Latin American Social Movements: A Review and Critique of the Geographical Literature

Abstract

Drawing on a survey of the academic literature from 1975 to the present, this article examines research by geographers on Latin American social movements. The survey identified over 100 works, distributed in a temporally, spatially, and thematically uneven fashion. Work by geographers on Latin American social movements has increased dramatically since 1990. The article reviews the geographical literature on Latin American social movements, discusses reasons for the increase in social movement activity since 1990 (and the increased attention by geographers to social movements during this period), and outlines an agenda for further research. Of the categories of social movements studied, indigenous movements garnered the most attention, followed by transnational solidarity/Left political movements. Agrarian, environmental, and women's movements have also received considerable attention. Greater geographical attention needs to be paid to movements of the elite and the political Right; gay, lesbian, and transgender movements; and the entry of social movements into formal (electoral) politics.

Mistica: A Marxist Praxis

“…To better understand the different aspects of mistica, I studied the educational motives of MST and its associated organizations. Ideologically, the MST is influenced by Latin American socialist movements and Liberation mysticism and thus emphasizes equality, the transformation of the society, sustainable agriculture, co-operativism, and protection of the environment (Perruaelt, 2008). The MST was officially founded in 1984 at Cascavel in the southern Brazilian state of Parana, although its roots go back to the peasant uprisings and the organizational activities of progressive wings of the Roman Catholic Church before and during the military dictatorship of the 1960s.…”

Framing social movements: A geographical perspective

“…This research also explores the problems and prospects of framing in indigenous social movements where external activists and intellectuals play an important role in the articulation of frames. Perreault (2008) has rightly pointed out that the existing scholarship creates like-minded scholarship that leads to path dependency. To break this path dependency, I would encourage geographers and framing scholars to further engage with indigenous conceptualisation of place and relational ontologies to understand the complexities of framing indigenous social movements at local, national and transnational scales.…”

Sustaining Regional Environmental NGOs in Latin America and Eastern Europe: Considering the Experience of the FARN and the REC

“…Article 41 of the Constitution provides for a right to a healthy and balanced environment and requires the state to protect this right by preventing and repairing damage, while also providing information and education (Constitution of the Argentine Nation, 1994). By introducing this right, the state was acting in accordance with Perrault's (2008Perrault's ( , p. 1373) identified form of Latin American "environmental activism [which] is most commonly associated with concerns over livelihood, political rights, and health". This focus on material well-being was reinforced by the government of Carlos Menem (1989Menem ( -1999, which sought to achieve "environmental protection through market mechanisms."…”