Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 A Language in Transition: The Creation of Identity and Culture in the Poetics of Hip Hop Alejandro L. Nodarse Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact
[email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES A LANGUAGE IN TRANSITION: THE CREATION OF IDENTITY AND CULTURE IN THE POETICS OF HIP HOP By ALEJANDRO L. NODARSE A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2006 The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Alejandro L. Nodarse defended on Monday, October 2, 2006. Andrew Epstein Professor Directing Thesis Amit Rai Committee Member Christopher Shinn Committee Member Approved: Kathleen Yancey, Interim Chair, Department of English The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii Para mamá y papá, Who not only gave me my life, but theirs as well. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the Almighty for his countless blessings. I would like to thank the members of my Thesis Committee, Andrew Epstein, Amit Rai, and Christopher Shinn, for all of their patience, support, guidance, interest, and advice during this process. I thank my parents, Fabio Nodarse and Dr. Maria Margarita Nodarse, my sister Victoria, my girlfriend Jeannine Nordelo, my grandparents, Ignacio Pérez, Zaida Pérez, and Marta Nodarse, my cousins Sergio Pérez, Gilbert Pérez, and Cris Pérez, my homeboy Willy Rodriguez, my friend Niles, The SouthSide (Daniel, Ryan, Dexter), and the Members of the Board (Chris, Jason, Chi, Lou, Rod) for their support as I completed this project.