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The politics of contemporary Cuban rap
Full text linkIn this paper, I examine the political, social and cultural significance of Cuban rap through the analysis of selected rap lyrics and I analyze the discourses pertaining to this music. A discourse analysis of independent Cuban rap music excerpts is the primary method. In the Cuban context, there are rappers that are state-sponsored, meaning they are affiliated with and supported by state institutions that provide them with a government salary and resources to record, promote, and perform. On the other hand, there are independent rappers that do not receive state sponsorship and often experience a drastically different reality in trying to obtain resources, record, and perform. It is significantly more difficult and they sometimes record in homemade studios and operate through the black market. In particular, I focus on a few of the states strategies utilized to diminish the value of the lyrics and protests expressed by rappers in their songs, including: censorship; favoritism towards non-political performers; police harassment and closure of performances delivered by critical rappers; the role of the state in the development and promotion of rap; and the tension between the state and independent rappers. I analyze the texts of two raps: Mandamos a Parar/We Demand That it Stop by Los Aldeanos and Se Acab el Abuso (No Somos Iguales)/ The Abuse is Over (We Are Not Equal) by Las Krudas.1 These songs critique the sociopolitical condition of Cuba and challenge the states power. The central question of this investigation explores freedom of expression in the production of contemporary Cuban rap. The development of Cuban rap and the messages of contemporary Cuban rappers uniquely reflects the dynamic between Cuban citizens, specifically marginalized citizens (e.g., the poor, blacks and mulattos, urban populations and those displaced by the expansion of the tourism industry, women, the LGBTQ community), and the state regarding freedom of expression. This also questions the role of the government and its success or failure at achieving some of the goals of the Cuban Revolution, specifically, the goal to create a more egalitarian society, free of racial and gender-based discrimination. These selected rappers offer a different, more comprehensive perspective from several scholars that have researched this topic thus far. The voices of independent rappers themselves are crucial to understanding the potential for protest music, such as rap, as a narrative for shaping the values of Cuban people today and in the not too distant future. Hence, this investigation contributes to understanding contemporary Cuban society through the analysis of its rap music in relation to the state
The effects of developmental task achievement on selected aspects of the college experience of Black freshman college women, 1984
Full text linkPurpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the developmental status of a selected group of Black freshman college women; and to determine if there was a relation ship between their developmental status and their academic performance, interpersonal fuctioning and curriculum adj ustment. Hypotheses: In this study nine hypotheses were tested. Hypotheses one and two were tested, using the Fisher ttest for uncorrelated samples to determine the influence of the awareness of developmental status on academic performance and interpersonal functioning. Hypotheses three, four and five were tested using the Pearson product moment co efficient of correlation to determine the degree of relationship between autonomydevelopmental status and academic performance. The Pearson r was used to test hypctheses six, seven and eight, to determine the degree of relationship between autonomydevelopmental status, interpersonal relationshipsdevelopmental status and inter personal functioning. The Chi-square test of significance and the Fisher exact probability test were used in testing hypothesis nine to determine the influence of the awareness of developmental status upon curriculum adjustment. The .05 level of significance was the criterion for acceptance of each null hypothesis. Procedure: One hundred and sixteen Black female freshman college students were the participants in this study. There were fifty-three subjects in the experimental group and sixty-three subjects in the control group. A strati fied random sample of 150 students was selected from the 1982-83 entering freshman class in a predominantly Black southern liberal arts college for women. Due to lack of availability of data, thirty-four of these students had to be eliminated. Pre- and post-investigation data were collected from the experimental and the control groups. These con sisted of developmental status scores from the Student Developmental Task Inventory; inventoried vocational interests from the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory; intended curriculum (major) and vocational choice from the American Council on Education Questionnaire and the New Student Slip; interpersonal functioning scores from the Attitude Questionnaire on Interpersonal Relationships; age, SAT or ACT scores, grade point averages, second semester majors, and activities in which each subject participated from college records. Early in the spring semester, the Student Developmental Task Inventory results were interpreted to the subjects in the experimental group in small groups as the treatment for this study by five trained graduate assistants who served as counselors. Conclusions: Conclusions drawn from the findings of this study were as follows: 1. Freshman college females who are aware of their developmental status are very likely to function interpersonally at a higher level than those who are not aware. This awareness, however, is not likely to be reflected in their academic performance. 2. Neither autonomy, purpose nor inter personal relationships-developmental status were predictors of academic performance. 3. There was a significant relationship between autonomy, purpose and interpersonal relationships-developmental status and interpersonal functioning for the control group subjects but only interpersonal relatioships-developmental status was significantly related to interpersonal functioning for the experimental group subj ects. 4. Neither the frequency nor the direction of curricular adjustment was significantly influenced by awareness of developmental status of the freshman college females in this study. 5. Of the variables considered in this study relative to the student profile, only combined SAT scores demonstrated the potential to be used as a predictor of academic performance
An analysis of the debate over the control of the spread of HIV infection and AIDS, 1988
Full text linkRNA-Seq Analysis of the Effect of Kanamycin and the ABC Transporter AtWBC19 on Arabidopsis thaliana Seedlings Reveals Changes in Metal Content
Full text linkPlants are exposed to antibiotics produced by soil microorganisms, but little is known about their responses at the transcriptional level. Likewise, few endogenous mechanisms of antibiotic resistance have been reported. The Arabidopsis thaliana ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporter AtWBC19 (ABCG19) is known to confer kanamycin resistance, but the exact mechanism of resistance is not well understood. Here we examined the transcriptomes of control seedlings and wbc19 mutant seedlings using RNA-seq analysis. Exposure to kanamycin indicated changes in the organization of the photosynthetic apparatus, metabolic fluxes and metal uptake. Elemental analysis showed a 60% and 80% reduction of iron uptake in control and wbc19 mutant seedlings respectively, upon exposure to kanamycin. The drop in iron content was accompanied by the upregulation of the gene encoding for FERRIC REDUCTION OXIDASE 6 (FRO6) in mutant seedlings but not by the differential expression of other transport genes known to be induced by iron deficiency. In addition, wbc19 mutants displayed a distinct expression profile in the absence of kanamycin. Most notably the expression of several zinc ion binding proteins, including ZINC TRANSPORTER 1 PRECURSOR (ZIP1) was increased, suggesting abnormal zinc uptake. Elemental analysis confirmed a 50% decrease of zinc content in wbc19 mutants. Thus, the antibiotic resistance gene WBC19 appears to also have a role in zinc uptake. KEYWORDS: Zinc, Seedlings, Iron, Photosynthesis, Antibiotic Resistance, Homeostasis, Iron Deficiency, Coppe
