Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Strønen and Ystanes analyse the outcomes of the Pink Tide in Latin America through taking a closer look at the historical trajectories and contemporary expressions of deep-seated inequalities. The establishment of complex hierarchical social orders during the colonial era and how the introduction of neoliberalism reinforced them are outlined. Taking the chapters of this edited volume as a starting point, the authors argue that while the Pink Tide has indeed reduced poverty and inequality in Latin America, this process is punctuated by numerous continuities. The legacy of inequality remains inscribed in the continent’s social and physical landscapes, and is both reproduced and challenged by unfolding societal processes.

The chapter analyses the nature and the limits of the contributions the ‘Pink Tide’ made to the living conditions of the working classes. Surveying Latin America, it argues that these governments chose the paths of least resistance to conduct reforms, with positive short-term results. Rising minimum wages and conditional cash transfer policies were the main levers, reducing income inequality and poverty. This relied on high commodity prices and caused deindustrialisation, however, whilst neo-corporatist class conciliation measures curbed popular self-organisation and the autonomy of social movements. The Pink Tide governments thus advanced an ‘inconsequential’ attempt at counter-hegemony, dependent on volatile short-term factors, without transforming the state and the economy in ways that would progressively establish structural conditions compatible with popular interests.

In line with the developments observed in other Latin American countries, inequalities in Brazil have declined during the “Pink Tide” administrations led by the Workers’ Party, PT (2003–2016). During this period, economic growth, improvements in labour market, and pro-poor policies interacted positively as drivers of inequality reduction. However, due to the recent economic stagnation and power shifts, the social gains obtained are in risk. It seems that continuing the progress in inequality reduction in times of low economic growth requires structural changes such as a progressive tax reform. This paper discusses recent developments in Brazil from the perspective of entangled inequalities, a concept applied with the objective of enlarging the narrow definition of inequality brought forward by hegemonic scholarship.

Ystanes offers an analysis of social-media-based activism that arose in Rio’s favelas as the city prepared to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. This form of social protest is conceptualised as journalism-as-activism. It grows out of and critiques the continuous inscription of inequality in Rio’s urban landscapes and Brazilian mass media narratives. Journalism-as-activism in Rio also draws attention to the contradictions involved in simultaneously hosting sporting mega-events and attempting to reduce poverty and inequality. Ystanes argues that the methodology and infrastructure for protest and activism based on social media and mobile technology may possibly be one of the most significant legacies of Rio’s sporting mega-events.

This chapter takes the Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro as the starting point for reflecting on efforts at addressing social justice and constructing citizenship in Brazil during the ‘Pink Tide’. Recent public interventions have addressed economic inequalities through policies of redistribution. This has led to a degree of social inclusion through lifting people out of poverty and providing them entry into middle-class consumer markets. The interventions have however been less successful in building a foundation for addressing inequalities beyond economic concerns. The PAC programme of infrastructure investments was co-opted by elite interests, while the UPP police programme failed to improve security. Advancements that did take place have been countered by a revanchist reaction to the gains made by the poorer segments of society.

The Bolsa Familia Programme became the main conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme of the federal government in Brazil during the Pink Tide period. Based on ethnograpic research carried out in a (informal, low-income neighbourhood) in Rio de Janeiro, the chapter analyses key aspects related to the Bolsa Familia programme, and the multifaceted meanings attributed to “being poor” and “poverty” by beneficiaries, local residents, and social workers managing the program. Concurrently, the chapter discusses the absence of an universally accepted definition of poverty in Brazil and internationally and how strictly income-based forms of measuring poverty do not coincide with the way it is understood by favela residents.

This chapter focuses on how “race,” racism and class became antagonistically articulated as part of the political polarisation following Hugo Chávez’ electoral victory in Venezuela, bringing out in stark relief the diverging life worlds framing opposition to and support for the Bolivarian project. Through the crafting of “a Bolivarian political space,” new collective consciousness and political subjectivities grounded in counter-hegemonic identity politics and claims for redistribution gained political force and visibility. At the same time, this generated a counter-reaction amongst the dominant classes who had previously enjoyed political, social and cultural hegemony. However, it is argued that the cleavages crystalising in the course of the Bolivarian process also reflect the crisis of modernity in Latin America at large. As the promised gains of developmentalism, and subsequently free-market politics and liberal democracy, failed to materialise, there is a growing schism between social groups identifying with hegemonic forms of globalisation, and subaltern groups searching for alternative political and epistemological social models. This provides for a highly unstable grounding for Latin American nation-building projects.

Ødegaard provides a much-needed analysis of gendered and racialised inequalities in Peru’s informal economy under neoliberal regimes. Considering the country’s market liberalisation and stimulation of entrepreneurship in recent decades, the many informal vendors – often women – may appear as ‘perfect neoliberal citizens’; as market-friendly and flexible. Yet vendors seek to develop their economic tactics on their own terms, and the chapter demonstrates how they mediate between formality and official demands by relying on relational and symbolic resources. More specifically, the chapter explores how gendered and racialised inequalities are enacted in vendors’ encounters with public functionaries. By discussing the potential of recent economic policies to reinforce long-standing economic and socio-cultural inequalities, Ødegaard argues that market liberalisation needs to be understood through an ethnography of the class, ethnic and gender relationships through which economic processes are actualised.

This chapter focuses on the ‘iron-fist’ security policies implemented in Honduras since 2002, arguing that these thrive on and perpetuate entrenched social inequalities in the country, targeting young, poor and coloured men in particular. Substantial changes in legal and processual code were introduced in order to combat violent crime perpetuated by the so-called —street gangs mainly operating in poor informal neighbourhoods. New legislation included banning membership altogether. This opened up for the indiscriminate arrests of anyone associated with membership, based on ‘racial’ and class markers. Since the turn of the millennium, the prison population in Honduras has increased substantially, and the length of sentences has increased. At the same time, prisoners are barely offered any venues for education and rehabilitation. The security agenda was left largely unchanged during the interrupted presidential tenure of Manuel Zelaya (2006–2009), who was associated with the Pink Tide. However, the new regimes in power after the coup have taken an increasingly authoritarian stance towards marginalised social sectors. The Honduran security agenda resembles that of other states at the continent during the past decades, characterised by an increasingly punitive stance towards social segments who are structurally excluded from the neoliberal state. At the same time, the particularities of the Honduras case must be understood in the context of its particular history with gang formation, the drug economy and the US War on Drugs.

This chapter discusses the production of social inequalities in the Majes Irrigation Project (MIP) in southern Peru in terms of class, race and gender. More than 30 years after the construction of MIP, and after radical neoliberal structural adjustments in the 1990s, many of the first settlers have lost their farms or are struggling with debt. Nevertheless, Majes is known as a ‘place of opportunities’, and thousands of people have migrated from the poor rural highlands in search of work or informal business, settling in the desert surrounding the irrigated areas. The population in Majes comes from different places, with various cultural, educational and economic backgrounds. The chapter examines how Majes has been generated through relations of capital and labour and how families experience debt and uncertainty, and yet continue struggling to get ahead in a precarious informal economy. The chapter argues that inequality is embedded in the historical intersectionality of class formations, gender and conceptions of race and that these differences have not diminished with various attempts of social reform. On the contrary, social inequality has increased during the past three decades of neoliberalism, with more insecure conditions for farming and work.