Key Issues and Texts - Power and Protest: Social Movements and the State in Latin America

Full Reading Lists (LEGANTO)

This module looks at the rise of social movements and considers their relationship with the state. It will trace the history of protest movements in modern Latin America and will consider the ways in which economic, political, cultural and religious elites have sought to mobilise, repress or incorporate traditionally excluded sectors such as urban and rural workers, the peasantry, the informal poor, women and indigenous communities.  It will critically examine the ways in which distinct modes of global and national economic development and governance have produced varying kinds of social movements and forms of resistance. 

Exploring questions of autonomy, co-option and participation, it looks in detail at social movements of the last twenty years, including anti-water privatisation protests in Bolivia, Mexico's Zapatistas, Argentine Piqueteros, the Brazilian landless movement, Chile's student protestors, and Ecuadorean indigenous movements. Analysing responses to neoliberalism and the post-neoliberal reform experience, the module looks closely at the relationship between social movements, Latin America's new leftwing governments and global and transnational actors, especially the United States. Topics include the media and social media, trade unions, human rights, anti-imperialism and neo-extractivism.   

Seminar 1: The Rise of Social Movements in Latin America (Grace Livingstone)

This session considers the rise of social movements and discusses what constitutes a social movement. It provides an introduction to social movement theory.  It considers the relationship between social movements and the state, exploring the concepts of autonomy, co-option and participation.  It looks at the impact of military repression and neoliberal restructuring on the Latin American Left and class-based organizations. It looks at the emergence of grass-roots urban and rural social movements in the 1980s and 1990s and considers how far these represented a new form of organizing.  It considers social movements based on class, gender, race, culture and community. 

Key issues

  • Horizontalidad
  • New social movements
  • Autonomy
  • Participation

Key texts

  • Charles Tilly and Lesley Wood, Social Movements 1768-2012 (London: Routledge, 2016), Chapter 1 ‘Social Movements as Politics’.

  • ​David Snow, ‘Framing Processes, Ideology, and Discursive Fields’ in David A. Snow, Sara A. Soule and Hanspeter Kriesi (eds.),  The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004),  pp.380-413. 

  • Ana Dinerstein, The Politics of Autonomy in Latin America: The Art of Organising Hope, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), Chapter 1, pp. 1-27 

  • R. Aída Hernández Castillo, ‘Indigeneity as a Field of Power: Multiculturalism and Indigenous Identities in Political Struggles’ in Margaret Wetherell & Chandra Talpade Mohanty (eds), The Sage Handbook of Identities (SAGE: London, 2010) 

Please read about a Latin American social movement of your choice and be ready to talk about it for two minutes.

Bibliography
 

Seminar 2: Social Protest in Twentieth Century Latin America (Grace Livingstone)

This session looks at social movements in historical context.  It discusses forms of social protest and social mobilisation in the twentieth century.  It considers populism, the Cuban Revolution, guerrilla movements, resistance to military dictatorships and human rights organisations.  It considers the history of state co-option and repression of labour and social movements.  It assesses why guerrilla movements failed and looks at Che Guevara’s theory of foquismo.  It shows how the practices and politics of contemporary social movements are in constant dialogue with the experiences of the past. 

Key words  

  • Populism
  • State co-option
  • guerrilla movements
  • foquismo
  • military regimes

Key texts

  • Che Guevara  ‘The Essence of Guerrilla Struggle (1960)’ and Guerrilla Warfare: A Method (1963) in David Deutschmann (ed.), Che Guevara Reader, (Melbourne: Ocean Press, 2003), pp. 64-84. 

  • Robert H. Dix, ‘Why Revolutions Succeed and Fail’, Polity, Vol. 16, No.3 (Spring, 1984), pp. 423-446  

  • Marysa Navarro, ‘The Personal is Political: Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo’ in Susan Eckstein (ed.), Power and Popular Protest: Latin American Social Movements,  (Berkley: University of California Press, 1989), pp.241-259 

Bibliography

Seminar 3: Social Movements and the new left governments: popular participation, neo-extractivism and indigenous protest (Grace Livingstone)

This session looks at the relationship between social movements and the governments of the left. It considers the left-wing and centre-left governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil in the 2000s and studies examples of ‘popular participation’, exploring the concepts of autonomy and co-option. We consider the political-economic strategy of the new ‘Pink tide’ governments, their reliance on the extractive industries and the export of primary products, which at times led to conflict with indigenous and rural social movements. Today, we are witnessing a new leftward swing in the region. Mass protests led to the writing of a new constitution in Chile, and the election of a former student leader as president, while Colombia saw mass protests and the election of its first ever left-wing president. Centre-left governments have also returned to power in Argentina and Bolivia, and Lula may be re-elected in Brazil. Will the left follow the same extractivist strategies of the past? Are we seeing the rise of a new greener, more feminist left, informed by social movements, that contrasts with a more populist-authoritarian parties wedded to old developmentalist models? 

Key issues

  • Neo-populism
  • Participation
  • Neo-extractivism
  • Indigeneity

Key texts

Bibliography

Seminar 4: Transnational Activism (Grace Livingstone)

This session considers transnational activism and cross border solidarity.  Should Latin American social movements seek international allies in order to achieve their aims?  Can nationally-based protest movements use the international institutions to further their cause?  How can activists in the global North support movements in the South?  What are the power imbalances when well-funded NGOs and activist groups in the global North forge alliances with movements in the global South?  How do international interventions affect political and social outcomes in Latin America?  We consider theories of transnational activism and examine advocacy networks and coalition building.  We consider the rise of multilateral rights institutions and international NGOS.  In an era of globalisation and new technology, we consider the potential and pitfalls of transnational activism. 

Key Issues

  • Transnational activism
  • Cross-border solidarity
  • International human rights institutions
  • International NGOs
  • North-South power imbalances

Key texts

  • Keck, Margaret and Sikkink, Kathryn, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, (New York: Cornell University Press, 1998), Chapter 1, pp.1-38  

  • Lucero, José Antonio, ‘Seeing Like an International NGO: Encountering Development and Indigenous Politics in the Andes’  in Eduardo Silva, ed. Transnational Activism and National Movements in Latin America. Bridging the Divide (Routledge, 2013). 

  • Chandra Talpade Mohanty , ‘”Under Western Eyes” Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles’, Signs, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Winter 2003), pp. 499-53.

Bibliography

Seminar 5: Feminisms and gender based social movements (Blanca Larraín) 

This session examines the political dimensions of gender and feminism, focusing on the notion of politics from a gender perspective, exploring the public and private sphere divisions and the idea of neutral and formal politics. Following those discussions, the session explores feminist social movements, their practices, and their role in prefiguring social change. A historical overview covers the waves of Latin American feminism, highlighting key tensions in the region, such as the autonomous vs. institutional movements, the borders of the feminist movement, and exclusions within movements. It discusses the current fourth wave of feminism in LA, proposing a critical analysis to crucial issues such as victimisation, punitivism, and structural gender violence.

Structure of the seminar 

1. The notion of gender and feminism from a political perspective

  • The private and the public division
  • Universal and neutral: politics defined under male rules
  • Participation and inclusion: elitism and politics limited to the formal arena


2. Understanding Feminist movements through their practices for triggering social change

  • Integrating SM approaches to conceptualise Feminist Social Movements in LA
  • The political practices of feminist movements: prefiguring social change


3. A historical approach to Feminist movements in LA: tensions, waves and movements

● Is there a ‘latin american feminism’? Similarities, differences and the historical encuentros (encounters)

● Three regional waves and the current fourth wave of feminism in LA: new ideas, new practices

● Understanding LA feminism: tensions

  • The first group of tensions. The strategy of change: autonomous versus institutional feminist movements
  • The second group of tensions. The feminist actor and the borders of the feminist movements
  • The third group of tensions. The ‘degree’ of feminism and possible exclusions within feminist movements. Victimisation, punitivism and the structural causes of gender violence

Key issues

  • Gender as a political notion
  • Integrative approach to SM
  • Feminist praxis
  • Fourth wave of feminism in LA: new practice

Required readings

1. Molyneux, M. et al. (2021) New feminist activism, waves and generations. UN Women. Chapter 1, 2 and 4. New Feminist Activism, Waves and Generations | United Nations iLibrary

2. Sonia E. Alvarez (1999) Advocating feminism: The Latin American Feminist NGO 'Boom', International Feminist Journal of Politics, 1:2, 181-209, DOI: 10.1080/146167499359880

3. Lebon, N. (2010) Introduction: Women building plural democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean in Nathalie Lebon & Elizabeth Maier, Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engendering Social Justice (New Brunswick: Rutger's University Press, 2010)

Bibliography

Seminar 6: Social Movements and Social Media (Blanca Larraín)

This session explores the intersection of social movements and social media, analysing different approaches to how media serves as an instrument for activism. It discusses media as a discursive and cultural opportunity and as a political strategy. The session delves into one practice related to SM and media that has become popular among current SM: online public shaming. The session analyses the use of this practice as a tool for social change, examining its moral dilemmas and effectiveness, focusing in the case of feminist movements in LA. 


1. Approaches to Social Movements and Media

  • Social media as an instrument of activism and social movements
  • Media as a discursive/cultural opportunity
  • Media as a political strategy


2. Online Public Shaming: a SM’s tool to trigger social change?

  • Public shaming and the new online version
  • The moral dilemmas of online public shaming
  • Online Public Shaming as a tool for social change?
  • The Chilean Case of Feminist Movements using Online Public Shaming: limits of a digital practices among social movements


Key issues

  • Social Media as an instrument for SM
  • Media as a discursive/cultural opportunity
  • Media as a political strategy
  • Online Public Shaming as a (problematic) tool for social change


Required readings

  • Della Porta, D. & Pavan, E. (2018) Chapter 2,  “The nexus between media, communication and social movements: Looking back and the way forward” in G. Meikle (ed.) 
    The Routledge Companion To Media And Activism. ( London: Routledge), pp.29-38
  • Adkins, K. (2019), When Shaming Is Shameful: Double Standards in Online Shame Backlashes. Hypatia, 34: 76-97. https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12456
  • Larrain, B. (2023). “Online public shaming as a feminist practice for social change, a double-edged sword for fighting gender violence: the case of the ‘feminist funa’ in Chile. Feminist Review, 135: 80-97.

Bibliography