The Afterlife of Revolutions in Latin America: Comparative Perspectives

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

This roundtable discussion offers a rich comparative and interdisciplinary perspective on what panel organizer Ralph Sprenkels suggests to be considered as the “afterlife” of revolutions. The roundtable brings together scholars of Central and South America whose longitudinal and engaged research focuses on movements for social justice and struggles for human rights in contexts where everyday life continues to be marked by ongoing poverty, violence, exclusion and impunity. Though Latin American struggles for justice and inclusion have no doubt accumulated an impressive historical legacy, contemporary political developments forefront the limits of the transformations achieved. Inclusionary political projects have faced different stages of reactionary opposition, and not infrequently have such projects become cluttered by internal strife or contradiction, or its potential undermined by authoritarian or conservative political practices. Furthermore, while occasionally revolutionary and liberal democratic impetus have fruitfully merged, the tensions between the two projects have posed significant challenges for emancipatory politics in Latin America. This roundtable compares different Latin American emancipatory political processes and their outcomes, from citizenship categories, struggles against feminicide in Guatemala, gender and demobilization of FARC in Colombia, to El Salvador's post-insurgent entanglements, while highlighting the lived experience of such processes, and showing how conservative or reactionary political strands weigh in on inclusionary projects.

Sub Track

• Politics and Inequality

Session Organizer

• Ralph Sprenkels, Utrecht University

Chair

• Norhy Torregrosa, Universidad Libre

Discussant

• Jenny V Pearce, London School of Economics

Presenters

• Victoria D Sanford, City University of New York/Lehman College

• Kimberly S Theidon, Fletcher School,Tufts University

• Jorge Ramón González Ponciano, Stanford University

• Ralph Sprenkels, Utrecht University

• Irina Carlota Silber, City College of New York