for a world-system level approach, and supports the need to include world economic and cultural factors, under the geocultural framework.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
In 1959 the popular Revolution of national liberation and independence triumphed in Cuba, extended a few years later into a Marxist-Leninist strategy for building socialism and communism on the island. In this radical social and political context, conditions were ripe for a radical alternative approach to secondary school education. This research confirms and extends existing evidence and analyses, showing that the model of secondary schooling established in revolutionary Cuba shared fundamental aspects of dominant models throughout the world. In particular, Cuba’s revolutionary schools are shown to have adopted a similar approach to mass education, as an investment in human capital and citizen formation. In the analysis of this historical phenomenon, a world-systems geocultural approach is used to describe and explain the non-exceptional form and character of Cuba’s secondary schools. The approach synthesises world-system level economic and cultural aspects, within the concept of a world-systems ‘geoculture’ of development, describing how these interrelated influences historically conditioned secondary school education policy and practice in Cuba. This process is traced through the impact of the world-economy, and related world-systems geocultural assumptions and objectives, over the political economy of Cuba’s socialist project, with direct implications for secondary school education. The world-system level conditioning influence on school policy and practice is shown to have been mediated by the particular national conditions, such that features specific to Cuba’s secondary schools are identified within the broad framework and constraints of the world-system level influence. The world-systems geocultural approach provides a viable, historical account of secondary school policy and practice in revolutionary Cuba. General continuity is identified, in accordance with the broad, world-system level influence. The historical analysis demonstrates the need for a world-system level approach, and supports the need to include world economic and cultural factors, under the geocultural framework.

This work brings an anti-colonial reading to the production and maintenance of racial logic in Cuban schooling, through conversations with, and surveys of Cuban teachers, as well as through analysis of secondary and primary documents. The study undertaken seeks to contribute to the limited existent research on race relations in Cuba, with a research focus on the Cuban educational context. Teasing and staking out a middle ground between the blinding and often hollow pro-Cuba fanaticism and the deafening anti -Cuban rhetoric from the left and right respectively, this project seeks a more nuanced, complete and dialogical understanding of race and race relations in Cuba, with a specific focus on the educational context. With this in mind, the learning objectives of this study are to investigate the following: 1) What role does racism play in Cuba currently and historically? 2) What is the role of education in the life of race and racism on the island? 3) What new questions and insights emerge from the Cuban example that might be of use to integrated anti-racism, anti-colonialism and class-oriented scholarship and activism? On a more specific level, the guiding research objectives of the study are to investigate the following: 1) How do teachers support and/or challenge dominant ideas of race and racism, and to what degree to do they construct their own meanings on these topics? 2) How do teachers understand the relevance of race and racism for teaching and learning? 3) How and why do teachers address race and racism in the classroom? The data reveal a complex process of meaning making by teachers who are at once produced by and producers of dominant race discourse on the island. Teachers are the front line race workers of the racial project, doing much of the heavy lifting in the ongoing struggle against racism, but are at the same time custodians of an approach to race relations which has on the whole failed to eliminate racism. This work investigates and explicates this apparent contradiction inherent in teachers’ work and discourse on the island, revealing a flawed and complex form of Cuban anti-racism.

This dissertation examines the manifestations of the development discourse in the context of a bilateral South-South program of educational assistance through scholarships provided by the Cuban government at the secondary and postsecondary levels to students from Ghana. The research assesses the meanings attached to this program on the basis of the observations, understandings and perceptions of a group of graduates, and of former administrators who were involved in the design, implementation and/or administration of the program. The study gives legitimacy to the perspectives of a distinct group of knowers in a country of the postcolonial Global South who were socialized into an educational model that differs from the educational context of their home country. The research aims to illuminate the links between the program graduates’ experiences with the Cuban program and their subsequent contributions to Ghanaian society, with particular emphasis on the process of their reintegration. Research questions focus on the study participants’ perceptions regarding the relevance of the Cuban education in regard to academic and practical preparation; the combination of liberal and utilitarian principles of education; access opportunities; and ways in which the Ghanaian government may have encouraged the graduates’ return to Ghana in the context of the global brain drain phenomenon. Upon their return to Ghana, the graduates encountered challenges with respect to cultural disorientation due to the partial adoption of Cuban norms and values. They experienced difficulties integrating into professional life based on a perceived lack of understanding of certain Cuban credentials among Ghanaian employers, and encountered discrimination based on their education in an Eastern Bloc country. Once they had overcome the initial challenges, the graduates felt that the technical and professional aspects of their education, in particular the strong applied focus of their study programs, were well aligned with the Ghanaian context. There was evidence that early recruitment at the secondary level and a defined recruitment strategy resulted in program participation across the 10 Regions of Ghana. A distinct subgroup of graduates currently residing in the Bahamas provided insights into the reasons for their non-return to Ghana or their decision to leave their home country again.

This thesis analyzes the Cuban medical adaptation in Venezuela called Misión Barrio Adentro (MBA) and seeks to answer the question of whether MBA shows promise as a health system that improves medical accessibility for impoverished and marginalized populations. In many cases MBA succeeds by: utilizing a free universal health care system; locating health centres in previously underserved areas; providing medical education scholarships to populations from non-traditional backgrounds; creating a catchment system based on medical accessibility; scaling up the medical workforce to 60,000 community doctors by 2019; and broadening the very praxis of what health means in a Latin American social medicine approach. However, some challenges remain including issues of corruption, fragmentation, and polarization. Issues regarding internal and external migration of Misión Sucre-trained physicians remain to be comprehensively evaluated. However, the capacitation of non-traditional medical personnel, imbued with conciencia, is significant and could well become an important example for other countries.

In October 1962, the world was brought to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. The Cuban Missile Crisis marked the closest the United States (US) and the Soviet Union came to military conflict that might have led to nuclear annihilation during the Cold War. This thesis investigates the Australian Government’s policy response to the crisis. In doing so, it makes an original contribution to Australian Cold War history and to the extensive literature on the crisis. The Australian Government’s policy response to the crisis is examined in the context of the Australia-US alliance. A diplomatic history, this thesis relies heavily on declassified government records from Australian and American archives. Additionally, oral history interview transcripts, audio-visual materials, Hansard, newspapers, and private collections, were consulted in order to reconstruct comprehensively Australia’s policy on this matter and the factors that shaped it. This thesis examines: Australia’s awareness of the Cuban situation; the Menzies Government’s policy on the crisis, specifically, factors it considered—and did not consider—in formulating its policy; and the Government’s immediate implementation of that policy, including the reactions of some sections of the Australian community to that policy. It demonstrates that despite limited advance notice and awareness of the Cuban situation, the Government swiftly declared support for the US in the crisis, specifically, its resolution to be presented to the United Nations Security Council. It reveals that certain politicians, diplomats, and public servants were concerned about: Australia’s obligations under the Australia New Zealand United States Security Treaty; the legality of the US response; the precedent set by the quarantine; the implications of US policy on the crisis regarding Australian nuclear ambitions; Australia maintaining its trade relationship with Cuba; and the repercussions the crisis could have on collective defence arrangements, which Australia relied on for its security. Despite these concerns and challenges, the Government considered the successful management of the US alliance paramount in formulating and implementing its policy on the crisis.

Thesis (P.U.D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2006.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 27, 2007) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Taylor, Henry L. Includes bibliographical references.

It is widely agreed within educational research that student attitudes to learning and schooling are of critical importance. However it continues to be rare for research to draw on the perspectives of students themselves as valid data. Moreover, students are almost entirely absent from educational policy-making and processes of educational reform. This project employed a collaborative social research methodology. It sought the perspectives of twenty Year 10 students in Melbourne's west, and twenty students of similar age in Havana, Cuba, using written cases and group interviews. The students offered their views on learning and schooling and then collaborated with the researcher to develop interpretative case summaries. The project demonstrates the usefulness of involving students actively in educational research not only from the perspective of improving student attitudes to learning, but also as a critical element of a democratic education capable of fostering an engaged and critical student population. Cuba was chosen as a contrasting context with extensive experience in involving students in educational decision-making. The comparison between the two countries revealed both shared experiences and a range of differences, and illuminated the importance of understanding broader contextual influences on student attitudes and their relationship to the possibilities for reform.

It is widely agreed within educational research that student attitudes to learning and schooling are of critical importance. However it continues to be rare for research to draw on the perspectives of students themselves as valid data. Moreover, students are almost entirely absent from educational policy-making and processes of educational reform. This project employed a collaborative social research methodology. It sought the perspectives of twenty Year 10 students in Melbourne's west, and twenty students of similar age in Havana, Cuba, using written cases and group interviews. The students offered their views on learning and schooling and then collaborated with the researcher to develop interpretative case summaries. The project demonstrates the usefulness of involving students actively in educational research not only from the perspective of improving student attitudes to learning, but also as a critical element of a democratic education capable of fostering an engaged and critical student population. Cuba was chosen as a contrasting context with extensive experience in involving students in educational decision-making. The comparison between the two countries revealed both shared experiences and a range of differences, and illuminated the importance of understanding broader contextual influences on student attitudes and their relationship to the possibilities for reform.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Cotidianamente los profesores se hacen esta pregunta: ¿cómo pueden relacionarse mis estudiantes con la lección? Saben que si los estudiantes pudieran acoplarse con el contenido de la lección, entenderían y aprenderían con gran eficacia. En la mayoría de los distritos escolares urbanos de Indianapolis, Estados Unidos hay muchos estudiantes afroamericanos que están en clases de lengua extranjera que piensan que no existen atributos de conexión --como tradiciones y costumbres-- que tienen aspectos en común con sus propias culturas. Por otro lado, hay estudiantes afrolatinos que son nativos de esas lenguas pero a quienes no se les expone a elementos que pertenecen a su cultura o herencia. Esta investigación se enfocará en cómo los profesores pueden utilizar la poesía para enseñar una lengua extranjera; específicamente, cómo se puede utilizar la poesía afrocubana para vincular la lección a los estudiantes minoritarios y su cultura.

Thesis M.F.A.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 10, 2007) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Elder, Sarah, Roussel, Roy. Includes bibliographical references.

Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
The adult literacy program Yo Sí Puedo has taught an estimated 5 million people, predominantly although not exclusively in the Global South, to read and write yet remarkably little has been written about these various campaigns. This research draws on the works of Paulo Freire to analyse both the seminal Cuban National Literacy Campaign of 1961 as a significant influence on YSP and the academic literature on contemporary YSP campaigns in 4 diverse settings, Bolivia, Timor Leste, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. A Freirean framework which highlights the inter-relationships between oppression, liberation and education; dialogical and problem posing education and a specific form of conscientization within social struggle is used to analyse the YSP campaigns and draw a number of conclusions regarding how YSP can be characterised in relation both to traditional models of functional literacy and its ability to contribute to a form of critical and transformative literacy. The unique and uneven contributions of the Cuban revolution to education and international solidarity are considered within the context of the development of ALBA as an alternate pole of international cooperation that potentially offers a path away from various economic and ecological crises.