A MEMETIC/PARTICIPATORY APPROACH FOR CHANGING SOCIAL BEHAVIORS AND PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP IN JALISCO, MEXICO

This dissertation addressed the issue of sustainable development at the level of individual behaviors. Environmental perceptions were obtained from people living around the biosphere reserve Chamela-Cuixmala in Jalisco, Mexico. Several environmental issues were identified by the people, such as garbage and grey water on the streets, burning plastics, and the lack of usage of recreational areas. All these issues could be addressed with a change in behavior by the villagers. Familiarization activities were conducted to gain people's trust in order to conduct a community forum. These activities included giving talks to school children and organizing workshops. Four different methodologies were generated using memetics and participation to test which would ameliorate those environmental issues identified by the people through a change in behavior. The methodologies were 1) Memes; 2) Participation and Memes; 3) Participation; 4) Neither Participation nor Memes. A meme is an idea expressed within a linguistic structure or architecture that provides it with self-disseminating and self-protecting characteristics within and among the minds of individuals congruent with their values, beliefs and filters. Four villages were chosen as the treatments, and one as the control, for a total of five experimental villages. A different behavior was addressed in each treatment village (garbage, grey-water, burning plastics, recreation.) A nonequivalent control-group design was established. A pretest was conducted in all five villages; the methodologies were tested in the four treatment villages; a posttest was conducted on the five villages. The pretest and posttest consisted in measuring sensory specific indicators which are manifestations of behavior that can either be seen, smelled, touched, heard or tasted. Statistically significant differences in behavior from the control were found for two of the methodologies 1) Memes (p=0.0403) and 2) Participation and Memes (p=0.0064). For the methodologies of 3) Participation alone and 4) Neither, the differences were not significant (p=0.8827, p=0.5627 respectively). When using memes, people's behavior improved when compared to the control. Participation alone did not generate a significant difference. Participation aided in the generation of the memes. Memetics is a tool that can be used to establish a linkage between human behavior and ecological health.

TRADITION AND INNOVATION: ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED COMPOSITIONS FOR VIOLONCELLO BY HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS

Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) began his musical career as a cellist. When he was only twelve years old, it became imperativeupon the sudden and untimely death of his fatherthat the young Villa-Lobos earn money as a cellist to provide financial support for his mother and sisters. Villa-Lobos's intimate relationship with the cello eventually inspired him to compose great music for this instrument. This dissertation explores both the diversity of compositional technique and the evolution of style found in the music for cello written by Villa-Lobos. The project consists of two recorded recital performances and a written document exploring and analyzing those pieces. In the study of the music of Villa-Lobos, it is of great interest to consider the music's traditional European elements in combination (or even juxtaposition) with its imaginative and sometimes wildly innovative Brazilian character. His early works were greatly influenced by European Romantic composers such as Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, and the virtuoso cellist/composer David Popper (whom Villa-Lobos idolized). Later, Villa-Lobos flourished in a newfound compositional independence and moved away from Euro-romanticism and toward the folk music of his Brazilian homeland. It is intriguing to experience this transition through an exploration of his cello compositions. The works examined and performed in this dissertation project are chosen from among the extensive number of Villa-Lobos's cello compositions and are his most important works for cello with piano, cello with another instrument, and cello with orchestra. The chosen works demonstrate the evolving range and combination of characteristic elements found in Villa-Lobos's compositional repertoire.