The following study provides a critical interpretation of the ten years’ administration of Rafael Correa in Ecuador. The main goal is to comprehend to which extent structural transformations were achieved during his period in power and what lessons can be drawn in order to conceptualize strategies for the complete emancipation of Latin America.

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research has been to reflect on the public policies of reproductive health carried out in Peru during the government of Alejandro Toledo. The issue has also been analyzed from the feminist jurisprudence perspective in the context of how these political actions have fostered discrimination against women, especially adolescent girls. This study argues that of the Reproductive policies in Peru have lacked solidity and have been exposed to constant changes in orientation, whether influenced by the pressure of actors such as the Catholic Church, civilian organizations or through international treaties.

Keywords

Reproductive health rights, Peruvian adolescents, public policies, family planning.

Impunity constitutes a widespread and common example of a lack of constitutional restraint on governments and their actions, as well as the failure of governments to ensure the law to be as binding for their own agents as they are for civilians. Even if constraints of a constitutional nature on state behaviour constitutes an important tool in the promotion and protection of civilians’ social, civil and political liberties, formal “guarantees” of human rights through constitutional restraint do not ensure their complete practical implementation. In the contemporary world, unpunished human rights violations committed by state actors are widespread across the Latin American continent independent of the development, political and economic levels in the individual countries.

In this thesis, the purpose is to undertake a theoretically-guided empirical study in order to explore the effects of five different independent variables (democracy, press freedom, control of corruption, armed intra-state conflict and GDP/capita) on the occurrence of impunity in a country. For the measurement of the dependent variable, impunity, the creation of a measurement is attempted. This is constructed based on data by the US State Department Human Rights Country Reports, which was complemented by data from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Data in the study are collected on 23 countries of the continent. The aim of the created measurement regarded the provision of an additional dimension to existing measurements of governmental respect to human rights and the rule of law.

The quantitative analysis of the data conveys a notion that impunity is worse in countries featuring intra-state crises in the form of armed conflicts. It also suggests that the presence of impunity decreases with press freedom. Press freedom is further theorised as constituting a more effective tool in the control of governmental impunity than democracy, in that press freedom yields more constant pressure for accountability on police and military forces than a government does.

Enforced disappearances has been used as a repressive strategy by numerous Latin American states against tens of thousands of presumed political opponents and adversaries, starting in the 1960’s in Guatemala. In contemporary Latin America, Mexico holds the record for disappearances, both politically and non-politically motivated, with more than 30 000 cases reported since the beginning of the drug war in 2006. In response to the silence and impunity from the state, family members have been forced to organize in order to advance in the search for their relatives and for justice. Most of these family members are women. The aim of this study is to analyze women’s experiences of organizing as relatives to the forcefully disappeared in Mexico to explore possible connections between organization and empowerment. Empowerment is here understood from a feminist perspective, as a transformative factor that gives women increased feelings of ‘power to’, ‘power with’ and ‘power within’. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five women organized in four different family members’ organizations in Mexico. The results were analyzed against a theoretical framework consisting of previous research and theories on women’s organizing in Latin America, focusing on strategic and practical gender interests and theories on women’s empowerment, from a feminist and sociologist perspective. The analysis revealed that through the process of organizing, women developed a critical consciousness and access to new skills and resources that resulted in the women becoming more active, political and empowered subjects. The results also showed that despite women’s reasons for organizing being originally practical, to find their loved ones, during the process of organization, these reasons became more strategic and political, as a result of the empowerment process. The study concludes that women’s collective action is a source of empowerment even within organizations that does not have this as an outspoken aim and that the collectives of family members have provided a space for women to become active, conscious and critical citizens.

Nuestro trabajo se enmarca en el (sub)género discursivo del juicio oral, definido como interacción oral formal, altamente ritualizada, y con un alto grado de complejidad, elaboración y planificación discursivas (Briz 2011). Nuestro objeto de investigación es el tratamiento de la identidad, especialmente lo relacionado a la etnicidad y a la adscripción religiosa, en la vista oral del juicio por los atentados terroristas en Madrid en 2004. Los materiales de análisis se componen de intervenciones  accesibles on line, tanto de los agentes profesionalizados (esto es, tribunal, fiscales y letrados) como de los acusados. Partiendo del concepto de identidad de Zimmerman (1998) así como de la noción de prácticas sociales e ideologías puestas en práctica en la situación de juicio (Carranza 2007), se observará cómo las referencias a la etnicidad –ser árabe, tener nacionalidad marroquí– de algunos de los acusados así como su pertenencia religiosa –ser musulmán– son usadas con fines argumentativos en las distintas fases de la vista oral. Así, el acusado que denuncia que “yo he sufrido tortura en mi religión” o el que resalta el compromiso de su abogado en su defensa “a pesar de que soy musulmán” acuden a la etnicidad y a actividades de imagen (Penman 1990) como herramienta argumentativa; de la misma manera lo hace el fiscal al parafrasear las palabras de un acusado “yo convertí a malhechores en servidores de Dios” por “él convirtió a delincuentes de poca monta en fanáticos de Dios, en locos de Dios”. Analizando diferentes estrategias persuasivas (Salmi-Tolonen 2005) esperamos contribuir a alcanzar un mayor conocimiento de la actividad argumentativa en este subgénero del discurso judicial español, de especial importancia, además, dada la multiculturalidad de la sociedad española.

En este estudio tengo por objetivo hacer una lectura de las esquelas de defunción publicadas en la prensa española con ocasión del 70 aniversario del inicio de la Guerra Civil española desde una perspectiva que aúna la teoría de la (des)cortesía y el análisis crítico del discurso, especialmente el discurso ideológico (van Dijk 2003). Si bien las esquelas u obituarios se enmarcan en un género expositivo escrito, es patente en el corpus elegido la interacción entre texto y contexto social (Bolívar, 2005). También interesa observar el uso de las actividades de imagen como fenómeno con entidad propia (Haugh 2013). El corpus reunido se compone de 38 esquelas –que abarcan a 62 difuntos– en las que se producen tanto ’exacerbación informativa’ como ’actitud opinativa’ (Hernando 2007), y se evidencia en la mayor parte de ellas una polarización de las posiciones de los dos bandos, esto es, republicanos vs. franquistas/nacionales. Concretamente, se aplica al análisis la reelaboración de los conceptos de autonomía y afiliación (Bravo 2003) que propone Kaul de Marlangeon (2005) en cuanto a refractariedad (la autonomía exacerbada como opositor al grupo, esto es, la oposición al otro bando: ”vilmente asesinado por las hordas rojas”, ”la barbarie marxista”, ”balas asesinas de la represión franquista”) y la afiliación exacerbada al propio grupo, hasta el punto de acudir a la descortesía en su defensa. Si bien se trata sobre todo de iniciativas particulares, lo que se ha dado en llamar ’guerra civil de las esquelas’ (de la Cal 2006) ha contribuido al debate social propiciado en España por la aprobación de la Ley de la Memoria Histórica (Ley 52/2007), dado que, además de recordar a sus víctimas, ha habido en ocasiones un posicionamiento respecto a la necesidad o no de revisión histórica (”España sigue estando en deuda con la justicia, la verdad y la memoria de las víctimas de esos grupos sediciosos” vs. ”este dolor sin sentido que ahora está siendo removido sin piedad”).   

La comunicación mediada por ordenador (computer-mediated communication, CMC) ha sido objeto en años recientes de trabajos (Alcoba Rueda 2004; Noblia 2004; Bou-Franch & Garcés-Conejos 2005; Palazzo 2005) que se centran en diferentes aspectos relacionados con las actividades de imagen y la (des)cortesía, presentes en la interacción electrónica mediante e-mail o en chats. Otro tipo de CMC menos estudiado lo constituyen las entrevistas digitales que se publican en los sitios electrónicos de diferentes periódicos. En ellas los lectores envían elogios, críticas y preguntas solicitando información/opinión a personas conocidas en alguna faceta de la vida pública. Posteriormente, el/la entrevistado/a, contesta las preguntas recibidas on line. Nos basamos en un corpus de 50 entrevistas extraídas de Encuentros Digitales (www.elmundo.es) y Entrevistas (www.elpais.es) para el español, y de DN-chatten (www.dn.se) para el sueco. Pensamos que estas entrevistas proporcionan un material valioso y de fácil acceso para el análisis de la (des)cortesía (cf. Bernal 2007). Concretamente, el objetivo del presente estudio es realizar un análisis comparativo de las estrategias usadas por los interactuantes suecos y por los españoles, centrándonos en la cortesía valorizante –realizada mediante halagos– y en actividades de potencial daño a la imagen ajena –que se plasma en críticas– presentes en los comentarios enviados por los lectores, teniendo en cuenta también el efecto de (des)cortesía (Bravo 2005) producido en la persona entrevistada. Los resultados preliminares apuntan a una mayor frecuencia de cortesía valorizante en los materiales españoles, así como una recepción más elaborada del elogio, con reforzamiento de la autoimagen y agradecimientos; mientras que en los materiales suecos predominan los pedidos de información y de opinión y tanto el elogio como la crítica tienen una realización y una recepción menos salientes.

This thesis will investigate the development of civil-military relations in Brazil since the democratization in 1985. The two most important previous studies, by Alfred Stepan and Wendy Hunter, will be presented and discussed. They where published in 1988 and 1997, respectively. There is therefore a need for a study that includes the development during the long period since these two books were published. The focus will be on three indicators, civilianization of government, how the role of the military has been defined, and military expenditures. The conclusions are that there are contradicting tendencies regarding the development of the civil-military relations, and that the strengthening of civilian institutions is paramount in order to consolidate democracy in Brazil.

This interdisciplinary edited volume explores the political economy of regionalism in Latin America. It identifies convergent forces which have existed in the region since its very conception and analyses these dynamics in their different historical, geographic and structural contexts. Particular attention is paid to key countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, as well as sub-regions like the Southern Cone and Central America.

To understand the resilience of regionalism in Latin America, this book highlights four main issues. Firstly, that resilience is linked to mechanisms of self-enforcement that are part of the accumulation of experiences, institution building, and common cultural features described in this book as regionalist acquis. Secondly, the elements and driving forces behind the promotion and expression of the regionalist acquis are influenced and shaped by nested systems in which social processes are inserted. Thirdly, when looking at systems, there is a particular influence by national and global ones, which condition the form and endurance of regional projects. Finally, beyond systems, the book highlights the relevance of agents as crucial players in the shaping of the resilience of regionalism in Latin America.

This insightful collection will appeal to advanced students and researchers in international economics, international relations, international political economy, economic history and Latin American studies.

Brazil and Latin America: Between the Separation and Integration Paths challenges the “separatist” bias in the vision of Brazilian relations with its Latin American neighbors. By exploring the parallel existence of a path of integration, the focus of this study is on those forces which have intended to forge different forms of alignment, integration, and, sometimes, rightward union between Brazil and different Latin American countries. The authors analyze the ideas and projects inherent in the mindset of elites even before independence. They show that the path of integration has been more influential than is generally known. Ultimately, this book demonstrates the complexity around policy-making, debates on foreign policy, and the history of shaping the Brazilian self.

2015:5 Sida Decentralised Evaluation / Utvärderingen av den svenska strategin för demokratistöd för part Anslutna Organisationer (PAO) fann PAO att ge stöd som är relevant för den politik den svenska regeringen. Utvärderingen visade utgångar som ska genomföras som planerat och effektivt på individnivå, men med begränsad institutionell förändring. Detta begränsar bidrag till målet strategi av demokratisk politisk utveckling. Effekten är också av PAO beslut att engagera mottagarna från mer än sjuttio länder, ofta från parter med endast marginell nationellt inflytande. Bristerna i den nuvarande utformningen, utan tvekan, härrör från det faktum att medlen till PAO för systerpartistödet fördelas enligt antalet platser i den svenska riksdagen, snarare än prestanda. Det finns således ett behov av att tänka över utformningen i syfte att förbättra kvalitet och hantering av risker.

NUESTRAS MADRES is an artwork by the art collective IDA performed at the AHRA Architecture and Feminisms Conference (2016), which consisted of a collective ritual and a poetry reading. The ritual created a safe space where a group of participants sat around a table taking turns in sharing their stories about their mothers while embroidering their names on a single tablecloth. These were synthesized into a poem and presented the following day. IDA investigates issues in private and public space connected to knowledge production and gender normativity. Even though the role of mothers and their knowledge is usually connected to the private sphere, the knowledge of our mothers and their mothers shared en la mesa - over the table - is important in the construction of political subjects. How has this knowledge helped us survive in society as women, queer, indigenous, working class, Muslim, immigrant - as human beings?

During the last decades, climate change studies have been focusing more intensely on its anthopocenic essence, as the consequence of production and consumption patterns that require the intensive exploitation of the environment. In line with this school of thought, and new generations of studies on environmental crime, this work aims to present the environmentally and climate-related issues arising from land degradation in the Peruvian Amazon; focusing on those casual mechanisms developed from the collusion between Peruvian-economic policies and new private actors such as transnational corporations (TNCs). Relying on the assumption that: the processes moving the issue of climate change overcome the global space, and can be observed from regional, national or local point of view; this work's purpose is to analyze how a single country as Peru, currently considered of low ecological footprint, could, by means of the definition of national laws (environmentally and economic-related) burden climate change. The analysis focuses on a single case-study identified with the territory within the Northern Ucayali and Southern Loreto regions in Peru, and builds on the theory of state-corporate crime developed in the 1990s by Ronald C. Kramer and Raymond J. Michalowski to define the role of state-corporate relationships in the production of social harms. To show how this relationship is today shaping the globally spread issue of climate change, the analysis of the palm oil industry in Ucayali is presented as main example of a broader phenomenon of transgression and partnership between private and public spheres in Peru. In this optic, the purpose is to give further contributions to the studies of climate change as state-corporate crime, focusing on the analysis of those territory, as the Amazon, whose preservation has been identified as mayor tool against global warming and which is instead harmed by the relation between private and governments interests.

During the transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy in the mid-1940s, Sweden experienced a heated debate on economic planning in which a number of Sweden's leading economists were involved. In 1941, Ingvar Svennilson, a member of the so-called Stockholm school of economists, became the head of the Industrial Institute of Economic and Social Research, founded by Swedish industry. During the following years he wrote extensively on the issue of economic planning. Although this issue was ideologically explosive, he managed to strike a balance which earned him respect in most camps. His focus gradually shifted from central planning during the war, toward framework planning and indicative planning after the war, when he designed the first Swedish long-term survey.

Tales of contemporary society, and who gets the right to tell them, is in this internet era something in motion as new platforms for sharing and getting information have arisen. Where traditional media through newspapers, radio or television has historically been so dominant, more and more voices can make it through as access to new platforms increase. In Latin America and in Guatemala, traditional media has been in the hands of the few and the powerful, concentrating economical and political influence that’s wielded through the power of discourse. Seeing this as hegemonic and representing a society where all are not included, alternative media seeks to counter such discourse and power by telling the untold stories by those historically without voice. This study picks up the perceptions, experiences and views of journalists and activists reshaping what we know about media production and the world, all this in a setting, a moment in time in Guatemala, when the structures of hegemonic power are shaken and put into question. By interviewing representatives of a wide scope of the alternative media sector, this thesis gives account for their aims and contributions as well as the general role and importance of alternative media in Guatemala. What it shows us is that alternative media is perceived as a force changing and adding to narratives about prior marginalized issues in the media as well as countering hegemonic power by contributing to empowerment of the citizenry. This study also show us that alternative media is perceived to open up the space for public opinion to a wider group of people in society and that it has a part to play in monitoring media power. Through these conclusions we gain a better understanding for counter hegemonic voices, ideas and movements and their part to play in society.

This study contributes to the existing discussion about international tourism by exploring the role of all-inclusive hotels in the creation of an environmental bubble on the northern coast of Jamaica. Moreover, it examines what type of Jamaica is being sold by the hotels and who is included and who is excluded from the environmental bubble. The purpose of this study is to analyze how all-inclusive hotels on the northern coast of Jamaica are selling their travel packages. In order to do that, this study makes a qualitative media analysis of digital website advertisement from all-inclusive hotel’s websites. Social scientists agree that one characteristic of all-inclusive type of tourism is the separation between guest and host. I argue that the website advertisements by all-inclusive hotels are contributing to this separation. 

This dissertation, by using the case of tensions between the United States and Venezuela between 2001-2007, examines Rummel’s hypothesis that democratic countries are inherently peaceful, and investigates whether the tensions in US-Venezuela relations under president George W Bush and president Hugo Chavez confirms or rejects Rummel’s hypothesis. A review of relevant documents, reports by non-governmental organizations and previous research in the field of international relations lead us to the conclusion that while the strained relationship between the US and Venezuela did reach a stage of coercive diplomacy, as defined by Jakobsen, the threats between the two countries did not escalate towards military aggression, and therefore Rummel’s hypothesis is confirmed.

El presente volumen agrupa una selección de disertaciones que fueron producidas en diferentes universidades suecas en años recientes. Decidimos incluir estudios de diversas disciplinas, sobre diferentes países latinoamericanos y temas de investigación. También incluimos autores de distintas universidades para presentar un ejemplo amplio de las investigaciones que tienen lugar en las distintas instituciones suecas. Esta selección no pretende ser representativa de la investigación sueca sobre Latinoamérica. Además, y como será señalado en el anexo, hay un gran número de estudios recientes de excelente nivel que no ha sido posible incluir. Esperamos, sin embargo, que esta selección permita comprender cómo se desarrollan en Suecia los estudios sobre Latinoamérica; cuáles son algunos de sus áreas de interés, así como los desafíos que enfrentan los académicos que se embarcan en la tarea de estudiar un continente lejano. Pero, sobre todo, esperamos que este libro cumpla con el propósito de servir como estímulo para generar más vinculos de investigación entre Suecia y América Latina.

This paper discusses the socio-economic structural causes that favored the creation of drug cartels in Colombia. This paper argues that structural causes are often neglected from research on cartels and drug trafficking and the aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how new policies can be achieved that are based on the comprehension of the deep socio-economic conditions which are a part of the very structures of Colombia and their relation to the cartels. This is done with a focus on the state and the social classes, and their development throughout the Colombian history since independence. The cartels are analyzed as criminal insurgencies in order to achieve a conceptual understanding of them. This paper concludes that the incomplete Colombian state formation, together with a great amount of marginalization of the lower social classes have been decisive factors in the creation of the criminal insurgencies and consequently, that we need to rethink the current policies on the war on drugs, since the policies in place have been rather unsuccessful in blocking the development of powerful cartels, not only in Colombia but Latin America in general.

Este libro presenta 10 casos de incidencia de la sociedad civil en la construcción de acuerdos legislativos multipartidarios, los cuales ilustran el aporte de esta esfera de la sociedad a la calidad de la democracia, así como buenas prácticas de cabildeo ciudadano. En conjunto, los casos documentados dan cuenta de una sociedad civil eficaz y profesional en sus esfuerzos por incidir en la agenda legislativa y la muestran como una esfera ciudadana fluida y multiforme, donde los actores se reparten roles, son capaces de improvisar y adoptan distintas formas organizativas en función de amenazas y oportunidades del contexto. Además de su efectividad, los casos ejemplifican la legitimidad que alcanza la sociedad civil cuando pera en razón de su capacidad de organizarse en redes de colaboración voluntaria, independiente del Estado y del mercado, para identificar y proponer soluciones legislativas a los problemas públicos. Esta capacidad y orientación pública es la base de la legitimidad de su actuación. Cuando logra tanto efectividad como legitimidad, el cabildeo ciudadano se diferencia claramente del cabildeo tradicional para construir una valiosa aportación a la calidad de nuestra democracia desde múltiples dimensiones.

The problems of violence in Latin America are often reiterated, yet understanding how and why violence declines is far less common. While urban violence takes different forms and has a range of motivations, we suggest that strengthening political and social institutions are important in violence reduction processes. We examine this using a comparative analysis of two cities which have recently seen unusual and marked reductions in lethal violence: Bogotá in Colombia and Recife in Brazil. Drawing on primary data collection, the case studies suggest that novel leaders who take advantage of critical junctures can deliver unexpected improvements to public security; and improvements are linked with institutionalising progressive security policies, increasing accountability of political institutions, and social reforms encouraging civic values and commitments to non-violence. While findings are specific to these two cases, they may plausibly apply to a broader range of cities, such that commitments to improve public policy and political institutions can overcome structural risk factors that foster violence.

Las reformas más importantes de la última década en materias como derechos humanos, transparencia y rendición de cuentas, seguridad pública, entre otras, han sido impulsadas por redes y colectivos de sociedad civil con creciente capacidad de incidencia en el proceso legislativo. Este libro coordinado por Mara Hérnandez y Luz Paula Parra documenta diez casos de incidencia efectiva de la sociedad civil en la construcción de acuerdos legislativos multipartidarios, los cuales ilustran el aporte de esta esfera de la sociedad a la calidad de la democracia, así como buenas prácticas de cabildeo ciudadano

Within the fields of electoral studies and legislative politics, the interest of this study is the Brazilian electoral system and the unity of the parties it produces. Specifically, I ask how post-electoral intraparty rank affects party unity. I determine post-electoral intraparty rank by comparing deputies’ vote share of the total national vote count. By compiling a database of 48 roll-call votes of 37 Federal Deputies from São Paulo, I compare how often the deputies toe the party line to their vote share. I also test for the geographical concentration of votes in cases where I find it relevant. My hypothesis is that deputies elected with a low vote share will vote according to their party’s recommendation to a larger degree than those deputies with a strong electoral base. I find that, based only on roll-call vote analysis, the complete sample does not demonstrate a strong relationship between voting agreement and vote share (or post-electoral rank). However, by analyzing significant cases individually, I do find a basis for my hypothesis, as well as indicators of theoretical consistency in the sample. The basis is for the most part strengthened when controlling for vote concentration. I conclude that deputies whose largest electoral base is centered in cities seem to be more autonomous in their voting, most likely for ideological reasons rather than reasons motivated by pork-barrel spending.

What explains the social reintegration of ex-combatants from armed conflicts? Community-level programs to reintegrate ex-combatants into society are based on the theory that the participation of ex-combatants in their communities can promote reconciliation and minimize recidivism to illegal activities. We evaluate community and security-related opportunities for and constraints on social reintegration using a survey of ex-combatants from Colombia. We find that ex-combatants in more participatory communities tend to have an easier time with social reintegration and feel less of a need to organize among themselves. These findings suggest that to help ex-combatants, reintegration processes should also work to improve the social vibrancy of receptor communities.

Women’s political representation is often investigated through cross-national comparisons. Such studies generally focus on women’s political representation at the national level, assuming that countries are homogenous units. However, structural and cultural differences are many times just as large within countries as they are between them. Modernization theory suggests that women’s political representation will increase with development, something that a number of previous studies on primarily Western countries find support for. In order to see if this theory is applicable also on a developing country like Brazil, this quantitative study compares the aggregated share of locally elected women (dependent variable) in 136 Brazilian regions in the 2012 municipal elections with levels of log GDP per capita, population density and female labor force participation (independent variables). In contrast to previous studies on Western countries, the results of this study find no support for the ideas of modernization theory. With moderate correlation, this study actually indicates that higher values of GDP per capita and female labor force participation have negative effects on women’s political representation at the local level in the compared Brazilian regions. Population density was not found to have any substantial effect on women’s political representation.

¿Qué hace posible que los seres humanos vivan en paz? Como el conflicto está inmerso en nuestras vidas y es parte de nuestra esencia y de nuestras relaciones cotidianas, debemos aprender cuáles son las figuras de mediación, arbitraje, negociación y todas aquellas habilidades y destrezas que nos llevarán a tener un acuerdo pacífico con los demás, y así crear una situación de ganar-ganar para las dos partes.

No nacemos conociendo y practicando la violencia, la aprendemos, nos la enseñan, lo cual nos lleva a tener relaciones que destruyen la armonía de nuestro entorno. Por eso hay que aprender a practicar la paz. Tenemos que saber escuchar, no sólo oir; tenemos que aprender a controlar el enojo y la impulsividad, a tener asertividad y empatía. Promovamos la cooperación para llegar al bien común, a la idea de la paz, la justicia y la equidad.

The presidential re-election debate has been going on in Latin America since the consolidation of the first republics. During the presidency of Evo Morales in Bolivia, the debate about re-election has been going on since his election in 2005. This qualitative study is going to present a discourse analysis of the narratives of the re-election debate in Bolivia. The analysis is going to show differences and similarities in the discourses as well as analysing the main features of the discourses. The discourses are from top Bolivian politicians and the data has been collected from three time periods, to give it more perspective and depth.

Since 2016, the Shuar indigenous community of Congüime inthe Ecuadorian Amazon has held the gold mining concession in its territorythrough the community company Exploken Minera. With its mission of sociallyand ecologically responsible mining, investing the incomes in the communityand without using chemicals or heavy metals, this unique model contrastswith transnational and illegal mining in indigenous territories. The presentethnographic study, which draws theoretical and methodological inspirationfrom political ecology, environmental justice, post-development and the conceptualizationof real utopias, deals with the experiences of socio-environmentalgovernance and justice of the Shuar mining company, and the dilemmas,disputes and challenges that emerge in the community in this unprecedentedsituation. The result indicates that structural challenges remain unsolved.While Exploken's experiments in socio-ecological responsibility constitute analternative to destructive extractivism, and considering the improved livingconditions enjoyed by many Shuar families, new social tensions have emergedin Congüime, including transformations of social power structures.

A partir de 2008, com a promulgação de uma nova Constituição, o Equador se tornou formalmente um Estado Plurinacional e Intercultural, resultado de décadas de lutas dos povos indígenas. Desde então, um dos desafios centrais das organizações indígenas trata das visões e modelos para a implementação prática e institucional do Estado Plurinacional. Existem diferentes interpretações e posturas sobre a plurinacionalidade e a interculturalidade dos atores indígenas. Problematizar-se-á como se expressam essas posições internamente, dentro da organização, e como se expressam externamente. Refere-se a este segundo processo externo como o diálogo deliberativo intercultural. O objetivo principal do presente texto é analiticamente problematizar os desafios e dilemas associados ao projeto de Estado Plurinacional a partir da perspectiva dos povos indígenas. Na estrutura teórica se destacam as contribuições sobre democracia deliberativa em sociedades divididas e/ou multiétnicas. A pergunta investigativa principal é: Como se refletem as complexidades do processo de implementação do Estado Plurinacional e Intercultural nos discursos dos atores envolvidos? O projeto plurinacional se inseriu contextualmente em uma relação complexa entre a territorialidade e a autoidentificação étnica. Enfatizamos a centralidade da territorialidade na indigeneidade e como estratégia nos processos organizativos e discursivos das organizações indígenas. Nessas disputas discursivas sobre a territorialidade, diferentes grupos indígenas se posicionam segundo sua relação histórica com a sociedade branco-mestiça. De tal maneira se constroem temporalidades diferentes desde a territorialidade. Metodologicamente, além da leitura crítica da literatura existente sobre o tema central do estudo, a presente investigação tem como base o trabalho etnográfico no Equador no qual se realizaram centenas de entrevistas entre 2001 e 2016 com políticos, intelectuais e porta-vozes das organizações indígenas.

This study deals with the tensions and contradictions between resource governance, welfare policies, and the constitutionally recognized rights of nature and the indigenous peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador. We have identified a certain reductionism in current debates on these issues and propose a more systematic analytical focus on class and the class-ethnicity duality, as expressed in historical and contemporary indigenous struggles, and also confirmed via our ethnographic material. Drawing on the double bind as expressed in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 wherein the protagonists face situations in which they do not have any choice to achieve a net gain, this article centres on how national governments have to choose between the protections of rights - in this case ethnic and environmental rights - and welfare provision financed by extractive revenues. From the perspective of ecologically concerned indigenous actors, the Catch-22 is articulated in the choice or compromise between universal welfarism on the one hand, and ethno-environmental concerns on the other hand. The article draws primarily on ecosocialist arguments and on indigenous-culturalist perspectives on Good Life (Sumak Kawsay or Vivir Bien). A central finding is the existence of awareness among involved actors - oppositional movements and government authorities - that the Catch-22 quandary and joint class-ethnic concerns are unavoidable ingredients in their discourses, struggles, and understandings of Good Life.

This article analyses the contentious liaisons between the indigenous movement and the state in Ecuador during the government of Alianza PAIS under the presidency of Rafael Correa (2007-2017). The research question examines to which measure, how and why the shift from neoliberal to leftist administrations could have affected the principal strategic repertoire of the indigenous movement. Leaning on a political economy approach and social movement theorizing, and accentuating the relative power balance between the indigenous movement and the state, it focuses on indigenous oppositional strategies and the ambivalent attitude of the state regarding participatory democracy and the rights of the indigenous peoples. By contrasting this period with the neoliberal 1990s – considered the heyday of the indigenous struggle – we examine contemporary strategic responses of the movement amidst the new political setting characterized by hyper-presidentialism and a systematic effort to de-corporatize the state. A central finding is that, while retaining its powerful organizational network which could be reactivated during critical situations, the indigenous movement weakened in relation to the 1990s. This relative decline is manifested in three types of social movement relationships: between leaders and grassroots (mobilizing capacity); between the movement and its alliance partners (alliance politics); and between the movement and the legal institutional terrain of the state (institutional participation). 

Ecuador in times of the Rafael Correa government constitutes a prime example of the paradox of environmental conflict, in which all involved actors claim to represent the true vanguard concerning safeguarding of the environment and human conditions. The country presents the ecologically most progressive constitution in the world and also incorporates far-reaching recognition of indigenous peoples' rights. Notwithstanding, the economy remains reliant on extractivism and the government argues that the revenues of extractive industries benefit the common good. Anchored in a distinction between environmentalism and ecologism, this article identifies and problematizes dominant narratives among the actors of the contentious discursive scenarios, and analyses how the state and its ecological-indigenous opposition aim to position themselves within the political conflict. The central questions are: How are eco-progressive politics perceived, defined and expressed in this setting of an intercultural and plurinational society economically reliant on natural resource extraction? Which values, interests and ontological assumptions are at stake and how are these expressed in the discursive struggle? The research is based on several years of ethnographic fieldwork, combined with critical reading of the previous literature and discourse analysis. The article contributes to politico-environmental debates in Ecuador and beyond and shows that environmental struggle is entangled in broader political disputes conditioned by global economic structures. It likewise communicates with debates on argumentative discourse and illustrates that the same core arguments can constitute the argumentative basis of rivalling actors in political struggles, thus emphasizing the centrality of the contextual framing amid ontological divides in contentious discursive settings.

This chapter deals with an inevitable form of subjectivity in field-oriented research on and with ethnically defined peoples in Latin America. It asks whether ethnographers can enter a research field marked by historical injustices and highly asymmetric power struggles without losing the standpoint of value-free outsiders. We argue that scholars in the field are not disconnected from local cultural and institutional settings, they cannot expect to conduct fieldwork without a substantial degree of subjectivity. Theoretically, a distinction is made between fieldwork and work in the field, emphasising the often-dual position of researchers: as scholars and activists. We argue that an activist stance is sometimes necessary, though stressing that the primary position must always be that of the scholar—particularly in those highly conflictive fields which often characterise the societal periphery of the Global South. Ethnographers are not merely spectators. Interpretations and conclusions will be affected by the passions and ideological positions encountered in the field. Moreover, ethnographers frequently enter the field with worldviews determined beforehand, a predisposition that may generate misunderstandings, exaggerations or even prejudice. Methodologically, the text draws on decades of fieldwork on indigenous peoples´ struggles and conflicts in Bolivia, Ecuador and Guatemala. The text problematises the intricate intersection between objec-tivity and research, on the one side, and trust and subjectivity, on the other. The authors conclude by stressing the importance of upholding an “objectivity” that does not clash with the basic premises of a communal narrative rooted in historical experiences and structural perceptions of the world. Situational and relational subjectivity is thus inevitable, but that does not imply that the ambition of academic objectivity must be sacrificed. Such objectivity should not be conflated with “neutrality”, lexically speaking.

In the subject of prostitution there has been a growing trend towards a sex work discourse, where the selling of sex and sexual services is regarded as a form of emotional and erotic labor. The discourse emerged in response to the self-organization of sex workers into labor unions and citizenship rights groups. In Argentina the first steps towards self-representation of sex workers’ interests were taken in the early 1990s. Gradually the sex workers’ social movement has grown into the labor union Ammar (La Asociación de Mujeres Meretrices de Argentina), which actively seeks recognition for sex workers’ economic rights, labor rights and social rights. Although the selling and buying of sexual services has been legal since the early 20^th century prostitutes’ rights have been suppressed hitherto. In 2008 Argentina enacted the United Nation’s Convention to combat human trafficking, Palermo Protocol, as federal law 26.364. The law re-enforced the state’s abolitionist policies towards prostitution, which consequently further marginalized the sex workers’ plight. Connecting their services with human trafficking schemes heightened the social stigmatization of sex workers. To contest the institutional violence and social discrimination Ammar presented a law proposal in 2013. The reform asks the state of Argentina to recognize sex work as a legitimate form of labor, thus insuring the sex workers’ labor and social rights. This paper contributes to the aforementioned sex work discourse by analyzing the self-agency of Argentine sex workers. Based on qualitative fieldwork studies I conducted in 2014 in Argentina and employing a feminist methodology my object is to study how sex workers’ counter hegemonic movement redefines their citizenship. To construct a theoretical framework for the case study I will utilize Giorgio Agamben’s paradigm of ‘state of exception’ and compliment Agamben’s shortcomings by advancing feminist- and queer theories, which have radically revaluated the concept of citizenship. The conclusion is that, even though Argentinian sex workers’ requirement for equal rights may be embryonic, it addresses an urgent inclusion of different kinds of sexualities and gender balances to the citizenship discourse.

Journalism studies almost exclusively rely on a sociology of integration perspective when theorizing the social function of journalism. Focus is put on if and how journalism facilitates democratic processes, encourages civic engagement and strengthens the sense of community. In providing an alternative view, this study mobilizes the cultural sociology of Pierre Bourdieua sociologist of conflictin order to study how young people's conditions of existence have given rise to vastly different orientations towards news and the normative order surrounding journalism. Based on focus group interviews with young people in Brazil and Sweden, the study shows that socialization into the world of news in the family and in school generates class-distinctive news orientations. The world of news is a site where social groups draw moral and cultural boundaries against each other. Since different social groups monopolize completely different news practices and preferences, they work to legitimate social differences. As such, the findings challenge common notions of news as creating the healthy citizen, and that news media provide spaces for the practice of civility and citizenship.

Brazil is a highly unequal and socially segregated society. Within this context, Brazilians' everyday lives are marked by the constant reading of bodies: Who is/could be/looks dangerous? Who should be avoided? Poor working-class people are painfully aware of readings merging poverty and criminality. Based on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork among middle-class and lower-income persons in southeastern Brazil, this photo essay investigates some visual mechanisms at play in processes of social categorization. With a point of departure in the rhetorical question 'Have you ever seen a thief wearing a uniform?' uttered by unskilled workers at moments when their moral status is questioned, this essay examines the dynamic tensions linking physical appearance, morality and social hierarchies in contemporary Brazil. It highlights some of the ways through which unskilled workers' uniforms can be a marker of both marginality and morality as they provide a visual basis for classism in everyday interaction and signal, in other situations, group affiliation, honesty and worker pride.

Garbage - that which is excluded, put aside, hidden, buried, taken out of sight, and rejected - is the starting point of this paper. Approached as refuted matter, garbage circulates between private and public arenas, between centers of power and forgotten peripheries. Approached as a social metaphor, garbage marks the limits between categories, between those things and people considered to have value, and those considered to be useless and disposable. In this paper, I discuss the use of language as a strategy for social positioning by analyzing some everyday interactions taking place among women from different social classes gathered during fieldwork in Southeastern Brazil. As I show, when practiced in asymmetric interactions, these garbage speeches not only classify people in terms of status and value, but also reinforce already existing differences. At focus in the present analysis are oral practices of social positioning where status and social exclusion are harshly negotiated.

This article examines how middle-class households in the city of Belo Horizonte, southeastern Brazil, deal with the waste that pervades their lives. Processes of classification and disposal are examined and related to consumption practices, the division of labor, and environmental issues. This research also examines how waste is implicated in the performance of middle class-ness, in notions of morality, and in norms and codes classifying and distinguishing the valuable from the worthless. The present study suggests that members of the ethnographic sample seem worried about issues regarding social hierarchies and class belonging, to a much greater degree than they are concerned with the environmental aspects of consumption and waste management. Out of sight, out of mind? In an explicit context of social inequality, behavior toward waste passes first through the lens of class.

Brazil is a country with one of the largest television audiences in the world. Ninety percent of the households in the country have at least one television set. What is broadcast on Brazilian television ? Soccer, of course is shown more or less continually. News and entertainment programs also make up an important share of television’s programming. But one of the most broadcast – and most watched – types of program is the telenovela. Telenovelas are saturated with images and narratives of characters who, in order to achieve love, happiness, and social mobility, engage in the transformation of themselves and their bodies. These transformations affect personal relationships, personal assets and social hierarchies of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Based on several periods of fieldwork in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, this article summarizes and presents some of the main findings of a larger research project about Brazilian telenovelas. The article briefly introduces this genre and presents a new take on their reception, moving the focus away from a study of viewers’ interpretations of telenovelas’ plots, to an analysis of viewers’ everyday engagement with the telenovela flow : messages, products, stories and desires that intercept with telenovelas’ plots and circulate throughout Brazilian society. It then takes a closer look at the way the telenovela flow relates to Brazilian society and how Brazilians relate to this flow : What impact does it have on viewers ? Does the telenovela flow work as a guideline, shaping how viewers think and act ?