Abstract: Female Bodies and Globalization: The Work of Indigenous Women Weavers in Zinacantán

 

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Female Bodies and Globalization: The Work of Indigenous Women Weavers in Zinacantán

 

by  Eugenia Bayona Escat

Women producers and sellers of textile crafts in Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico, use one of the few resources they have to enter business: craft production as informal, invisible, and underpaid work. Taking the body as the axis of analysis, three distinct areas of transformation of indigenous women producers by tourism may be identified: the private and domestic body of craftswomen, the social and public body as an icon of ethnic difference, and the commodified body as an extension of the touristic object. The analysis shows that tourism and participation in the international market strengthen gender, class, and ethnic differences and contribute to the perpetuation of existing inequalities.

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Abstract, Geopoetics, Geopolitics, and Violence: (Un)Mapping Daniel Alarcón’s Lost City Radio

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Geopoetics, Geopolitics, and Violence: (Un)Mapping Daniel Alarcón’s Lost City Radio

by Tamara L. Mitchell

Daniel Alarcón’s 2007 novel Lost City Radio positions post-civil-conflict Peru in relation to episodes of violence from across the globe by deploying two opposing cartographic impulses. First, the unnamed fictional nation of the novel shares historical, topographical, and sociopolitical traits with modern Peru. At the same time, the text refuses tidy association with Peru, principally by folding violent conflicts from a host of geopolitical spaces into the fictional nation via journalistic ekphrasis. This results in a unique geopoetics that serves to catalyze the localized reality of postconflict Peru as a means of interrogating the efficacy of human rights discourse in the neoliberal era on a global scale and bringing into focus the current inequity of responses to the global refugee crisis.

Abstract, The 2014 World Cup and the Construction Workers: Global Strategies, Local Mobilizations

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The 2014 World Cup and the Construction Workers: Global Strategies, Local Mobilizations

by Mauricio Rombaldi

An action developed by the Building and Wood Workers’ International during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil internationalized the country’s construction unions. The strategies adopted, aimed at large-scale sports events, the efforts to negotiate with the World Cup organizers, and the lack of national coordination among Brazilian unions all contributed to the willingness of the latter to take part in the international campaign and strengthen their ties with the global federation. The result was an unprecedented national agenda of negotiations that influenced the development of local bargaining. The outcomes of this campaign demonstrate that the priority that unions give to local negotiations may not just hinder the internationalization of union practices but also enhance the possibilities for such internationalization.

Abstract, Globalization, Governance, and the Emergence of Indigenous Autonomy Movements in Latin America: The Case of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua

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Globalization, Governance, and the Emergence of Indigenous Autonomy Movements in Latin America: The Case of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua 
by Luciano Baracco


A revisiting of Salvador Martí i Puig’s approach to globalization and the turn toward governance in explaining the roots and impact of the political mobilization of Latin America’s indigenous peoples since the 1990s recasts governance as a disciplinary regime that in the case of Nicaragua co-opted potentially radical oppositional movements into the neoliberal project that accompanied Latin America’s democratic transition. The discussion takes as its empirical case the autonomy process on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, which in its twenty-fifth year represents the most sustained devolution of power to indigenous peoples in Latin America. 

Abstract, Environmentalism and the Globalization of the Oil Industry in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Environmentalism and the Globalization of the Oil Industry in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
by Maria Guadalupe Moog Rodrigues


The state of Rio de Janeiro has become a hub for oil and gas production and infrastructure since Brazil entered the global oil market in the 2000s. Observers have anticipated increasing tensions between environmental activists and oil companies. These predictions have not been fulfilled, despite increasing evidence of environmental degradation caused by oil production. What could be hindering environmental mobilization in defense of the environment and affected populations and against the unrestrained expansion of oil infrastructure in the state? A longitudinal case study of environmental activism in defense of the Guanabara Bay ecosystem suggests that answers must consider the combined effects of democratization, political and regulatory decentralization, and neoliberal reforms on socioenvironmental activism—specifically, its weakening as civil society organizations confront increasing burdens of participation in policy making, deeply fragmented institutional and regulatory frameworks for environmental governance, and the expansion of opportunities to engage in collaborative arrangements with corporations.

Abstract, Extractive Capital, Imperialism, and the Colombian State

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Extractive Capital, Imperialism, and the Colombian State
by Kyla Sankey


Since the turn of the century, Colombia has become increasingly dependent on mining exports to drive economic growth. While the surge in mining investments in Colombia and the problems associated with this form of economic development have received much attention from scholars and policy analysts, the common explanation is that the state has been undermined or eroded by emergent global forces. However, nation-states should be seen not as victims but as authors and enforcers of new processes of capital accumulation. The Colombian state has acted as the principal guarantor of the political and territorial conditions necessary for this form of extractive capitalism by reconstituting property and contract laws, signing free-trade agreements, reconfiguring the internal state apparatus. and expanding military forces.

Political Report # 1273 Renegotiating NAFTA Will Only Serve the Rich -- Just Like It Always Has

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect at midnight on January 1, 1994. That night, thousands of Indigenous Mayans rose up in arms in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, seizing at least five towns and declaring NAFTA a "death certificate" for people like themselves. This was just the beginning of Mexico's troubles in a year that brought countless protests, hotly disputed elections and the assassinations of two of the then-ruling party's leaders. 1994 ended with a sudden devaluation of the peso, the start of an economic collapse from which the country didn't recover fully for years. NAFTA is back in the news this month: On August 16, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met with his counterparts from Canada and Mexico, the other two NAFTA nations, to open talks on renegotiating the pact. While it's true that NAFTA was just one of the many problems Mexico had in the 1990s, we have to wonder, given the renewed focus on the trade accord, why US mainstream media have carried so little discussion of the events that accompanied NAFTA's rollout in Mexico. The reason may be a consensus among opinion makers about NAFTA and similar trade pacts. It is an article of faith across party lines that these accords are beneficial to our trading partners in the Global South. On the right, we have President Trump, who told CBS during the campaign that "Mexico ... is taking our jobs. I love the Mexican people. They're great people. But the leadership is too smart for our country.... We're being defrauded by all these countries." On the other side, we have commentators who insist that NAFTA's been good for the US economy but still go along with Trump's claim that Mexicans benefit from it. Some even assert that these trade pacts are the only hope for the developing world.

Book Review, Toward an Understanding of Transnational Capitalism in the Caribbean

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Toward an Understanding of Transnational Capitalism in the Caribbean
by Jeb Sprague-Silgado 

Globalization, Sovereignty, and Citizenship in the Caribbean

Watson Hilbourne (ed.) Globalization, Sovereignty, and Citizenship in the Caribbean. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 2015.

Hilbourne Watson, in Globalization, Sovereignty, and Citizenship in the Caribbean, lays out a nuanced and radical critique of today’s “commonsense” perceptions of the nation-state and associated statuses such as citizenship. By “radical” I mean, as in the Greek definition, “arising from or going to a root or source.” While other contributors to the volume lay out historically grounded arguments, Watson’s first, second, and concluding chapters stand out in challenging traditional nation-state-centric conceptions of political economy. Liberal universalized rights were supposed to promote a new fraternité, but the rights of citizens have developed through and concomitant with systems of exploitation and repression. As Watson argues, these rights were never meant to extend relative equality to the masses, as is often believed. Hannah Arendt (1966: 267, 298–301) famously made a similar point in her critique of the nation-state and in the context of the “rights of man.”

Book, Twenty-First-Century Socialism Is There Life After Neo-Liberalism?

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Twenty-First-Century Socialism
Is There Life After Neo-Liberalism?

by Atilio A. Boron  Translated by Susan Ashdown  

In Twenty-First-Century Socialism, Atilio A. Boron traces the history of capitalism in Latin America and finds that the capitalist mode of production has not led to development but instead has fostered underdevelopment. Boron argues that within a wider historical and geographical perspective, capitalism is a mode of production that has served as a means of development for a small group of nations at the price of excluding the benefits of development to all the rest. As Boron concludes, with globalization there is no longer any possibility for autonomous capitalist development. Arguing on the inability of capitalism to drive development in Latin America, Boron states that with capitalism, Latin America has no prospects. Neo-liberal policies such as the privatization of education, health and social security in household-debt-ravaged Chile, the violent usurpation of Indigenous lands, and the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor in Brazil lead to a dead end. On the other hand, countries that have resisted these destructive neo-liberal economic policies, such as Cuba and Venezuela, illustrate that any hopes of a promising future for the people of Latin America will be in a post-capitalist setting, the elements of which Boron presents in great detail.

Book, Globalization and Military Power in the Andes

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Globalization and Military Power in the Andes
by William Avilés

Through a series of comparative case studies, the author demonstrates that the conflicts and struggles over capitalist globalization in the Andes are intricately connected to the political power of the military in the region.

Book, Development in Theory and Practice

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Development in Theory and Practice
by Ronald H. Chilcote - Contributions By Haroldo Dilla Alfonso; Thomas Angotti; Ricardo Antunes; David Barkin and others...

This definitive reader brings together seminal articles on development in Latin America. Tracing the concepts and major debates surrounding the issue, the text focuses on development theory through three contrasting historical perspectives: imperialism, underdevelopment and dependency, and globalization. By offering a rich array of essays from Latin American Perspectives, the book allows students to sample all the important trends in the field. A new general introduction and conclusion, along with part introductions, contextualize each selection. One of the leading figures in development studies, Ronald Chilcote shows in this text why work on imperialism dating to the turn of the twentieth century informs the controversies on dependency and underdevelopment during the 1960s and 1970s as well as the globalization debates of the past decade. If students are to understand development in Latin America, they must not only be familiar with historical examples and recognize that various theoretical perspectives affect our interpretation of events, they must be willing to keep an open mind. Thus, rather than setting out established premises, this reader offers different points of view, raising provocative questions about Latin America that remain largely unanswered even today. Students will come away from this rewarding collection ready to pursue new understanding through critical inquiry and thinking.

Book, Economic Life of Mexican Beach Vendors: Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas

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Economic Life of Mexican Beach Vendors: Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas
by Tamar Diana Wilson

Economic Life of Mexican Beach Vendors: Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas is based on interviews with 82 men and 84 women who vend their wares on beaches in three Mexican tourist centers. Assuming that some people may actively choose self-employment in the informal or semi-informal economy, the employment and educational aspirations of the vendors and their levels of satisfaction with their work are explored. Most of the vendors had other family members who were also vendors, and 75 (45.2 percent) had 5 or more family members who vended, most usually on Mexican beaches. The vendors are aware of the forces of globalization (though they do not express these forces in those words), as revealed by their responses to questions as to how the current world economic recession has affected them. The beach vendors live in essentially segregated neighborhoods that can be considered apartheid-like, far from the tourist zones.

Most of the vendors or their parents are rural-to-urban migrants and cross ethnic, linguistic, and economic borders as they migrate to and work in what have been called transnational social spaces. Of the vendors interviewed, 82 (49.4 percent) speak an indigenous language, and of these, 60 (73.2 percent) speak Nahuatl. The majority are from the state of Guerrero, but there were also Zapotec-speakers from Oaxaca. Both indigenous and non-indigenous women take part in beach vending. They are often wives, daughters, or sisters of male beach vendors, and they may be single, married, living in free union, or widowed. Their income is often of central importance to the household economy. This monograph aims to bring their stories to tourists and to scholars and students of tourism development and /or the informal or semi-informal economy in Mexican tourist centers.

Book, "Integración Económica. Impactos Regionales Y Sectoriales 2ª Ed." by Alejandro Álvarez Béjar y Gabriel Mendoza Pichardo

Integración Económica. Impactos Regionales Y Sectoriales 2ª Ed.

En los ensayos recopilados en este libro se aborda en términos teóricos y empíricos la problemática regional de México desde la perspectiva de la integración internacional. Se identifican las áreas "ganadoras" y "perdedoras" en el proceso de integración de México con América del Norte y los cambios estructurales en las relaciones Estado-mercado y en las relaciones laborales ocasionados por la fuerza gravitacional que opera en la formación del Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas.

Book, "Mobilizing Democracy: Globalization and Citizen Protest" by Paul Almeida

Mobilizing Democracy: Globalization and Citizen Protest

Paul Almeida’s comparative study of the largest social movement campaigns that existed between 1980 and 2013 in every Central American country (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) provides a granular examination of the forces that spark mass mobilizations against state economic policy, whether those factors are electricity rate hikes or water and health care privatization. Many scholars have explained connections between global economic changes and local economic conditions, but most of the research has remained at the macro level. Mobilizing Democracy contributes to our knowledge about the protest groups "on the ground" and what makes some localities successful at mobilizing and others less successful. His work enhances our understanding of what ingredients contribute to effective protest movements as well as how multiple protagonists—labor unions, students, teachers, indigenous groups, nongovernmental organizations, women’s groups, environmental organizations, and oppositional political parties—coalesce to make protest more likely to win major concessions.

Free Limited Access, China's Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon

Get FREE online access to the article below!

China and Latin America: Processes and Paradoxes (November 2015) Table of Contents China's Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon by Richard Harris Click here to READ and SHARE

Abstract

English: The Western academic literature and media coverage of the increasing economic and political relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Latin American and Caribbean countries contains biases, fears, and misinformation about those relations. Closer examination reveals that Chinese trade, investment and loans have supported the left-leaning governments in the region that are attempting to develop alternative postcapitalist societies. China's leaders seek allies among the developing countries to join with them in creating a new multipolar and more equitable global order. The PRC has launched a new economic strategy that makes consumer demand the main engine of China's economic development. It seeks to boost productivity, reduce the country's growing income disparities, and pursue an environmentally sustainable path of economic development based on advanced high-value and clean manufacturing technologies and renewable sources of clean energy. The PRC's goal of developing a new ecological civilization will provide opportunities for the Latin American and Caribbean economies to export a more diversified basket of goods to China and attract Chinese investments and loans into new areas such as renewable energy.

Free Limited Access, China's Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon

Get FREE online access to the article below!

China and Latin America: Processes and Paradoxes (November 2015) Table of Contents China's Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon by Richard Harris Click here to READ and SHARE

Abstract

English: The Western academic literature and media coverage of the increasing economic and political relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Latin American and Caribbean countries contains biases, fears, and misinformation about those relations. Closer examination reveals that Chinese trade, investment and loans have supported the left-leaning governments in the region that are attempting to develop alternative postcapitalist societies. China's leaders seek allies among the developing countries to join with them in creating a new multipolar and more equitable global order. The PRC has launched a new economic strategy that makes consumer demand the main engine of China's economic development. It seeks to boost productivity, reduce the country's growing income disparities, and pursue an environmentally sustainable path of economic development based on advanced high-value and clean manufacturing technologies and renewable sources of clean energy. The PRC's goal of developing a new ecological civilization will provide opportunities for the Latin American and Caribbean economies to export a more diversified basket of goods to China and attract Chinese investments and loans into new areas such as renewable energy.

Abstract, China’s Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon by Richard L. Harris

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Abstract:  China’s Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon 

by Richard L. Harris

The Western academic literature and media coverage of the increasing economic and political relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Latin American and Caribbean countries contains biases, fears, and misinformation about those relations. Closer examination reveals that Chinese trade, investment and loans have supported the left-leaning governments in the region that are attempting to develop alternative postcapitalist societies. China’s leaders seek allies among the developing countries to join with them in creating a new multipolar and more equitable global order. The PRC has launched a new economic strategy that makes consumer demand the main engine of China’s economic development. It seeks to boost productivity, reduce the country’s growing income disparities, and pursue an environmentally sustainable path of economic development based on advanced high-value and clean manufacturing technologies and renewable sources of clean energy. The PRC’s goal of developing a new ecological civilization will provide opportunities for the Latin American and Caribbean economies to export a more diversified basket of goods to China and attract Chinese investments and loans into new areas such as renewable energy.

Abstract, China’s Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon by Richard L. Harris

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Abstract:  China’s Relations with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Peaceful Panda Bear instead of a Roaring Dragon 

by Richard L. Harris

The Western academic literature and media coverage of the increasing economic and political relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Latin American and Caribbean countries contains biases, fears, and misinformation about those relations. Closer examination reveals that Chinese trade, investment and loans have supported the left-leaning governments in the region that are attempting to develop alternative postcapitalist societies. China’s leaders seek allies among the developing countries to join with them in creating a new multipolar and more equitable global order. The PRC has launched a new economic strategy that makes consumer demand the main engine of China’s economic development. It seeks to boost productivity, reduce the country’s growing income disparities, and pursue an environmentally sustainable path of economic development based on advanced high-value and clean manufacturing technologies and renewable sources of clean energy. The PRC’s goal of developing a new ecological civilization will provide opportunities for the Latin American and Caribbean economies to export a more diversified basket of goods to China and attract Chinese investments and loans into new areas such as renewable energy.

Abstract, Ruta Mixteca Indigenous Rights and Mexico’s Plunge into Globalization by Rodolfo Stavenhagen

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Ruta Mixteca

Indigenous Rights and Mexico’s Plunge into Globalization by Rodolfo Stavenhagen

“Ruta Mixteca” is the name given to the circular migrations of indigenous farm workers between the Mexican state of Oaxaca and California long studied by Michael Kearney and his collaborators. Indigenous migrations to the United States have expanded in recent years as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement and changes in Mexico’s agrarian legislation that led to increased privatization of land and natural resources, dispossession of the traditional peasantry, and numerous local land- and resource-related conflicts. The Zapatista uprising stimulated the growth of a host of militant indigenous organizations, now also emboldened by constitutional changes that recognize the human rights of indigenous peoples according to international standards. Indigenous transnational migrations need to adapt to these changing conditions.