Abstract || In the literary imagination of Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (Havana, 1991) insects appear in various places. In Días de hormigas (Days of the Ants) the trail of ants indicates a... Show moreAbstract || In the literary imagination of Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (Havana, 1991) insects appear in various places. In Días de hormigas (Days of the Ants) the trail of ants indicates a direction to a form of life and freedom in the midst of a landscape of devastation, a landscape that also returns in Extintos. Aquí no vuelan mariposas (Extintos. Butterflies Don’t Fly Here) (2018), while in La puta y el hurón (The Whore and the Ferret) (2020) the mosquitoes serve as a formulation of resistance to a violent and patriarchal order. In this article I study the role of insects in the work of this young Cuban writer and performer and I affirm that, despite the scenarios of collapse and ruins, the writer also builds an idea of futurity and of community. Drawing on the work of Rosi Braidotti I argue that the abject, the liminal and a particular temporality are intertwined in the becoming-insect and the becoming-woman for an articulation of resilience. Through alliances between “infra-beings”, becoming molecule and becoming imperceptible, I maintain that the becoming-insect functions as a mode of resistance and dissent.Resumen || En el imaginario literario de Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (La Habana, 1991) aparecen insectos por varios lugares. En Días de hormigas el rastro de las hormigas indica una dirección de vida y libertad en medio de un paisaje de devastación, paisaje que vuelve también en Extintos. Aquí no vuelan mariposas (2018), mientras que en La puta y el hurón (2020) los mosquitos formulan una resistencia al orden violento y patriarcal. En este artículo estudiaré el papel de los insectos en la obra de esta joven escritora y performer cubana. Argumento que, a pesar de los escenarios de derrumbes y ruinas, construye también una idea de futuro y de comunidad. Con la ayuda de Rosi Braidotti, propongo que en el devenir insecto y en el devenir mujer se entrelazan lo abyecto, lo liminal y un estar fuera del tiempo que permite articular formas de resiliencia. Mediante las alianzas entre los «infraseres», en el volverse molécula y en el hacerse imperceptible, sostengo que el devenir insecto funciona como un modo de resistir y disentir.Keywords || Insects | Cuban literature | Posthuman feminism | Women writing | Latin America Show less
Dark Matters. Recasting Darkness with Contemporary Latin American Art foregrounds the largely unrecognized potentialities of darkness through a close reading of six materially dark contemporary... Show moreDark Matters. Recasting Darkness with Contemporary Latin American Art foregrounds the largely unrecognized potentialities of darkness through a close reading of six materially dark contemporary artworks from Latin America. It departs from the premise that from the 1980s onwards—that is, in the decades still under the shadow of military dictatorship, forced disappearance, organized crime, and structural racism—artists such as Cildo Meireles (Brazil), Carlos Martiel (Cuba), René Peña (Cuba), Maya Watanabe (Peru), Belkis Ayón (Cuba) and Maria Isabel Reuda (Colombia) developed artworks literally composed of dark matter that defy racist and colonial associations of darkness with irrationality, ignorance, barbarism, and mischief. Their installations and performances in pitch or partial darkness, photographs and prints of black skin or ink, and videos of obscure environments, reveal that darkness more so than having a theoretical and inert existence, flourishes as a vibrant matter that is capable of making things happen and producing effects. Among other things, this study demonstrates that darkness has the capacity to protect realities that elude capture, generate greater freedom, and resist, interrupt and disturb. It revolves around two complementary research questions: How do specific Latin American artworks recast the notion of darkness? And, to what degree does this recasting convey a counter-narrative to the modern perspective on darkness? Show less
What explains nonresident citizens’ voter turnout and which effects do overseas votes generate in homeland politics? Using a multi-method strategy that encompasses 3 cross-sectional time-series... Show moreWhat explains nonresident citizens’ voter turnout and which effects do overseas votes generate in homeland politics? Using a multi-method strategy that encompasses 3 cross-sectional time-series datasets, 50 semi-structured interviews, the analysis of official documents and party manifestos, this dissertation examines nonresident citizens’ voter turnout in Latin America and Southern Europe. The results are abundant. First, the author finds that registration rules, compulsory voting, concurrent elections, voting methods, and democratic quality have a meaningful impact on nonresident citizens’ voter turnout. Second, in this dissertation, there is an in-depth understanding of the different incentives, opportunities, and constraints associated with nonresident citizens’ voter turnout, including the role of homeland authorities and de facto practices to promote and/or to organize elections abroad. Third, the author unpacks swing, interregnum, incumbency, and feedback effects from a comparative quantitative logic. Correspondingly, this study suggests that parties, homeland politicians, and policymakers seek to avoid unwanted consequences controlling or influencing the political agenda. Both a sizable nonresident population and a high number of overseas votes have a moderate but significant impact on election results, either changing or not the bargaining among party organizations to govern. Lastly, this dissertation explores three pathways to analyze non-resident citizens’ voter turnout over time. Show less
Recent historical studies tend to confirm the antimodernist interpretation, emphasizing the strong premodern roots of nations and nationalism. However, a broad comparative analysis of the rise of... Show moreRecent historical studies tend to confirm the antimodernist interpretation, emphasizing the strong premodern roots of nations and nationalism. However, a broad comparative analysis of the rise of the nation-state during the Age of Revolution shows that earlier notions of nationhood did not have a significant role in the creation of nation-states in Europe and the Americas. They were not the consequence of a glorious national revolt, but of a clash between the Old Regime and new ideals of political legitimacy. Many of these conflicts led to civil wars and the survival of the nation-state was mostly determined by the geopolitical constellation. The boundaries of the nation were defined in terms of civilization, whereas language and culture were largely irrelevant. Within these new nation-states, a universalist nationalization process began. In many instances, citizenship was awarded easier to foreigners than to “uncivilized” inhabitants, while Classical Antiquity was preferred over the national past. Show less
This research aims to address the relationship between cinema and political thought in Latin America, in order to question a limited understanding of cinema politics, which has dominated the field... Show moreThis research aims to address the relationship between cinema and political thought in Latin America, in order to question a limited understanding of cinema politics, which has dominated the field of study since the middle of the last century, and to propose a different one that we will call politics of anonymity in Latin American cinema. With the production of this concept, we will seek to take charge of this "extensive and amorphous matter" of Latin American cinema, to demonstrate the existence of a radical cinema politics right there where it has been denied, both by conventional film studies and by the political theories of Latin American militant filmmakers. Show less
Under the banner of rights-based development, it was expected that contemporary social protection policies and programmes would bring about the full enjoyment of universal rights of citizenship.... Show moreUnder the banner of rights-based development, it was expected that contemporary social protection policies and programmes would bring about the full enjoyment of universal rights of citizenship. Instead, these have preferred temporary and conditional claims to resources, prioritising ever-narrower targeting schemes. This shift in policymaking has informed a different disciplinary moral technology of statecraft brought about by conditional cash transfers (CCTs). The central argument of this article is that the normative foundations of CCTs, preoccupied with the technicality of targeting, prioritise moral individualism over issues of recognition and redistribution. Norms embedded in these programmes seem to be more concerned with regulating rather than protecting the poor, conditioning their social and political identities and enacting different forms of economic positioning and social membership. The article traces the normative foundations of the Ecuadorian cash transfer programme Bono de Desarrollo Humano and how they structure social and political identities. The use of ethnographic work, interviews with various generations of cash transfers beneficiary women, and documentary analysis of policies and reports provide the empirical basis for the study of the political economy and normative dimensions of narrowly targeted modalities of social protection programmes. The central argument is that the normative foundations of the BDH programme, targeted and individualised in nature, have limited prospects in terms of recognition and cross-class solidarity. Processes of social stratification and sorting are found to worsen feelings of unreservedness among beneficiary women. Targeted modalities of social protection require beneficiary mothers to provide legible proof of their condition of poverty periodically, and their behaviour is regulated by the application of rigid data protocols, exposing them to corrective measures in case of illegibility, e.g., delisting or 'graduation'. As a result, beneficiary mothers do not see themselves as claimants of rights, a consequence of processes of marginalisation sedimented in a highly unequal society, and exacerbated by the punitive and divisive eligibility protocol used to sort and select CCT beneficiaries. Show less
This study explores several networks of international intelligence cooperation in Latin America, stressing the lessons that can be taken from these experiences for the the global academic debate on... Show moreThis study explores several networks of international intelligence cooperation in Latin America, stressing the lessons that can be taken from these experiences for the the global academic debate on security cooperation regimes. Special attention is given to the intelligence cooperation existing in the so-called Triple Frontera or Triple Border region between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina where the author conducted fieldwork. The Triple Border case has an influence that goes beyond the territories and states that are directly affected. It involves, among many other countries and actors, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Mexico. In fact, its influence extends as far as remote African and European routes for products both licit and illicit to the most complex money laundering systems in the Middle East, China or the United States. This study aims to break with the dominant paradigms that understand intelligence cooperation as dependent on security cooperation and with the idea that intelligence as an exclusive activity of the states. Show less
This study goes beyond the analysis of the causes of the emergence of populist actors in the party system, focusing instead on those cases in which populism and its counterpart anti-populism,... Show moreThis study goes beyond the analysis of the causes of the emergence of populist actors in the party system, focusing instead on those cases in which populism and its counterpart anti-populism, translate into an ideological and discursive divide that contributes to structuring a certain party system. When populism/anti-populism emerges as a political cleavage, the factors behind parties’ political choices in general, and electoral coalition preferences in particular, can be affected. For this new cleavage to start to polarize, a change in the political opportunity structure is needed. In fact, when the political opportunity structure opens as a consequence of events external to the party system new actors may enter the system, producing a change in the dynamic of competition. Moreover, considering also the organizational density of the parties in the system, defined as the power of penetration of a given party, both in terms of intensity and reach, this dissertation can shed light on the likely duration not only of the parties but also of the cleavage. Show less
Party law, or the legal regulation of political parties, has become a prominent feature of party systems. Some party laws are designed to have a much larger political impact than others. It... Show moreParty law, or the legal regulation of political parties, has become a prominent feature of party systems. Some party laws are designed to have a much larger political impact than others. It remains unknown why some countries adopt party laws that have substantial implications for party politics while other countries’ legislative efforts are of a very limited scope. This dissertation explores why different party laws appear as they do. It builds a theoretical framework of party law reform that departs from the Latin American experience with regulating political parties. Latin America is not necessarily known for its strong party systems or party organizations. This raises the important question of why Latin American politicians turn to party law, and to political parties more generally, to structure political life. Using these questions as a heuristic tool, the dissertation advances the argument that party law reforms provide politicians with access to crucial party organizational resources that allow them to win elections and to legislate effectively. It identifies threats to party organizational resources as an important force shaping adopted party law reforms – with potentially damaging consequences for the legitimacy of the political system as a whole. Show less
International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) provide essential aid and public services to less-developed countries. Although most literature focuses on Western INGOs, Asian INGOs have also... Show moreInternational nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) provide essential aid and public services to less-developed countries. Although most literature focuses on Western INGOs, Asian INGOs have also become globally active. Little is known about what motivates INGOs to provide services in other regions, such as Latin America. In this study, we seek to identify the criteria Japanese INGOs use to select Latin American recipient countries. We propose that Japanese INGO operational location decisions are a function of Japanese foreign policy agenda, Japan-recipient country business relations, and recipient country’s need and liberalization. Using data from Japanese INGOs working in Latin America and 24 Latin American countries on contextual, macroeconomic, and demographic indicators, we find that the significant factors driving INGO decisions to operate in Latin American countries are need and the presence of Japanese businesses in the recipient country. Results have practical implications for foreign aid targeting and economic development. Show less
El trabajo de Cecilia Noriega-Bozovich está vinculado de manera muy directa con la sociedad peruana, a la cual convierte al mismo tiempo en su tema principal. Esta mirada encaja en lo que pudiera... Show moreEl trabajo de Cecilia Noriega-Bozovich está vinculado de manera muy directa con la sociedad peruana, a la cual convierte al mismo tiempo en su tema principal. Esta mirada encaja en lo que pudiera ser una ‘escuela latinoamericana’, donde la producción artística va acompañada de un registro o comentario social o político a lo largo del siglo XX. De tal forma, en esta obra los fetiches del poder, en particular vistos desde una óptica mexicana, forman parte de una dinámica regional que adquiere expresiones similares. Existe una intimidad cultural compartida, una identidad que se nutre de la experiencia común del colonialismo español, la formación de nuevos estados nacionales inspirados por el imperialismo del siglo XIX, las revoluciones sociales, y hoy en día la transición a la “democracia” y la “modernidad” neoliberal. En esa línea, el análisis que aquí se presenta ensaya relaciones y paralelos entre ciertas creaciones de Noriega-Bozovich y referentes culturales de México, para de esa manera sugerir la productividad de miradas en paralelo sobre el arte surgido de un contexto latinoamericano compartido. Show less
The integration of Latin America has been a complex process. It has been characterized as a journey of improvements and setbacks, of sewing and then tearing apart. The main issue has been how to... Show moreThe integration of Latin America has been a complex process. It has been characterized as a journey of improvements and setbacks, of sewing and then tearing apart. The main issue has been how to build a strong and cohesive region in a context of strong nation states. The process of independence in the 19th century led to a debate concerning the creation of the Bolivarian inspired __Patria Grande__ (__Great Nation__) or the construction of separate states. While the Westphalian model of nation state ultimately triumphed, the yearning for regional integration remained encoded in Latin America__s aspirations. The pull towards integration was dormant following independence, as most countries rejected the goal of institutionalized and supranational associations. This pull regained strength after the turbulent period of both World Wars and the Great Depression, events that led countries to rethink their international insertion strategies. Show less
Inhabitants of poor, rural areas in the Global South heavily depend on natural resources in their immediate vicinity. Conflicts over and exploitation of these resources - whether it is water, fish... Show moreInhabitants of poor, rural areas in the Global South heavily depend on natural resources in their immediate vicinity. Conflicts over and exploitation of these resources - whether it is water, fish, wood fuel, minerals, or land - severely affect their livelihoods. The contributors to this volume leave behind the polarised debate, previously surrounding the relationship between natural resources and conflict, preferring a more nuanced approach that allows for multiple causes at various levels. The contributions cover a wide array of resources, geographical contexts (Africa, Asia and Latin America), and conflict dynamics. Most are of a comparative nature, exploring experiences of conflict as well as cooperation in multiple regions. This volume finds its origin in an innovative research programme with the acronym CoCooN, steered by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO/WOTRO) and involving universities and civil society partners in many countries. It presents the conceptual approaches adhered to by each of seven interdisciplinary projects, ranging from green criminology and political ecology to institutional analysis, legal pluralism and identity politics. The volume will be of interest to academics and practitioners concerned with an understanding of conflict as well as cooperation over natural resources. Show less
Since the end of the twentieth century a broad and persistent movement away from centralized patterns of governance has become one of the defining trends in politics. In many new democracies the... Show moreSince the end of the twentieth century a broad and persistent movement away from centralized patterns of governance has become one of the defining trends in politics. In many new democracies the return to electoral politics has coincided with institutional reforms to promote decentralization. In Latin America, with its long and well-documented history of centralism, decentralization constitutes a departure from previous patterns of governance. This study seeks to shed light on the relationship between decentralization and political organization in Latin America, and aims to contribute to our understanding of how decentralization influences the way that conflicts in society are expressed, structured and managed through parties and party systems. Drawing on an in-depth study of Mexico as well as a comparative analysis of Latin American countries, it develops the argument that decentralization challenges political organization at the levels of party systems and organizations. The central contention is that a high level of decentralization can undermine the formation of nationalized party systems and cohesive parties. Decentralization affects the distribution of political and financial resources in the state and makes more resources available locally, and thus reshapes the context within which parties organize. Show less
