Abstract, Latin American Studies: Publishing and Politics by Ronaldo Munck

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Latin American Studies: Publishing and Politics 
by Ronaldo Munck

This is an opportune moment, I believe, to debate the future of Latin American studies journals, given their variety and well-established nature. My own standpoint derives from a long-term membership of the Latin American Perspectives advisory panel and a brief stint as chief editor of the Bulletin of Latin American Research (UK) as well as membership of around a dozen editorial boards of journals dedicated to labor and globalization studies. And, of course, as has any other active researcher I have faced the demands made by the powers that be on where we should publish and what we should publish.

Abstract, A View from the North by Rory M. Miller

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A View from the North 
by Rory M. Miller

Having spent a significant part of my career editing the two major interdisciplinary journals on Latin America published in the United Kingdom, I have thought for years about what our role as editors should be in terms of linking different traditions of Latin American studies—North American, European (in all their various national guises), and Latin American (again, in all their various national guises). There were clear differences between the two journals. The Bulletin of Latin American Research was the journal of the (UK) Society for Latin American Studies, so one could envisage the “typical” reader as one of the 200 or so who attended annual conferences; the Journal of Latin American Studies, one of the two or three leaders internationally in the field, presented different challenges, since its readership was much broader and its reach much more global, evident in the fact that roughly 40 percent of submissions came from North America. (I should emphasize here that what follows is my personal view, not that of my editorial colleagues or the publisher of either journal.)

In the end I would hope that the Journal of Latin American …

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Latin American Perspectives
July 2016 vol. 43 no. 4 Abstract, pages 116-118

Abstract, The Clash of Political Paradigms in Twenty-first-Century Latin America and the Response of Area-Study Journals by Steve Ellner

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The Clash of Political Paradigms in Twenty-first-Century Latin America and the Response of Area-Study Journals 
by Steve Ellner

The relationship between state and society, particularly with regard to social movements and organizations, constitutes an important paradigmatic gap separating the experiences of Latin American and U.S. democracies and represents a challenge to area-study programs, including academic journals. These differences manifest themselves in major ways today as a result of the rise to power of leftist and center-leftist movements, as they also did in the past on different fronts. U.S. labor leaders, for instance, steeped in the tradition of Samuel Gompers who envisioned organized labor’s political role as that of a pressure group, have always felt uncomfortable with the political party affiliations of their Latin American counterparts. This line of thinking, which rests on the separation of social movements and the state, is reflected in the U.S. scholarly literature on organized labor in the region. Latin American trade unionists, on the other hand, justify the nexus by pointing to the supportive role played by parties during military dictatorships when many labor leaders are forced to go underground or into exile.

Abstract, Publishing in International, Peer-reviewed Social Science Journals: Implications for Latin American Studies by Carmen Diana Deere

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Publishing in International, Peer-reviewed Social Science Journals Implications for Latin American Studies 
by Carmen Diana Deere

The Bolivian Platform against Climate Change is a coalition of civil society and social movement organizations working to address the effects of global warming in Bolivia and to influence the global community. Many of the organizations use indigenous philosophy and worldviews to contest normative conceptions of development. A study of the growth of this movement drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in 2010 reveals a complex relationship between state and nonstate actors that has had a striking impact on the global community despite the failure of multilateral climate change negotiations.

Abstract, The Bolivian Climate Justice Movement: Mobilizing Indigeneity in Climate Change Negotiations by Kathryn Hicks and Nicole Fabricant

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The Bolivian Climate Justice Movement: Mobilizing Indigeneity in Climate Change Negotiations 
by Kathryn Hicks and Nicole Fabricant

The Bolivian Platform against Climate Change is a coalition of civil society and social movement organizations working to address the effects of global warming in Bolivia and to influence the global community. Many of the organizations use indigenous philosophy and worldviews to contest normative conceptions of development. A study of the growth of this movement drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in 2010 reveals a complex relationship between state and nonstate actors that has had a striking impact on the global community despite the failure of multilateral climate change negotiations.

Abstract, Latin American Studies Journals at a Critical Juncture

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Latin American Studies Journals at a Critical Juncture 

At the Thirty-third International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association in 2015, Latin American Perspectives sponsored a featured session entitled “Latin American Studies Journals at a Critical Juncture.” Suggested themes and issues for discussion were the following:

How can journals best serve as a means of dialogue between academics in Latin America and the global North?

Abstract, Unsettling Times: Living with the Changing Horizons of the Peruvian Andes by Mattias Borg Rasmussen

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Unsettling Times: Living with the Changing Horizons of the Peruvian Andes 
by Mattias Borg Rasmussen

As in many other parts of the Peruvian Andes, the peasants of rural Recuay report receding glaciers, altered patterns of precipitation, and disappearing species of plants and wildlife among the many things that may unsettle the everyday. Susan Whyte’s concept of uncertainty highlights the fact that climate change emerges in different ways in particular situations. It informs water politics and local lives but is not a priori the most important part of the story. Rather than adapting to climate change, people adapt climate change to their social worlds.

Abstract, The Complexities of Memory, Truth, and Justice Processes Artistic and Cultural Resistance by Roberta Villalón

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The Complexities of Memory, Truth, and Justice Processes Artistic and Cultural Resistance 
by Roberta Villalón

The second wave of memory, truth, and justice mobilizations continues to build high across Latin America (Villalón, 2015). Since the turn of the century, various countries of the region have witnessed a push to address the unresolved human rights abuses of past military regimes and civil conflicts. Previous processes of truth, reconciliation, and justice have been reevaluated, new interpretations of past violence have emerged, once-immune victimizers have been tried, and richer collective memories have developed. The difficulties of coming to terms with not only the horror of extreme violence typical of (dirty and civil) wars but also the incompleteness of justice postwar have permeated ebullient memory mobilizations and reconciliation efforts. Simple answers to the quintessential “Who is to be blamed?” and “How to move on?” have been put to rest, and a widespread recognition of the severe complexities of past, present, and future has taken hold. Did the violence actually begin before the military coups because of histories of structural inequality? How can we make sure that all the targets of violence are recognized without exacerbating latent conflicts? Are the limitations of democratization/pacification simply unavoidable, and, if so, will the struggles for memory, truth, and justice never end? Is current victimization a continuation of past oppression? How are we to deal with the arbitrariness of abusive power relations? Are justice, reconciliation, and social equality possible, or are they utopian ideals worth pursuing despite persistent dynamics of marginalization?

Abstract, Oil and the Chávez Legacy by Daniel Hellinger

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Oil and the Chávez Legacy 
by Daniel Hillinger

In the final 15 years of the Punto Fijo era (1958–1998), as state institutions and socioeconomic conditions deteriorated, the executive class of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. broke free from state control. In his 15 years as president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez reasserted the state’s control over the company and reestablished a fiscal regime that brought the country enormous financial benefits. It is a legacy, however, that has an uncertain future.

Abstract, "Colombia’s Gallery of Memory: Reexamining Democracy through Human Rights Lenses" by Erika Márquez

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Colombia’s Gallery of Memory. Reexamining Democracy through Human Rights Lenses 
by Erika Márquez

The Gallery of Memory, a street exhibit organized by Colombian activists affiliated with the Victims of State Crimes Movement to memorialize human rights violations, connects individual cases of human rights abuse with a larger critique of state violence. Through this exercise, activists bring together earlier and current violations of human rights and provide a framework that situates present undemocratic currents within the trajectory of the state’s politics of exception and its correlates, national security and the internal enemy. Critical reflection on the potential for place-based, coproduced resignification of security measures in a context of systemic violence suggests that the Gallery has become part of the movement-based human rights repertoire for democratizing citizenship in Colombia.