Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Modern Foreign Languages

Major Professor

Rudyard J. Alcocer

Committee Members

Luis C. Cano, Solange Muñoz, Beau Gaitors

Abstract

The Garifuna people, an Afro-Indigenous community with deep roots along the Central American Caribbean coast, have historically faced marginalization, forced displacement, and territorial dispossession. Since their arrival to Central America in the late 18th century, the Garifuna have endured political exclusion, racialized policies, and the erosion of their land and cultural rights. These historical injustices persist today, intensified by environmental degradation, extractive development, and rising migratory pressures. In addition, contemporary forces such as tourism and capitalist expansion often appropriate Garifuna territories and traditions, threatening the continuity of their identity. In the face of these enduring and evolving threats, various cultural productions, including poetry, oral narratives, performance, and film, have emerged as powerful tools of resistance, cultural affirmation, and memory preservation. Rather than portraying culture as static, these works reveal dynamic, situated responses to historical and contemporary challenges, particularly around language loss, displacement, and ecological violence.

The dissertation is organized into three chapters. The first explores how historical and contemporary narratives reflect economic exploitation and cultural displacement. The second focuses on dance and performance as embodied forms of memory and continuity. The third chapter turns to cinema as a space of community empowerment and cultural pedagogy, highlighting the role of women and language in the defense of territory and tradition.

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