TECER SABERES OUTROS

Este trabalho tem como objetivo uma reflexão acerca de saberes dos sujeitos pertencentes a um lócus específico, a América Latina, mais especificamente a Bolívia. As narrativas contadas a partir da/na fronteira buscam resgatar o que foi reprimido pelo discurso do colonizador. Se fomos lançados às margens, cuja história local é singular, resgatar esses saberes, ou seja, as epistemologias fronteiriças, tornam-se um ato de desobediência epistêmica necessário para desvincular-nos dos padrões impostos pelo poder hegemônico. Costura-se dentre as linhas deste trabalho experiências/memórias/resistências locais como por exemplo o testemunho/vida de Domitila Barrios de Chungara uma mulher boliviana, mineira e líder feminina. Para fomentar essa discussão proposta valemo-nos de estudos de teóricos como Walter Mignolo (2014), Edward W. Said (2003, 2005), Zulma Palermo (2008, 2010,2015), entre outros. Palavras-Chave: América Latina; Bolívia; Domitila Chungara; Epistemologias fronteiriças.

Feminist thought in Latin America

Any analysis of feminist thought in Latin America is burdened by the task of combatting the frequent assumption that feminism is an ideology imported from the USA or Europe. One could begin by arguing that in certain senses autocthonous feminist thought has existed in Latin America for centuries. The thought of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a seventeenth-century Mexican writer and nun, had certain qualities, themes and perspectives that can be called feminist. Her autobiographical essay, ‘Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz’, is a brilliant defence of a woman’s right to engage in intellectual pursuits and includes many feminist strategies and dimensions. Among the Latin American feminists through the centuries, exemplary passages are easily found, such as the following from the Peruvian Flora Tristán, who said ‘Without liberation of woman, there will be no liberation of man’ (1843). Revisionist reappraisals of underappreciated women thinkers have grown more common. Venezuelan Teresa de la Parra’s important writings which have been re-examined as texts by women continue to be rescued from relative obscurity. Rosario Castellanos, Rigoberta Menchú and Domitila Barrios de Chungara count among those whose work has enjoyed increased critical attention. Concurrently, the voices of traditionally voiceless women are being heard through expanding oral history projects, such as those of domestic workers in Bogotá: ‘It is not enough to have rights. We must raise consciousness and organize ourselves to defend those rights’. In recent years, particularly after the international year of the woman in 1975 and the decade of the woman sponsored by the United Nations from 1976 to 1985, women and men have continued to develop feminist philosophies appropriate for Latin American contexts. Professional feminist philosophy has been practised in Latin America since the early part of the twentieth century. Perhaps surprisingly, a theoretically sophisticated feminist philosophy was practised in Uruguay at this time by male social philosopher, Carlos Vaz Ferreira (1871–1958). His work had significant impact on women’s rights in Latin America. Vaz Ferreira was a pioneer in feminist theory.

¡Domitila a la Tribuna!

After Friday’s chaotic session, the United Women of the Tribune were determined to show that women could come together behind a core set of concerns, countering all the media representations of women fighting over microphones and exchanging barbs in press conferences. In an effort to counter the media image of women engaged in a “global catfight,” IWY tribune organizers staged a “unity panel” to showcase broad agreement on a range of issues. The plan backfired when Bolivian labor activist Domitila Barrios de Chungara confronted the panel chair, Mexican feminist Esperanza Brito de Martí, to insist that calls for unity were simply another form of imperialism.

“Other Kinds of Problems”

This chapter opens with the arrival of Domitila Barrios de Chungara, a Bolivian labor activist who emerged as the standard-bearer for Third World women frustrated by US feminists’ efforts to define the IWY agenda. Although organizers of both the intergovernmental conference and the NGO tribune had hoped to put “politics” aside in order to focus on “women’s issues,” Barrios de Chungara articulated powerful reminders that the two remained inextricably intertwined. Tribune discussions returned to the question of how women’s domestic labor burdens limited women’s opportunities, although discussions frequently turned to condemnations of Augusto Pinochet’s government in Chile. Those stressing Third World concerns, whether about human rights or about subsistence labor, argued that the issues highlighted by US feminists, particularly around reproductive rights and sexual liberation, distracted from more compelling concerns.

Introduction

The introduction examines some of the mythology and misconceptions surrounding the International Women’s Year (IWY) conference. It particularly considers the fictional confrontation between the US feminist Betty Friedan and the Bolivian labor activist Domitila Barrios de Chungara and why that imagined encounter came over time to stand in for the conference itself. It describes the ways that IWY was shaped by debates of the 1970s over questions such as sovereignty and geopolitics, the meanings of development and feminism, and the changing nature of civil society. It explains how the three UN-designated IWY themes—equality, development, and peace—stood in for geopolitical divides but had become widely contested concepts.

La ideología feminista en 'Si me permiten hablar...' Testimonio de Domitila, una mujer de las minas de Bolivia

El conocido testimonio de Domitila Barrios de Chúngara se analiza en este ensayo. A la luz de la teoría feminista y del análisis del contexto de la enunciación, se observa la posición de Chúngara como líder que apoya los derechos de la mujer y su simultánea representación como no feminista. Asimismo, se explora el papel de la autora y mediadora Moema Viezzer en relación al contenido feminista de la obra. La autora sugiere que, a pesar de la negación de Chúngara, su testimonio contiene ideas feministas. The well known “testimonio” of Domitila Barrios de Chúngara, by Moema Viezzer, is analized in this essay. In the light of feminist theories and the context of enunciation, the position of Chúngara as a leader who supports women rights is explored, as well as her representation as a non-feminist woman. Moema Viezzer’s role as author and mediator is also analized with regard to the feminist contents of the book. The author suggests that, in spite of Chúngara’s denial, her account includes feminist ideas.

Transnational Feminism

This chapter examines how the processes of translation spilled out during the International Women's Year (IWY) conference held in Mexico City in 1975. More specifically, it explains how the IWY fostered the creation of a new language of transnational feminism. It also considers three interrelated elements that played particularly critical roles in the unfolding history of the conference: how the conference came to be imagined as an event; the role of temporality in structuring that imagination; and how questions of representation and identification informed participants' conduct. The chapter highlights a key moment in the conference: the confrontation between North American feminism and Third World feminine Leftism, represented by Betty Friedan and Domitila Barrios de Chungara, respectively. It argues that the conference was not only a struggle for power and unity but also a struggle between globally gathered feminists for commensurability itself.

Bolivia — the struggle continues: an interview with Domitila Barrios de Chungara

Another coup in a country which has known nearly 200 in 155 years of independence might mean nothing. But the coup of 17 July 1980 is probably the most significant in Bolivia's history - as the present regime seeks finally to end the country's fragile democratic structures and place it firmly alongside the regimes of Chile and Argentina. Military rule is being institutionalised on the Chilean model and a new constitution for Bolivia, written by the present junta, is in the offing. Resistance to military rule has a long tradition in Bolivia. In 1953- despite attempts by the military to prevent it - the progressive Movi miento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) was brought to power by a mass mobilisation of peasants and workers. But the MNR moved first towards reformism and then conservatism, paving the way for General Barrientos to be elected vice-president in 1964 and then to take power as leader of a military junta. Military control of the country continued. In 1971, General Hugo Banzer seized power and began one of the longest and most repressive military regimes in the country's history. But in 1978, he was forced to call elections, due to popular resistance and opposition through a hunger strike within the country, and to US pressure and international condemnation of his repressive measures. However, in the last three years, three civilian governments have been elected and each time the military has seized power almost immedia tely. Domitila Barrios de Chungara, leader of the Housewives Committee in the mining centre of Siglo XX and author of Let Me Speak, was at tending the UN Women's Conference in Copenhagen at the time of the latest coup. She immediately began to mobilise international support against the present regime and was consequently branded a traitor and threatened with execution if she returned to her country. Jane McIntosh: Can you tell us something about the current crisis in Bolivia?