Globalization from Below: Social Movements and Altermundism — Reconceptualizing Security from a Latin American Perspective

Social movements in Latin America have always attracted attention, but there is no agreed-upon paradigm, certainly not one accepted in Latin America. A review from a Latin American perspective of the strengths and weaknesses of the theoretical paradigms used to understand these movements suggests a revitalized paradigm that foregrounds the agency of people and, above all, brings politics back in. A proposed new, poststructuralist Marxist frame for research on both theory and practice puts a Foucauldian emphasis on the dissoluble links between power and resistance and a Laclau-inspired emphasis on the national-popular. Aunque los movimientos sociales en América Latina siempre han llamado la atención, no hay un paradigma acordado; ciertamente, no uno que se acepte en la región. Un análisis desde una perspectiva latinoamericana de las fortalezas y debilidades de los paradigmas teóricos utilizados para entender estos movimientos sugiere un marco revitalizado que pone en primer plano la agencia de las personas y, sobre todo, recupera el tema de la política. El nuevo paradigma marxista postestructuralista aquí propuesto para la investigación tanto teórica como práctica pone un énfasis foucauldiano en los vínculos disolubles entre el poder y la resistencia, así como un énfasis en lo nacional y popular inspirado por Laclau.

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Social Movements in Latin America: Mapping the Literature

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190926557.013.20 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nicolás M. Somma

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Social Movements ◽

Latin American ◽

Transnational Activism ◽

Organizational Fields ◽

Family Labor ◽

American Sociology ◽

Research Fields ◽

Vast Literature ◽

Active Research

The study of social movements is currently one of the most active research fields in Latin American sociology. This article maps the vast literature on Latin American social movements (LASMs) from the late 1980s to the present. After briefly discussing how scholars have conceptualized LASMs, it presents seven influential approaches: structuralism, political economy, political context, organizational fields, “new social movements,” frames and emotions, and transnational activism. Then it discusses some works that zero in on the specificity of LASMs. It closes with a brief summary of the five coming chapters, each of which is devoted to a specific social movement “family”: labor, women’s, student, indigenous, and anti-globalization.

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Conflict of Laws and the Return of Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Property: A Latin American Perspective

International Journal of Cultural Property ◽

10.1017/s0940739119000341 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 437-456

Author(s):

María Julia Ochoa Jiménez

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Latin American ◽

National Level ◽

Cultural Property ◽

Cultural Value ◽

Property A ◽

American Perspective ◽

International Instruments ◽

Conflict Of Law

Abstract:In Latin America, conflict-of-law norms have not appropriately considered the cultural diversity that exists in their legal systems. However, developments towards the recognition of Indigenous peoples’ human rights, at the international and national levels, impose the task of considering such diversity. In that regard, within the conflict-of-law realm, interpersonal law offers a useful perspective. This article proposes a conflict-of-law rule that can contribute to clarity and legal certainty, offering a sound way of dealing at the national level with Indigenous peoples’ claims for restitution of property with a cultural value for them, which is framed in international instruments on human rights.

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