forum latin american studies...

Latin American Studies Association

I N T H I S I S S U E

On the Profession

Transnational Dialogues on Globalization and the Intersections ofLatina/o-Chicana/o-Latin American(s) Studiesby JUAN POBLETE

DebatesTheorizing Contemporary Latin American Social Struggles

Evo Morales en el contexto de los másrecientes movimientos socialesby GUILLERMO DELGADO-P.

Mass Mobilization and Presidential Removal in Ecuador entre la ira y la esperanzaby AMALIA PALLARES

In the Streets or in the Institutions?by JEFFREY W. RUBIN

Civil Society and State-Building in Latin Americaby MARGARET E. KECK

and REBECCA NEAERA ABERS

Las nuevas dinámicas feministas en el nuevo milenioby VIRGINIA VARGAS

Zapatista Movement Networks Respond to Globalizationby XOCHITL LEYVA-SOLANO

forumW I N T E R 2006 | V O L U M E X X X V I I | I S S U E 1

1 Miguel León Portilla | Recipient of Silvert Award for 2006

5 From the President | by SONIA E. ALVAREZ

7 From the Associate Editor | by ARTURO ARIAS

9 Transnational Dialogues on Globalization and the Intersections of Latina/o-Chicana/o-Latin American(s) Studies | by JUAN POBLETE

10 América Latina como unidad analítica: del desarrollo a la globalizaciónby MANUEL ANTONIO GARRETÓN M.

10 Some Thoughts on Concepts to Cut Across Latino/Latin American/Chicano Studies | by LYNN STEPHEN

13 Some Thoughts on Migration Studies and the Latin American Exodoby MARCELO SUÁREZ-OROZCO

14 Globalización, fronteras y procesos transnacionalesby JOSÉ MANUEL VALENZUELA ARCE

15 Linking Cultural Citizenship and Transnationalism to the Movement for an Equitable Global Economy | by GEORGE YÚDICE

18 Evo Morales en el contexto de los más recientes movimientos socialesby GUILLERMO DELGADO-P.

22 Mass Mobilization and Presidential Removal in Ecuador: entre la ira y la esperanzaby AMALIA PALLARES

26 In the Streets or in the Institutions? | by JEFFREY W. RUBIN

30 Civil Society and State-Building in Latin Americaby MARGARET E. KECK and REBECCA NEAERA ABERS

33 Las nuevas dinámicas feministas en el nuevo milenio | by VIRGINIA VARGAS

37 Zapatista Movement Networks Respond to Globalizationby XOCHITL LEYVA-SOLANO

40 From the Program Co-chairs | by FRANCES R. APARICIO AND AMALIA PALLARES

42 Bienvenida a los visitantes de LASA | by LCDO. RAFAEL TORRES TORRES

43 LASA Voluntary Support | by SANDY KLINZING

Table of Contents

President Sonia E. Alvarez, University of Massachusetts, [email protected]

Vice PresidentCharles R. Hale, University of Texas, [email protected]

Past PresidentMarysa Navarro, Dartmouth [email protected]

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

For term ending April 2006Merilee Grindle, Harvard UniversityJoanne Rappaport, Georgetown UniversityGeorge Yúdice, New York University

For term ending October 2007José Antonio Aguilar Rivera, Centro de Docencia eInvestigación Económica

Elizabeth Jelin, Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas

Lynn Stephen, University of Oregon

Ex OfficioFrances Aparicio, University of Illinois-ChicagoAmalia PallaresMilagros Pereyra-Rojas, University of PittsburghPeter Ward, University of Texas, Austin

FORUM EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

EditorSonia E. Alvarez, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Associate EditorArturo Arias, University of Redlands

Managing EditorMilagros Pereyra-Rojas, University of Pittsburgh

LASA STAFF

Executive DirectorMilagros Pereyra-Rojas, University of Pittsburgh

Assistant Director for Institutional AdvancementSandra Klinzing, University of Pittsburgh

Membership CoordinatorKate Foster, University of Pittsburgh

Congress CoordinatorMaría Cecilia Q. Dancisin, University of Pittsburgh

Administrative AssistantSandra Wiegand, University of Pittsburgh

The LASA Forum is published four times a year. It is the official vehicle for conveying news about the LatinAmerican Studies Association to its members. Articlesappearing in the On the Profession and Debates sections of the Forum are commissioned by the Editorial Committeeand deal with selected themes. The Committee welcomesresponses to any material published in the Forum.

Opinions expressed herein are those of individual authorsand do not necessarily reflect the view of the LatinAmerican Studies Association or its officers. Directsubscriptions to the LASA Forum only, without LASAmembership, are $50.00 per year.

ISSN 0890-7218

ON THE PROFESSION

DEBATES / Theorizing Contemporary Latin American Social Struggles

ON LASA2006

NEWS AND NOTES

Comenzaré diciendo que he dedicadomuchos años, cerca de cincuenta, a ladocencia y la investigación. Ello lo herealizado sobre todo en la UNAM. Enmenor proporción he laborado tambiénen otras instituciones de México y delextranjero. Entre ellas han estado elantiguo México City College, variasuniversidades como la Iberoamericana yotras de provincia. En el extranjero hedado cursos en universidades de losEstados Unidos, Canadá, América Latina,España, Francia, Alemania, Inglaterra,Noruega, República Checa, India, Japóne Israel. Creo haber contribuido a laformación de miles de jóvenes mexicanosy extranjeros, mujeres y hombres, muchosde los cuales hoy son maestros einvestigadores. Algunos han destacadonotablemente en sus trabajos comoAlfredo López Austin, Beatriz de laFuente, Mercedes de la Garza, XavierNoguez, Carmen Aguilera, GeorgesBaudot, Birgitta Leander, Jacqueline deDurand-Forest, Nahum Megged, PatrickJohansson, Pilar Máynez, Librado SilvaGaleana, Francisco Morales, José RubénRomero, Salvador Reyes Equigua, Víctorde la Cruz y otros más.

Mis cursos han versado principalmentesobre lengua y cultura nahuas e historiaantigua de México. He coordinadodurante casi cinco décadas el Seminariode Cultura Náhuatl que fundamos mimaestro, el doctor Angel María Garibay,y yo en la Facultad de Filosofía y Letrasde la UNAM. Y a propósito de maestrosdiré que Garibay me abrió el camino alrico caudal de documentos en náhuatl y ala lengua misma. Fue él un maestroexcepcional al que debo mucho de miformación. Me dirigió la tesis de

doctorado y luego trabajé con él cerca dequince años. Otro maestro, tambiénextraordinario, fue el doctor ManuelGamio, iniciador de la modernaantropología en México. Con él colaborévarios años en el Instituto IndigenistaInteramericano. De diversas formasfueron asimismo mis maestros el doctorJustino Fernández, que me inició en elconocimiento y apreciación del arteprehispánico, y don Eduardo Noguera,arqueólogo y máximo especialista en lacerámica mesoamericana. Tuve elprivilegio de acompañarlo en sus viajes amuchas zonas arqueológicas de México yde él escuché sabias lecciones.

Tal vez mi primer logro fue haberpreparado como tesis la que me atreví atitular Filosofía náhuatl estudiada en susfuentes. Ese trabajo, presentado en elexamen correspondiente en la Facultad deFilosofía y Letras de la UNAM en 1956,revisado, lo publicó el Instituto deInvestigaciones Históricas de la UNAMen 1959. Allí empecé a laborar desde1957. Recuerdo que haber expresadoque los nahuas habían desarrollado unpensamiento filosófico pareció a algunosuna locura.

Creo, sin embargo, que preparé ese librocon mucho cuidado acudiendo a fuentesprimarias—códices y textos en náhuatl dela tradición indígena, poemas y discursos,huehuehtlahtolli—haciendo análisis yvaloración de los mismos. Este trabajo, apesar de esas tempranas reaccionesdesfavorables, ha tenido significaciónperdurable. Citado en innumerablesobras, ha sido reeditado y ampliado endiez ocasiones y traducido al inglés, ruso,alemán, francés y checo. Atendiendo hoy

a su contenido puedo afirmar quecontinúo estando de acuerdo con lamayor parte de lo que en él presenté.

Los temas tratados en dicho libro son elplanteamiento de problemas tales como laposibilidad de decir palabras verdaderas,el conocimiento acerca de una divinidadsuprema, la persona humana, laposibilidad de un libre albedrío, el másallá, los fundamentos de la ética y elderecho. Posteriormente, en ulterioresediciones, atendí a la evolución delpensamiento náhuatl e hice unavaloración crítica acerca de la posibilidadde ahondar en su conocimiento.

El mismo año de 1959 preparé y publiquéotra obra cuyo tema fue presentar elpunto de vista indígena acerca de laConquista de México. Para ello obtuvedel Dr. Garibay autorización de emplearalgunos textos traducidos por él delnáhuatl. Acudí también a otros textosque traduje yo y con esas fuentes organizéel libro que titulé Visión de los Vencidos,relaciones indígenas de la Conquista. Elconocido grabador y dibujante AlbertoBeltrán copió de varios códicesilustraciones que acompañaron al textodel libro. Este fue recibido con grandeinterés. Ha sido publicado en españolpor la UNAM en treinta ediciones ytambién, en castellano en España y Cuba.El libro ha sido objeto de traducciones aquince idiomas.

Mi actividad en el Instituto deInvestigaciones Históricas de la UNAMcambió en 1963. Fue entonces cuando seme eligió director de dicho Instituto.Acepté el cargo con cierto temor pues,aunque el Instituto tenía ya varios años

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Miguel León PortillaRecipient of Silvert Award for 2006

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

de fundado, carecía de una adecuadaestructura académica. De sus miembrospodía expresarse aquello que dice laBiblia: “No había jueces en Israel y cadaquien hacía lo que quería”. Dicho enotras palabras, no se presentabanprogramas de trabajo ni evaluaciones y enmuchos casos las ausencias eran casiconstantes. Considero que fue un logroorganizar al Instituto. Para lograrlo reunícon frecuencia al Colegio deInvestigadores. En él acordamosdistribuir a sus miembros en tresprincipales áreas de trabajo: historiaprehispánica, colonial, moderna ycontemporánea de México. Propuse lafundación de tres revistas que hasta hoycontinúan publicándose: Estudios deCultura Náhuatl con 36 volúmenes;Estudios de Historia Novohispana con 28y Estudios de Historia Moderna yContemporánea con 24. Estas revistassiguen siendo muy bien recibidas en elmundo académico de México y delextranjero. En Estudios de CulturaNáhuatl, que inicialmente dirigió eldoctor Garibay y posteriormente quienesto escribe, han publicado distinguidosestudiosos acerca del pasado prehispánicode México. Una novedad fue que, apartir del volumen 18, se incluyeroncontribuciones preparadas por personasde estirpe náhuatl de diversas regiones delpaís. Se inició así una tradición que en laactualidad tiene ya considerable fuerza yha llevado a la aparición de la quellamamos “Nueva Palabra”. Esto hatenido un eco entre grupos de otraslenguas mesoamericanas. En laactualidad el número de escritores enlenguas indígenas es ya bastante elevado.Complemento de este logro fue, años mástarde, la creación de la Casa de los

Escritores en Lenguas Indígenas. Encolaboración con algunos indígenas comoNatalio Hernández y Juan GregorioRegino, obtuve el apoyo de la Secretaríade Educación Pública y de la UNESCOpara crear dicha casa. En ella se reúnenescritores de estirpe indígena, se impartenclases sobre varios idiomas vernáculos yse publican sus obras, principalmente denarrativa y poesía.

En el Instituto de InvestigacionesHistóricas promoví la creación de variasseries de publicaciones. Las principalesson: Fuentes para la historia y culturanahuas; Facsímiles de filología ylingüística náhuatl; Cronistas ehistoriadores de Indias; Culturasmesoamericanas; Historia novohispana eHistoria moderna y contemporánea deMéxico. Existe otra serie que da entradaa trabajos referentes a la historia de otrospaíses, particularmente de España y losEstados Unidos.

A mediados de la década de los sesentasemprendí otras investigacionesrelacionadas esta vez con la historia de laBaja California. De tiempo atrás me sentíatraído por ella y decidí visitarla y allegarfuentes para su estudio. En un primerviaje a La Paz, acompañado de mi esposa,que es también historiadora, AscensiónHernández Triviño, establecimos contactocon las autoridades del entoncesTerritorio de Baja California Sur.Inquiriendo acerca de la existencia de unarchivo histórico, se nos respondió al finque en la azotea de la cárcel había ungran conjunto de viejos papeles.Acudiendo a ese lugar, descubrimos queefectivamente allí estaba el antiguoArchivo del Territorio Sur que, al ser

demolido el palacio de gobierno donde seencontraba, fue trasladado a ese cuartode la cárcel. Examinando algunos de losdocumentos que allí se conservaban, mepercaté de su importancia. Habléentonces con quien era gobernador delTerritorio, el licenciado Hugo Cervantesdel Río, y le di a conocer el proyecto queconcebí al respecto. Le ofrecí enviar dospersonas especializadas de nuestroInstituto para que iniciaran todo loconcerniente a la limpieza de esadocumentación, su clasificación e índices.

El proyecto se puso en marcha y puedodecir que hoy, casi treinta años después,ese archivo ha sido recuperado, alojadodebidamente en la Casa de la Cultura enla ciudad de La Paz. Ese archivohistórico, que ha sido microfilmado,además de incluir testimonios de muchointerés para la historia del hoy estado sur,también abarca otros para el del norte yaun para Alta California.

Mi interés en torno a la Californiamexicana me llevó a preparar la ediciónde una obra hasta entonces inédita: LaHistoria natural y crónica de la antiguaCalifornia, del jesuita Miguel del Barcoque había laborado allí durante cerca detreinta años. Esa obra, con copiosainformación lingüística y etnológica asícomo de carácter histórico, ha sidorecibida con muy grande interés yreeditada también por el Instituto,además de ser traducida en inglés por unaeditorial de Los Ángeles, California.

Otra obra preparé y publiqué en elInstituto en relación con la Californiamexicana. Fue ella: Cartografía yCrónicas de la antigua California. Reuní

lasaforum W I N T E R 2006 : VO L U M E X X X V11 : I S S U E 1

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SILVERT AWARD CONTINUED…

en ella un gran conjunto de mapas,algunos del siglo XVI y otros de lascenturias siguientes. El propósito fuemostrar, por una parte, la interrelaciónentre el contenido de las crónicas y el dela cartografía. Por otra, poner demanifiesto la significación de lasexploraciones a lo largo de la península,tanto por tierra como por mar, para unadelineación más precisa de la imagomundi. Dicho en otras palabras hacer verque el conocimiento del perfil geográficode la península de Californiacomplementa cabalmente la cartografíade América del Norte y, en general, delNuevo Mundo.

Otro proyecto cristalizó entoncesrelacionado también con nuestraCalifornia: la creación de un Centro deInvestigaciones Históricas UNAM-UABC(Universidad Autónoma de BajaCalifornia). Hablé con los rectores de laUNAM, y de la Universidad autónoma deBaja California. A ambos interesó laidea. El nuevo Centro comenzó a operaren Tijuana en 1975, teniendo comodirector a David Piñera Ramírez que sehabía formado en nuestro Instituto. Esecentro se consolidó y hoy está convertidoen Instituto dentro de la UABC. Es unaavanzada en la frontera norte quefomenta la conciencia histórica de losbajacalifornianos.

Concluido mi encargo de director delInstituto, aproveché un año sabático paradar dos cursos en universidadesnorteamericanas, la de Texas en Austin yla de Arizona en Tucson. Pude fomentarallí el estudio de la lengua, la literatura yla historia de los pueblos nahuas. Creoque la labor desarrollada en el Seminario

de Cultura Náhuatl y por medio de laspublicaciones que hacemos en la UNAM,así como las actividades académicas enesas universidades y en otras también delos Estados Unidos, en que impartíconferencias sobre temas afines, hancontribuido a incrementar el interés porestas investigaciones en ese país. En laactualidad son bastante numerosos losestudiosos norteamericanos, así como loseuropeos y otros que se dedican a estecampo de investigación. Añadiré que enel Seminario de Cultura Náhuatl, que hafuncionado continuamente, contando conel auxilio de un adjunto, el doctor PatrikJohansson, se ha propiciado lapreparación de otros bastante numerososinvestigadores extranjeros.

Al acercarse el V Centenario de lo que, apropuesta mía, comenzó a designarsecomo Encuentro de Dos Mundos, se creóen nuestro país una Comisión NacionalConmemorativa. Los secretarios deRelaciones Exteriores, y de EducaciónPública, invitaron a coordinar dichaComisión. Acepté este encargo y obtuvela colaboración de José María Muriá,director de El Colegio de Jalisco y antiguodiscípulo mío, así como de RobertoMoreno de los Arcos director entoncesdel Instituto de Investigaciones Históricasde la UNAM. Más tarde colaborótambién con nosotros el antropólogoGuillermo Bonfil Batalla. El propósito deesta Comisión fue lograr que se tomaráen cuenta la presencia de los indígenascomo participantes en ese encuentro conlos europeos. El cambio de enfoque nofue fácil. Había quienes consideraron quecon este nuevo enfoque se quería paliar oesconder lo que a su juicio fue ungenocidio de las poblaciones indígenas.

Otros, en cambio, sostenían que, alemplear la palabra encuentro en vez dedescubrimiento, se estaba privando aEspaña de su gloria histórica. En lasvarias reuniones de las comisiones de lospaíses iberoamericanos propugnamos poreste enfoque e insistimos en que, más quecelebrar, debía conmemorarse lo ocurridoa partir de 1492 por la trascendencia quetuvo.

Algún tiempo después el mismo secretariode Relaciones Exteriores, en consulta conel de Educación Pública, propuso alpresidente de la República, licenciadoMiguel de la Madrid, se me designaráembajador delegado de México ante laUNESCO. Allí obtuve la participación dela UNESCO en la conmemoración del VCentenario del Encuentro de dosMundos. Sometido esto a laconsideración del Consejo Ejecutivo ydespués a la Conferencia General de laUNESCO, se aprobó por unanimidad unprograma de actividades.Comprendieron estas ciclos deconferencias y congresos, en los queparticiparon indígenas de varios países, en varios lugares de Canadá, México,Perú y Guatemala. El propósito fuelograr que, aprovechando la coyuntura de ese V Centenario las demandas de los pueblos indígenas comenzaran a serescuchadas. Creo que esos congresosprepararon el camino de lo que luego ha ocurrido.

En la UNESCO, como embajador-delegado de México obtuve también ladeclaración de varios bienes culturalesnuestros que fueron incluidos en la Listadel Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Entreellos estuvieron el Centro Histórico de la

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ON THE PROFESSION

Ciudad de México, Teotihuacan, Puebla yCholula. Habiendo concluido el encargode representar a México en la UNESCO,a mediados de 1992, regresé a la UNAMdonde hasta hoy continúo laborando.

Otros proyectos he dirigido. Mencionaréel de la traducción al castellano delmanuscrito de Cantares Mexicanos queconserva la Biblioteca Nacional deMéxico. Contando con la participaciónde diez investigadores, el proyecto está envías de concluirse. Este manuscrito esuna de las joyas principales de laliteratura náhuatl de la antigua tradición.Poner su contenido al alcance de todos enversión paleográfica y traducción alcastellano, debidamente presentada yanotada será ciertamente logro deconsiderable significación.

He trabajado asimismo en torno a lapersona y la obra de fray Bernardino deSahagún. A tres proyectos me referiré: lapublicación de textos de los Códicesmatritenses, (UNAM, 1958), la edición ytraducción del libro de los Coloquios(UNAM, 1986), en el que Sahagúntranscribió una versión prototípica de losdiálogos entre los franciscanos y lossabios indígenas, fechados por él hacia1524; una biografía de fray Bernardino,pionero de la antropología (UNAM,1999), que ha sido publicada también eninglés. Mi interés sahagunense me hallevado a apoyar la creación de un museoy biblioteca, dedicados a Sahagún y susaportaciones, en Tepepulco, en el actualestado de Hidalgo, donde él inicióemprendió sus pesquisas en 1558.

Un último punto mencionaré, que es el demi interés por los códices o antiguos

libros de pinturas y signos glíficoselaborados en Mesoamérica. Es obvioque, a la par que los textos escritos yacon el alfabeto en náhuatl, maya y enotras lenguas indígenas, así como lascrónicas del siglo XVI, tienenfundamental importancia los manuscritospicto-glíficos de los antiguosmesoamericanos. En torno a ellospreparé un libro El destino de la palabra.De la oralidad y los códices a la escrituraalfabética (Fondo de Cultura Económica,1996). En él me planteo la problemáticaque implica el transvase al alfabeto deaquello que había tenido como soporte latradición oral y los libros de pinturas ysignos glíficos. Tiempo después publiquéCódices, los antiguos libros del NuevoMundo (Aguilar, 2004), que ofrece unavisión de conjunto acerca de su origen,diversos contenidos, características, asícomo el registro y valoración de lasediciones que se han hecho de algunos deellos. En paralelo, propuse a la editorialRaíces, que saca a luz la prestigiadarevista Arqueología Mexicana,emprendiéramos la publicación dealgunos códices en números especiales dedicha revista.

Hasta la fecha han aparecido ya doscódices, la Matrícula de Tributos y elFejérváry-Mayer, rebautizado comoTonalámatl de los Pochtecas. Publicadosen muy fieles reproducciones a partir defotografías obtenidas directamente de losoriginales, estos códices con suscomentarios y una presentación muydigna, se han ofrecido al público a preciosumamente bajo en tirajes de 40,000ejemplares, lo que permite su muy ampliadifusión. Por primera vez, diría que nosólo en México sino en el mundo,

manuscritos de esta índole se vuelvenasequibles para todos los que deseenestudiarlos.

En estas actividades, así como en otrasrelacionadas con El Colegio Nacional delque soy miembro, entre ellas laimpartición de cursillos y conferencias enuniversidades de provincia, así como enmi encargo principal en la UNAM, dondesoy investigador emérito, continúo misquehaceres académicos. He tenidomuchas satisfacciones en la vida. Se mehan concedido 16 doctorados honoriscausa por universidades de México,América del sur, Estados Unidos, Europa eIsrael. También he recibido buen númerode premios en México y fuera de él.

Pronto cumpliré ochenta años y esperoseguir trabajando hasta que las fuerzasme lo permitan. Considero un privilegiomuy grande haber podido servir a Méxicoen estas tareas, relacionadasprincipalmente con sus pueblosoriginarios que son los que más requierennuestra atención ya que han estado porsiglos olvidados y abatidos.


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We are proud to inaugurate with thisissue the LASA Forum’s new cover anddesign, the “graphic” culmination of ourefforts to transform this newsletter into amore vibrant publication that would helpkeep scholarly debates alive among ourmembers in between our Congresses. Asthis issue goes to press, the Secretariat isabuzz with final preparations forLASA2006—similarly the culmination ofmany, many months of hard work andcreative energies contributed by ourindefatigable LASA staff, an exceptionalProgram Committee and a first-rate LocalArrangements Committee, headed byDra. Margarita Ostolaza in San Juan.

Over 4000 had pre-registered to attendthe Congress as of the December 15,2005 deadline, so we can easily expectthis to be the biggest meeting in LASA’sforty-year history (the largest thus far washeld in Washington D.C. in 2001, with4,171 in attendance). More importantly,the requirement of pre-registration forthose wishing their names to appear inthe Congress Program should reduce thenumber of last-minute no-shows andthereby improve the coherence and,hence, quality of many Congress sessions.Thanks to generous support from theOpen Society Institute and the Inter-American Foundation, to membercontributions to our various travel funds,and to Executive Director MilagrosPereyra-Rojas’ efficient management ofLASA’s reserves and endowment, we arehappy to report that we were able tomaintain our travel funding for LatinAmerican participants at or above ourhistoric levels, despite a dramatic increasein the absolute number of requestsreceived for this Congress (800+

applications, over 25 percent of whichwere funded).

We are delighted to have such expandedparticipation as the bountiful and diverseLASA2006 program, which will unfoldacross a spectacularly beautiful,beachfront Congress site, should providean unusual opportunity for our membersto engage in collective discussion anddebate about cutting-edge scholarly topicsand pressing socio-economic and politicalissues in a peaceful and relaxing setting.The historically rich and culturallyeffervescent city of San Juan will alsooffer all participants a chance to engagein plentiful distracciones as well asdebates during the meeting; the essay byLocal Arrangements Committee member,Lcdo. Rafael Torres Torres, provides apreview of some of the diversionesavailable for mind, body, and spirit.

The March Congress will be anopportune moment for debate,nonetheless, as 2006 is a year thatportends many changes in the region:major elections will take place in Chile,Haiti, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru,Colombia, the Dominican Republic,Mexico, and Brazil—and the nature andpossible direction of those changes willno doubt inform many formal sessionsand informal conversations during theSan Juan meeting. Rather than focus onelectoral processes per se (as we did in theWinter 2005 issue of the Forum), theDebates Section in the present issue,entitled Theorizing Contemporary LatinAmerican Social Struggles/Teorizando asLutas Sociais Contemporâneas naAmérica Latina/Teorizando las LuchasSociales Contemporáneas en América

Latina, explores societal (civil society orsocial movement-led) processes that alsohave provoked significant changes in theregion in recent years—again, in the hopeof anticipating some of the debates thatwill unfold during LASA2006.

At least since the 1999 protests thatbrought down the De la Rua government,the panorama of social-cultural-politicalstruggles in the region has changeddramatically. Involving an impressivelybroad array of non-State actors, thattransformed landscape spans frommassive mobilizations in Bolivia andEcuador and novel forms of organizingamong indigenous and Afro-descendentpeoples to the innovative modalities ofresistance developed by Brazil’s MST andArgentina’s piqueteros and multi-scalarnetworks emerging out of the WorldSocial Forum and other recent national,regional, and global organizing processes.These and many other developments “onthe ground” have prompted freshtheorizing by scholars and activist-intellectuals alike. The present DebatesSection features a sampling of theoreticalreflections by prominent scholars andactivist-intellectuals in the field about thechanging dynamics of social strugglesover the course of the past decade.

We asked contributors to contemplate awide range of questions, including: Dorecent expressions of social mobilizationportend a deepening and extension ofdemocracy in the region? Or do they

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President’s Reportby SONIA E. ALVAREZ | University of Massachusetts, Amherst | [email protected]

instead (or also) undermine democratic“governability”? If the 1990s arguablysaw the “NGOization” of a number ofimportant social movements (such asfeminism), is the present decadewitnessing the return of mass-basedmobilization and protest actions as the“preferred” mode of social activism in theAméricas? Are seemingly “unorganized”or even “disorganized” mass protestssimply “mob actions”? Might they signala surge of anarchy, political chaos andPraetorianism, as many critics contendand some supporters worry? Can weconceptualize apparently un/dis-organizedsocial protest actions as “socialmovements”? Do such actions signal alack of political leadership or of acoherent political project on the Left?What expressions/forms/modalities ofcontemporary activism seem particularlypromising to you and why? What “old”and “new” theoretical perspectives andconceptual tools might help us to betterapprehend the dynamics of recentexpressions of social struggle? Individualessays included in the present DebatesSection address some of the abovequestions or pose additional onesregarding the key theoretical and politicalissues the authors believe to have beenraised by the social movements/strugglesof the past decade.

The topic of the On the Professionsection in this issue also prefigures manyof the debates we hope will animateconversations during the San Juanmeeting and like the previous three in ourLASA 40th anniversary commemorativeseries, this special section, entitled“Transnational Dialogues onGlobalization and the Intersections of

Latina/o-Chicana/o-Latin American(s)Studies, also previews one of theCongress’ nine planned Thematic PlenarySessions. Guest edited by Professor JuanPoblete of the University of California atSanta Cruz, this collection of brief essaysrepresent a range of compellingreflections about how we might movebeyond the binary opposition betweenLatina/o and Latin American Studies andanalyze the manifold transborder flowsand points of intersections, as well aspoints of tension, between theseknowledge formations. Like the questionof the place of Latin American scholars in“latinoamericanismo,” explored in theFall 2005 issue of the Forum, the“bridging” of Latina/o and LatinAmerican Studies is also arguably aprivileged problemática from which tocontemplate and better theorize the“decentering” of Latin American Studies,the core theme of LASA2006 and one ofthe principal concerns of this presidency.Thanks to the pioneering efforts of manymembers of our Latino Studies Sectionand to the kinds of conceptual andmethodological innovations undertakenby many of our members, aptly capturedby this issue’s On the Profession essays,LASA has become one of the key sites forrethinking what Lynn Stephen in heressay enjoins us to conceptualize as “theAméricas.”

Because of Puerto Rico’s “in-betweeness,”it is particularly well suited to serve as anideal site for productive conversationsbetween U.S. Latina/o Studies, CaribbeanStudies, and Latin American Studies.However, because of what Jorge Duanyreferred to as the island’s particular statusas a “postcolonial colony” (LASA Forum,

Spring 2005), and despite the fact that weall regard San Juan as very much aCaribbean/Latin American venue for thisCongress at heart, Puerto Ricononetheless presents the same problemsas the U.S. mainland with respect toaccess for non-U.S. citizens. Mostmembers are no doubt familiar with thefact that visas were denied to all 61Cuba-based would-be participants whowere scheduled to participate in our LasVegas Congress. As of this writing, wecan report that the Cuban visaapplication process for LASA2006 isnevertheless again well underway, that wewere able to secure third-country funds tosubsidize the visa application fees forsome Cuban participants, and thatmembers of the Cuba Section and of thespecial Cuba Task Force continue tomonitor the visa process closely. The visaapplication process also is becoming ever-more difficult and (monetarily andpolitically) costly for other LatinAmerica-based members in and LASA isattentive to that broader situation. In2009, we will at least momentarily be ridof the visa problem for non-U.S.-basedmembers, as the Congress will be held inone of three Latin American venues: Riode Janeiro, São Paulo, or Buenos Aires.Final details are being worked out by theSecretariat regarding contracts and otherlocal arrangements and the chosen site forLASA2009 will be announced during theSan Juan meeting.


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PRESIDENT’S REPORT CONTINUED…

First and foremost, I want to callattention to our new cover design.Beginning with this year—and with thisissue—the new design not only representsthe culmination of the changes generatedby LASA’s 2003 Strategic Plan, but itbecomes a visual reminder of the manychanges that have taken place since thePlan was approved shortly after theXXIV International Congress in Dallas.The winner of the graphic design contestis Jason Dancisin. We extend ourheartfelt congratulations to him. Indeed,LASA’s Executive Director MilagrosPereyra-Rojas is so happy with his workthat she hired him to also design thePuerto Rico Congress program and theaccompanying CD. The change offormat is part of our effort to transformthe LASA Forum into an intellectuallyand politically relevant publication thataims to stimulate debate among ourmembership.

In line with the thinking of the editorialteam, the “new” LASA Forum will airsome of the major issues that a significantsector of the LASA membership has beendebating during the recent past. Look forthese issues in the Debates and the Onthe Profession columns in this first 2006Forum—and in those to follow. Ofcritical importance, most of theconversations that appear in this issueprefigure upcoming Congress thematicplenaries and featured sessions. Thisenables us not only to give continuity toprioritizing new spaces of knowledge thatare presently transforming LatinAmerican Studies, but also to sparkfurther interest in LASA2006. We arehopeful that these debates will continueduring the Congress itself and beyond.

While the present On the Professionsection was guest-edited by professorJuan Poblete of the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz, LASA PresidentSonia Alvarez defined the theme andcommissioned the papers for the Debatessection. Sonia explains this process in herPresident’s Report. It suffices here to saythat she requested all authors of thissection to focus on the political andcultural significance of the a wide rangeof social mobilizations presently takingplace in the Latin America—and whichhave brought to the presidency of Boliviathe first indigenous person to occupy sucha position in over 150 years in the entirecontinent: Evo Morales. Sonia’s, and our,interest, is in the meaning of these mass-based mobilizations and what theyportend, given their protagonism in thelast ten or so years. We were particularlyinterested in discerning howcontemporary forms of activism arechanging the nature of Latin Americanpolitics, and whether these changes are ofa qualitative nature, genuinely promisinga better future for their peoples. In thisprocess, the scholars invited to participatebegin to theorize about new social andpolitical perspectives that might betterexplain the innovative dynamics of thesesocial struggles we are witnessing.

The Debates section includes six articles.The first one, “Evo Morales en elcontexto de los más recientesmovimientos sociales,” is by professorGuillermo Delgado-P. of the LatinAmerican/Latino Studies program at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz.While recognizing the euphoria of “elEvo”’s election, Guillermo Delgado tracesthis outcome from its origin in the late

1980s, and describes it as “múltiplesmovimientos sociales asincrónicos,aunque transcomunales,” as ways inwhich “etnicidades, feminismos,sexualidades, y clases subalternas,rearticulan, en sus propios ambientesg/locales, las respuestas posibles ante elbulldozer de la homogeneizaciónglobalista.” Delgado concludes that thesemovements, however heterogeneous, aimto truly reinvent nation-states, and tocreate a more egalitarian form ofcitizenship that truly enfranchises thegreat majority of their people. In thiscontext, Evo Morales merely seems to bethe individual capable of channeling thosecollective desires for the Bolivian peopleat the present moment.

As a counterpoint to Delgado’s treatmentof the Bolivian movement, we haveAmalia Pallares’s appraisal of theEcuadorian movement in “MassMobilization and Presidential Removal inEcuador: entre la ira y la esperanza.”Pallares explains this country’s newstrategy of popular removal of electedpresidents. Defining them as pueblazos, aconcept employed by Eduardo Galeano,she describes the most recent pueblazos inEcuador to problematize their nature,social composition, and consequences forits indigenous movement. From thisanalysis, she draws three importantreflections on the limits of this kind ofmobilization. She argues that pueblazosare similar in style, but different insubstance. She also states that, whilepueblazos have been incapable ofbridging the great divide between civilsociety and the central state, otherpolitical developments taking place at thesame time might facilitate the creation of

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Associate Editor’s Reportby ARTURO ARIAS | University of Redlands | [email protected]

bridging mechanisms. Finally, sheconcludes that this division between thepower of those who disrupt, and thepower of those who govern, is a “politicalstraightjacket” for activists who aremembers of the social and politicalmovement at the same time. AmaliaPallares teaches at the University ofIllinois, Chicago.

Problematizing social movements inBrazil, we have Jeffrey W. Rubin’s “In theStreets or in the Institutions?” Tracingtheir growth from 20 or so years ago,Jeffrey Rubin argues that by choosing amore institutional path, many activistsopted for reform instead of revolution.This implied that the reform needed to besignificant to justify this gamble.Retrospectively, Lula’s election in 2002was the culmination of this historicaleffort. By now it is evident that Lula didnot champion significant reform, and thatthe PT became involved in politicalcorruption. As a result, nearly allactivists who supported Lula and the PTfeel betrayed. However, many presentsocial movements “act at the edge” ofthis overall political process, and Rubinfinds this “the most innovative anddesirable path for pursuing social justice”in the country. Jeffrey W. Rubin is in theDepartment of History, Institute onCulture, Religion and World Affairs ofBoston University.

Margaret E. Keck and Rebecca NeaeraAbers argue in “Civil Society and State-Building in Latin America” that socialmovement scholars have not paid enoughattention to state-building in the region.During the transition to democratization,scholars emphasized the importance of

civil society and its movements, seeing thestate as its adversary, given the legacy ofdictatorial regimes. But very little workhas been done “on the state side of theseparticipatory processes.” However, Keckand Abers believe that state-societyinteractions “might be the seeds ofbuilding alternative forms of publicpolitical organization, or an alternativeproposal for stateness.” Given present-day movements, civil society has a highstake in the type of state-building thattakes place. Because of this, they believethat scholars should pay more attentionto this process, so that Latin Americannations can actually build future statesthat actually address the real needs ofcivil society. Margaret E. Keck is in theDepartment of Political Science at JohnsHopkins University. Rebecca NeaeraAbers is associate researcher at the Centerfor Public Policy Research at theUniversity of Brasília.

Virginia Vargas addresses “Las nuevasdinámicas feministas en el nuevomilenio”. Vargas argues that feministmovements are living through significantmodifications that not only transformagendas, but also those spaces where theyoperate, thus broadening the horizons offeminism. She emphasizes the role thatthe Foro Social Mundial has played inthis last aspect, and how the DiálogosFeministas have operated within it,enabling feminists from all over the worldto come together in both Mumbay andPorto Alegre. This has enabled feministmovements to become better articulatedwith other movements operatingsimultaneously within civil society, tobetter understand how their ownmembership can be active in various

spaces and groupings, and to come toterms with their need for diversity and“interseccionalidad” as a collectivechallenge. Virginia Vargas is a foundingmember of Centro de la Mujer PeruanaFlora Tristán in Lima and is active in theArticulación Feminista Marcosur.

Finally, Xóchitl Leyva-Solano addresses“las redes del movimiento zapatista comouna respuesta a la globalización.” Thisarticle rethinks the relationship betweenlocal movements and an alternativeglobalization by focusing on the alliancesand convergences that the Zapatistashave established during the last 10 years,primarily in Europe. Leyva-Solano placesthese alliances within the concept ofsocial movement networks, to define aspace of transnational politicalconvergence that opens up the globalpossibilities of membership in theZapatista movement. She then proceedsto analyze how these work, andconcludes by arguing that afterunderstanding these g/local convergences,we can no longer conceive of movementssuch as zapatismo as local organizations.We have to understand them withintransnational frameworks, and come toterms with how multi-faceted, fluid,global anti-neoliberal movements operate.Xóchitl Leyva-Solano works with theCIESAS SURESTE in Chiapas, Mexico.


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ASSOCIATE EDITOR’S REPORT CONTINUED…

The short pieces featured below havebeen written in response to the followingconvocation:

What are the benefits and risks ofnational/transnational/cross-borderframeworks in the analysis ofHemispheric issues? Are thereHemispheric issues?

Which of those perspectives—includingLatin America-based analysis ofglobalization and regional configurationsand U.S.-based dialogues on theintersections of Latina/o-Chicana/o-LatinAmerican(s) Studies—have been mostfruitful conceptually and theoretically andwhy? What additional conceptualleverage can we gain from promotingthese perspectives and conversations? Inwhat particular thematic/issue areasmight that leverage be most useful?

Which perspectives/dialogues have beenless productive and why? Are thereareas/issues where they can be counter-productive?

This convocation is itself a revised versionof collective work developed at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz by agroup of colleagues including SoniaAlvarez, Jonathan Fox, Manuel Pastor,Juan Poblete and Patricia Zavella, in thecontext of the Hemispheric Dialoguesproject<http://lals.ucsc.edu/hemispheric_dialogues>.

The comments by Manuel AntonioGarretón (Universidad de Chile), MarceloSuárez-Orozco (New York University),Lynn Stephen (University of Oregon),

José Manuel Valenzuela (Colegio de laFrontera Norte) and George Yúdice (NewYork University) represent firstapproaches to what we hope will be aproductive conversation in San Juan,Puerto Rico, in the context of a PlenarySession at LASA. The panel will focus onthe impact of globalization on, and theemergence of transnational perspectivesfor, the analysis of Latin/o Americanissues.

In my view, these short pieces alsorepresent the emergence of a morecomplex framework for the analysis ofcontemporary Latin/o American issues.In this perspective, there is a serious effortat confronting the multiple angles createdby the differential acceleration of theflows of people, discourses, goods andcapital across the continent. Those anglesmust include, more often than not, theintersectionality of the sub-nationalregional, national, supra-national regionaland global dimensions. In thoseintersections, some questions areparamount: how is the nation as a socialand cultural imaginary being transformedby transnational processes; how is itreacting to those developments; are wewitnessing the emergence of trans-national, bi-national, trans-border, trans-local, inter-national, micro or macro-regional social and cultural imaginaries?The answer to some of those questions isbeing written by multiple actors acrossthe hemisphere, from migrant workers tobusiness leaders, from town councils toMercosur. This is what Arjun Appaduraiand others have called an expansion ofthe social imagination which must be metby an expansion of the researchimagination of the social and human

sciences. These disciplines can and mustalso perform a role in making new andold invisible dynamics, visible, and inunderstanding how exactly those alreadyvisible are being visibilized by the currentparadigms, methods and approaches toLatin/o American issues.

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América Latina como unidad analítica: del desarrollo a la globalizaciónby MANUEL ANTONIO GARRETÓN M.

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Some Thoughts on Concepts to Cut Across Latino/Latin American/ Chicano Studies by LYNN STEPHEN

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Some Thoughts on Migration Studies and the Latin American Exodoby MARCELO SUÁREZ-OROZCO

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Globalización, fronteras y procesos transnacionalesby JOSÉ MANUEL VALENZUELA ARCE

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Linking Cultural Citizenship and Transnationalism to theMovement for an Equitable Global Economy by GEORGE YÚDICE

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Transnational Dialogues on Globalization and the Intersections of Latina/o-Chicana/o-Latin American(s) Studiesby JUAN POBLETE | University of California Santa Cruz | [email protected]

ON THE PROFESSION

América Latina como unidad analítica:del desarrollo a la globalizaciónby MANUEL ANTONIO GARRETÓN M.

Universidad de Chile

[email protected]

Los estudios latinoamericanos centradosen la región como una unidad socio-histórica abordaron como problemáticacentral sucesivamente, el desarrollo, larevolución, la democracia. La derrota demuchos de los proyectos de cambio, laglobalización, las reformas neo-liberales,han significado que desaparece unaproblemática propiamentelatinoamericana, quedando reducida éstaa dinámicas y estrategias de paísesaislados pero que tampoco, por efectos dela globalización, tienen fuerza yautonomía. ¿Es posible redefinir unaunidad de la problemáticalatinoamericana? Hay quienes afirmanque América Latina como unidad deanálisis y proyecto ya no existe y que, alo más, hay ciertos polos que sedesprenden de la región. La ponenciaintenta mostrar cuáles serían los posiblesejes de reconstitución de unaproblemática latinoamericana desde unaperspectiva que no puede sino serinterdisciplinaria.

En términos más específicos, es posiblemostrar dos enfoques que el autor junto aotros intelectuales, ha elaborado y querescatan esta unidad de problemática enla región como lo hicieron los estudios delos períodos anteriores centrados en eldesarrollo, la dependencia, la revolucióno la democracia.

El primero es el de la matriz socio-política, que estudia la descomposición e

intentos de recomposición de lasrelaciones entre Estado, sistema derepresentación, base socio-económica yorientaciones culturales, mediadas por elrégimen político. Aquí la pregunta básicaes hasta qué punto los procesos deglobalización permiten hablar de modelosde sociedad que tienen su base en losEstados nacionales y si hay, como huboen la época estatal-nacional-popular, unamatriz propia de América Latina con susvariaciones, o si, fuera de la vigencia dedemocracias formales, cada país hadesarrollado su propia matriz, con lo quedeja de haber una problemática común.

El segundo es el enfoque del espaciocultural, donde más que unaproblemática común, como la del primerenfoque, de lo que se trata es de ver si enlas dinámicas de globalización AméricaLatina puede presentarse como unbloque. Partiendo de la base que elmundo se constituirá a partir deprincipios geo-culturales, lo que cabe espreguntarse si América Latina puedeconstituir un espacio cultural propio, loque lleva a la cuestión de la capacidad deconstituir modelos de modernidad consus propias variaciones internas.

Si el primer enfoque apunta a si AméricaLatina es una unidad de problemáticasocio-política, el segundo apunta a ladimensión socio-cultural. En todo caso launidad problemática y de proyectohistórico para la región ya no radicaría enla cuestión del desarrollo, como lo fuedurante largas décadas, sino en el lugarde América Latina como unidad en elmundo globalizado.

Some Thoughts on Concepts to Cut Across Latino/Latin American/Chicano Studies by LYNN STEPHEN

University of Oregon

[email protected]

I want to suggest that we work with theconcept of “The Américas” toincorporate areas that have beengeographically divided into NorthAmerica, Central America, SouthAmerica, and the Caribbean. Within thearea we can call “The Américas” I willput forward some ideas for how toconceptualize flows of people, capital,and culture. On the one hand, mysuggestions question the container of thenation-state as our primary focal lens byconsidering transborder processes,identities, and institutions. On the otherhand, I will also suggest ways in whichwe still have to consider the “nation” inour discussions because of the stronghistorical presence of nationalism increating categories that have powerfulroles in defining how people are insertedinto relations of power as well as stateswhich still have a great deal of power todefine who does and who does not haveaccess to the formal rights associated withcitizenship and legal residency.

In my own work on the west coast of theUnited States I have thought long andhard about how to conceptualize theMexican spaces in Oregon and California(Stephen in press). One possibility wouldbe to follow Nick De Genova’s suggestionthat cities with significant populations ofimmigrants from Latin America beconsidered a part of Latin America. Hesuggests the specific concept of “Mexican


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TRANSNATIONAL DIALOGUES ON GLOBALIZATION CONTINUED…

Chicago” in relation to the large numberof Mexican immigrants there (De Genova1998: 89-90, 2005). Offered as acorrective to perspectives that sees LatinAmerica as “outside the United States,”and assimilation as the logical anddesirable outcome of migration, DeGenova suggests that “rather than anoutpost or extension of Mexico,therefore, the ‘Mexican’-ness of MexicanChicago signifies a permanent disruptionof the space of the U.S. nation-state andembodies the possibility of somethingtruly new, a radically different socialformation” (2005:190). Others haveused the words “transnational”community to characterize this kind ofspace ( Besserer 2002, 2004; Kearney1990, 1995a, 1995b 2000; Rouse 1992,1995; Levitt 2001, Glick-Schiller 1995,2003). Another characterization,particularly when referring to grassrootsorganizations is “binational civil society,”suggesting parts of transnationalcommunities that participate in theirnational country of origin, in theircountry of settlement as well as creatingunique third spaces that can be called“transnational” (Fox 2005).

One positive contribution of work ontransnational communities is that it hasencouraged scholars to work outside thecontainer of the nation/state and thekinds of binary divisions which havepermeated so much of social analysis suchas global/local, national/transnational. Itis certainly important to consider the“national” in the “trans” part of migrantand immigrant histories and experience—particularly when it comes to therecognition or lack thereof of basichuman and labor rights often connected

to their positions in relation to the legalframeworks of the nations they aremoving between. I want to suggest,however, that we have to look beyond“the national” in order to understand thecomplete nature of what people aremoving or “transing” between. In thecases of the indigenous Mixtec andZapotec migrants I study, the bordersthey have crossed and continue to crossare much more than national.

In many communities such as the Mixteccommunity of San Agustín Atenango andthe Zapotec community of Teotitlánwhere migration to and from other placeshas become a norm that spans three, four,and now five generations, the borderspeople cross are ethnic, cultural, colonial,state borders within Mexico as well as theU.S.-Mexico border. When Mixtecos andZapotecos come into the United States,they are crossing a new set of regionalborders that are often different than thosein Mexico, but may also overlap withthose of Mexico (for example theracial/ethnic hierarchy of Mexico whichlives on in Mexican communities in theUnited States). These include ethnic,cultural, and regional borders within theUnited States. For these reasons, it makesmore sense to speak of “transborder”migration in the case I am describinghere, rather than simply “transnational.”The transnational becomes a subset of the“transborder” experience. I believe theconcept of transborder can be appliedelsewhere in the Américas as well toprocesses of immigration and migration.

In major cities, such as Los Angeles, andother places where many transbordermigrants are concentrated, Saskia Sassen

argues that not only do such cities emergeas strategic sites for globalized economicprocesses and the concentration ofcapital, but also for new types ofpotential actors. While Sassenconcentrates her analysis on global citiessuch as Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo,Paris, London, Brasilia, Mexico City, andothers, some of the characteristics sheattributes to global cities—denationalizedplatforms for global capital and sites forthe coming together of increasinglydiverse mixes of people to produce astrategic cross-border geography thatpartly bypasses national states—can alsobe found to some degree outside of globalcities in many parts of the Américas(Sassen 2004:649). Woodburn, Oregon issuch a place. By the year 2000,Woodburn was 50 percent Latino and44.5 percent of the population was ofMexican origin as discussed above.

In these cross-border geographies, Sassensuggests that it is important to capturethe difference between powerlessness and“the condition of being an actor eventhough one is initially lacking in politicalpower” (2002:22). She uses the term“presence” to name this condition. Shesuggests that in the context of thestrategic space of the global city, thatpeople like transborder indigenousMexican migrants can “acquire apresence in the broader political processthat escapes the boundaries of the formalpolity. Their presence signals thepossibility of a politics” (2002:22). Thespecific context will determine what kindof politics. In Los Angeles, for example,a wide range of non-formal politicalparticipation has emerged from Mexicanimmigrant presence, from federated

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ON THE PROFESSION

home-town associations and transborderorganization that negotiate directly withU.S. and Mexican public officials (SeeFox and Rivera 2004), to majorparticipation in unions like UNITE-HERE (see Milkman 2005). Participationin these forms of non-party politics hasalso led to groups such as UNITE-HEREhaving influence in mayoral races in LosAngeles.

The ever-increasing numbers of Mexicanimmigrants and most recently ofindigenous migrants in the westernUnited States (and elsewhere) can havesimilar results in terms of those actorsdeveloping a “presence” that can exist asa precursor to more organized politicalparticipation.

Bibliography

Besserer, José Federico. (2002).Contestingcommunity: Cultural Struggles of a MixtecTransnational Community. Ph. D. Dissertation,Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology,Stanford University.

____________________(2004). Topografíastransnacionales: Hacia una geografía de la vidatransnacional. México, D.F.; UniversidadAutónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Ixtapalapa,División de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.

De Genova, Nicholas. (1998). “Race, Space, andthe Reinvention of Latin America in MexicanChicago.” Latin American Perspectives 25(5):87-116.

__________________(2005). Working theBoundaries: Race, Space, and “Illegality” inMexican Chicago. Durham: Duke UniversityPress.

Fox, Jonathan. (2005). “Mapping Mexican CivilSociety. Paper prepared for Mexican MigrantCivic and Political Participation”, November 4-5,2005, Woodrow Wilson International Center forScholars, Washington D.C.<http://www.wilsoncenter.org/migrantparticipation>.

Fox, Jonathan and Gaspar Rivera Salgado.(2004). “Building Civil Society among IndigenousMigrants.” In Indigenous Mexican Migrants inthe United States, Jonathan Fox and GasparRivera-Salgado (eds.), pp. 1-68. La Jolla: Centerfor U.S.-Mexican Studies, Center forComparative Immigration Studies. University ofCalifornia, San Diego.

Glick Schiller, Nina. (1995) Editor’s Foreword:The Dialectics of Race and Culture. Identities1(4): iii-iv.

_________________(2002). “The Centrality ofEthnography in the Study of TransnationalMigration: Seeing the Wetland Instead of theSwamp.” In American Arrivals: AnthropologyEngages the New Immigration, Nancy Foner(ed.), pp. 99-128. Santa Fe: School of AmericanResearch Press.

Kearney, Michael. (1989). “Borders andBoundaries of State and Self at the End ofEmpire.” Journal of Historical Sociology 4(1):52-74.

_______________(1995a). “The Effects ofTransnational Culture, Economy, and Migrationon Mixtec Identity in Oaxacalifornia.” In TheBubbling Cauldron: Race, Ethnicity, and theUrban Crisis, Michael Peter Smith and Joe R.Feagin (eds.), pp. 226-243. Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press.

_______________(1995b). “The Local and theGlobal: the Anthropology of Globalization andTransnationalism.” Annual Review ofAnthropology 24:547-565.

_______________(1998). “Transnationalism inCalifornia and Mexico at the End of Empire.” InBorder Identities: Nation and State atInternational Frontiers, Thomas W. Wilson andHastings Connan (eds.), pp. 117-141. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

_______________(2000) “Transnational OaxacaIndigenous Identity: The Case of Mixtecs andZapotecs.” Identities 7, no. 2.:173-95.

Levitt, Peggy. (2000). Transnational Villagers.Berkeley: University of California Press.

Milkman, Ruth. (2004). “Latino ImmigrantMobilization and Organized Labor: California’sTransformation in the 1990s.” Paper presented atconference titled “Immigrant PoliticalIncorporation.” Educational programs, RadcliffeInstitute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 22-23, 2005.

Rouse, Roger. (1992). “Making Sense ofSettlement: Class Transformation, CulturalStruggle, and Transnationalism among MexicanMigrants in the United States.” In Towards aTransnational Perspective on Migration, NinaGlick Schiller (ed.), pp. 25-52. Annals of the NewYork Academy of Sciences 645.

____________(1995). “Thinking throughTransnationalism: Notes on the Cultural Politicsof Class Relations in Contemporary UnitedStates.” Public Culture 7(2):353-402.

Sassen, Saskia. (2002) “The Repositioning ofCitizenship: Emergent Subjects and Spaces forPolitics.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology 46: 4-25.

_____________(2004). “Local Actors in GlobalPolitics.” Current Sociology 52(4): 649-670.


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Some Thoughts on Migration Studiesand the Latin American Exodoby MARCELO SUÁREZ-OROZCO

New York University

[email protected]

The last decade of the Latin Americantwentieth century closed a circle in a greatmigratory chain that had built and gainedpowerful momentum in the second halfof the 19th century. From roughly themid-19th century into the first twodecades of the 20th century over 6.5million immigrants, largely Europeanpeasants, arrived in Argentina, over 4million in Brazil, over 1 million inCuba—and hundreds of thousands morearrived in Uruguay, Mexico, Chile,Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Peru andParaguay. Indeed, more than 20 percentof the over 55 million Europeans who leftthe continent in the 19th century and firstdecades of the 20th century settled in theRiver Plate Basin—including Argentina,Uruguay and Southern Brazil (Moya,1998: 46). By the beginning of the newMillennium, Latin American finds itself inthe middle of the largest wave ofemigration in history. Virtually every oneof the traditional regions of LatinAmerica is “on the move”: Mexico andCentral America, the Caribbean, theAndean region, and the Southern Conecountries. According to recent UNPopulation Division data from 1995 to2000 the Caribbean, Mexico, CentralAmerica, and South America had a netmigration of rate of approximately -916,000 persons per annum. During thesame time Europe was gaining roughly769,000 new immigrants per year and theUnited States was gaining some 1.2million new immigrants per annum (UN

Population Division, 2003: p. 1). LatinAmericans are on the move—leaving inunprecedented numbers for the UnitedStates, Europe and, to a lesser extent,Asia.

The power and ubiquity of the newglobal flows structuring the LatinAmerican Exodo are now acknowledgedby almost everyone—scholars, policymakers, and the public at large in bothsending and receiving countries. Whilethere is a general consensus thatmigration from Latin America is changingthe Americas and the world beyond, thereis little systematic empirical, conceptual,and theoretical work examining theExodo in an interdisciplinary,comparative, and regional framework.My reflections in this brief essay hope tobegin a much-needed discussion amongscholars of migration about the greatLatin American Exodo and its Aftermath.

Background: The world is nowwitnessing the largest migratory flow inhuman history. There are well over 185million transnational immigrants andrefugees worldwide. This is only afraction of the total number of migrants,as the majority stay within the confines ofindividual regions or nation states (China,for example, has in excess of 150 millioninternal migrants). Immigration today isgenerating epochal transformations inboth immigrant-sending and immigrant-receiving countries. Immigrant languagesare now ubiquitous in most advancedpost-industrial cities. Immigrantsorganize themselves in transnational websof social, cultural and politicalrelationships that make internationalborders porous and in some ways

redundant. Globalization’s LatinAmerican ecotype has left a legacy offrustrated ambitions, declining quality oflife, and growing poverty and inequality.Under globalization’s regime, largenumbers of Latin Americans havedeveloped new appetites that simplycannot be satiated by local economies.

Immigration today seems to be structuredby three distinct but related currents: 1)the globalization of capital and the postnationalization of production,distribution, and consumption of goodsand services increasingly linkingimmigrant-dependent economies totransnational labor recruiting networks;2) transnational wage (and access tocredit) differentials generating powerfulincentives for migration; and 3) newinformation, communication, media, andtransportation technologies that instantlyconnect individuals and communities,generate new structures of desire andappetites, and tend to lower the costs ofhuman movement across space and overtime. The very same factors structuringmigration today also are at the root ofwhy large numbers of immigrants remainpowerful actors, in economic, culturaland social terms, in the societies theyleave behind. Many immigrants todayare social actors “here” and “there” atonce transforming their countries of birthand their countries of choice.

Bibliography

Moya, José. C. Cousins and Strangers: SpanishImmigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850-1930.(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).

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Globalización, fronteras y procesostransnacionalesby JOSÉ MANUEL VALENZUELA ARCE

Colegio de la Frontera Norte

[email protected]

Uno de los rasgos claves del mundocontemporáneo consiste en la prevalenciade una paradójica centralidad de lasfronteras culturales. Los crecientesprocesos de globalización han difuminadoalgunas fronteras nacionales, perotambién han potenciado la visibilidad ysentido estratégico de otras fronterassocioculturales, como ocurre con lafrontera entre México y Estados Unidos,que es también la fronteralatinoamericana con “el norte”. Almismo tiempo, observamos unincremento de la polarización social y elcrecimiento de los procesos migratorios,especialmente hacia Estados Unidos, conlo cual la migración y las diásporascontemporáneas juegan un papelimportante en la definición de losvínculos interculturales.

Las metáforas y conceptos para definirlos procesos fronterizos son múltiples:mutilación, herida, cicatriz, pozo delmundo, tierra de nadie, trinchera,umbrales, intersticios o rizomas. Lafrontera entre México y Estados Unidosha sido escenario de múltiples procesos derefracción sociocultural, de cambios ypersistencias, de permanencia ytransformación, pero, a partir del 11 deSeptiembre de 2001, se han presentado demanera más clara nuevos mecanismos decontrol fronterizo y se ha incrementado elpeso geopolítico de la frontera. Estasituación se solapa con los fenómenosculturales transfronterizos y proyectos

artísticos definidos desde ambos lados dela frontera. La producción culturalfronteriza ha estado definida por procesosintensos de transculturaciones,recreaciones, préstamos, resistencias ydisputas culturales. La intensa vida de lafrontera también ha conformado procesossocioculturales transfronterizos, como haocurrido con las culturas juveniles de lospachuchos, los cholos, las maras y loscolombianos, y ha sido escenario para laproducción de expresiones musicales,como la música norteña y de banda, elTex-Mex, un estilo rockero identificable yuna expresión electrónica reconociblecomo Nortec.

La frontera ha sido motivo recurrente enla producción plástica, literaria y visual.Junto a las miradas estéticas vinculadas al movimiento chicano, y las posicionesmuchas veces estereotípicas de amboslados de la frontera elaboradas durantelos años setenta y ochenta, emergenperspectivas diferentes donde cobranfuerza posicionamientos como losproyectos de artistas de ambos lados de la frontera y propuestas de caráctertransfronterizo.

Sin lugar a dudas, la frontera ha tenidoun papel central en el debate nacionalsobre la definición y cambios en lasidentidades nacionales, así como en ladefinición de nuevos proyectos y estéticastransfronterizas. Gran parte de estasdiscusiones estuvieron marcadas por laincomprensión, pues consideraban que enla frontera la población sufría unaimportante desnacionalización y pérdidade identidad.

Sin embargo, las investigacionesdisponibles indican que los procesosculturales e identitarios fronterizos sonmucho más complejos y no correspondena los vaticinios de la desnacionalización odel apochamiento.

El conjunto de temas arriba señalados,configuran ejes imprescindibles para lacomprensión y (re)creación del arte, lacultura y las representaciones de lafrontera México-Estados Unidos.


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Linking Cultural Citizenship andTransnationalism to the Movement foran Equitable Global Economy by GEORGE YÚDICE

New York University

[email protected]

The charge presented to us by JuanPoblete involves assessing the conceptualand political effectiveness of“national/transnational/cross-border, etc.,frameworks in the analysis ofHemispheric issues” and the dialogues onthat basis in the “intersections ofLatina/o-Chicana/o-Latin American(s)Studies.” Two frameworks come to mind:cultural citizenship, which can beconceived of as the extension of T.H.Marshall’s paradigm of civic, political andsocial rights and obligations, andtransnationalism, “the processes by whichimmigrants build [multiple and extensive]social fields that link together theircountry of origin and their country ofsettlement” (Glick-Schiller et al. 1992: 1).Historically, cultural citizenship, as itrefers to Latin@s in the United States,refers to “the various processes by whichgroups define themselves, form acommunity, and claim space and socialrights” (Flores 2003: 297). These claimswere framed by the more general struggle,from the civil rights era of 1960s on, toempower ethnoracial minorities, women,gays and lesbians, the disabled and othermarginalized and excluded groups.Against de facto and sometimes de jureexclusion from citizen rights, they soughtto legitimize the adjudication andlegislation of rights on the basis of groupneed rather than the possessive-individualist terms that traditionallydefine rights discourse in the largely

“difference blind” republican democratictradition. In other words, the differentialcultural identity of the “nonnormative,”provided the ground for a politics basedon the interpretability of needs thatrequired extension of universal rights viabilingual education, maternity leave, gaymarriage and rent-controlled apartmentinheritance, and the like. (The inclusionof maternity leave, gay marriage andapartment inheritance as “cultural” rightsmakes it evident that culture is notcircumscribed in this view to ethnicity.Culture has to do with performative forceof the social and cultural narratives thatdefine inclusion and exclusion, in thiscase to the category of rights-bearingsubjects.)

Transnationalism both extends andchallenges this more traditional approachto rights. The continued migration ofLatin Americans to the United Statesbolsters cultural claims, especially tolanguage rights for Latin@s, and forcesonto the political agenda the extension ofguestworker labor and certain socialrights for the non-citizen undocumented,at the same time that some “normative”citizens become increasingly anxious andseek to marginalize them (and in somecases all Latin@s, as in Huntington[2004]), even to the point of denying allrights and monitoring and fencing in theU.S. MexicoBorder. The past decade hasseen an explosion in research ontransnationalism, making the case thatrights need to be extended beyond anational framework, that new immigrantsbelong culturally to and are active inmore than one nation-state, and mostimportantly that the new circumstancesof migration— putatively wrought by

globalization processes, especially incommunications, transportation, andfinance—have an impact on the sendingcountries. Until very recently, the focuson the “new” post-1965 migrations hadbeen on the effects in the United States,and on the extensions and complicationsof political, social, and cultural pan-ethnicformations. Juan Flores (2000), forexample, discerned a tension betweenNuyoricans, who maintained connectionswith African Americans, and newermigrants who increasingly wielded adouble strategy of integration as specificnationalities (e.g., Colombians) andLatin@s. For Flores, panethnicizationtends to defuse the kinds of claims thatNuyoricans had made in the post-civilrights context. On the other hand,Salvadorans, who fled warfare andpolitical witchhunts in the 1980s andestablished migrants’ rights organizationssuch as CARECEN for Salvadorans havereconverted those organizations morerecently to offer “community supportservices and empowerment activities tothe greater Latino community”(CARECEN home page). There is somemeasure of legitimacy to be gained byentering Latin@ politics and the vibrantworld of voluntary social institutions thathave considerable uptake in the UnitedStates (and which counter stereotypes thatLatin@s do not have robust civilsocieties).

One critique of these two frameworksthat I have voiced elsewhere is that asimportant as cultural citizenship andtransnationalism are in recognizing andproviding a space for minority andimmigrant communities, it should also beacknowledged that they can also become

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instruments of governmentality or themanagement of populations (Yúdice2003). As one scholar of the impact ofglobalization on citizenship observes, inmulticultural societies, particularly,“culture and identity [as] particular formsof agency...have to be somehowmanaged” (Delanty 2002: 61).Management cuts two ways: it relativizesagency but at the same time enables someof its force. Hence caution should leadactivists to take state, foundation andNGO absorption into consideration butshould not paralyze the efforts ofexpanding rights.

The other, and my major critique, is thatboth cultural citizenship andtransnationalism have focused mostly onthe situation in the receiving country, andin this context have limited to a degreethe horizon of expectations to that ofpeople moving from developing todeveloped countries and expandingcitizenship there. It should be obviousthat migration will not solve its own rootcauses. Moreover, migration canexacerbate problems in the sendingcountry, about which current scholarshiphas little to say. While there is abundantwork on such pull and push factors asmigration from low-wage/labor-rich statesto higher-wage/labor-poor states, globalintegration and structural adjustment thaterode traditional family economies,particularly in agriculture, the attractionof dual labor markets in receivingcountries, and cumulative causationframeworks for explaining the pull ofestablished transborder networks, there isrelatively little with regard to social(Levitt 2001) and cultural (Flores 2005)remittances, such as the ideas, behaviors,

identities, social capital, and values, onthe social side, and narratives, musics,cuisines, styles of dress, forms ofconsumption, etc. that circulate back tothe sending countries. The literature onhometown associations (Andrade-Eekhoffand Silva Avalos 2004) and on youthgangs, such as the Salvadoran maras(Garland 2004), has made up for thislack, often pointing to the pathologiesthat ensue when the United States deportscriminalized youth (Yúdice forthcoming).

While social and cultural remittances andrelated phenomena are not difficult tointegrate into some of the transnationalconsumption and identity frameworks,such as subcultural studies in the case ofmaras, developed within Cultural Studies,other issues such as brain drain, theimpoverishment of education andhealthcare systems in the wake ofmigrations, etc. are much more difficultto integrate into any of the frameworksconsidered above. What are the Latin@-Latin American migrant circuits fordealing with labor and remittances in thecontext of government incentives for theirmost lucrative export: migrants?(Salvadoran government officials refer tomigrants as an export and are lobbyingintensively to maintain the dual“pipeline” of migrant export andremittance repatriation, which alsofunctions as collateral for multilateraldevelopment bank loans. See Yúdice,Forthcoming.) The ideal remedy for thiswould be a more equitable globaleconomy, which is far from view. Whileit is crucial to ratchet up the citizen rightsof Latin@s and other minoritized groupsin the United States, that in itself will notprovide a solution for the need to

migrate. Hence, it is necessary for Latin@politics in the United States to makecommon cause with movements not onlyfor labor equity (as was the case withanti-sweatshop movement in the 1990s)but also those that challenge tradeagreements and intellectual propertyarrangements whose unfavorable termswill further erode economic viability inLatin America. The moment is ripe forsuch coalitions, at least as far as LatinAmerican activists are concerned. This isevident from Mexico to Argentina, whereBush’s bid for the Free Trade Area of theAmericas was trashed. It is, after all,inequality in the global economy that notonly generates migrations but which alsomakes local cultural production difficultto maintain.

Bibliography

Andrade-Eekhoff, K. y C. Silva Avalos (2004)“La globalización de la periferia: flujostransnacionales migratorios y el tejido socio-productivo local en América Central.”Revista Centroamericana de Ciencias Sociales,Vol. 1, No. 1.

Banks, Gabrielle. (2000). “The TattooedGeneration: Salvadoran Children Bring HomeAmerican Gang Culture.” Dissent, Winter.

CARECEN (Central American Resource Center of Washington) home page<http://www.dccarecen.org/About%20us.htm>.

Delanty, Gerard. (2002). “Two Conceptions of Cultural Citizenship: A Review of RecentLiterature on Culture and Citizenship.” The Global Review of Ethnopolitics. 1:3(March): 60-66.


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Flores, Juan. (2000). “Pan-Latino/Trans-Latino:Puerto Ricans in the ‘New Nueva York’.” In From Bomba to Hip Hop: Puerto RicanCulture and Latino Identity. New York:Columbia University Press.

Flores, Juan. (2005). “The Diaspora Strikes Back:Reflection on Cultural Remittances.” NACLA Report on the Americas 39:3(November/December).

Flores, William V. (2003). “New Citizens, NewRights Undocumented Immigrants and LatinoCultural Citizenship.” Latin AmericanPerspectives 30:2 (March): 295-308.

Garland, Sarah. (2004). “Local Contexts/GlobalGangs: The Transnational Networks of CentralAmerican Maras.” M.A. thesis, Center for LatinAmerican and Caribbean Studies, New YorkUniversity.

Glick-Schiller, Nina, Linda Basch, and CristinaBlanc-Stanton. (1992). “Transnationalism: A New Analytic Framework for UnderstandingMigration.” Annals of the New York Academyof Science, 645: 1-24.

Huntington, Samuel P. (2004). Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s Identity. New York:Simon & Schuster.

Levitt, Peggy. (2001). The TransnationalVillagers. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Yúdice, George. (2003). The Expediency ofCulture: Uses of Culture in a Global Era.Durham: Duke University Press.

Yúdice, George. Forthcoming. “Cultura,globalización y migraciones.” Nueva Sociedad.

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In MemoriamRichard P. Schaedel (1920-2005)

La reciente elección del candidatoindígena Evo Morales en Bolivia hagenerado atención en las irrupcionessociales multitudinarias que recientementese produjeron en este país. De las mismasse ha dicho que tienen como objetivo elde “democratizar la democracia.” Estoparecería un juego cacofónico, pero no loes. El estudio de los movimientos socialesestá ligado a la democracia emergente delsiglo XXI. La pregunta de fondo es siestos movimientos recientes contribuyen aprofundizar la democracia en lasAméricas, radicalizándola mucho más, obien si su carácter fractal los redefinecomo movimientos multidispersos,limitados a ser tan sólo descolonizadorescríticos del estado neoliberal y del sistemaglobal, pero sin más.

En apariencia, los mismos parecerían notener la fuerza para acometertransformaciones estructurales del estado.Ubicándolos en su contexto histórico,podríamos afirmar que a fines de losochentas, el proceso de re-democratización que se visualizaba comovenidero, se traslapó con la imposicióndel proyecto neoliberal y de laglobalización. El objetivo de éste último,centrado en reducir y aminorar el papeldel estado reforzando la omnipresenciadel mercado, corroboró, por lo menosindirectamente, la credibilidad (yaceptación) de exigencias autonomistaspor parte de movimientos de corte étnico.Al rescindir el estado su responsabilidadhistórica, la autonomía se transformó enel subtexto no prounciado delneoliberalismo. En esos espacios

autónomos se pensó que se le podría darrespuesta a todo lo que el estado nopudo, o no quiso, hacer. Es por ello quepor esos años, algunos líderes indígenasinterpretaron el neoliberalismo como elproyecto que finalmente coincidía con susdemandas autonomistas.

Las secuelas de la redemocratización defines de los ochentas, concluyen ahoracon la incursión de múltiplesmovimientos sociales asincrónicos,aunque transcomunales. Por esto últimoentendemos que etnicidades, feminismos,sexualidades, y clases subalternas,rearticulan, en sus propios ambientesg/locales, las respuestas posibles ante elbulldozer de la homogeneizaciónglobalista. Durante el primer lustro deeste nuevo milenio, los movimientossociales agilizaron sus estrategias decrítica y proposición, debatiendo el preciode los recursos naturales en un contextoglobal. Varios de ellos carecen de lapermanente estructura o jerarquía de susantecesores. A cambio de lo anterior,redefinen su relación con el estado-naciónal proponer refundar la nación misma.Entre estos movimientos, la politizaciónde la memoria social, o bien lainvisibilidad y la exclusión (racial, degénero), pueden interpretarse como locusdel descontento de su membresía, quienesposeen una lealtad flexible y múltiple:p.ej., sus reivindicaciones pueden serfeministas, sindicalistas y étnicas. Enconsecuencia, estos sujetos pueden estarafiliadas a los movimientos desde unavariada procedencia.

Las movilizaciones de los noventas fueronidentificadas por la presencia constante demovimientos indígenas. Es importante

reconocer que estos no son los únicosparticipantes, pero sí los de más peso. Suemergencia galvanizó un rico debate entorno al racismo y a la exclusión (degénero, étnica, nacional, regional, etc.),subrayando el hecho de que, en respuestaa sus propias movilizaciones, los estadostan sólo ejecutaran cambios nominalespero inefectivos. Por ello continuamosobservando el retorno de las mismas “enforma de miles.” Confrontados por laurgencia, los estados nacionalesaprobaron transformaciones cosméticas.Su implementación oenegeizada seacompañó de rémoras e ineptitud. Por lotanto, ese nuevo público afiliado a losmovimientos recurrió a la protestaabierta, masiva. Un ejemplo de lasconsecuencias de éstas puede ser laemergencia de nuevas movilizaciones queahora exigen refundar los estadosnacionales, transformando los aspectoslegales para conceder derechos efectivos,y no sólo nominales, de ciudadanía.Pareciera, en todo esto, existir un paraleloentre una profunda segregación (racial, degénero), y la galvanización demovimientos sociales que presionan pornuevas formas de inclusión y devisibilidad. Un estudioso de losmovimientos indígenas como JonathanWarren subraya que, en el trasfondo deeste escenario humano, la estructura delracismo en las Américas no ha cambiadocualitativamente en siglos, pero que “sóloal enunciar seriamente la problemática delracismo se puede deslindar y enfrentar ladesigualdad social. América Latina esafamadamente una de las regiones másdesiguales del mundo” (2004:224). Estaobservación derrumba casi todos losprogramas-parche que se formularon yejecutaron en el continente con


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Evo Morales en el contexto de los másrecientes movimientos socialesby GUILLERMO DELGADO-P. | University of California, Santa Cruz | [email protected]

anterioridad, muchas de ellas con laasistencia o cooperación técnicainternacional de ONGs especializadas enla administración de la pobreza.

El resultado más tangible de estos cincoúltimos años ha sido la multiplicación demovimientos que rebasan las plataformasde los partidos políticos tradicionales queaprobaron la onda globalista. Losgobiernos de los noventas fueron vistospor los movimientos sociales como merosadministradores del capital transnacional(Ecuador, Bolivia), y fueron obligados arenunciar o fueron violentamentederrocados (Argentina). A diferencia deesto, y reclamando posiciones deizquierda, existen hoy en día al menoscinco nuevas administracionesgubernamentales democráticamenteelegidas (Brasil, Venezuela, Argentina,Uruguay y Bolivia) que emergieron comorespuesta a la exclusionaria dinámicaneoliberal y a la nueva relación con unaagresiva administración estadounidenseque, a menudo, recurre al nostálgicodictamen imperial. Los efectos de 9/11pusieron a los movimientos en lapeligrosa mira de la autoridad delpanóptico, en un contexto en el cual lacriminalización de un movimiento podríaocurrir porque sí.

Pese a esto último, dos veces consecutivasen el caso de Bolivia, (Sánchez de Lozadaen 2003, y Carlos Mesa en 2005),movimientos múltiples con un clarosentido de autonomía y de “democraciadirecta”—ese concepto tabú—derrocarona dos gobiernos percibidos comodemasiado entreguistas de los recursosnaturales. En aquellos otros países en loscuales se derrocaron presidentes

(Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador), losmovimientos sociales criticaron unconcepto demasiado controlado dedemocracia. En el caso de México, lapresión internacional del movimientoglobal—un nuevo público a su manera—logró que no se criminalizara almovimiento social Zapatista, cuyaproblemática nunca fue resuelta por elpresidente Fox. Todo esto evidencia queya no se puede hablar de los movimientossociales en forma uniforme u homogénea,ya que la pluralidad de tantas formas eintensidades de los mismos obliga aobservar el contexto g/local, simultáneo ymulti-identitario, en el cual estos ocurren.

Algunos aspectos que todavía se podríanreconocer como un denominadoruniforme de esta diversidad demovimientos son la politización de lamemoria social, la importancia estratégicaque poseen los recursos naturales en laagenda de los mismos—porque éstas setransforman cada vez más en mercancíasde propiedad transnacional—la violenciade la exclusión, y la invisibilidad. ¿Quéexiste detrás de estos intangibles quealientan la aparición de tanta movilidad?Sin duda un sentimiento de frustración eindignidad ante el ninguneo.Repentinamente, el efecto del ninguneocrece y se transforma en una irrupciónmultitudinaria, con la diferencia de que lamisma surge con propuestas concretas,que sería como decir que aparecenejecutando funciones de estado. Ante laviolencia urbana, Carlos Monsiváispiensa que ésta tiene inclusive aspectosmelodramáticos, ya que ocurre en elperformance de la invisibilidad(2005:240), pero también con un Estado,

a menudo ineficiente o reducido, como elotro gran actor en el tablado social.

La irrupción de los movimientos ocurre,generalmente, ante el menosprecio o lainefectividad (o ausencia) de canalesadecuados–a menudo débiles o pocoeficientes–que solucionen los problemasque estos denuncian. La futilidad o sornacon que el estado moderno los percibesubraya su carácter invisible, suinexistencia. El hecho de que elneoliberalismo hubiera reaccionadoatomizándolos y descalificándolos–enningún momento se aludió al“desclasamiento” de los mismos–significaahora que, en respuesta a esa actitud,surja la alternativa de su pluri-recomposición. Raúl Prada Alcoreza,quien ha escrito sobre el lustro demovilizaciones en Bolivia, asigna lanoción de “molecular” a estosmovimientos, ya que están basados ennúcleos infinitamente múltiples,coordinados y complementarios, antesque estar jerarquizados. Cuando se lesobserva de cerca, aparecen más biencomo estrados de constante negociación,casi g/local. Son flexibles, pueden versetrans/nacional o regionalmente; una vezque solucionan una demanda, puedendesaparecer, o bien transformarse en otromovimiento de distinta naturaleza. Através de su ideología pragmáticaprocedente del descontento, la frustracióny la futileza del estado nacional, losmovimientos se unen reactivando ynarrativizando la memoria social de laexplotación de los recursos naturales. Suunidad es elástica. Algunas veces esprofundamente étnica (aymara oquechua), en otras tiene raigambresmoleculares o complejos rizomas en los

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cuales clase, etnicidad, género ysexualidad interactúan entre núcleos depluri-coaliciones con multipropuestas.

Dos movimientos sociales queirrumpieron al estrado social bolivianofueron la Guerra del Gas y la Guerra delAgua. Sin entrar en detalles precisossobre ambos por falta de espacio, sepuede decir que los dos tienen que vercon los recursos naturales, y con la formaen que estos juegan un papel en lamemoria social de los movimientosbolivianos. Ambos, gas y agua, poseenun carácter vital. En su importanciageopolítica no están alejados de unahistoria local—que pareciera repetirse adinfinitum—que fue la de la minería de laplata y el oro en la colonia, el guano y elcaucho a fines del siglo XIX, el estaño yla coca en el siglo XX y, recientemente, elgas y el agua. Los movimientos actualesse plantean la pregunta básica: ¿Por quéla pobreza no desaparece? Por elcontrario, se reproduce, sin que quienesfirman los acuerdos internacionales (enrepresentación del estado) piensen en unapolítica de reversión y redistribución másigualitaria de la riqueza para promover lacapitalización (y no la descapitalización)del país. Sin duda, los movimientosdesnudan y revelan el endeble carácter delestado nacional, y de las clases socialesdirigentes que, en la percepción de lospropios movimientos, han subastado elpaís para beneficiarse de un capitalismoneoliberal que crea excedentes en Miamio Nueva York, pero no en los bancosnacionales que implementan uncapitalismo de características usureras (sepuede medir por la deuda externa de cadapaís). En otro momento de la historiasocial boliviana se organizó un

movimiento de “deudores morosos,”personas a las que el sistema endeudó através de lo que se llamó “el micro-crédito” con altísimas tasas de interés yde defección. Esto es casi un retrato delpaís en relación a su propia deuda con elFMI, el BID o el BM. Uno podríaafirmar que Bolivia adoptó uncapitalismo en el que no es el productorquien fija el precio, sino es el comprador.

Este primer lustro del siglo XXI seestudiará como el período en el cual sefragua o articula el descontento de unanueva generación de actores sociales noestatales, de multifacéticas comunidadesque se autoconstruyen al fragor de lalucha contra la exclusión e invisibilidad através de movimientos descentralizadospero coordinados. Varios de ellos tienencomo trasfondo común niveles depauperización creada y profundizada poruna incisiva desigualdad directamentecausada por los “linkages” globalistas delneoliberalismo. Sin embargo, el aspectoeconómico ya no es el único determinanteen la emergencia de un movimientosocial. Pocos son los países en los que nopasa nada interesante, lo cual tampocosignifica necesariamente que hayaausencia de movimientos sociales en losmismos. En muchos otros se han logradoverdaderos triunfos que pueden constituiruna nueva noción de ciudadanías deigualdad (“equal citizens”), nuevossujetos sociales que, con su irrupción enescena, redefinen los estados nacionaleshaciéndolos más inclusivos, acentuando eldemocratizar la democracia.

Finalmente, se puede decir que la fuerzade los más recientes movimientos influyeseriamente en la redefinición del concepto

de estado nacional en su contexto global.La reciente elección del dirigente cocaleroEvo Morales en Bolivia significa laemergencia de un estado nacionaltransculturizado. Sin la comprensión deesa transculturación, la administracióndel presidente Evo Morales no podríaredefinir ese estado que necesitarefundarse a través de una asambleaconstituyente. Al refundarse el mismo, laciudadanía nominal (“unequal citizens”)que siempre otorgó el estado boliviano,por primera vez podría transformarse enuna ciudadanía efectiva y activa. Alenfatizarse la plena participacióndemocrática, como ya se ha visto en lasmás recientes elecciones (diciembre 2005),la ciudadanía como sociedad civil mostrósu capacidad de hegemonizar con el votola dirección y transparencia del mismoestado nacional; éste será lo que laciudadanía apruebe sin la influencia defundaciones extranjeras especializadas enel marketing del voto al estiloestadounidense. Será una democracia sinla intervención de “la embajada,” hastaahora tan ubicua e interesada en apoyarno un proceso democrático, sino a loscandidatos que garanticen sus exigenciasde “estabilidad” a través de un nuevoautoritarismo imperial que territorializa ladominación. Esa es, al menos, lapercepción recurrente entre losmovimientos críticos de una globalizacióncosmética, que hasta ahora ha sidoimposible de desechar.

A diferencia de lo anterior, losmovimientos sociales incluyen en suagenda nociones tales como laredistribución igualitaria de la riqueza, laimplementación del sistema educacional,de salud pública, del derecho a la


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EVO MORALES EN EL CONTEXTO DE LOS MÁS RECIENTES MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES CONTINUED…

vivienda, al empleo y al salario justo, elderecho a los recursos naturales queposee el país, derechos a la seguridad y albienestar. Todos estos son vistos comoderechos humanos individuales ycolectivos, no como privilegios.Naturalmente, lo anterior tiene que vercon la emergencia de nuevassubjetividades sociales movilizadas através de sistemas cibernéticos decomunicación alternativa. Losmovimientos sociales también hanpromovido y se han alimentado delderecho a la libre información (es decir,en oposición a las cadenas globales). Sinese derecho, la emergencia de unaasamblea constituyente que articularía laverdadera representación de losmovimientos sociales en Bolivia no podríatener la competencia para proponerverdaderas transformacionesestructurales. De acuerdo a Raúl PradaAlcoreza, “la asamblea constituyenterepresenta la constitución misma delpoder originario” (2005). En estapercepción, Evo Morales no es sino elindividuo que puede dar el pasofundamental para transformar y refundarel país. El termómetro de su triunfo lomedirán, en última instancia, losmovimientos sociales que lo eligieron.

[NB. El autor agradece las sugerencias deNorma Klahn, Sonia Alvarez, EugenioBermejillo, y de los amigos del GrupoEpistemológico Comuna de La Paz,Bolivia. Eduardo Robles colaboró én labusqueda de materiales bibliográficos.]

Bibliografía

Andrews, Edmond L. 2005. “Wolfowitz as aBanker: A Champion for the Poor.” The NewYork Times, Sept 24, B1,B6,

Delgado-P., Guillermo 2005. Bolivian SocialMovements in the First Lustrum of the 21st

Century.<http://isla.igc.org/Features/Globalization/BSM2k.html> (see: Special Features)

Finnegan, William 2002.“Leasing the Rain. Letterfrom Bolivia.” The New Yorker, April 8, pp. 43-47; 50-53.

García Linera, Álvaro 2004. “La SublevaciónIndígena Popular en Bolivia.” Chiapas, Vol 16,125-142.

Monsiváis, Carlos (Tr. Heather Hammett) 2005.“Citizenship and Urban Violence: Nightmares inthe Open Air” in Susana Rotker (ed.) Citizens ofFear. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press,pp. 240-246.

Prada Alcoreza Raúl 2005. “La Batalla del Agua”en “El Alto y el conflicto de los carburantes enSanta Cruz”. Electronic Journal of the BolivianStudies Association. <www.bolivianstudies.org>Volume 5,.Issue 1 (March).

_________________2005 “Estado y Nomadismo”(ms).

Warren, Jonathan 2004. “Socialist Saudades:Lula’s Victory, Indigenous Movements and theLatin American Left” in N. Postero and L.Zamosc (eds.) The Struggle for Indigenous Rightsin Latin America. Brighton: Sussex AcademicPress, pp. 217-231.

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DEBATES

The popular mobilizations that havetoppled presidents in recent years inEcuador, Bolivia and Argentina indicatethe emergence of a new form of collectiveaction that Eduardo Galeano calls “thepueblazo.” According to Galeano, thepueblazo joins the historic cuartelazo as acommon strategy used in the region todepose presidents. In Ecuador somewould say that this practice has beeninstitutionalized, as massive protest hasled to the removal of three presidents inthe past nine years: Abdalá Bucaram(1997), Jamil Mahuad (2000) and LucioGutiérrez (2005). While alwaysappearing spontaneous, precipitated bysome crisis, popular removal has becomea feasible and rational option available tosocial and political sectors deeplydissatisfied with the incumbent regime.To some, pueblazos seem to complementelectoral participation. Even as peoplevote they may mention “y si no cumple,lo sacamos.” While these popularuprisings appear alarming andnonsensical to many external observers,they make perfect sense from theperspective of their protagonists and ofscholars who have been studying theprofound economic and political crisesenveloping Ecuador. However, as theaftermath of the recent mobilizationagainst Gutiérrez illustrates, these massactions have not necessarily provensuccessful conduits to meaningful change.

In a country deeply fragmented by race,class and region, it has been difficult toachieve a democratic consolidation inwhich political officeholders adequatelyrepresent the broad spectrum of socialsectors. Electoral structures characterizedby congressional at-large districts

(representing either the entire country oran entire province) and proportionalrepresentation have led to a multiplicityof parties and political movements, yethighly inadequate social and geographicrepresentation. There is a profounddisconnect between the central politicalsystem and society at large. Furthermore,regional, class and racial divides havemeant that no political party has broadnational support or carries a majority inthe parliament. In this scenario ofmultiple, fragmented parties, newlyelected presidents must createcongressional coalitions in order togovern. Party leaders threaten towithdraw their support of the presidentto advance their interests. The strongestparties control the Supreme Court, theelectoral tribunal, and other importantjudicial bodies. When one or morepowerful parties decide to remove theirsupport, they frequently accompany thismove with accusations of executivecorruption and congressional indictmentsof key government figures. Executivesare then forced to seek other partisansupport, often making questionablecompromises in exchange. In a regionpurportedly characterized by strongexecutives and weaker legislatures,presidents nevertheless can rarely actwithout congressional backing. EvenGutiérrez’s stacking of the Supreme Courtto facilitate the return of former presidentAbdalá Bucaram, which provoked suchpopular ire, was sanctioned by a majorityof parliament.

These conditions have led mostEcuadorians to view electoral politics andpoliticians as dirty and corrupt; thelargest traditional political parties as out

of tune with the needs of the majority;and the congress as a cesspool in whichvotes are bought and sold. Traditionalpoliticians either present themselves asrepresentatives of the oppressed (populistBucaram), technocrats using rationalmethods to solve Ecuador’s problems(Mahuad), as political outsiders whoselegitimacy derives from a newindependent electoral force (Gutiérrez’sSociedad Patriótica), or/and theirassociation with an important socialmovement (Gutiérrez’s electoral alliancewith the predominantly indigenous party,Pachakutik). Presidents are elected to theextent that they are consideredincorruptible, unwilling to consort withtraditional elites or be tainted bytraditional political practices, andcommitted to social policies that willaddress the needs of Ecuador’s poor (over60 percent of the population). Whenpresidents fail to keep their promises,either by protecting the interests of elites(Mahuad, Gutiérrez) or/and manifestingexcessive cronyism (Bucaram, Gutiérrez)they trigger mass disappointment, as bothare viewed as corrupt and immoralpractices. In a context in which thecongress and the courts have becomecompletely delegitimized, institutionalsolutions to a crisis are deemedimpossible, and popular removal seemslike the only logical alternative.

Frequently complicit actors in acontemporary global context in whichtraditional coups would be seriouslyquestioned, the congress, traditionalpolitical parties, the United StatesEmbassy, and the military are also playingkey roles behind the scenes of these“popular” uprisings. The military, for


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Mass Mobilization and Presidential Removal in Ecuador entre la ira y la esperanzaby AMALIA PALLARES | University of Illinois, Chicago | [email protected]


example, may signal that it will donothing to stop the mobilization,“stepping in” only to ensure that thedeposed president is safely removed, andthat a politically acceptable replacementis instated. Traditional political elitesmay provide tacit support whileremaining publicly silent, resurfacing toopine on what the most democratic andconstitutional succession would be, or tonegotiate the distribution of cabinetpositions with the new president. Finally,the United States Embassy plays a pivotalrole in determining who may or may notinherit power, as its support for theremoval of the triumvirate designed toreplace Mahuad made quite evident.Overlooking the role played by eliteactors in these “pueblazos” not onlyunderestimates the actual political role oftraditional political forces, but canoverestimate the power of popular protestand foster profound disappointmentwhen popular power does not eventuallylead to broad-scale change.

While this new strategy of popularremoval has become a reasonablealternative for a variety of social andpolitical actors, it does not follow that itis an effective means for achievingsignificant reform. A brief description ofthe events following the removal of LucioGutiérrez will provide an illustration. InApril 2005, middle class urban sectors,youth, local politicians, and professionalsfrom Quito mobilized against Gutiérrezand pursued congressional representativesdemanding “que se vayan todos.” Havingwon the presidency with the support ofthe indigenous party Pachakutik,Gutiérrez broke ties with the indigenousmovement in a matter of months, refusing

to pursue the leftist agenda he hadcommitted to during the campaign.Gutiérrez then turned to the traditionalright-wing party Partido Social Cristiano(PSC) and adopted even moreconservative policies. Interpersonal andpolitical conflicts with PSC leaders ledGutiérrez to later rely on the PartidoRoldosista Ecuatoriano (PRE), whichlobbied for the return of ousted formerpresident Abdalá Bucaram. Patterns ofnepotism, cronyism and corruption, thepacking of the court to facilitateBucaram’s return, and Bucaram’s eventualreturn led masses of quiteños to take tothe streets and demand the president’sremoval. After Gutiérrez’s departure,Vice-President Alfredo Castillo assumedthe presidency promising to immediatelyaddress the demands of the forajidos, oroutsiders, as the protesters calledthemselves. Members of parliamentcommitted to examining their pastmistakes, removing members found guiltyof corruption and other forms of abuse,and working to reconstitute the courts ina less partisan way. Both branches agreedthat the government should movetowards fundamental political reform.There was nation-wide euphoria. Severalsectors of civil society pushed for areferendum in which Ecuadorians woulddecide whether they wanted aconstitutional assembly to reform ofelections, political parties, courts and thecongress.

Seven months later, and despite PresidentCastillo’s vocal support for thereferendum, congress and the Court ofConstitutional Guarantees have blockedthe possibilities for a referendum. Afterhundreds of proposals were sent by

different sectors of civil society suggestingthemes that should be voted upon, thegovernment produced a list of topics thatexcluded most of these proposals.Members of civil society bitterlycomplained that there was no publicdebate on what the proposed themesshould be. While this has been the classicmodus operandi, it is still profoundlydisappointing to peoples who, accordingto Ecuadorian political theorist, AgustínCueva, have historically existed “entre laira y la esperanza.”

Ecuador’s recent history of pueblazosleads to at least three reflections on thelimits of these types of mobilization.

Pueblazos are similar in style but quitedifferent in substance.

Pueblazos are not always carried out bythe same collective. Just as the termpueblo has been critically interrogated forits simplification of a complex set ofgroups, networks and subjectivities,focusing mainly on the similarity of thestrategy used overlooks the fact that eachof these uprisings involved a distinct setof actors, not always the mostdisempowered. The uprising againstBucaram combined members of theprofessional middle class, a few sectors ofthe working class and indigenous activistsfrom Quito and the highland region.Bucaram’s crass form of coastal populismand rampant corruption irked theaesthetic sensibilities of Quito’s middleclass. His intent to manipulate theindigenous movement and disregard forindigenous demands mobilized indigenousactivists. It was an uncommon front,uniting people across race and class

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DEBATES

boundaries in a way that has notoccurred since. The uprising againstMahuad, by contrast, was primarily anindigenous mobilization, with the supportof a coalition of urban movements,chauffeur and taxi unions, and somedisaffected young members of theEcuadorian military (Lucio Gutiérrez themost notable among them). This uprisingbest reflected the class and raceoppositions that characterize Ecuador, asMahuad’s protection of the economicinterests of bank elites to the detriment ofordinary citizens’ livelihoods instigatedthe cross-regional mobilization ofworking class and lower-middle classsectors. Finally, Gutiérrez’s removal wasprimarily a mobilization of middle classprofessionals, local politicians, students,movement activists and NGOs fromQuito, who felt excluded from the normalchannels of power by Gutiérrez. Theindigenous movement was absent, aswere other social forces across thecountry.

These differences begin to shed light onthe difficulties of organizing effectivepost-uprising political coalitions. Thevery question of who has a right to makedemands and who represents “el pueblo”are up for grabs, even in instances inwhich the role of the protagonists inousting the president is clear. Indigenousactivists who failed in their attempt toreform the political system after removingMahuad learned this the hard way, whenother social and political sectorsquestioned their use of non-democraticand non-constitutional means to replaceMahuad, and argued that indigenousactivists could not speak for all theEcuadorian peoples. In cases of

mobilizations instigated by groups ofactors that are not a clear socialmovement, such as the forajidos, the lackof identification with a specific movementled to a simultaneous invisibility andubiquity in which no one and everyonewas a forajido.

While pueblazos have been unable tobridge the profound schism between civilsociety and the central state, otherpolitical developments may facilitate thecreation of new bridging mechanisms inthe future.

As the Gutiérrez uprising shows, theability of the central state not only toignore the demands of civil society butalso to deny them a place at thenegotiating table is a consistent patternthat has only been broken by theenormous organizing power of thecontemporary indigenous movement.This is a structural problem that remainsin place regardless of the politicalorientation of the president. However,three important and relatively recentdevelopments provide hope for futureorganizing.

First, the creation of the Pachakutik Partyin 1997 as an alliance between indigenousactivists and mestizo progressivesprovides an alternative model, asPachakutik members are expected torepresent the demands of the indigenousmovement and its allies. When theydon’t, as happened recently in theGutiérrez presidency, they are heldaccountable by the indigenous movement.As it has gained positions in local andnational elections, Pachakutik has becomea more important force in the parliament,

broadening the center-left coalition thatprovides a counterweight to the right andto traditional political elites.

Second, the very recent creation of citizenwatch organizations designed to monitorthe work of state bureaucrats is also ahopeful sign. The most notable is theCivic Committee against Corruption.However, there are also organizationsthat monitor national elections, thefulfillment of electoral quotas for women,and the implementation of different socialpolicy projects. The members of theseorganizations usually have a history ofmovement activism and/or previous NGOinvolvement. Finally, one of the mostexciting developments is the growinglinkages between local governments andcivil society organizations. Many ruraland urban municipalities have redefinedtheir roles and reinscribed their identitiesas partners with civil societyorganizations. In many instances,movement activists have been elected tolocal office and restructured therelationship between local governmentand citizens, utilizing participatorydemocracy methods. Indigenous activistswere pioneers in this notion ofempowering and democratizing at thegrassroots level, but this process is nowbecoming more prevalent in non-indigenous and some large urbanmunicipalities as well. The connectionsbetween movements and localgovernments force us to rethinktheoretical models that have viewedmovements, by definition, as beingoppositional to the state. They alsoconfirm recent critiques of civil societyliterature that point to the deeplyembedded connections between state and


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civil society. However, in this instance asin others in the region, it is important toqualify this as a linkage with localexpressions of the state and not centralstate actors. These new types ofpartnerships also help to rendertraditional state practices more obsolete,as people compare them to moremeaningful citizenship experiences at thelocal level.

This Manichean division between thepower of those who disrupt and thepower of those who govern (reinforcedduring these pueblazos) is a politicalstraightjacket for activists whosimultaneously constitute a social and apolitical movement.

While the 1990s were characterized bythe NGOization of many 1980smovements, indigenous movements in theregion, by contrast, staged massive socialprotests, challenging structuraladjustment policies and modernizationand privatization efforts. By the end ofthe 1990s, the Ecuadorian indigenousmovement had become the most powerfulin the country—the only one that couldtruly occupy a leadership role in opposingneoliberal reforms. After years ofavoiding electoral politics, the NationalConfederation of Ecuadorian Indians(CONAIE) created the Pachakutik Partyin coalition with other indigenous andnon-indigenous allies with the intentionto maintain two active movements: thesocial movement, embodied in CONAIE;and the political movement ofPachakutik. While Pachakutik gainedimportant ground in municipal electionsand won some congressional seats,CONAIE continued to utilize the politics

of disruption to protest subsidy cuts,privatization efforts, and ultimately, tooust Mahuad in 2000. Their inability totranslate that victory into significantreform and the repression theyexperienced under Mahuad’s successor,Gustavo Noboa, led indigenous activiststo ally with Gutiérrez’s SociedadPatriótica, pursuing executive power asthe best path to achieving their agenda.

Once Gutiérrez was in power, whetherone could govern and be opposition atthe same time was no longer a theoreticalquestion. However, the social movementliterature did not provide many usefulmaps, as movements are expected totransition into interest groups or politicalparties, but not necessarily do both. Thebreak between Gutiérrez and Pachakutikeight months later was a bitterdisappointment to indigenous activists.Gutiérrez’s instigation of divisions amongindigenous leaders also tested themovement. The relationship betweensome Pachakutik leaders and CONAIEwere severed when some Pachakutikmembers supported the Gutiérrezpresidency. Overall, the indigenousmovement’s association with Gutiérrezhurt its public approval, and came backto haunt it during the subsequentpueblazo, as they were seen as complicitin Gutiérrez’s web of corruption,cluelesness, and nepotism. Eager tomaintain its momentum as anoppositional movement, in recentdeclarations CONAIE has denounced anumber of Pachakutik members asbetraying the movement and hasannounced that it will abstain from the2006 presidential electoral process.Pachakutik, in turn, is attempting to

consolidate itself after the departure ofseveral members and has now launchedAuqui Tituaña as its political candidatefor president. Both organizationscontinue to struggle as they crossunchartered territory, caught between thequest for political power and the fear ofbeing used.

These developments raise a number ofquestions for social movement theorists inLatin America. While movements inindustrialized nations may be able toafford the luxury of abandoning thepolitics of disruption, this is not anoption in countries where powerdifferences are so stark. However, theopposition of the “pueblo” against thepoliticians erases the sites of exchangeand cooperation that may in fact be moreeffective forces of change: linkagesbetween movement activists and localgovernments, participatory democracypractices at the local level that engendernew citizenship practices, watchorganizations engaged in the daily grindof holding public officials accountable,and indigenous politicians negotiatingwith indigenous activists about goals,strategies, and tactics.

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DEBATES

Seeing

Social movements in Brazil haveexperienced a unique trajectory: they havegrown and flourished during a twenty-year period of discernible and highlyuneven democratic deepening. As aresult, Brazilian activists face ongoing andurgent questions about the location ofpolitics. Since the mid-1980s, manygrassroots activists have opted to movefrom “the streets” to “the institutions,”seeing in elections or policymaking thepossibility of advance for issues ofequality and inclusion.

As some activists chose a moreinstitutional path, others continued towork in local communities, in religiousgroups, in transnational protest networks,and in the streets, or to move back andforth or pursue both pathssimultaneously. Ongoing engagementwith political institutions has meant thatmany radicals replaced their notion ofrevolution with one of reform. Generally,they did so with the conviction thatreform needed to be significant to justifythe bet on the institutions. And mostremain radically uncertain about theresult of this bet and their own futurestrategies.

In the course of fieldwork among activistsin southern Brazil in 2001-2002, I wasrepeatedly struck by the sense ofachievement of the people with whom Ispoke and the vital character of theirdebates and activities—in participatorybudgeting meetings in Porto Alegre, ruralwomen’s mobilizations and MSTsettlements in the interior of Rio Grandedo Sul, and the performance projects of

the Afro Reggae Cultural Group in Riode Janeiro. In saying this, I do not meanto minimize the difficulties Braziliansocial movements have faced or to coverover their many limits and contradictions,which I sought to describe and criticallyevaluate in my research. Rather, I meanto underscore that Brazil is one of the fewplaces in the world today where activistshave seen their work consistentlyadvance, despite harsh repressions andsetbacks, over the course of two decades,including the election of a Workers Partypresident in 2002.

Looking backward, Lula’s electoralvictory represents the culmination oftwenty years of movement between thestreets and the institutions. And indeedthis is what democracy hopes andpromises—that the animation of socialmovements will take up residence ininstitutions and that the quality ofordinary people’s lives will improvethrough the policymaking that results.However, it is now clear that Lula has notchampioned significant reform and thatPT officials routinely bought votes inCongress and made use of illegalcampaign contributions. Furthermore, itappears that PT leaders, despite theinnovation they initiated or observed atthe level of social movements andmunicipal government, have littleconception of what a nationalgovernment might say or do to exercisepower in new ways to further equalityand inclusion. Without suchimagination, economic orthodoxy andpolitical corruption can appear essentialand even legitimate.

What is at stake in Brazil in this contextis enormous. As one of the best scenariosfor democratically-driven socioeconomicreform in the world today, Brazil puts tothe test the claims of those whochampion democracy or arguepragmatically for entering the institutions:that democracy can improve people’slives; that citizenship within politicalinstitutions fosters inclusion and well-being; and that nation-states can besignificant forces for self-government andsocial justice in today’s globalized world.

What Brazilians active in socialmovements will do next is unclear.Virtually anyone who supported the PTor hoped it might carry out significantreform feels betrayed. Brazilian activistsmay continue their two-pronged strategy,innovatively connecting activism withindemocratic institutions to mobilizationoutside them, committed by necessity orconviction to a democratic wager.Alternately, the failure of Brazil’sdemocracy under Lula significantly totransform the lives of the poor may leadactivists to look elsewhere andexperiment with new forms, such as thevery different ones that have developed inVenezuela, the Andes, and Argentina, aswell as in transnational protest networksand evangelical churches. My fieldworkrevealed that few Brazilian activists—andnone of the many with whom I spoke atthe grassroots—believe in democracy as aparamount good. Despite their partialembrace of democratic institutions andtheir awareness that these institutions attimes provide protection for organizing,activists remain largely neutral orskeptical regarding the value of


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In the Streets or in the Institutions?by JEFFREY W. RUBIN | Boston University | [email protected]


democracy for making headway on issuesof social justice.

For those who believe or hope thatdemocratic mechanisms at the nationallevel and within social movements canconstitute a viable path to equality andinclusion in Latin America, the choicesBrazilian activists make in the face ofdisillusionment with Lula and the PT—and the choices the President and partythemselves make concerning progressivereform—will be of great consequence. Ifreform in Brazil, including new economicrelations with the United States and theIMF, were to lessen inequality, thenpromises made in the name of democracyand civil society would gain credenceinternationally. In today’s world of realand imagined fundamentalisms, such anoutcome would be of considerablebenefit.

Not Seeing

In the course of my research on socialmovements and states in Mexico andBrazil, I have developed the concept of“seeing and not seeing” as a bridgebetween conventional historical andsocial scientific approaches, with theiremphasis on bounded, coherent actorsand interests, and poststructuralism, withits focus on multiple, decentered, andcultural forms of subjecthood and power.“Seeing and not seeing” meansacknowledging the existence, force, andcohesiveness of political actors andregimes, while simultaneously recognizingsomething else at play in them, themixture of fragments and pieces, withtheir own histories, out of which subjectsare constituted.

The analysis above speaks in terms ofdiscrete, coherent actors, a democraticprocess with rules that are kept orbroken, and the choices that activistsmake. It seeks to characterize aparticular political moment with clarityand urgency. In so doing, it delineates apossible path, a coalescence that comesout of a more varied and complex set ofcircumstances. What I would like to doin the rest of this essay is present someexamples of what becomes visibleprimarily when we are “not seeing”formal political actors, but rather lookinginside and around them. Drawing on theBrazilian social movements I havestudied, I will briefly describe the kinds ofquestions, fragments, exclusions, andpossibilities out of which this moment ofsocial movement activism in democracyhas been made. I do this because themessiness and incompleteness beneath thesurface may prove more central to thefuture of cultural struggles and materialconditions than the political phenomenawe more easily perceive and address.

The explosiveness of hidden spaces.Many policy analysts argue that Lula hasappropriately adjusted to the politics ofthe possible and that democratic changeis a slow process, while leftist criticscounter that significant reform could havebeen initiated after the 2002 elections andthat social movements need newstrategies. In different ways, each lookspast the pervasiveness of harm, hunger,and violence in places such as Rio’sfavelas and the rural Northeast andignores the possibility that these violenceswill spiral out of control before politicalstrategies bear fruit. The reality ofBrazilian favelas in a radically divided

society brings continuing anguish tomillions of Brazilians, and this will likelycontinue unabated for the foreseeablefuture. In the documentary, News froma Personal War, Rio’s then-Chief of PoliceHélio Luz wonders how to keep twomillion people who earn less than $100 amonth under control and says bluntly, “Ipractice law enforcement to protect andserve the status quo.” Captain Pimentelof Rio’s Special Police OperationsBattalion explains the excitement thatsurrounds this task: “I am in a war. Theonly difference is that I go home everyday.” A “seeing and not seeing”approach would keep everyday politicalprocesses and everyday violencessimultaneously in view.

The unevenness of citizenship. Thenotion of more developed and enduringcitizenship parallels that of democraticdeepening. However, while claims andpractices of citizenship are an integralpart of Brazilian social movements, myresearch suggests that such practices arealways partial and uneven, not becauseone or another aspect of citizenship hasnot yet been fully realized, but ratherbecause being a citizen who claimsrights—what kind of citizen, whichrights?—is just one aspect of the lives thatpeople bring to politics. As a result, itdoesn’t make sense to talk aboutpathways to deeper democracy or moreparticipatory citizenship as if greateramounts or deeper qualities will lead tobetter results. The “thing” itself,citizenship or democracy, is alwayspartial, gendered, constructed, etc. Whatis interesting and important are theparticular ways in which citizenship ordemocracy in a given place become part

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ON THE PROFESSION

of individuals and societies and what thismakes possible. Thus, women in theMovement of Rural Women Workers(MMTR) in Rio Grande do Sul may inthe same week march againstneoliberalism in front of the Governor’sPalace, attend a workshop on stress thatincludes advice on when to drink one’safternoon chimarño, feel keen nostalgiafor the early days of unified women’smobilization as they negotiate inpredominantly male labor unions, andhope that daughters grow up quickly sothey will help around the house. Thenostalgias one harbors, the personal needsone brings to public spaces, one’scontradictory impulses abouttransformation—these are alwayscomponents of citizenship.

The corruptions inherent in democracy.The PT corruption scandal is a reminderthat different forms of corruption areconstitutive elements of any politics,including democracy, if by corruption wemean a range of practices from favoritismto patronage to cash, along with politicsfueled by rumor, fear, vengeance, andvarieties of religious faith. Claims totransparency elicit beliefs aboutconspiracy because democracy is partialand functions to obscure as well asilluminate. The scholarly and politicalquestion of any democracy or socialmovement needs to be, what is itscharacter, its story? What is the mix andbalance among everyday practices andformal rules, and what does this changingmix make possible for particular groupsof people?

The institutional spaces for ordinarypassions. Institutions and social

movements are not only or necessarilyplaces people enter to pursue politicalgoals, foster identities as citizens, orreshape local communities. They are alsospaces where people bring angers, gossip,rumor, crime, and the dramas of dailylife. The real-life telenovela of corruptionhearings in the Brazilian Congress, withpoliticians, bureaucrats, publicists, andtheir spouses moving from conspiracy torevelation as ordinary citizens sit glued totheir TVs, has made clear the role of thesecultural motivations and performances indefining Brazilian democracy. Thepathways connecting local life to socialmovements and democratic institutionsdepend on the ways in which each makesspaces for the less overtly political aspectsof people’s lives and what happens inthese spaces. Even as ParticipatoryBudgeting develops skills of conciseargument, for example, it encouragesemotion and storytelling, as people useopen-comment time at meetings to talkabout what is most pressing or engagingin their lives. Women in the MMTR cananalyze pensions and plan takeovers oflegislative offices, while in role-playingworkshops in church basements they findthe words out of which discussion andnegotiation are crafted in families andtell, often for the first time, stories of painand loss.

The paradoxes at the heart of socialmovements and life trajectories. “Seeingand not seeing” means laying out moredetail, more ambiguity and complexity,than conventional social science allows.But what then is one to do with all thatcomplexity? How does one craft acompelling analysis or explanation? Inmy work on the MMTR, I have written

portraits of several women activists,focusing on ways in which each of them“holds paradox.” This means, forexample, the paradox of seeing all sortsof injustices in one’s daily life, but havingto continue to live intimately with thoseinjustices, working from before dawnuntil long after dark to feed and clotheone’s family; or the paradox of havingmoved into a “broader” public space, aspresident of a rural union, but remainingsuffused with nostalgia for the early daysof the women’s movement and theinspiration it provided. Paradoxes rangefrom the seemingly personal to theexplicitly political: the paradox of havingthe courage to establish a lesbianrelationship because of the subjecthoodencouraged by the women’s movement,but finding that relationship unspeakablewithin the movement; or the paradox ofhaving “two hearts,” one in the streetsand one in the institutions, and constantlyhaving to choose between them. Theseparadoxes in social movement activismreveal particular ways in which history iscarried into the present and underscorethe tensions that propel activism forward.

Movements-in-democracy. In thecountryside where the MMTR has beenactive, I glimpsed the possibility of a newway of being a social movement in ademocracy, of being in the streets and inthe institutions simultaneously. Thismeans combining, in different forms andmoments, concientización, inspiration,connection with daily life, creation ofinnovative political forms, and pressureand threat from the streets—themultifaceted work of social movements—with running health and educationdepartments, gaining political office, and


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DEBATES

negotiating and implementing legislationand policy reform—the work ofdemocratic institutions. Most of thewomen in the MMTR do not believe thiscombination can be contained within onemovement or political vision, and they actto claim the women’s movement for oneside or the other. In contrast, somewomen emerging as leaders, some olderleaders who have distanced themselvesfrom the MMTR and pursued otherpaths of activism, some radical priests,and some scholars speak of what doesnot yet exist in fleshed-out form: apluralism within one movement aboutboth the goals and the locations ofpolitics. Social movements in Brazilunder Lula act at the edge of thispossibility, which may be the mostinnovative and desirable path forpursuing social justice in a democracy.

Governing-as-movement. ParticipatoryBudgeting in Porto Alegre has gainedinternational acclaim because of itssuccess in creating new democraticprocedures that foster animateddiscussion about local budgets. The cycleof participatory budgeting and the theoryof local participation behind it have beenexported globally, by the World Bank,international foundations, NGOs,scholars, and the Prefeitura of PortoAlegre itself. What made ParticipatoryBudgeting in Porto Alegre flourish as itdid, however, was that the PT and urbansocial movements infused a governmentprogram with the spirit and dynamics ofa social movement, bringingneighborhood cultures and passions intolocal meetings, fostering participationthrough the rootedness of activists inpeople’s lives; garnering national and

international media and politicalattention; sparking impatience and anger(and corresponding possibilities oflearning and rapprochement) in meetingsbetween community residents andgovernment officials; and reinventing thecommitment and carnival of movementswithin the repetitive agendas of meetings.

Storytelling. I conclude with a question:how can scholars of social movementsand politics “see and not see” compellingpolitical forms and bring into ouranalyses the complexity and messinessthat shape politics on the ground? Theconventions of storytelling demand andencourage those facets of empirical realityI have described above: hidden spaces,explosiveness, unevenness, corruptions,ordinary passions, and paradox. Wemight better discern and enactmovements-in-democracy and governing-as-movement if we focused our attentionconsistently on these “other sides” ofpolitics and developed new ways ofrepresenting them.

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IN THE STREETS OR IN THE INSTITUTIONS? CONTINUED…

ON THE PROFESSION

In this essay we will suggest thatsignificant barriers to deepeningdemocracy in much of Latin Americainclude not just the weakness of civilsociety vis-à-vis the state, but also theweakness of the state itself vis-à-vis itspublic administrative, technical, andenforcement functions. This is not arecent phenomenon, though it hasbecome more visible and has probablyworsened under the regime of neoliberalstate-slashing. Latin American stateshave often been thought of as “strongstates”. But this strength was acombination of hierarchy andauthoritarianism, of military might andthe capacity to spend large quantities ofmoney. It did not represent the kinds ofstrength that are relevant in ademocracy—the ability to provide routineservices efficiently, to provide for thesecurity of citizens, to administer publicbusiness, to enforce the law in anappropriate manner, to regulate, collecttaxes, respond to emergencies, and soforth. Latin American states were strongon the ability to act irregularly—repressive actions with excessive force,big development projects—but ratherweak, with pockets of capacity, on theeveryday qualities of stateness. Recentwork by O’Donnell and associates onhorizontal accountability and the qualityof democracy has made the connectionbetween democratization and state (andnot just regime), stressing especially therequirement that the actions of stateofficials be legally bounded1. But most ofthe work on civil society participation inLatin America has paid scant attention tothe debilitating effect that state weaknesshas on the prospect of greater social orgrassroots control of the state.

Scholars of social movements, civilsociety, and deliberative or participatorydemocracy in Latin America have thus farnot paid a lot of attention to state-building. Studies of civil societyflourished as the wave of authoritarianmilitary regimes that took power in the1960s and 1970s began to recede. It was(and to a large extent remains) apolitically engaged literature, in whichscholars of both contemporary andhistorical movements were consciouslytrying to build a stronger scaffolding foremerging civil societies. In Brazil, wherethe transition period lasted the longest,this literature retained a stronglyoppositional tone in which “the state,”encompassing everything fromauthoritarian and/or elitist institutions toa generalized system of social hierarchyand injustice, was opposed by a “civilsociety” comprising both organizationsseeking inclusion and justice and anemergent public sphere of deliberation.During the 1990s, the disappearance ofthe unifying “enemy” that theauthoritarian state had representedseemed to pronounce the end of a cycle ofradical mobilization. At the same time,two other phenomena increasinglydominated studies of civil society inBrazil: the growth of a private non-profitor NGO sector and the establishment of atremendous number of deliberativebodies, mainly at the municipal level, inwhich representatives of a range of civilsociety organizations (community groups,NGOs, unions, religious groups, privatesector associations) join withrepresentatives of state agencies to discussproblems and make policyrecommendations in areas like health,education, child welfare, and the

environment. This council format hasbeen replicated in some instances at statelevels, and more recently, at the level ofthe river basin (through river basincommittees, the subject of our currentwork in the Watermark Project / ProjetoMarca d’Água)2. At the same time, somemunicipalities experimented withparticipatory budgeting as pioneered inPorto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grandedo Sul, through which communitymembers deliberate over priorities forcapital expenditures.3

In general, these new arenas of decision-making and partnership have beenstudied primarily from the standpoint ofcivil society organizations. The key issuesaddressed in this literature are: a) whethercivil society can influence policy throughthese new deliberative bodies; b) whetherthey can hold states accountable for theiractions; c) whether these spaces genuinelyrepresent the constituencies in whosenames they speak; d) whether the“politically excluded” are effectivelyrepresented by them; and e) howdemocratic decision-making is withinthem. There has to our knowledge beenvery little work on the state side of theseparticipatory processes. Despite theinfluence in the 1990s of ideas such asEvans’ “State-Society Synergy”,4 manyscholars of civil society and of the publicsphere seem to resist breaking down thestate-society divide when it comes to theroles actors play in participatory decision-making forums. Leonardo Avritzer’sapproach to participatory publics andpolitical renovation recognizes thatdemocratization impulse cannot remaininsulated at the societal level, but hissolution is the proliferation of spaces for


30

Civil Society and State-Building in Latin Americaby: MARGARET E. KECK | Johns Hopkins University | [email protected]

and REBECCA NEAERA ABERS | Núcleo de Pesquisa de Políticas Públicas,

Universidade de Brasília | [email protected]


public deliberation.5 Civil society shouldexpress interests, deliberate, and makedecisions, and should leave concern withtheir implementation to the state. Theemphasis remains on either the input sideof policy (deliberation, participation) oron the output side (accountability).Neglected in this story is the throughput:Is the state capable of implementing thedecisions deliberative bodies make, takinginto account both political and technicalcapacity? Of what do these capacitiesconsist? How widespread are they—thatis, are they concentrated in the mainpopulation centers or distributed over thenational territory?

We believe that answering these questionsrequires taking two important steps awayfrom the vision of civil society and stateas alternative (and mutually exclusive)spheres of activity that has characterizedmuch of the literature in Latin America todate. First, as implied at the beginning ofthis essay, we must stop taking forgranted that if only the political willexisted, state institutions have thecapacity—managerial, administrative,technical, human—to do their jobsproperly. This is not the same questionasked by those seeking to privatize statefunctions, who were concerned mainlywith the scope of state action, nor are weentering here into the issue of thecontracting out of state services to NGOsor private firms. Instead we areinterested in the flow of decisions andtheir implementation through stateagencies. Secondly, we must pay a greatdeal more attention to the role of state-society networks in pushing policydecisions and implementation throughboth political and administrative process.

Especially relevant for studies of civilsociety participation is the role of activistswithin the state who are committed to thegoals espoused by the civil societygroups—indeed, who upon coming homefrom work at the end of the day mayeven be members of the civil societygroups in question.6 In a forthcomingbook on environmental politics in Brazil,Kathryn Hochstetler and Margaret Keckshow that the implementation ofenvironmental policy frequently requirescontinued coordinated action on the partof activists both inside and outside thestate, from lobbying for policy decisionsall the way through implementation.7

Similarly, the Watermark Project hasfound that state technical employees mustoften collaborate with activists outsidethe state to force agencies that resistcoordinating their activities to do so inthe ways that socially inclusive andenvironmentally sustainable watermanagement requires. We suspect thatthese policy areas are not unique, butunless the black box of bureaucracy isopened up to demonstrate how theseinteractions occur, they remain opaque.

This opacity is a problem. As long as thestate is assumed to have the capacity—orthe ability to get it—to implementdecisions produced by deliberation, thenthe solution to its frequent failure to doso can only be to increase the pressure, orperhaps eventually to vote out thegovernment in power in the hope thatanother one will do better. But increasingthe pressure without getting resultsundermines the authority of deliberativeinstitutions and the willingness ofparticipants to continue trying to makethem work. In other words, deliberation

and participation in decision-making willonly deepen democracy if the decisionsthat are made can be carried out by theappropriate public agencies, and if uponmandating that those decisions be carriedout, public agencies have the enforcementability to ensure that they are.

The issue of state weakness has gained alot of attention over the last few years.Many economists who supported theWashington Consensus in the 1990s havecome to see the costs of cutting back onthe state vis-µ-vis its economic activitieswithout simultaneously strengthening itsregulatory and fiscal capacity. Accordingto Francis Fukuyama, even famed freemarket exponent Milton Friedman cameto realize that privatization should nothave preceded the consolidation of therule of law.8 Capacity-building andinstitutional strengthening programs rollregularly off the drawing boards of awide variety of development agencies,often in the form of training programs forstate officials. The rule of law—by whicheconomists mean above all secureproperty rights—has moved to centerstage in economic discourse. For studentsof political institutions, making the ruleof law apply universally has come to beseen as a major stumbling block indemocratic consolidation. However, tocapacitate the state to operate effectivelyand responsively requires a politicalprocess that goes beyond training,planning, and property rights guarantees.9

We believe that for this purpose,empirical studies of the process of state-society interactions for policyimplementation could be very relevant.The focus would be less on “best

31

ON THE PROFESSION

practices” than on the pathways the ideasfor them traveled, and the strategic movesof their carriers. New practices oftenresult from active attempts to steerpolicies through bureaucratic pitfalls, findways to shift agency agendas, and buildbridges between agencies that do notnormally collaborate. Proponentsidentify veto points in the bureaucracyand seek out ways to gain leverage overthem. We often expect powerful actors touse informal channels of influence to getpolicies they care about implemented, buthave paid less attention to efforts by theless powerful to do the same. Yet thiskind of political entrepreneurshipprovides a veritable map of thefunctioning—and dysfunctions—of stateadministration. By illuminating the deadends and routes around them, the pointsin policy implementation wherebrokerage is necessary to get agencies tocollaborate, and other key landmarksalong the bureaucratic pathway, suchstudies provide key insights fordemocratic state-building. In one of thewater committees we are studying, thecommittee was eventually able toconvoke a working group of stateemployees from environmental agenciesand from the Ministério Público topressure other state agencies to do theirjob—without which their own activitiescould not be carried out. Studying thesekinds of state-society interactions couldprovide valuable information fordemocratic state-builders. In fact, thesestate-society interactions might be theseeds of building alternative forms ofpublic political organization, or analternative proposal for stateness.

Civil society has a major stake not only instate-building, but also in the kind ofstate-building that takes place. For thatreason, scholars of participatory processesin Latin America should study morecarefully the administrative processthrough which decisions are or are noteffectively implemented. As long as thestate is understood as a sealed system, itis difficult to imagine what democraticstate-building would actually look like.The fierce defense of the necessarydistinction between the two spheresreflects the long struggle to establish the“autonomy” of civil society, especially inLatin America—where populist and/orcorporatist traditions of state control ofsocial organization are particularlystrong. But if democracy is understood asself-government, then the state cannot bea separate “other.” Just as civil societyorganizations must defend their ownautonomy from control by the state orother powerful organizations, they mustalso defend the state from capture bypowerful private interests or politicalclienteles. From this perspective, it makesno sense to posit a realm of stateresponsibility from which civicparticipation and/or oversight shouldremain absent. Deepening democracyrequires not simply the creation of acountervailing sphere of deliberation—but also an active process of making thestate public—of rebuilding the state sothat it can actually defend publicinterests.

Endnotes1 See Andres Schedler, Larry Diamond and MarcF. Plattner, The Self-Restraining State: Powerand Accountability in New Democracies(Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1999) and GuillermoO’Donnell, Jorge Vargas Cullell, and OsvaldoM. Iazzetta, eds., The Quality of Democracy:Theory and Applications (Notre Dame:University of Notre Dame Press, 2004).

2 This is a multi-year collaborative study thatbegan in 2001, comparing the development ofparticipatory river basin councils (committeesand consortia) in 20 river basins in 12 Brazilianstates, involving Brazilian and U.S. scholars andactivists. See <www.marcadagua.org.br>.

3 Rebecca Abers, Inventing Local Democracy(Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 2000); LeonardoAvritzer, “O Orçamento Participativo: AsExperiências de Porto Alegre e Belo Horizonte,”pp. 17-46 In Sociedade Civil e Espaços Públicosno Brasil, ed. Evelina Dagnino (São Paulo: Paz eTerra, 2002); Gianpaulo Baiocchi, Militants andCitizens: The Politics of ParticipatoryDemocracy in Porto Alegre (Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press, 2005).

4 Peter Evans, ed., State-Society Synergy:Government and Social Capital in Development(Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley,International and Area Studies no. 94, 1997).

5 Leonardo Avritzer, Democracy and the PublicSphere in Latin America (Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 2002).

6 See Evelina Dagnino, “”Sociedade Civil,Espaços Públicos e a Constituição Democráticano Brasil: Limites e Possibilidades,” In Dagnino,op. cit., pp. 287-88, who nonetheless ties thiscollaboration to the political project of thegovernment in office rather than activists in theregular bureaucracy.

7 Greening Brazil: Environmental Activism inState and Society, forthcoming.

8 Francis Fukuyama, “The Imperative of State-Building,” Journal of Democracy 15:2 (April2004): 28.

9 On the difficulties of state administrativereform, see the excellent edited collection BenRoss Schneider and Blanca Heredia, eds.,Reinventing Leviathan: The Politics ofAdministrative Reform in Developing Countries(Miami: North South Center Press, 2003.


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CIVIL SOCIETY AND STATE-BUILDING IN LATIN AMERICA CONTINUED…

DEBATES

En el nuevo milenio, los feminismos estánviviendo modificaciones en sus dinámicas,estrategias y espacios de intervención,complejizando y diversificando laorientación de sus luchas. Existen nuevosmarcos interpretativos para la acción(Jelin 2003), que inciden tanto en elcontenido de las agendas como en losespacios de actuación, ampliando loshorizontes de transformación de losfeminismos.

En relación a los espacios de actuación,dos cambios son significativos yprometedores: el haber recuperado unapolítica cuyo lugar no sea solo el estado,sino la sociedad y la cotidianeidad. Y elhaber trascendido el espacio propio paraconectarlo y disputar contenidos conotras fuerzas y movimientos sociales quese orienta al cambio, abriéndose haciainteracciones y alianzas que amplíen loscontenidos del horizonte emancipatorio yavancen en el desarrollo de uncontrapoder que confronte y dealternativas a los poderes hegemónicos.

En relación al contenido de las agendas,algunas nuevas dimensiones o nuevosénfasis son la complejización yradicalización del paradigma de derechoshumanos, incorporando nuevos derechosfrente a nuevos riesgos y nuevassubjetividades. Son estrategiascontraculturales que ponen en el centrode la visibilidad feminista la recuperacióny ampliación de los derechos económicos,los más devaluados en el períodoneoliberal, y los derechos sexuales yderechos reproductivos, los más resistidospor los espacios oficiales y los máspostergados en el contenido de lasagendas feministas de la década anterior.

Al mismo tiempo, se busca incidir en lasmúltiples dimensiones de las agendas detransformación global. Esto último seexpresa en una activa lucha contra elmodelo económico neoliberal, con suexacerbado individualismo yconsumismo, así como oponiéndose a lamilitarización creciente impulsada por elgobierno norteamericano. Existe tambiénuna preocupación por evidenciar laarticulación de raza, clase, género, edad, yorientación sexual como elementosconstitutivos de un mismo “núcleo” dedominación. Paralelamente, se buscavisibilizar y disputar la ampliación de losmarcos interpretativos de otrosmovimientos, colocando dimensiones queno están claramente incorporadas en lasagendas de transformación de otrosmovimientos sociales. Son los “saberesimpertinentes” (Mafia, 2000) para lalegitimidad del discurso tradicional,presente también en las fuerzas decambio.

Una de estas dimensiones es la luchacontra los fundamentalismos, cuyasmúltiples expresiones—en nombre dedios, el mercado, la tradición—defiendenpensamientos únicos e inmutables comonorma para la sociedad y conconsecuencias nefastas para las vidas y loscuerpos de las mujeres. Por ello, en estalucha contra los fundamentalismos, elcuerpo es uno de esos “saberesimpertinentes” que amplían los referentesde transformación. El cuerpo se hatransformado en un “campo dotado deciudadanía” (Ávila, 2000) a través de unaserie de experiencias sociales disponibles,que producen múltiples articulaciones.Poniendo la mirada en los impactos quelas grandes fuerzas globales producen

sobre el cuerpo, se puede evidenciar estecontenido ciudadano que no logracuajarse en sentido común transformador.Son los derechos del cuerpo los que estánen disputa en la lucha por los derechossexuales y los derechos reproductivos; lalucha contra el SIDA es también unadisputa contra las patentes y lastransnacionales de medicamentos; elmilitarismo coloca los cuerpos de lasmujeres como botín de guerra de todoslos bandos, el racismo es discriminaciónreal y simbólica por el color de la piel, ytiene expresiones perversas en los cuerpossexuales de las mujeres; el hambre queesta quitando capacidades irrecuperablesa los cuerpos de las nuevas generaciones.

El cuerpo, así concebido, recupera laarticulación entre lo público y lo privado,confronta el capital y el estado, confrontala instituciones nacionales einternacionales, luchando por ampliar sunormatividad democrática , confronta lossentidos comunes tradicionales,alimentando una nueva subjetividad querecupere lo político personal en lasestrategias de emancipación. Apropósito, la Campaña por unaConvención Interamericana de DerechosSexuales y Derechos Reproductivos esparte de esta estrategia, expresando lasnuevas formas de interacción y disputacon los espacios oficiales trasnacionales,pues la iniciativa no viene de NacionesUnidas sino de los feminismosorganizados y con fuerza argumentativa.

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Las nuevas dinámicas feministas en el nuevo milenioby VIRGINIA VARGAS | Centro de la Mujer Flora Tristán, Lima | [email protected]


El Foro Social Mundial: espacio dedisputa en la construcción decontrapoderes

Estas nuevas miradas han encontradofuerza e impulso en nuevos espaciosglobales, como el Foro Social Mundial(FSM) que hoy por hoy se ha convertidoen un espacio de construcción dearticulaciones, saberes y pensamientoglobal democrático entre movimientossociales, cuya orientación hacia losfeminismos no siempre es dereconocimiento. El FSM alberga unamultiplicidad de movimientos cuyovértice común es la lucha contra lascatastróficas consecuencias que elneoliberalismo ha traído en la vida de lasgentes. Sin embargo, sobre cómo y desdedónde hacerlo es parte de la diferenciaque alberga el Foro, trayendo procesos dedisputa adicionales. Si bien la Carta dePrincipios del FSM deja amplio espaciopara el reconocimiento de las diferencias,esto no sucede siempre en la práctica.Una visión unívoca no sólo de losimpactos del neoliberalismo sino de lasdinámicas del cambio social puedenexcluir las luchas de sentido que expresanotras formas subversivas en las que sedesarrolla el cambio democrático en loglobal.

Para los feminismos, el FSM es un terrenode despliegue de articulaciones perotambién de disputa, frente a pensamientosúnicos y desbalances de poder. Es claroque para incidir en una nueva miradademocrática, hay que perfilar lavisibilidad del propio aporte. Y ésta estambién una lucha de reconocimiento.Para que éste tenga espacio, dice MartaRosemberg, es necesario politizar las

diferencias, celebrando la conciencia de laigualdad, como vehículo de justicia, yproteger la expresión de las diferencias,como acto de libertad (Rosemberg,2002).

La politización de las diferencias es elmayor acto de libertad en el FSM, endiálogo y en disputa con otrosmovimientos y redes globales. Losfeminismos politizan su presencia endiferentes niveles. La participación activade redes feministas al interior del ComitéInternacional del FSM, cuya presencianumérica es dramáticamente escasa (10redes feministas regionales y globales enun conjunto de alrededor de 70 otrasredes y movimientos sociales queparticipan en este espacio) pero cuyoimpacto al interior de este CI es clara yevidente, construyendo alianzas quepermiten impulsar las dimensiones másdemocráticas que el FSM ha idoalcanzando en su metodología ycontenidos. La posibilidad de conexión y“traducción” con otras redes ymovimientos sociales, como aporte a lametodología del Foro y como una formadiferente de acercarse a la diversidad esotra de las estrategias. Por ejemplo, elPanel “Diálogo entre movimientos”organizado en los tres últimos FSM—porredes y movimientos feministas dediferentes regiones—hace coincidir afeministas, dalits, sindicalistas, gays,lesbianas y transexuales, e invita areconocerse en sus diferencias y aconstruir su comunalidad. Es un esfuerzode recuperar las palabras plurales quealberga más y más el FSM que noscolocan frente al reto de cómo dialogarcon las múltiples identidades en conflicto,tanto fuera como dentro de nosotras

mismas, y como fortalecer interaccionesdemocráticas, de redistribución depoderes y de reconocimiento de causasentre las múltiples agendas detransformación social.

Ampliar los marcos de sentido del FSM esuna preocupación permanente de losfeminismos. Un ejemplo es la disputa porincorporar los fundamentalismos comohorizonte de reflexión del FSM,levantando también la exigenciademocrática de recuperación del carácterlaico de los estados, tanto en los paísescomo en el sistema de Naciones Unidas(exigiendo que el Vaticano sea excluidocomo país observador, por ejemplo). Sibien como dice Lucy Garrido, un estadolaico no resuelve por sí solo el problemade la pobreza, es sin embargo unacondición fundamental para lademocracia, porque garantiza espaciospúblicos plurales y diversos, construidosno sobre verdades reveladas eincuestionables, sino sobre argumentaciónpolítica. Precisamente, un espacio deconfluencia en conexión con el Foro, sonlos Diálogos Feministas en dondeparticipan muchas de las mujeres queasisten a los FSM.

Diálogos feministas desde la diferencia

Un conjunto de redes, articulaciones yorganizaciones feministas asumieron elreto de organizar un espacio dereconocimiento y diálogo entre feministasde todas partes del mundo que confluyenen el espacio del Foro. Una reunión bajolos árboles en el FSM 2003 dio origen alos Diálogos Feministas (DF), en el FSM2004, en Mumbay, India y,posteriormente, en el FSM 2005 en Porto


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LAS NUEVAS DINÁMICAS FEMINISTAS EN EL NUEVO MILENIO CONTINUED…

Alegre, Brasil. En una reunión de tresdías, coincidieron feministas de todo elmundo (180 en Mumbay, 260 en PortoAlegre), muchas de las cuales no habíanestado en diálogo frecuente, menos endiálogo feminista global, a pesar de habertenido conexiones de diferente tipo.

En los Diálogos Feministas se buscójustamente articular los aportes feministasa las orientaciones comunes del Foro—neoliberalismo, militarismo—añadiendoel eje de los fundamentalismos y teniendoel “cuerpo” como énfasis emergente eintegrador que alimenta una democraciaradical:

“Conscientes, como feministas, quenuestros cuerpos están repletos designificados culturales y sociales,experimentamos también que loscuerpos de las mujeres son sitios clavesdonde se dan muchas batallas políticasy morales. Es a través del cuerpo delas mujeres que la comunidad, elestado, la familia, las fuerzasfundamentalistas (estatales y noestatales), la religión, el mercadoprocuran definirse a sí mismos. Estasfuerzas e instituciones, a través deplétora de controles patriarcales,transforman los cuerpos de las mujeresen expresiones de relaciones de poder.Los cuerpos de las mujeres, así, estánen el centro de propuestas autoritariaso democráticas” (Nota Conceptual de los Diálogos Feministas, 2005).

La reflexión que nutrió los DiálogosFeministas reconocía que los dramáticoscambios vividos en las últimas décadashabían trastocado los paradigmas previoscon los que se pensaba y actuaba en el

mundo en-desde los movimientos sociales,y que frente a la actual globalizaciónneoliberal, era necesario impulsar eldesarrollo concreto y teórico de unaglobalización alternativa a la existente.En este reto, la distinción entre asuntoslocales y globales se desperfilaba,obligando a una “transformación de lamirada” desde una centrada sólo en elestado nación a una imaginacióncosmopolita, que no eliminaba sinocontenía e iluminaba—desde otroshorizontes—lo local. Se generan así dosmiradas complementarias, lo que permitedisolver la “ficción” que cada unaarrastra. Sin embargo, es la miradacosmopolita la más cercana a la realidadactual, porque abre posibilidades deacción que la mirada nacional, sola y ensí misma, cierra (Beck, 2004).

Esta mirada cosmopolita o de solidaridadglobal, desde la perspectiva de losmovimientos sociales (Waterman, 2004),es fundamental para entender las nuevasdinámicas que va dejando la práctica delos movimientos sociales en suarticulación global-local, expresandopluralidad de luchas y contenidosemancipatorios. Beck expresa bien esteproceso al decir que los conflictos degénero, clase, etnia y homosexualidadtienen su origen en el marco nacional,pero ya hace mucho que no se quedan enél, sino que se solapan e interconectanglobalmente.

Los Diálogos Feministas han dejado hastaahora algunas pistas importantes sobreesta dimensión global-local y sobre lasdinámicas que se generan: los feminismosexpresan a nivel global diferentesposicionamientos cuya diversidad se

relaciona con las específicas realidades enque se desenvuelven. Los feminismos sonplurales, desarrollan múltiples estrategias.Encontrar puntos de articulación y derecuperación de la complejidad de lasdiferencias es el reto de las agendasfeministas globales. Asuntos de justiciaeconómica y redistribución de recursos yoportunidades, luchas por derechossexuales y derechos reproductivos, luchacontra los crecientes fundamentalismos,son algunas de las constantes que dansustento a un nuevo horizonte de sentidoa nivel global.

En este proceso, los feminismos enfrentandilemas internos y externos, relacionadoscon su conflictividad movimientista:recuperación de la autoreflexividad,articulación de la fragmentación,reconocimiento de las nuevas presencias,tensiones y aportes para la complejizaciónde los discursos feministas (jóvenes,negras, indígenas, discapacitadas), pesode la institucionalización feminista,asuntos de poder y competencia en suinterior, entre otros factores quetensionan las dinámicas democráticas delos movimientos. Las influencias externassocavan el piso democrático para eldespliegue de los intereses de las mujeresincluyendo la influencia de la religión enlos estados, crecientes autoritarismos yfundamentalismos, crecimiento de lapobreza y exclusión, aislamiento de laspreocupaciones de las mujeres en otrasagendas emancipatorias, resistencia alderecho a una sexualidad diversa, crisisde Naciones Unidas, agravada por elpoder omnipresente de Estados Unidos, ydebilidad de las democracias, entre otras.

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ON THE PROFESSION

DEBATES

Frente a todos estos dilemas, losfeminismos requieren repensar susestrategias y afirmar la construcción dealianzas, entre ellos mismos, y con otrosmovimientos, levantando asuntos dedisputa democrática, redefiniendo a losfeminismos como parte de un proyectopolítico contestatario frente a saberes yprácticas excluyentes, inventando nuevasvías de aproximación y posiblesreordenamientos interdisciplinarios(Mafia, 2000).

Los DF han significado también unintenso aprendizaje para el grupo que dioel primer impulso, y que ahora se haampliado. Aprendizajes metodológicos,políticos, descubrimiento de otrasmiradas, de otros conocimientos, de otrasformas de interrogar la realidad y lasmismas estrategias con otros resultados.Enriquece el saber que causas comunes dejusticia y libertad no necesariamentetienen las mismas estrategias, ni losmismos resultados. Amplían los límitesde lo posible, complejizando las apuestasfeministas en lo global, y poniendonuevamente en cuestión las solucionesuniversales y los pensamientos únicos.

Una de las evidencias más significativasen todo este proceso es que otro mundono será posible sin otra economía, y otraeconomía no será posible sin otrademocracia. Otra democracia tampocoserá posible sin revoluciones personales,subjetivas, de mujeres y de hombres, sinun reconocimiento activo de nuestradiversidad, y si no buscamos lainterseccionalidad como desafió colectivo.Es allí donde las feministas llevamos ladisputa por múltiples democratizaciones,

en lo global, en los estados-naciones, enla casa y en la cama.

Bibliografía

Ávila, Maria Betania (ed.) 2001. “Feminismo,ciudadanía e transformación social”, em Textos eimagens do feminismo: mulheres construindo aigualdade, Brasil, SOS CORPO.

Beck, Ulrich 2004. Poder y contrapoder en la eraglobal. La nueva economía política mundial.Barcelona.

Diálogos Feministas 2005. Nota Conceptual.

Garrido, Lucy 2002. “¿Quién quiere tenergénero cuando puede tener sexo?” Ponenciapresentada al Seminario, “Feminismoslatinoamericanos”, Debate Feminista, PUEG-UNAM, México, vol. 27, 230, abril, México.

Jelin, Elizabeth 2003. “La escala de la acción delos movimientos sociales” en Mas allá de lanación: las escalas múltiples de los movimientossociales”, Buenos Aires, Libros del Zorzal.

Mafia, Diana 2000. “Ciudadanía sexual.Aspectos legales y políticos de los derechos,reproductivos como derechos humanos”, enFeminaria, año XIV, no. 26/27-28, Buenos Airespp.28-30.

Rosemberg, Marta 2002. ‘Struggling for Sexualand Reproductive Rights: The Case of the 2ndWorld Social Forum, Porto Alegre 2002”,Transnational Alternativas.<http://www.tni.org/tat>.

Waterman, Peter 2002. After the 2nd WorldSocial Forum in Porto Alegre, What’s LeftInternationally?<http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/wipo/seattle>.


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Sirva el presente texto para repensarcómo se da la relación dialógica entre losmovimientos locales y el fenómenoglobal. Sobre ello he trabajado en losúltimos 10 años desde lo que hemos dadoen llamar la antropología activista (Hale2001) tomando como estudio de caso, lasredes neo-zapatistas. Lo que trataré dehacer en este breve texto es salirme de losesquemas comunes para poder tener unamirada diferente. Busco ir más allá delestudio del Ejército Zapatista deLiberación Nacional (EZLN) y enfocarmeen las alianzas y las convergencias que elzapatismo desarrolló a lo largo de ladécada que lleva de vida política no-clandestina, o sea, de 1994 a 2004.

Estas alianzas y convergencias políticasno son fijas, ni permanentes, niracionalmente planeadas. Soncontingentes, fluídas y multifacéticas. Sedan de diferente manera, en diferentesmomentos y con distintos objetivos.Tienen altos y bajos, tienen en su interiortensiones, rupturas y continuidades.Estas alianzas y convergencias permiten laconstrucción del (neo)zapatismo como“redes de movimientos sociales” (socialmovement networks). La metáfora de lared en movimiento “nos da la posibilidadde imaginar de una manera más vívidalos enredos (entanglements) a muchosniveles de los actores de los movimientoscon los campos natural-ambiental,político-institucional y cultural discursivoen los cuales están anclados” (Alvarez etal., 1998: pp.15-16). En otras palabras,las “redes de movimientos sociales”“transmiten la complejidad y lo precariode las muchas imbricaciones y ligas entrelas organizaciones en movimiento, losparticipantes-individuales así como con

otros actores de la sociedad civil, (de lasociedad) política y (d)el Estado”(ibid:15).

No he encontrado, pese a buscarlo poruna década, concepto más adecuado queel de social movement networks parahablar del zapatismo y de lo que segenera en torno a él y se le vuelveconcomitante, orgánico, permitiéndole aun movimiento y organización como elEZLN convertirse en lo que nunca sehabía convertido ninguna organizaciónindígena o campesina de Chiapas oMéxico; es decir, en un espacio deconvergencia política transnacional quegenera adeptos que se auto-definen comozapatistas lo mismo en Las Cañadas de laselva Lacandona (Chiapas) que en lasciudades de Venecia, Berlín, Londres, oBarcelona, por sólo mencionar algunas.

Sorprende que una identidad como la“zapatista” nacida originalmente en elcontexto revolucionario mexicano deprincipios del siglo XX, se recree yreinvente a finales del mismo siglo yprincipios del XXI, para dar cabida a unadiversidad político-ideológico que puedeincluir lo mismo a una anarcosindicalistamadrileña de la Confederación Generaldel Trabajo (CGT), que a una defensorade los derechos humanos alemana, a unitaliano de los centros sociales, a unchileno exiliado en Londres, a una exsolidaria Sandinista, o a una empresariacatalana de la industria del mueble.Todos ellos están tejidos en redes neo-zapatistas que van más allá de ser redesde defensoría transnacionales. Son másque redes cibernéticas, pero sin duda nopueden ser entendidas fuera de la Era dela Información y de la Sociedad Red que

Manuel Castells (1998) nos invita apensar como un nuevo modelointerpretativo social, cultural yeconómico, como un nuevo modelo socialvigente en la nueva fase del desarrollocapitalista.

Contenido de las redes neozapatistas demovimientos sociales

Las diferentes redes socio-políticas queconforman el neozapatismo han estadocompuestas por miembros de ONGs, decolectivos, académicos, intelectuales, demovimientos de barrios, movimientosurbanos y universitarios, deorganizaciones campesinas, indígenas, demaestros y de mujeres. Éstos se hanorganizado y expresado políticamente através de coordinadoras, convenciones,talleres, foros, asambleas, consultas,congreso, encuentros y colectivos. Todasestas formas organizativas en diferentesmomentos han respaldado las demandaspolíticas del zapatismo, pero también hancontribuido a transformarlas. De ahíque, para fines puramente analíticos, quehe dado en hablar de la existencia deredes agraristas neo-zapatistas, de redesdemocrático-electorales, redes indianistas-autonomistas, redes revolucionarias-alternativas, y de las redes deinternacionalistas.

No pasaré a describir a detalle todas ycada una de éstas, pero sí puedo decirbrevemente, a manera de ejemplo, que loque llamo la red o las redes agraristasneozapatistas estuvieron formadas pornodos de organizaciones campesinas,indígenas y de productores que remitíansu génesis a la lucha agraria de los años70s y 80s en Chiapas. Otros nodos de

37

Zapatista Movement Networks Respond to Globalizationby XOCHITL LEYVA-SOLANO | CIESAS Sureste, Chiapas, México | [email protected]


la(s) red(es) eran formas asociativas(uniones de ejidos, sociedades deproducción rural, etc.) producto de laspolíticas para el campo echeverristas ysalinistas, y otros nodos eran frentespolíticos de campesinos y de maestros.

Bajo la perspectiva mencionada, esposible hablar analíticamente, sobre todoa partir de 1995, de la conformación deredes neo-zapatistas indianistasautonomistas constituidas por indígenasorganizados (en su mayoría fuera delsistema corporativo del partido de Estadoo en los márgenes del mismo) en“naciones”, “pueblos”, frentes, “tribus”,“concejos”, uniones, municipalidades,comunidades, coordinadoras, comités yforos. Antes que el EZLN emergierapúblicamente en 1994, la mayoría deestas organizaciones ya estaban operandoen los ámbitos sectorial, local y regional,pero entre 1996 y 1998 muchas de éstasestablecieron alianzas políticas muyfuertes con el EZLN. Dichas alianzastenían como sustento la demanda dereconocimiento constitucional de losderechos de los pueblos indígenas. Con eltiempo, las mismas cambiaron, serompieron o se reconstituyeron.

Para darles una idea más detallada de lanaturaleza de las redes neozapatistasinternacionalistas, les comentaré misintercambios con zapatistas europeos. En1999, en una pequeña ciudad cercana aBarcelona, se celebró el 2do. EncuentroEuropeo de Colectivos Zapatistas. Asistíal mismo, en el cual se dieron citamiembros de 21 colectivos zapatistas de 8países de Europa Central. A este nivel, elneozapatismo internacional es prísmico ymultifacético, al ser traducidos los ideales

del EZLN a muchas lenguas, ideologías yculturas políticas. Muchos de estoszapatistas europeos logran construirdesde sus realidades locales y problemasfundamentales cotidianos una agendacompartida con el EZLN. Esto es posiblesin duda por que el neoliberalismo hapermitido construir gramáticas morales(Honneth 1996) que sostienen agendaspolíticas transnacionales. Entre lasgramáticas más relevantes que compartenlos miembros de las diferentes redesneozapatistas, encontré que están aquellasbasadas en las denominadas Luchas porel Reconocimiento, y en la defensa de losderechos, fuesen éstos humanos,indígenas, étnicos o de la mujer.

Pero regresemos al Encuentro EuropeoZapatista; los zapatistas del colectivo deLugano (Suiza) eran obreros, estudiantesy campesinos que luchaban contratransnacionales (como la Coca Cola), ycontra el avance del neoliberalismo. Losdel colectivo de Sicilia (Italia) trabajabansobre todo para enfrentar los problemasde imigración, marginación y pobreza enel sur de su país. Los de Copenague(Dinamarca) afirmaban que eran parte dela resistencia anti-danesa, y de unaorganización más amplia de resistenciaque incluía desde Chiapas hastaKurdistán. En Granada (España) laexperiencia neozapatista se incrustaba enuna comuna espiritual que dirige uncentro cultural “autónomo” instalado enuna casa “ocupada”. En París, el M.A.Rse definía como parte de la lucha contrael neoliberalismo, y se ubicaba en elextremo más radical de la izquierdaparisina. Otra neozapatista de París eracolorista en una casa de diseño, a la vezque hija de una emigrante colombiana

trabajadora de intendencia. En Bristol(Inglaterra) “autónomos” de una casacomunitaria alternativa hacían delzapatismo un punto de encuentro con ex-solidarios con Centroamérica y conmiembros de un club de fútbolsensibilizados políticamente a través delos problemas del racismo y de lainmigración a Inglaterra. En Madrid losanarcosindicalistas de la ConfederaciónGeneral del Trabajo (CGT), libertariospor excelencia, veían en el zapatismo laposibilidad de hacer avanzar la idea deformar un frente internacionalista másamplio y de revitalizar su propiaorganización.

En Ginebra (Suiza), un miembro delcolectivo zapatista se definía como“rebelde, artesano y ocupa” en rechazo alavance del capitalismo en general y, enparticular, de la propia forma de vida desu familia adinerada. En un pobladoindustrial de los valles orientales deCataluña, un colectivo de apoyo a losindígenas de Chiapas era encabezado poruna próspera empresaria de la industriadel mueble que encontraba similitudesentre las comunidades en resistenciazapatistas y la resistencia catalana alEstado español de “ocupación”. En elpoblado de a lado, los neozapatistasvenían de una experiencia de solidaridadcon Nicaragua y ahora la extendían aKosovo y a Chiapas. En cambio, en laToscana (Italia) los neozapatistas erananarquistas, católicos de base enindustriales locales.

En las capitales europeas de Barcelona,Londres y Berlín también encontré quelos neozapatistas se inscribían dentro delas redes de solidaridad tejidas en los años


38

ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT NETWORKS RESPOND TO GLOBALIZATION CONTINUED…

80s con los movimientos guerrilleroscentroamericanos, o desde los 70s con losmilitantes de izquierda “víctimas” de lasdictaduras y los golpes de estado enSudamérica. Los neozapatistas deEstados Unidos y Canadá tambiénprovenían de redes de apoyo conCentroamérica, así como de redes anti-TLC organizadas desde antes de 1994.Las redes pro-Centroamérica muchasveces fueron construidas por miembros delas iglesias evangélicas y católica en suversión pro-teología de los pobres y pro-teología de la liberación. Particularmenterelevante fue el apoyo que recibióNicaragua desde Barcelona y Londres.Lo que es más, en Barcelona, Londres yBerlín existían “Casas Latinoamericanas”(cada una con sus nombres particulares)que jugaron un papel central en laformación del movimiento cultural ypolítico de los viejos movimientossolidarios con Centroamérica. Casas queantes que nada eran locus de redes socio-políticas y que después de 1994, sereactivaron con “guerras” como laslibradas en Chiapas y en Kosovo.

Pero en Londres y Berlín los neozapatistastambién eran parte de las redes socio-políticas locales tejidas en torno a loschilenos refugiados políticos que dejaronsu país después del golpe militarorquestado en 1973 por el dictadorAugusto Pinochet. Dichos refugiados enBerlín promovieron la fundación de uncentro de análisis y sistematización deinformación sobre América Latina, centroque en años recientes ha dado albergue agrupos pro-indígenas de Chiapas. Otroschilenos radicados en Londres, a través deperiódicos locales escritos en español yboletines distribuidos en clubes y escuelas

de salsa (propiedad de inmigrantescolombianos), hacen circular informaciónsobre el zapatismo que lo redimensionainternacionalmente.

Para concluir

Como hemos visto a lo largo de estaspáginas, el zapatismo no puede serentendido como una simple organizaciónpolítico-militar localizada en Chiapas. Esuna red de movimientos sociales donde latransnacionalización de las luchas ha sidoposible porque los activistas hanconstruido marcos cognitivos ygramáticas morales anti-neoliberales, y enpro de la defensa de los derechos. Estosmarcos y gramáticas pueden tenermuchos sentidos y matices locales, perocomparten el que resuena globalmente enla actual fase del capitalismo. Sin dudaque su dimensión anti-neoliberal es sólola gran sombrilla que ha cobijado muchasotras luchas (por la tierra, por laautonomía, por los derechos, etc.), y queahora dan contenido y forma a las redesneozapatistas. Éstas últimas sonmultifacética y fluídas a pesar de que losanalistas se empeñen en encajonarlas encategorías rígidas y las enfoques conviejos esquemas de análisis.

Bibliografía

Alvarez, Sonia E, Evelina Dagnino and ArturoEscobar (eds.) 1998. Cultures of Politics. Politicsof Cultures. Re-visioning Latin American SocialMovements. Boulder Colorado, West View Press.

Castells, Manuel 1998 .The Information Age:Economy, Society and Culture. End ofMillennium. Great Britain, Blackwell Publishers,Vol. III.

Hale, Charles R. 2001. “What is ActivistResearch?” Items. Social Science ResearchCouncil. 2(1-2), 13-15, Tomado de<http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/anthropology/activist>.

Honneth, Axel 1996. The Struggle forRecognition. The Moral Grammar of SocialConflicts. Cambridge Massachusetts, The MITPress.

39

ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT NETWORKS RESPOND TO GLOBALIZATION CONTINUED…

ON THE PROFESSION

ON LASA2006

At this writing we are nearing the end of2005 and, as we get busy with holidaypreparations and events, we would like toshare more details about LASA2006. Wehave spent the last couple of monthsaddressing requests for changes in panelsand panelists in order to accommodatepanelists’ travel schedules as well as a fewsmall errors that occurred in the process;thankfully, the program book is almostready to go into print. We have tried tomake sure that as many panelists aspossible can attend and participate in theCongress.

The Local Arrangements Committee,headed by Margarita Ostolaza, continuesto work on preparing a number of events,including the opening reception onWednesday evening, the Gran Baile (to beheld on Friday), and a possible concertwith Gilberto Santa Rosa (still tentative).

You may wish to take note of some of thefollowing activities as you plan yourCongress schedule. Most of the Sectionpanels have been scheduled forWednesday, the first day of the meeting.If you are interested in attending any ofthem, make sure you make travelreservations for Tuesday at the latest.LASA also is celebrating its 40th

anniversary and in honor of this birthday,we have scheduled a Wednesday nightpanel titled Tumultuous Times: LASA inthe 1960s to celebrate and reflect on thepast. Other important events include aperformance by Chilean writer andperformance artist, Pedro Lemebel, alecture by Carlos Monsiváis, two specialpanels marking 20 years of thedemocratic transition literature, a panelon the relationship between indigenous

peoples and afro-descendants in theregion, and a panel of Puerto Rican poetsand writers. (A special invitation hasbeen extended to Puerto Rican writerGiannina Braschi). And on Friday nightthere will be a panel honoring thememory of Argentinian writers Juan JoséSaer and Saul Yurkievich.

We also want to foreground the panelsorganized around Puerto Rican Studies.The LASA members who organized thesepanels worked very hard to ensure a richand varied set of offerings; we would liketo thank them for such a high level ofengagement. You may want to use thislist as a guide to the Puerto Rican panels:

Military Power and Civil Society: The Case of Vieques, Puerto Rico: Part One: Military Power During and After the Cold War (LASA Section Presentations) Wednesday 10-11:45 am

Más allá de la “soberanía”: escribir por nadie desde Puerto Rico (cruce de lo ensayístico y lo teórico) Parte I (Literature and Culture: InterdisciplinaryApproaches) Wednesday 12-1:45 pm

The Racial Counterpoint of Cuban-ness and Puerto Rican-ness: Diaspora Struggles andPerforming Knowledges Part I (Race, Racism and Racial Politics) Wednesday 12-1:45 pm

The Racial Counterpoint of Cuban-ness and Puerto Rican-ness: Diaspora Struggles andPerforming Knowledges Part II (Race, Racism and Racial Politics) Wednesday 2-3:45 pm

Building Bridges among Latino, Latin American, Chicano, Dominican and Puerto Rican Studies — Workshop 1 (LASA Section Presentations) Wednesday 2-3:45 pm

Las relaciones internacionales de Puerto Rico, 1930 al presente (Histories and Historiographies) Wednesday 2-3:45 pm

Military Power and Civil Society: The Case of Vieques, Puerto Rico: Part Two: Struggle and the Environment (Social Movements, Civil Society, NGOs andthe Third Sector) Wednesday 4-5:45 pm

Vieques, Puerto Rico: The Struggle Continues (Social Movements, Civil Society, NGOs andthe Third Sector) Wednesday 6-7:45 pm

Building Bridges among Latino, Latin American, Chicano, Dominican and Puerto Rican Studies — Workshop II (LASA Section Presentations) Wednesday 4-5:45 pm

Puerto Rico’s and Puerto Ricans’ CulturalPolitics and Politics of Culture (LASA Section Presentations) Wednesday 6-7:45 pm

Cuba and Puerto Rico in ComparativePerspective, 19th and 20th Centuries Part I(Histories and Historiographies) Thursday 8-9:45 am

Cuba and Puerto Rico in ComparativePerspective, 19th and 20th Centuries Part II(Histories and Historiographies) Thursday 10-11:45 am

Examining the Puerto Rican experience inschools: From the diaspora to the Island (Education and Educational Policies)Thursday, 10-11:45 am

Literary Representations of Puertoricanness:Island/Mainland Views and Debates (Latina/os in the United States) Thursday 12-1:45 pm

Colonial Commonalities: Puerto Ricans andFilipinos in Comparative Perspective (Migration and Cross-Border Studies) Friday 12-1:45 pm


40

From the Program Co-chairsby FRANCES R. APARICIO AND AMALIA PALLARES

University of Illinois, Chicago | [email protected] / [email protected]

Identity Formation in Puerto Rico (Culture, Politics and Society) Saturday, 8-9:45 am

Puerto Rican Politics in the XXI Century:Elections, Civil Society, Gender and Religion(Culture, Politics and Society) Thursday, 2-3:45 pm

De Pájaros y Alas: Turismo gay en Puerto Rico (Genders, Sexualities and LGBT Studies)Thursday 2-3:45 pm

Lectura de Poesía Puertorriquena (Parte I) (Meetings) Thursday 4-5:45 pm

The Place of Puerto Rico/Puerto Ricans in Latin American Studies: Perspectives from the Diaspora (Plenary Sessions) Thursday 4-5:45 pm

Más allá de la “soberanía”: escribir por nadie desde Puerto Rico (cruce de lo ensayístico y lo teórico) Parte II (Literature and Culture: InterdisciplinaryApproaches) Friday 2-3:45 pm

The Puerto Rican Lettered City on the Move (Literature and Culture: InterdisciplinaryApproaches) Friday 4-5:45 pm

Más allá de la “soberanía”: escribir por nadie desde Puerto Rico (cruce de lo ensayístico y lo teórico) Parte III (Literature and Culture: InterdisciplinaryApproaches) Friday 4-5:45 pm

Lectura de Poesía Puertorriquena (Parte II)(Meetings) Friday 4-5:45 pm

Retando los usos y costumbres de las sexualidades en Puerto Rico (Genders, Sexualities and LGBT Studies)Friday 6-7:45 pm

Construcciones y representaciones de lacriminalidad en Puerto Rico: 1875-1925 (Histories and Historiographies) Friday 6-7:45 pm

Luisa Capetillo: A 19th Century Puerto RicanRevolutionary for the 21st Century (Feminist Studies) Saturday 10-11:45 am

Currents in Boricua Literary Criticism (Latina/os in the United States) Saturday 2-3:45 pm

Recentrar los márgenes: El lugar de Puerto Rico en los estudios latinoamericanos y latinos (Plenary Sessions) Saturday 2-3:45 pm

De vuelta a la posmodernidad: figuras, fisuras y (des)lindes del “debate posmoderno”en Puerto Rico (Culture, Politics and Society) Saturday 4-5:45 pm

Panoramas, sonoramas y letras: La descomposición de las representaciones de la puertorriquenidad desde mediosdialogantes (Literature and Culture: InterdisciplinaryApproaches) Saturday 4-5:45 pm

41

ON THE PROFESSION

AccomodationsThanks to the efforts of Local ArrangementsCommittee Chair Margarita Ostolaza we havebeen able to create a list of more affordablehotels in San Juan. The following hotels arenot working with LASA through a contract, butthey are available for relatively cheaper rates.(Please note that LASA cannot offer shuttletransportation between these hotels and theCaribe Hilton.)

Hotel Iberia787-392-1976 / 787-723-0200

At Wind Chimes Inn1-800-946-3244 / 787-727-4153 / atwindchimesinn.com

El Canario by the Lagoon787-722-5058

El Canario Inn787-722-3861

El Canario by the Sea787-722-8640

Hostería del Mar(only for students)

The following hotels are under contract andtransportation will be provided between themand the Caribe Hilton, the main meeting site:

Normandie [about 15 percent of the meetings are held here, just a three minutewalk from the Caribe Hilton]

Wyndham Condado Plaza

Marriott

Radisson Ambassador Plaza

San Juan Beach Hotel

Child CareFor parents who are considering taking theirchildren to Puerto Rico, the Caribe Hilton willoffer a children’s camp for kids between theages of 4 and 12 years old. However, the campwill only be offered if there is a minimum of 40children requesting the camp and staying at theCaribe Hilton. Please let the LASA staff know ifyou are interested in this service as soon aspossible. The camp will be $45 a day per childand it will run from 9 am until 5 pm every day.

We are looking forward to seeing you in San Juan in March.

Please remember to book your flight and hotel as soon as

possible — it’s high season in Puerto Rico and spaces will

go fast. And for those of you currently experiencing frosty

temperatures (as we are here in Chicago) don’t forget to leave

your coats at home!

ON LASA2006

Por su posición estratégica en el Caribe,Puerto Rico fue considerado por Españacomo llave de las Indias, y codiciadacomo tal por otras potencias colonialeseuropeas. Los españoles hicieron de sucapital, San Juan, una plaza fuerte y unode los puntales de la defensa de su impe-rio en América. La ciudad vieja, todavíamurada, conserva los fuertes y bastionesque la hicieron inexpugnable. Con siglosde existencia, la inmensa mole del Castillode San Félipe del Morro continua enfren-tándose al mar como mascarón de proaen la isleta de San Juan en la que estaenclavado.

Las estrechas calles y caletas de la ciudadtranspiran historia y guardan importantesestructuras del pasado colonial, algunasde ellas entre las más antiguas deAmérica. Los vestigios góticos de la cate-dral y la vieja Torre del Homenaje delPalacio de Santa Catalina, residencia ejec-utiva en uso más antigua en la geográficaamericana, constituyen muestras únicasde la arquitectura medieval europea.

Perdido su valor estratégico desde elpunto de vista militar, su particular histo-ria y su situación geográfica han hecho dePuerto Rico un puente entre la Américahispana y la del norte. Su identidad depueblo se forjó al calor de tres influenciasétnicas y culturales: la indígena, laespañola y la africana. Su particularrelación política con los Estados Unidospor poco más de un siglo la ha sometidotambién a una fuerte influencia de origenculturalmente distinto. Por otro lado, laisla respondió históricamente al patrón dela plantación que la hermana con lasdemás islas caribeñas, incluso con las quefueron en clave de franceses, ingleses,holandeses y daneses.

Esa amalgama cultural y el hecho deseguir estando abierta a una siempre fres-ca inmigración, sobre todo de genteprocedente de la variada geografia ameri-cana, le ha dado una particular fisonomíaespiritual al puertorriqueño. Es unpueblo hospitalario por naturaleza, convocación latinoaméricana, a pesar de quea veces, erróneamente, se le conciba másanglicado de lo que es realmente. Sulengua sigue siendo la española, en la queama, canta, y reza y a la que se ha aferra-do a pesar de una centuria de fuerte influ-encia norteamericana.

En su limitada geografía, la menor de lasantillas mayores ofrece por otro lado unarica biodiversidad, exacerbada por suvariada topografía. Un bosque lluviosoen el norte y un bosque seco en el sur;una maravillosa zona de Karso, conmogotes que parecen senos de mujer yque esconden complicados laberintos sub-terráneos; un interior montañoso y vallessuaves y aterciopelados en la costa. Suvegetación, exuberante como es propio enel trópico, engarza pintorescas pobladoscoronados por los campanarios de susiglesias. Sus caseríos, pintados conaudaces tonos de rosa, turquesa, amaril-los…pintan de color un paisaje que secaracteriza por la riqueza y variedad desus veredas.

El país posee una rica literatura que se haproliferado, sobretodo en el cuento y lapoesía; y goza de una amplia tradiciónmusical. La plena, la bomba y la danzaasí comos la moderna salsa han sido con-tribuciones autóctonas al acervo musicaluniversal. Nuestros compositores hanadoptado también a la mayoría de losgéneros musicales con composiciones quele han dado la vuelta al globo. La isla

cuenta con una valiosa tradición plásticaque ahonda sus raíces en nuestro pasadohistórico y que se ha abierto a las másvariadas influencias del arte actual.Instituciones museológicas como elMuseo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Museo deArte Contemporáneo, y la colecciónNacional del Instituto de CulturaPuertorriqueña atesoran lo mejor de laexpresión artística del País. Algunas,como el Museo de Arte de Ponce ofrecentambién un recuento importante deldesarrollo del arte en Europa y América.

La gastronomía, por otro lado, presentaen Puerto Rico influencias de todaspartes, pero ofrece también la riquezasensorial de una rica cocina autóctona.Los restaurantes abundan, tanto los decomida internacional como las típicasfondas que permiten degustar lo que elpuertorriqueño come en el seno del hogar.

Por el hecho de su pequeñez y por contarcon un excelente sistema de carreterasque llevan hasta el lugar más recóndito, laisla es fácil de visitar y de conocer enpoco tiempo. Una ruta panorámica des-cubre al viajero la belleza de su interiormontañoso, desde cuyas cumbres es siem-pre posible divisar el mar. Cruzar la islade norte a sur, pasar de un paisaje atlánti-co a uno caribeño, es descubrir que unacordillera central marca una diferenciaecológica.

Puerto Rico constituye, sin duda, unapequeña caja de sorpresa. La Compañíade Turismo de Puerto Rico ofrece ampliainformación sobre el país que puede hacerde la visita de los miembros de LASA unaexperiencia inolvidable. Puerto Rico losacoge con hospitalidad y le brinda lomejor de su pueblo.


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Bienvenida a los visitantes de LASAby LCDO. RAFAEL TORRES TORRES | Comité Anfitrión

It’s rare that we pat ourselves on the backexcessively, but in this case LASAmembers and friends deserve a great voteof thanks for their efforts to supportLASA Funds! Thanks to you—and togood returns on the LASA Endowment—a portion of Endowment proceeds willbenefit LASA2006 travel grantees fromLatin America and the Caribbean.Thanks to your generosity as well,$33,000 was available for grants throughthe LASA Travel Fund. The StudentFund has grown as well, to $6167, andwill be used to provide partial support to student members presenting theirpapers in Puerto Rico.

LASA also has two new Life Members!Our thanks to Norma Chinchilla,California State University, Long Beach,and Philip Williams, University of Florida, for their commitments to LifeMemberships. During this season ofthanks we are especially grateful to allLASA members and friends who strive tohelp the Association realize its mission.Thank you!

We are delighted to acknowledge these donors to the LASA GeneralEndowment since our last report:Judith Adler HellmanSonia AlvarezJuana AstorgaEmilie BergmannElaine CareyGlen CarmanMichelle Chauvet SanchezJack ChildJohn CoatsworthLucy CohenAnna DeenyLaura Del AlizalHenry FrundtJuan Gonzalez MendozaMerilee GrindleAdela Yomara Guerra AguijosaMatthew GutmannTerry KarlMargaret KeckMasao KinoshitaLeonard KurzSayuri KuwabaraRamon Larrauri TorroellaTimothy LocherFrancisco MoranDavid Scott PalmerSusan PaulsonOscar Carlos Picardo JoaoPatricia PricePeter RanisAna Violeta Reyna ContrerasKenneth RobertsTimmons RobertsBryan RobertsMichael RollandJeffrey RubinHirai ShinjiRose SpaldingPeter SpinkMaria Eugenia Valdes Vega

William WatersFrederick WeaverBruce WilsonPatricia ZavellaMarc Zimmerman

And these donors to the LASA Humanities Endowment:Electa ArenalSanta AriasManuel Canto ChacMaría Elena CepedaMichelle Chauvet SanchezJack ChildJohn CoatsworthDeb CohenLaura Del AlizalManuel DurandWilliam GarnerMaria del Mar González GonzálezAmy KaminskyLeonard KurzRamon Larrauri TorroellaLinda Ledford-MillerFrancesca MillerCarlos Muñiz OsorioMelanie NicholsonRoberto Orro FernandezSusan PaulsonCorinne PernetCharles PerroneOscar Carlos Picardo JoaoMary Louise PrattAna Ramírez BarretoAna Violeta Reyna ContrerasMaria RoofJeffrey RubinHirai ShinjiKaren StolleyMaria Eugenia Valdes VegaMarc Zimmerman

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LASA Voluntary Supportby SANDY KLINZING

NEWS FROM LASA

Hats off to these donors to the LASA Travel Fund:Aravind Enrique AdyanthayaRenée AlexanderSonia AlvarezJoan AndersonRobert AndolinaNessim ArditiRobert AustinLuis AyerbeHelga BaitenmannBeth Baker CristalesAdriana BergeroFélix BesioLeigh BinfordRobert BleckerJefferson BoyerDavid BrayThomas BruneauDiego Cardona C.Elaine CareyGloria Alicia Caudillo FelixRoberto Cespedes RuffinelliMichelle Chauvet SanchezAmy ChazkelJack ChildJohn CoatsworthDeb CohenSamuel CohnRobert ConnAngela CorengiaLinda CraftMarta Cruz ConcepcionEvelina DagninoJerry DavilaDina De LucaLaura Del AlizalTracy Devine GuzmánRut DiamintMaria Elena DiazJorge DomínguezLindsay DuBoisMarshall EakinGabriela EljuriCharlotte EltonBrad EppsArturo EscobarMaria Elisa FernándezKathleen Fine-DareCornelia Butler FloraJan FloraJonathan Fox

Elisabeth Jay FriedmanHenry FrundtSarah GammageSarah GammageAlberto GarciaMichel GobatTed GoertzelMary GoldsmithCarlos Eduardo Gomes SiqueiraKaren GraubartMerilee GrindleMatthew GutmannCharles HaleNora HamiltonSusanna HechtJames HoweGladys Jimenez-MuñozJon JonakinKaren KampwirthSara KarlikMargaret KeckHosun KimSandra KlinzingLisa KowalchukJill KuhnheimLeonard KurzErick LangerVictoria LanglandRamon Larrauri TorroellaKathryn LehmanDaniel LevineMary LongRyan LongMargarita López-MayaDavid Luis-BrownCecilia MacDowell SantosRobert MackinGabriela Martinez-EscobarYolanda Martinez-San MiguelFrancine MasielloYolanda Massieu TrigoSuzeley MathiasCarlota McAllisterCynthia McClintockTeresa MeadeKenneth MijeskiKimberly MorseDiane NelsonRoy NelsonRhonda NeugebauerMauro Neves JuniorSimone Osthoff

Gerardo OteroDavid Scott PalmerEmilio Pantojas-GarciaCarlos ParodiSusan PaulsonFernando PedrosaThomas PerreaultCarlos Enrique PeruzzottiOscar Carlos Picardo JoaoDavid Pion-BerlinNancy PosteroMary Louise PrattSusan QuinlanPeter RanisAna Violeta Reyna ContrerasBryan RobertsMary RoldanMary RoldanReinaldo RomanMaria RoofRegina RootJeffrey RubinMaria Josefina Saldaña-PortilloDavid SamuelsMark SandersBonnie ShepardHirai ShinjiLynn StephenJuanita SundbergSilvia TandeciarzEstelle TaricaClark TaylorHeidi TinsmanM. Gabriela TorresSilvio Torres-SaillantRobert TrudeauAngel TuninettiMaria Eugenia Valdes VegaSaskia Van DrunenIvani VassolerJoÓo Paulo VeigaLuiz Roberto Velloso CairoGustavo VerduzcoBrian WamplerEliza WillisBruce WilsonWendy WolfordAngus WrightMarc ZimmermanEric Zolov


44

As well as to these donors to the LASA Student Fund:Judith Adler HellmanCarlos Aleman TorresRenée AlexanderMoises ArceElecta ArenalDaniel BalderstonMaria Concepción Barrón TiradoElise Bartosik VelezElizabeth BorlandJefferson BoyerThomas BruneauPedro CabanClaudia Campillo ToledanoDiego Cardona C.Elaine CareyManuel Angel Castillo GarcíaMichelle Chauvet SanchezVictoria ChenautJack ChildJohn CoatsworthJavier CorralesSerena CosgroveStuart DayTatiana De la TierraSusan DeedsCarmen Diana DeereLaura Del AlizalRut DiamintArcadio Diaz-QuinonesJohn DingesMarlene EsplinTeresa Fernández de JuanJefferson Ferreira LimaJodi FinkelMarisela Fleites-LearJonathan FoxHenry FrundtDenise Galarza SepúlvedaManuel García y GriegoCarlos Eduardo Gomes SiqueiraJuan Carlos González EspitiaMaria del Mar González GonzálezMargaret GrayMargaret GreerMerilee GrindleMatthew GutmannAnne HallumJason HawkinsMaria Teresa HenriquesJayne Howell

Gwen KirkpatrickChuck KleymeyerLeonard KurzRamon Larrauri TorroellaBrooke LarsonBlake Seana LocklinRyan LongTamera MarkoPerla MasiSusannah McCandlessEyda MeredizKenneth MijeskiEllen MoodieMauro Neves JuniorLiisa NorthEnrique OchoaSusan PaulsonGabriela Pedroza VillarealAnibal Perez LinanEric PerramondThomas PerreaultOscar Carlos Picardo JoaoCarlos PioMary Louise PrattClaudia Quintero-UlloaAna Violeta Reyna ContrerasGraciela RiquelmeAngel Rivera OrtizKenneth RobertsAna María Rodríguez-VivaldiMichael RollandJeffrey RubinHelen SafaMarianne SchminkSarah SchoellkopfHirai ShinjiRosa SotoAntonio Sotomayor CarloKaren StolleyMiguel TeubalMaria Eugenia Valdes VegaAlejandra VallejoGonzalo Varela-PetitoBarbara WeinsteinBruce WilsonJan Peter WogartSandra Woy-HazletonAngus WrightShin YasuiMarc Zimmerman

The Katrina FundThe Katrina Fund was established to helpLASA2006 participants from areasaffected by last year’s hurricanes toattend the Congress. On behalf of thosecolleagues, our gratitude. Donorsinclude the following:

Electa ArenalJack ChildGuillermina De FerrariJames McCannKathryn McKnightJune NashAnais RuizBrian Turner

Finally, a special note of gratitude to Jack Child for his contributions to all the above Funds, and to the Martz Fundas well. Thank you Jack!

For information on a Life Membership or any of the LASA Funds, please contact the LASA Secretariat at 412-648-1907.

45

ON THE PROFESSION

If you are interested in having your advertisement appear in an upcoming issue of the LASA Forum, contact us at 412-648-7929 or [email protected].

Additional employment opportunities,listings of upcoming conferences, and research & study opportunities can be found on our website.lasa.international.pitt.edu

penn state press820 N. University Drive, USB 1, Suite C | University Park, PA 16802 | fax 1-877-778-2665 | www.psupress.org

AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES, OR ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-326-9180

Publishing Excellence in Latin American Studies

DEMOCRACY WITHIN REASONTECHNOCRATIC

REVOLUTION IN MEXICO

Miguel Ángel Centeno

Winner, 1997 Choice Outstanding Academic Book

308 pages | 10 illus. | $26.00 paper

LIBERALISM IN THE BEDROOMQUARRELING SPOUSES IN

NINETEENTH-CENTURY LIMA

Christine Hunefeldt


408 pages | 2 illus./1 map | $27.00 paper

PRESIDENTS WITHOUT PARTIESTHE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC

REFORM IN ARGENTINA AND

VENEZUELA IN THE 1990s

Javier Corrales

Runnerup, 2003 Best Book Prize,

New England Council of Latin

American Studies


THE PRESIDENT ANDCONGRESS IN POST-AUTHORITARIAN CHILEINSTITUTIONAL

CONSTRAINTS

TO DEMOCRATIC

CONSOLIDATION

Peter M. Siavelis


272 pages | $21.00 paper

FROM LIBERAL TO REVOLUTIONARY OAXACATHE VIEW FROMTHE SOUTH,

MEXICO 1867–1911

Francie R. Chassen-López

Winner, 2004 Thomas McGann

Prize, Rocky Mountain Council on

Latin American Studies

624 pages | 12 illus./5 maps | $30.00 paper

DEVELOPING POVERTYTHE STATE, LABOR MARKET

DEREGULATION, AND THE

INFORMAL ECONOMY

IN COSTA RICA AND THE

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

José Itzigsohn



THE CARIBBEAN LEGIONPATRIOTS, POLITICIANS,

SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE,

1946–1950

Charles Ameringer

Winner, 1997 Arthur P. Whitaker

Book Award, Middle Atlantic

Council of Latin American

Studies


AUTHORITARIANISM AND DEMOCRATIZATIONSOLDIERS AND WORKERS IN

ARGENTINA, 1976–1983

Gerardo L. Munck



BLOOD AND DEBTWAR AND THE NATION-

STATE IN LATIN AMERICA

Miguel Ángel Centeno

Honorable Mention, 2003

Mattei Dogan Award, Society

for Comparative Research


THE SEED WAS PLANTEDTHE SÃO PAULO ROOTS OF

BRAZIL’S RURAL LABOR

MOVEMENT, 1924–1964

Cliff Welch


440 pages | 17 illus./2 maps | $27.00 paper

Brazilian Literature:Contemporary Urban Fiction. An NEH Summer Seminar forCollege and University TeachersArizona State University – June 12-July 14, 2006

The seminar will focus on five major works of Brazilian urbanfiction, basically from the twentieth century. Through a detailedexamination of these works as literary texts that interpret theurban experience in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, andPorto Alegre, the seminar will provide 15 participants with animportant grounding in Brazilian literature. Participants will becollege and university professors of Latin American studies,some of whom may have some familiarity with Brazil. The latterwill have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge ofBrazilian literature, while other participants will receive a solidintroduction to Brazilian culture through major literary texts.Portuguese remains a critical language in the United States, andboth the seminar proper and the language workshop that will bean auxiliary part of the program will contribute towardaddressing the critical lack of trained scholars in the field.

For further information, contact Prof. David William Foster,Arizona State Univeresity, [email protected]. Visit our website: http://www.public.asu.edu/~atdwf/neh_summer/

‘HYPERWORLD: LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND HISTORY’

VII International conference of the Association of Iberian and Latin AmericanStudies of Australasia (AILASA2006)University of Technology, Sydney, 27-9September 2006http://www.AILASA2006.net

In the early 21st century, a period of hyper-technology,post-nationalism, and the domination of transnationalmedia, culture and economy have become fused, as it were, and capitalist globalisation tends towards the mercantilisation and privatisation of all aspects of human experience. Under these conditions, how do we talk about language, culture and history in theLusophone and Hispanophone worlds?

Abstracts Deadline: June 30, 2006.Enquiries: [email protected]

SIT Study Abroad: Latin America20 semester and summer programs for undergraduates

Summer 2006 options include

Bolivia: Lens on Latin AmericaExplore Bolivia within the Latin American context.

Hands-on video production in our state-of-the-art media laboratory.

School for International Training (SIT) is the accredited higher education institution of World Learning

For more information onthese and other summer and semester programs

around the world:

[email protected] (888) 272-7881

www.sit.edu/studyabroad

Photo by Jessica Chanen

The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest

professional association in the world for individuals and

institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over

5,000 members, twenty-five percent of whom reside outside the

United States, LASA is the one association that brings together

experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse

occupational endeavors, across the globe.

LASA’s mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and

teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people

throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse

membership, and encourage civic engagement through network

building and public debate.

946 William Pitt UnionUniversity of PittsburghPittsburgh, PA 15260

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