Este artículo examina cómo en el Ejército Colombiano, específicamente en la Escuela de Soldados Profesionales (ESPRO), fundada con el objetivo de profesionalizar a los soldados colombianos, coexisten diferentes narrativas en las que adquiere vida el proceso educativo militar. Este artículo muestra cómo en ellas se construye el guerrero ideal, cómo esta construcción tiene un vínculo con el pasado independentista y cómo, se da vida a las funciones de la ESPRO y a los medios usados para educar a los soldados. Nos ocuparemos también de cómo los soldados, exalumnos de la Escuela, definen la profesionalización. El artículo se basa en una investigación etnográfica conducida en el 2016 en la ESPRO, financiada por la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de los Andes, Colombia.

Este artigo investiga o impacto da diversidade de denominações religiosas de cunho evangélico no nível municipal sobre a proporção de votos obtidos pelos deputados eleitos que representam esse grupo demográfico. Para alcançar tais propósitos, utilizamos dados demográficos e eleitorais, assim como relativos à composição da bancada evangélica no congresso para as eleições de 2014. Comparamos o efeito da diversidade confessional nos municípios entre dois grupos de deputados eleitos: evangélicos e não-evangélicos. Verificamos que quanto o maior número de igrejas evangélicas com representação no município, maior a proporção de votos obtida pelos deputados evangélicos. O controle do efeito da diversidade confessional no desempenho eleitoral pelos outros parlamentares também nos permitiu confirmar que o efeito observado era exclusivo de deputados evangélicos, não sendo reproduzido em outros representantes. Os resultados aportam evidências empíricas consistentes a favor da hipótese de que existe complementaridade entre denominações religiosas no que se refere ao voto.

This study assesses the deployment of blackface in a performance of the Danza de Caporales at La Fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria in Puno, Peru, by the performance troupe Sambos Illimani con Sentimiento y Devoción. Since blackface is so widely associated with the nineteenth-century US blackface minstrel tradition, this article develops the concept of “hemispheric blackface” to expand common understandings of the form. It historicizes Sambos’ deployment of blackface within an Andean performance tradition known as the Tundique, and then traces the way multiple hemispheric performance traditions can converge in a single blackface act. It underscores the amorphous nature of blackface itself and critically assesses its role in producing anti-blackness in the performance.

This essay reviews the following works:

Staying Afloat: Risk and Uncertainty in Spanish Atlantic World Trade, 1760–1820. By Jeremy Baskes. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013. Pp. ix + 381. $54.57 hardcover. ISBN: 9780804785426.

The Material Atlantic: Clothing, Commerce, and Colonization in the Atlantic World, 1650–1800. By Robert S. DuPlessis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 332. $29.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781107105911.

The Temptations of Trade: Britain, Spain, and the Struggle for Empire. By Adrian Finucane. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. Pp. 1 + 211. $45.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780812248128.

Guiana and the Shadows of Empire: Colonial and Cultural Negotiations at the Edge of the World. By Joshua R. Hyles. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. Pp. ix + 185. $76.56 hardcover. ISBN: 9780739187791.

The Portuguese-Speaking Diaspora: Seven Centuries of Literature and the Arts. By Darlene J. Sadlier. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016. Pp. 314. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477311486.

Amsterdam’s Atlantic: Print Culture and the Making of Dutch Brazil. By Michiel van Groesen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. Pp. xx + 272. $47.50 hardcover. ISBN: 9780812248661.

This article works to understand what happens to women working in the public sector, especially women in traditionally male occupations, such as the police. Moreover, in Latin America and in most developing countries, it is crucial to examine the interaction between precarious jobs and gender discrimination. The article finds that gender discrimination is accentuated in organizations with precarious labor conditions. To illustrate this problem, it examines the police force in Mexico. This is a crucial case study for understanding the phenomena: Mexico is an extremely violent country, but conditions in the police force are highly precarious for workers. Moreover, this labor precariousness has an even greater impact on female police officers. In addition to working in a profession characterized by instability, they also face structural barriers to the performance of their duties and greater obstacles to entry and promotion within the organization. Furthermore, women face the glass ceiling as well as a hostile work culture that expresses itself through discrimination.

This article proposes the concept of nationness to explore the nuances and complexities that permeate the symbolic and material efforts to remember, imagine, and re-present the nation among the diasporic community of Venezuelan artists. Focusing on Deborah Castillo’s exhibition RAW (2015) and Violette Bule’s installation REQUIEM200≤ (2018), it analyzes how the two artists engage in a form of crafting that re-presents the nation as raw matter (wood, nails, clay) that never achieves a state of completeness or stability. I argue that this act of crafting is interactive and critical. It does not simply remember Venezuela and reproduce it as a spectacle to be passively consumed abroad; it provides the possibility to intervene in systems of power and representation that determine which bodies are visible and which are not, which bodies have power and which do not, which bodies are mourned and who should mourn them. In crafting what I call “Venezuelanness,” the artists’ work offers the space and the means to think (about) the country differently, beyond the spatial boundaries of its territory, beyond the icons that monopolize its collective imaginary, and beyond the extreme polarization of its politics.

After a long period of dictatorship in Latin America, the quality and deepening of democracy have been associated with citizen participation. This article examines the social uses of the notion of participation beyond an exclusively institutional dimension. Starting from the example of the transformation of Valparaíso’s former prison into a cultural space, initiated in 1999, this article studies participation in light of the fluctuating relationships to politics that different actors maintain. It examines how the former prison was transformed into a cause as part of a broader response to a neoliberal urban project and top-down practices. Further, this work analyzes the diverse experiences of commitment among the artists occupying the former prison, highlighting the tensions and dilemmas associated with the exercise of politics in a conflictual context.

El estudio de las atribuciones de pobreza y riqueza ha tenido un rol central en la literatura sobre la justificación de las desigualdades sociales. La investigación en esta área ha explorado en qué medida se usan razones individualistas versus estructuralistas para explicar por qué ciertas personas logran posiciones más precarias o aventajadas que el resto. En esa línea, este artículo busca dar cuenta de cómo cambian en el tiempo estas razones, en el contexto de una sociedad que ha tenido grandes transformaciones estructurales en las últimas décadas, donde además se mantiene una alta desigualdad de ingresos, como es el caso de la sociedad chilena. Tomando dos encuestas con representatividad nacional de los años 1996 y 2015, los resultados indican en un primer nivel descriptivo que han aumentado las atribuciones individualistas sobre el origen de la pobreza y la riqueza —tales como la falta de esfuerzo y la iniciativa personal— y que han bajado las razones de carácter estructural —como el desempleo o las políticas económicas—. No obstante, a través de un análisis de clases latentes (LCA), se ofrece una segunda aproximación más matizada a este fenómeno, mostrando que la baja de atribuciones estructurales se asocia al aumento de personas que atribuyen tanto razones individualistas como estructurales a la pobreza y riqueza, predominando una combinación de ambas a la hora de significar estos hechos. Estos cambios en los patrones de atribución se discuten en el marco de las transformaciones económicas y culturales de la sociedad chilena.

Os casamentos entre pessoas de diferentes países tendem a organizar-se segundo geografias preferenciais e constituem paisagens conjugais distintivas, como a que ganha forma no espaço transatlântico euro-brasileiro de que o presente artigo dá conta. Neste contexto predominam os arranjos matrimoniais com uma determinada estrutura de género-nacionalidade (homens-europeus e mulheres-brasileiras), dos quais emergem configurações de aliança espacial e culturalmente extensivas, assentes numa exogamia que cruza fronteiras políticas, sociais e identitárias. Diversificada e distendida, esta paisagem conjugal articula múltiplos eixos de alteridade: nacionalidade, sexualidade, género, “raça”, etnicidade, classe. Mais do que fatores de clivagem, as demarcações inscritas neste padrão heterogâmico funcionam como indutoras de atração, envolvendo a conjugação de diversos desejos. As diferenças e desigualdades inerentes aos casamentos entre europeus e brasileiras tendem a suscitar a ideia de que as últimas serão as maiores beneficiadas com a constituição de vínculos de aliança transnacionais. Porém, esta hipergamia feminina pode ser obstada, sobretudo quando o matrimónio implica a migração para a Europa.

This essay reviews the following works:

Chino: Anti-Chinese Racism in Mexico, 1880–1940. By Jason Oliver Chang. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2017. Pp. xiv + 257. $28.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780252082344.

Paisanos Chinos: Transpacific Politics among Chinese Immigrants in Mexico. By Fredy González. Oakland: University of California Press, 2017. Pp. xiii + 277. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520290204.

Camaradas: Nueva historia del comunismo en México. Edited by Carlos Illades. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2017. Pp. 375. $18.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9786077457251.

Seen and Heard in Mexico: Children and Revolutionary Cultural Nationalism. By Elena Jackson Albarrán. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. Pp. 414. $35.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780803265349.

The Blood Contingent: The Military and the Making of Modern Mexico, 1876–1911. By Stephen B. Neufeld. Albuquerque: University of Mexico Press, 2017. Pp. vii + 400. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780826358059.

A History of Infamy: Crime, Truth, and Justice in Mexico. By Pablo Piccato. Oakland: University of California Press, 2017. Pp. xi + 374. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780520292628.

The Power and Politics of Art in Postrevolutionary Mexico. By Stephanie J. Smith. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. xiii + 275. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781469635682.

Achieving global fame in 1927, Nicaragua’s General Augusto César Sandino came to symbolize and unite international solidarity movements against US imperialism by cultivating a sophisticated transnational intellectual network that encompassed communications, public relations, intelligence, provisions, volunteers, and fundraising. The participation of male public intellectuals in Sandino’s strategic communications is well documented, but the roles of intellectual women in the rebellion have not been appreciably explored to date. Bringing to light new archival research on the Nicaraguan poets and journalists Carmen Sobalvarro and Aura Rostand, this article examines how their gendered writing and public personae propagated both Sandino’s war and his legacy after his 1934 assassination. As part of an informal network of women intellectuals, Sobalvarro and Rostand played integral roles in Sandino’s public relations in Nicaragua and abroad. As Sandino has once again become a contested figure in light of Nicaragua’s oppressive Ortega-Murillo government, this recuperative cultural study also bears on present-day Nicaraguan political discourse.

In this research note, we introduce congressbr, an R package for retrieving data from the Brazilian houses of legislature. The package contains easy-to-use functions that allow researchers to query the Application Programming Interfaces of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate, perform cleaning data operations, and store information in a format convenient for future analyses, making a previously difficult task fast and convenient. Congressbr downloads data on legislators, submitted and ratified law proposals, Senate and Chamber commissions, and other information of interest to social scientists across various fields. We outline the main features of the package and demonstrate its use with practical examples.

In several Latin American countries, social violence has risen to warlike levels. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the extent of social violence and the new (informal) forms of governance generated by the so-called violent nonstate actors (VNSAs). Where a state’s forces fail to provide for the physical protection and social security of its citizens, some areas are governed by a mix of formal (vertical) and informal (horizontal) forms of governance, mixing state and nonstate actors. In these socially bounded spaces, nonstate actors produce and distribute public goods similarly as the state does. In this article, we explore how hybrid governance has appeared in the South American region, considering the operation of two regional VNSAs, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in Brazil and the Bandas Criminales (BACRIM) in Colombia. We show that such VNSAs are significant agents for security governance, as they challenge preconceived notions of state authority (legitimacy).

The purpose of this study is to develop an overview of the Latin American women-owned business environment. Documentary research was conducted based on the factors of the Integrated Framework Assessment for an Enabling Environment for Women-Owned Businesses developed by the International Labor Organization, including access to credit and financial services, institutionalism, associations and women entrepreneurs’ networks, legal and regulatory framework, the distribution of the use of time, citizen security and gender-based violence, and promotion of entrepreneurship. The study concludes that even though there have been important initiatives related to these factors in Latin America and these issues have become important in political agendas, there has been uneven progress in different countries.

How did the social sciences theoretically contribute to producing the movements of Chilean pobladores and Brazilian favelados during the twentieth century? Through a critical review of the main theories that seek to understand the political actions of the urban poor in Santiago de Chile and Rio de Janeiro, this article shows the close relationship between these movements and the production of social sciences, in which a double hermeneutic operates—a mutually influential reflexive process that eventually contributed to the constitution and recognition of the movements as such. This research analyzes how social sciences perform the same social struggles that they attempt to describe, in other words, how certain academic contexts interact positively or negatively with the political and social disputes generated from the movements in question. I review theories of marginality and dependent urbanization, urban social movements, utilitarian views, and new social movements, showing how these interpretations alternated between requiem, rediscovery, and denial of the favelados and pobladores as social movements.

By using innovative microlevel data from Colombia’s civil war, this article examines protests, one of many actions that civilians employ to resists peacefully armed actors during civil war. By using a cost-benefit analysis, the author argues that inhabitants can mobilize and solve their collective action problem when the costs of migrating or supporting one side in a war are too expensive. By examining the civil conflict on Colombia between 1988 and 2010, the author finds that civilians are likely to protest armed actors under three conditions. First, autonomous communities, which enjoy benefits associated with their territory, are likely to protest because migration would be costly; moreover, the institutional strength of these communities can decrease the costs of mobilization against armed actors. Second, foreign aid distributed through nongovernmental associations can empower individuals to take action by providing selective incentives for mobilization, thus decreasing costs. Last, high levels of violence, up to a certain threshold, increase the costs of nonparticipation and induce civilian action.

The Câmara dos Deputados, the lower house of Brazil’s National Congress, is a leader in the digitization and online dissemination of audiovisual recordings of legislative sessions. Its website hosts the Arquivo Sonoro, an initiative of the Câmara’s audiovisual department, which contains over 120,000 hours of recordings of speeches, votes, and committee meetings spanning over half a century. The Câmara also makes available online complete video of sessions dating back three years. This research note explores the methodological, historical, and pedagogical opportunities that these audiovisual sources offer scholars and educators. It employs as examples the research of a faculty member, a doctoral candidate, and three undergraduate students, all of whom are among the contributors to a digital humanities project that showcases this remarkable resource. By highlighting ambient noise, volume, emotion, body language, grammatical errors, regional or ethnic accents, and discrepancies with the written record, the authors demonstrate some of the ways that aurality and visuality can enrich and complicate humanities and social science research. They also reveal the multifaceted benefits of institutional support for the digitization of archival material and its free dissemination online to scholars and the public.

A partir de investigaciones previas sobre la acción cultural de la dictadura chilena (1973–1990), especialmente vinculadas a las artes visuales, se reflexiona sobre nudos críticos claves en pos de un marco interpretativo sobre aquella: identidad y periodización, denominación, filiación ideológica, alcance cultural de la ruptura provocada, comparación con las dictaduras sudamericanas, manipulación de los medios y reconocimiento de la acción artístico-cultural con relación a su identidad represiva. Se propone considerar las fluctuaciones temporales, institucionales y de contenido, para superar explicaciones dicotómicas o absolutas que mitifican y oscurecen la comprensión del accionar cultural autoritario y, por ende, del disidente.

Este artículo describe y explica la sub representación de mujeres en los gabinetes ministeriales de Ecuador entre los años 1979 y 2015. A partir de una base de datos inédita y recurriendo a un modelo de regresión lineal, el artículo sostiene que el incremento tanto en el número de legisladoras como en el tamaño de la bancada legislativa oficialista, inciden positivamente sobre la presencia de mujeres en los gabinetes ministeriales. Adicionalmente el artículo discute la importancia política de los ministerios asignados a mujeres a lo largo del período analizado. En este aspecto, el principal hallazgo empírico que se presenta indica que, a pesar del drástico aumento de ministras durante los gobiernos de Rafael Correa, la histórica tendencia de colocar mujeres en Carteras de Estado de menor importancia política continúa en vigencia.

Although the knotted cord texts known as khipus have been created in the Andes for over a millennium (ca. AD 950–1950), their historical philology has been little understood. This study, based on original archival and ethnographic research, analyzes hybrid khipu/alphabetic texts known as “khipu boards,” examining their development in colonial Peru, and their role in twentieth-century Andean rituals. Particular attention is paid to a previously unknown sacred manuscript, the Entablo, from the community of San Pedro de Casta, Peru, which describes how villagers used khipu boards in their annual religious ceremonies until the 1950s. This study reveals new insights into the social and symbolic nature of post-Inka khipus as texts, particularly with reference to gender, place, and knowledge.