The article reflects on the relation of drama, image, and anthropological “writing” from a visual anthropological perspective, based on the case of the Hã-Hã-Hãe indigenous people from northeastern Brazil and the production of a short participatory video documentary in support of the Hã-Hã-Hãe's case. Drama is discussed as a genre that provides the basis not only for the filmic representation of the Hã-Hã-Hãe's struggle for recognition but also for the public negotiation of the Indians' story and the social drama of which they are a part. Due to the nature of the subject, the article is presented as a work in progress, tracing the author's engagement with a continuously developing narrative and seeking to give an account of the fragmentary and event-oriented nature of ethnographic representation.

The specific contribution of this study is to explore how a communitarian lifeworld. prepares the ground for practices of political clientelism without requiring the foundational favor“ noted in other contexts. Based on the encounter between ethnographies from two different communities of the Mesoamerican tradition in Mexico, the article argues that this lifeworld is forged by the habitual ways in which most collective tasks are carried out, that is, by forming and participating in networks. First, we offer a concrete description of the operation of two problem-solving networks of political clientelism in these communities. These networks are considered legitimate since they appear to be part of the communitarian practices. Second, we observe that the state often fails to reach out to the citizens with many social benefits, and we maintain that the problem-solving networks bridge the gap between the citizens and the state. Third, we argue that the ethnographic approach has been of paramount importance in reaching these findings, which are hardly attainable without this method. We consider that the workings of the clientelist networks represent a deep expression of people's communitarian lifeworlds.

Considerable research has been conducted on the relationship between socioeconomic inequality and political engagement. However, there is little consensus on the exact nature of the relationship, and considerable variation in the relationship exists even among countries with similar levels of inequality. This lack of clarity in the literature exists because the impact of inequality on engagement is not constant, but changes depending on the strategic choices of political leaders. Populist leaders; who tend to explicitly connect political and socioeconomic exclusion, can activate latent grievances around inequality. Using data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project, we show that inequality leads to disengagement among the poor in most contexts but increases engagement under populist rule. In other words, a primarily structural relationship is mediated by political variables. Even though the severity of inequality is outside the control of any political actor, leaders' reaction to inequality can dramatically alter its impact on mass political behavior.

Analysts of social movements have done a great deal to extend our understanding of how resistance groups frame injustices. They often assume that some form of collective (discursive) action is necessary to frame common understandings, but in many authoritarian regimes collective action is not tolerated. Instead, opposition is expressed in messages embedded in comics, films, and other images generated by popular culture. In this article we connect the literature on social movements and framing to the psychological and cultural understandings of humor, and specifically how text and images in humorous comics form a response to official frames of social peace, modernization, and development. Even when no one dares to write a letter of protest, or take to the streets, or set up a website, the political content of comics establishes understandings about group identity and justice. In more open and democratic regimes, dissident leaders are permitted to manipulate images and understandings. In closed authoritarian regimes, comics are “ready meals” for dissidents. We examine humorous comics in Mexico from 1970 to 1976 to show how text and images spoke of injustices such as torture, poverty, and marginalization.

This article tells the story of how an important group of social scientists in Latin America turned away from the problems of underdevelopment to the possibilities for democracy. It focuses on a network of leading Latin American intellectuals and their North American counterparts brought together by material stringencies as well as intellectual and political concerns arising from the sweeping wave of authoritarianism in the region. Brokered by private institutions and mediated by personal encounters, the decade-long endeavors of the network reveal the mechanisms through which social scientific paradigms are undone and refashioned.

Land reform has been one of the most contentious issues in Brazilian political history. Government administrations since the 1960s have adopted the banner of reform, and the country has implemented vast colonization and redistribution programs, but the objectives and the effects of those programs have varied widely. Throughout this long history, considerable scholarship has focused on the programs themselves as well as on the increasingly radical social movements that have fought for more enduring reform. Most of this work, however, has invoked the state as the site of policy making and political direction and paid little attention to the state workers responsible for actually implementing reform. In this article, I present a qualitative analysis of the agency in charge of land distribution and settlement since 1970, the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). I argue that understanding the politics of reform requires attention to the political culture within INCRA, which can only be explained through examination of the agency's long history as first a tool of frontier colonization and then a response to social mobilization.

Abordamos aquí los discursos y prácticas de hombres, mujeres e instituciones respecto a las mujeres afrocolombianas, que conforman un fenómeno migratorio reciente en el mercado del sexo de las ciudades mineras del norte de Chile. Veremos cómo la irrupción e instalación de estas mujeres generan tensiones no resueltas en la configuración de las relaciones de género en los enclaves productivos, al ser percibidas contradictoriamente como amenaza y como oportunidad en relación a los acomodos tradicionales de las relaciones de género en la región, en sus dimensiones económicas, laborales, matrimoniales y familiares. Planteamos que la estigmatización y la discriminación de la condición racial, nacional, sexual y laboral de estas mujeres se articula y contradice con experiencias heterogéneas del deseo afectivo y sexual que afecta intensamente la conformación y reproducción de las masculinidades mineras y sus contratos socio-sexuales.

Analisam-se neste artigo as principais concepções elaboradas por Paulo Freire (1921-1997) a respeito da educação e da mudança social, exercício que permitirá assinalar, no final do trabalho, que sua principal proposta, aquela pedagogia mediante a qual os oprimidos conseguiriam tomar consciência da dominação que sofriam, era uma estratégia complementar a outras formas de luta que assumiam os setores populares, incluindo aquelas que se apoiavam na violência. Para atingir esses objetivos o trabalho contará com quatro seções: na primeira se deterá no processo mediante o qual ele se alfabetizou, na segunda se examinarão as características que fizeram que sua proposta de alfabetização e conscientização tivesse tão boa acolhida, na terceira se contextualizarão suas reflexões no movimento intelectual regional que se propunha contribuir para a construção de uma nova sociedade, e na quarta se precisará o papel que ele outorgava à educação na luta revolucionária.

Based on an original US survey, this article argues that, on average, US conservatives today feel substantially cooler toward Latin American countries than liberals do. They also desire massively tougher Mexico border policies and much less foreign aid than liberals do. Averages can hide substantial differences within groups, however. Not all liberals and conservatives are alike, and their differences shape attitudes toward Latin America. For instance, our survey reveals that libertarians and economic conservatives oppose foreign aid to places like Haiti out of a belief in the Protestant ethic of self-help and opposition to income redistribution. Communitarians and economic liberals, by contrast, are more supportive of foreign aid to Haiti. Cultural conservatives fear the impact of Mexican immigration on Christian values and a WASP American national identity more than cultural liberals do. But race and racism continue to divide Americans the most consistently in their attitudes and policy preferences toward Latin America. The policy implications of ideologically divided public opinion for US immigration reform are also addressed.

Within the extensive literature on international regionalism, the more limited academic work done on regional financial organizations (RFOs) tends to assume that, by pooling resources to address such common international economic issues as development funding and financial crises, RFOs contribute to economic stability in their parts of the global landscape. Although South America has led the pack in creating such RFOs, their effectiveness is limited by the asymmetry in economic heft of the continent's governments. Rather than weighing the significance of financial regionalism in South America from the point of view of the majority, we assess whether and how this phenomenon has contributed to Brazil's politico-economic rise to near-major-power standing on the world stage in the twenty-first century. Drawing on extensive interviews with Brazilian officials conducted in March 2013, we analyze three instances of South America's international public finance: development lending, crisis lending, and payment systems. Our findings suggest that self-generated unilateral and bilateral financial initiatives have brought Brasília far more significant economic and political results than have RFOs, whose various incarnations have yielded the continental giant few economic and only minor political gains.

The transformation of Latin American societies from the 1970s onward and the recent sociopolitical and economic changes at a global scale call for reconsiderations of the relation between art and power and its role in processes of democratization. This article examines art's social function and its understanding as transformative social praxis—an activity that reflects upon the world and seeks to change it, and that at the same time critically reflects upon its own condition and relation to that world. It specifically suggests the idea of art's rhetoric in order to conceptualize art's critical potential and identify processes that generate and displace meaning across artistic, sociopolitical, and discursive contexts. Tucumán Arde (1968) in Argentina, Colectivo Actiones de Artes Para no morir de hambre en el arte (1979) in Chile, and Proyecto Venus (2000-2006), based in Buenos Aires, use interdisciplinary methodologies to critically intersect the public sphere. They scrutinize art's position in society, seek to raise awareness, and act as alternative networks of information and socialization.

En el presente artículo se analizará el modo en que las Fuerzas Armadas de Argentina utilizaron el ámbito educativo durante la última dictadura militar en Argentina a fin de consolidar su visión sobre la coyuntura social y política de ese país a través de la formación de futuras generaciones. Con este objetivo se prestará principal atención a las transformaciones en la enseñanza de la historia nacional y más concretamente, en la enseñanza de la historia reciente. El estudio de las transformaciones impulsadas por el régimen dictatorial en la enseñanza de la historia de Argentina posibilitará la reflexión acerca del modo en que se promovió mediante la enseñanza de la historia nacional una reorganización moral y educativa como parte esencial de las herramientas transformadoras que habilitaron y desplegaron la dictadura militar entre 1976 y 1983.

Este artículo explica los efectos de la violencia y, en particular, el tipo de violencia relacionado con los cárteles de droga y su influencia sobre la competitividad electoral a nivel local (municipal). Resulta pertinente comprender y estimar este efecto para asegurar que la democracia, definida sobre la base de su requisito más elemental—es decir, elecciones libres y justas —, no se deteriore o transite al autoritarismo en los gobiernos locales. Los resultados revelan un deterioro en la competitividad electoral a nivel local debido a la violencia relacionada con el tráfico ilegal de drogas. Las estrategias represivas del gobierno mexicano no han sido efectivas en prevenir este resultado.

Social spending by central governments in Latin America has, in recent decades, become increasingly insulated from political manipulation. Focusing on the 3×1 Program in Mexico in 2002-2007, we show that social spending by local government is, in contrast, highly politicized. The 3×1 Program funds municipal public works, with each level of government—municipal, state, and central—matching collective remittances. Our analysis shows that 3×1 municipal spending is shaped by political criteria. First, municipalities time disbursements according to the electoral cycle. Second, when matching collective remittances, municipalities protect salaries of personnel, instead adjusting budget items that are less visible to the public, such as debt. Third, municipalities spend more on 3×1 projects when their partisanship matches that of the state government. Beyond the 3×1 Program, our findings highlight the considerable influence that increasing political and economic decentralization can have on local government incentives and spending choices, in Mexico and beyond.

This essay examines the influence that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru (TRC, 2001-2003) had in the recent novels Abril rojo (2006) by Santiago Roncagliolo, La hora azul (2005) by Alonso Cueto, and El camino de regreso (2007) by José de Piérola. In particular, I focus on how the TRC's treatment of mental health issues have provided these writers with new ways to approach violence and social justice after the twenty years of terrorist and state violence (1980-2000) that cloud Peruvian history. As part of its investigations, the TRC paid close attention to the mental health of the victims and the psychosocial effects of violence. Its investigation influenced the writers I study, who use representations of mental illnesses to allegorize the country's situation after the years of violence and to imagine processes of justice and reconciliation that will reestablish a healthy national community.

Until recently, the Peruvian government to a great extent has given corporations the responsibility for resolving the increasing number of conflicts with local communities in mining localities. In the literature on political and economic reforms, mobilization, and democratic influence, few studies have addressed the role of corporations in relation to those processes. This study contributes an analysis of how corporate-community relations affect communities' ability to mobilize and influence mining projects. The article is based on two case studies in which local communities pursued different demands and analyzes how corporations used various strategies to deal with demands and protests. The empirical analysis demonstrates that local communities can achieve influence by opposing projects as well as by collaborating with corporations. However, these forms of mobilization have different impacts on the collective identities and organizational structures that are essential to the scope of democratic influence for those groups.

As reflexões sobre música popular com frequência enfatizam os casos de experiência musical voluntários, motivados por adesões identitárias, afetivas e simbólicas que os indivíduos e grupos sociais realizam com as músicas que gostam. Mas nem sempre é assim. Este texto tem como objetivo discutir as situações nas quais a experiência musical compulsória gera incomodo nos ouvintes, irritando e intimidando aqueles que não compartilham do prazer de ouvir determinado repertório. O exemplo debatido aqui é o caso do funk, gênero musical brasileiro com histórica vinculação com o contexto das periferias, morros e favelas e que volta a surgir como tema privilegiado na mídia a partir de seu uso nos fenômenos dos rolezinhos, causando incômodo e rechaço. Pensar sobre o incômodo do popular-funkeiro-periférico significa reprocessar ideias sobre a desigualdade social, num contexto de grandes transformações sociais, políticas e comportamentais no Brasil e no mundo.

Comparando espacios de participación (consejos, comités, gabinetes, etc.) en municipios similares en Brasil, Venezuela y Nicaragua, gobernados por partidos que se autodefinen como de izquierda, se indaga a partir del paradigma clásico de Maxine Molyneux, en qué medida estas experiencias contribuyen a “emancipar” a las mujeres. Los resultados muestran que, en el caso de Venezuela, en un contexto de movilización, hay una inclusión abrumadora de mujeres en las bases locales aunque no necesariamente un avance profundo en torno a sus intereses estratégicos. En contraposición, los espacios de interface local anclados en el paradigma de la participación en Brasil no muestran una inclusión amplia de mujeres, pero sí un incremento relativo de contenidos estratégicos. Finalmente, cuando el partido en el gobierno en Nicaragua sigue una estrategia de cooptación para consolidar un monopolio partidario, existe un fuerte retroceso en relación al contenido emancipador de la lucha por intereses estratégicos de las mujeres.

In this article, I explore the creation of the Mexico pavilion that opened in 1982 at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center theme park in Orlando, Florida. I show how designers created a representation of Mexico intended to be recognizably authentic to EPCOT Center visitors by drawing on established touristic images of Mexico in the United States. I then discuss Disney's decision to hire Mexican American artist Eddie Martinez to oversee the design of the pavilion's main attraction, a boat ride through Mexican history and culture. Specifically, I examine Martinez's involvement in the Goez Art Studio and Gallery in East Los Angeles to explain how Mexican Americans gained cultural authority as interpreters of Mexico in the United States. Finally, I show how the pavilion reflected ways in which Mexican Americans read and reconstructed established visions of Mexico in the United States, particularly in relation to pre-Columbian cultures.