An Analysis of Repayment Among Clients of the Microfinance Institution Esperanza International, Dominican Republic

This research considers default among borrowers of Esperanza International, a microfinance institution in the Dominican Republic. Though Esperanza holds high repayment rates, it is of value to examine the 3 to 5 percent of clients that have not had success with the program. If success is defined as repayment and can be correlated with socioâ€economic characteristics, it may point towards the development of remedial programs and/or interventions. In coordination with organizational interests, this study examines 15,104 loans divided amongst 8,991 borrowers between April 2005 and October 2007. Default for each loan (defined as the failure to repay any quota for 120 days) is considered against gender, marital status, number of dependents, level of education, age, size of loan, type of microenterprise, and regional office. Results of a first linear regression indicate that regional office is most important among included variables. This is followed by education, gender, and marital status †with women, those with less education, and those classified as cohabitating defaulting less often. A second linear regression indicates that an alternate categorical division of microenterprise does not improve the variable’s significance. Two final regressions consider default separately among borrowers that were and were not identified as Dominicanâ€Haitian. These results showed that Dominicanâ€Haitians defaulted least often when widowed or married, and defaulted most often at the Santo Domingo office. Overall these results call for further investigation, particularly into dissimilarities among Esperanza’s various branches.Financial Economics,

Another One Bites the Dust!

The contemporary landscape is rife with ruins, from circumscribed tourist attractions to urban decay and demolition sites. When examined, our aesthetic experience of these sites ranges from historical distancing to the sublime and, when found in our local communities (e.g., Providence, RI), to discomfort, displacement, and horror. In particular, this paper is interested in how certain forms of demolition, from slow and messy to explosively dramatic, can be understood as compressed and heightened experiences of the traditional sublime ruin. Additionally, as contemporary artists often use the vernacular of the ruin in their work, this paper considers how three artists, Gordon Matta-Clark, Rachel Whiteread, and Robert Polidori, utilize established aesthetic categories of the ruin and destruction to create meaning and emotional power in their art

Reading Toni Morrison: Rethinking Race and Subjectivity with Giorgio Agamben and Joan Copjec

The school of thought articulated by critical theorists Giorgio Agamben and Joan Copjec differ from each other in methodology, approach, and language. Yet, both Agamben and Copjec each write to reject positivist notions of ethics, which each theorist identifies as rooted in the same ideological apparatuses that propagate exclusionary and violent actions. By turning away from pre-given ethics and ideology, these writers attempt to delineate why these philosophies have been the vehicle of violence and racial oppression, and reiterate the importance of turning away from such thought in order for the subject to conceptualize a new way of being and relating to others that combats dominant ideology. Agamben\u27s theoretical concept of homo sacer that lies at the center of his philosophical project, and Copjec\u27s Lacanian understanding of the subject as inherently ruptured, both delineate subjectivity, as well as the concepts of race and racism in novel ways. Using these theorists to read Morrison\u27s novels illustrates the critical concepts outlined by these two thinkers. In the first chapter of this thesis, I plan to outline Agamben\u27s notion of homo sacer, and Copjec\u27s theorizing of the subject as inherently ruptured. I employ Morrison\u27s piece of literary criticism, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, to demonstrate how Morrison\u27s literary and intellectual project as a writer also aims to refigure subjectivity, illustrating and expanding upon Agamben and Copjec\u27s work. In the second chapter, I will move on to discuss Agamben\u27s political philosophy and concept of homo sacer, analyzing Morrison\u27s novels, A Mercy, and Home to demonstrate how her work illustrates and expands upon Agamben\u27s analysis of biopolitics. Lastly, in the third chapter of this thesis, I place Morrison in dialogue with Copjec, demonstrating how Morrison\u27s characters illustrate the notion of a ruptured subject, and why it is important to read her work through this lens. I aim to demonstrate how Morrison\u27s characters expand upon the notions of race, femininity, and subjectivity as conceived by Copjec. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to delineate why it is beneficial to place these three writers in dialogue with one another to analyze notions of racial identity, subjectivity, violence, and trauma

Sistematización: actividades de aprendizaje y evaluación alternativa

Se presenta la experiencia de veinte asignaturas correspondientes a las cátedras de Informática Educativa y de Tecnologías Informáticas para la Educación, ambas de la carrera de Informática Educativa, en la implementación de actividades de aprendizaje y evaluación alternativa con apoyo de aplicaciones digitales. Dichas actividades se llevan a cabo desde el año 2016 y se continúan hasta la fecha. La experiencia refleja diferentes formas en que son solicitados los trabajos académicos a los estudiantes y se sugiere el modo de ser evaluados de forma alternativa. Dentro de los principales resultados se obtiene que los estudiantes se sienten más satisfechos con el desarrollo de proyectos y tareas que les exija tener interacción con el campo de estudio, y de actividades relacionadas con el contexto como visitas a centros educativos, además del uso de herramientas digitales y en contraposición, el instrumento con menor aceptación es la prueba escrita

La “propaganda” española en las monedas coloniales: el valor simbólico del real en Perú (1568 - 1570)

Indexación: Revista UNABResumen: Las primeras monedas acuñadas en Perú durante el siglo XVI, surgieron como un intento por regular las prácticas comerciales en el Virreinato. Sin embargo, estos Reales lograron escasa efectividad y circulación, cayendo en desuso en pocos años. No obstante, el tipo y el diseño de estas monedas, así como los esfuerzos por acuñarlas, dan cuenta de un propósito de las autoridades que trasciende el ámbito económico y que alcanza fines políticos. A partir de este supuesto, el presente artículo propone revisar la historia de las primeras acuñaciones monetarias en Perú, para realizar una lectura interpretativa de estos Reales, con el fin de hallar en sus símbolos la voluntad política imperial orientada al mundo colonial peruano de la época. Abstract The first coins minted in Peru during the 16th century, arose as an attempt for regulating the commercial practices in the Viceroyalty. Nevertheless, these Reales achieved little efficiency and traffic, falling into des-use after a few years. However, the type and the design of these coins, as well as the efforts undertaken for their coinage, show an intention of the authorities that surpasses the economic sphere reaching political purposes. The present article proposes to study the history of the first monetary coinages in Peru, in order to find in its symbols the imperial will of the colonial Peruvian world

Ecos de la "Eneida" en el anónimo poema "La Guerra de Chile"

The publication ofAlonso de Ercilla’s La Araucana in 1569, inspired the production of other epic poems that equally reported the conquest of Chile during the 16th century. Following the example of Ercilla, their authors appealed to the model of the classical tradition, across which the poets loaded of sense to the representation of the war that they reported. In this context, the present article seeks to approach one of these poems, entitled La Guerra de Chile (anonymous), to analyze the passages that evoke the model of the Aeneid. The influence of Virgil would confirm the force of his legacy in the letters of Chile. His presence not only would explain in reason of an imitative trend, but also as the result of a process of appropriation and production of sense for the representation ofArauco’s war on the part of the author of La Guerra de Chile.La publicación de La Araucana de Alonso de Ercilla en 1569 inspiró la producción de otros poemas épicos que igualmente relataron la conquista de Chile durante el siglo XVI. Siguiendo el ejemplo de Ercilla, sus autores recurrieron al modelo de la tradición épica clásica, a través del cual los poetas cargaron de sentido a la representación de la guerra que relataron. En este contexto, el objetivo del presente artículo consiste en abordar uno de estos poemas, titulado La Guerra de Chile (anónimo), para analizar los pasajes que evocan al modelo de la Eneida. La influencia de Virgilio confirmaría así la vigencia de su legado en las letras de Chile. Su presencia no sólo se explicaría en razón de una tendencia imitativa, sino también como el resultado de un proceso de apropiación y producción de sentido para la representación de la guerra de Arauco por parte del autor de La Guerra de Chile

Humanismo cívico y tradición clásica en los albores republicanos de Chile

The first decades of the 19th century constituted a period of profound change for Chile, the principal results of which were to be seen in the consolidation of the process of independence from Spanish dominion in 1818. The consequences were not limited to a revolution of military and political nature; they also included a renovation of the cultural panorama -at least among the educated patriots who made an effort to distance themselves ideologically from the Monarchy-, with the implicit challenge of establishing a new order for Chile, based on legitimate and universally recognizable foundations. The inspirational framework for these efforts is usually associated with other revolutionary examples -France and the United States- that preceded the emancipation processes in Spanish America, as well as with the discourses of illustrated liberalism. As we will attempt to demonstrate in this study, a new reading of the texts written by the Creoles that lead the Chilean independence process may, nonetheless, also reveal the relevance of the classical tradition as a model for the configuration and legitimization of the first Republican projects that especially admired the ideals of Republicanism.Las primeras décadas del siglo XIX constituyeron para Chile un periodo de cambios profundos, cuyo principal resultado se visibilizó en el proceso y consolidación de su independencia frente a la tutela española en 1818. Sus alcances no sólo supusieron una revolución desde una perspectiva militar o política, sino también una renovación del horizonte cultural, al menos por parte de la comunidad de patriotas letrados, en un esfuerzo por distanciarse ideológicamente de la monarquía, con el desafío implícito de fundar sobre bases legítimas y universalmente reconocibles un nuevo orden para Chile. La matriz de inspiración de tales esfuerzos suele asociarse a los ejemplos revolucionarios –francés y norteamericanoque precedieron al proceso de emancipación en Hispanoamérica, así como a los modelos discursivos del liberalismo ilustrado. Sin embargo, una nueva lectura de los textos escritos por los criollos que lideraron el proceso independentista de Chile, puede develar igualmente la relevancia de la tradición clásica como modelo para la configuración y legitimación de los primeros proyectos republicanos, admiradores especialmente de los ideales del republicanismo, tal como intentaremos demostrar en el presente estudio

The classical tradition in Las guerras de Chile

Indexación: ScieloRESUMEN El poema épico Las guerras de Chile ha sido poco estudiado y por lo general se le ha abordado como testimonio histórico de la Guerra de Arauco. Sin embargo, posee también un valor literario y cultural, debido a la influencia de la tradición clásica sobre él, lo que hasta ahora no ha sido analizado. En este artículo se propone la lectura de un pasaje del poema a la luz de algunos tópicos de la tradición épica clásica, con el fin de revalorizar la obra como testimonio no sólo de hechos históricos, sino también de la perspectiva cultural con que se los representó. Palabras clave: Las guerras de Chile, poesía épica, tradición clásica, tópicos épicos. ABSTRACT Las guerras de Chile is an epic poem that has been studied -in general- only as an his-torical testimony of the Arauco War. Nevertheless, due to its being influenced by the classical tradition, this poem also has a literary and cultural value which has not been analyzed. The aim of this paper is to read a passage of the poem focusing on some topics of the epic tradition in order to consider these verses not only as a testimony of historical facts, but also to value the cultural perspective in which those facts are represented. Keywords: Las guerras de Chile, epic poetry, classical tradition, epic topics

How high is too high? Soaring Interest Rates and the Elasticity of Demand for Microcredit

How high is too high? Soaring Interest Rates and the Elasticity of Demand for MicrocreditFinancial Economics,