University of Warwick Press: Journals
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Furnishing the Social Solidarity Economy
No full textDespite its historic roots, the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) is a concept that has come to prominence in South America over the last decade. It is an alternative theoretical construct of “the economy” that seeks to emphasise relationships of solidarity in an attempt to reinstate the primacy of “society” over “the market”. What makes the SSE distinctive is that while it (mostly) professes itself to be a theoretical construct, it is also explicitly intended to be a guide for policy. This contribution first examines the SSE as an intellectual construct, noting the lack of consistency around the term. It then proceeds to relate these conceptions to the practice of the SSE in the field, looking at the program Mobiliario Escolar, introduced by the Ecuadorian government in 2014. There, the SSE shows much potential, with its slightly ambiguous definition lending it a certain utility for guiding policy. Most importantly, the SSE is shown to be a beneficial example of practice-oriented theory
Afro-Colombian Women’s Organisations in Post- Accord Colombia: Gendering and Racialising Violent Pluralism across the Conflict Continuum in Bogotá, Colombia
Get PDFThis article will examine the mobilisation strategies of two groups of Afro-Colombian women now living in Bogotá – AFROMUPAZ and the Colectiva Matamba – in order to add an intersectional dimension to growing calls for ongoing theories on the gender of violent pluralism. Indeed, by recognising and addressing the specific ways in which Afro-Colombian women experience violence because of their positions in society, we will be able to better understand the strategies they continue to employ in an attempt to obtain guarantees on their rights as citizens, as victims, and as women
“Culture War” against Brazilian universities: how budget cuts and changes in tertiary education policies are affecting the academic community
Get PDFThe declared war against the tertiary education sector in Brazil comes together with severe budget cuts to the federal education system, increasing the threats to academic freedoms and episodes of violence targeting students and academic staff and a scheme to open public universities to private sector investment and management. These cuts are part of broader neoliberal policies that directly attack social rights by transforming them into commodities. In the case of Brazil, these policies not only undermine a public, high-quality and free higher education system, guaranteed by the 1988 Federal Constitution, but also public-oriented scientific research, funded by the federal government. In this article, we discuss the assaults on Brazil’s higher education system, the significant pressure on the autonomy of public universities, the limitation of funding for specific disciplines, the consequences of the current policies for the internationalisation of Brazilian universities, and the threats to local science and innovation that have caused concern for scholars and students
Norma Giarracca: Working Toward “A World Where Many Worlds Fit”
Get PDFNorma Giarracca had a deep and wide trajectory as a social researcher, especially as a rural sociologist. But she mostly published in Spanish, and thus her work is not readily accessible to many readers around the world. I am deeply grateful to the compañeras and compañeros of Alternautas to offer other researchers the opportunity to access the many insights of Norma’s work. Her winding trajectory hints at her intellectual curiosity and her openness to new perspectives – she was also a fan of music and often sought to connect social research and artistic expressions, for instance, asking her son Julián Teubal to join in research trips and then using his pictures on exhibits during book presentations or academic events, or coordinating a study linking music and protest (Bidaseca, Lapegna, Mariotti, et al. 2001). Norma was deeply committed to social justice and had the utmost respect and appreciation for the “subjects” of her research. She often had brusque manners, but also an immense generosity. She fitted many worlds in the relatively small world of rural sociology and made its branches extend beyond disciplines, countries, and perspectives. She has been sorely missed since 2015, but the seeds she planted keep sprouting and growing
Communal struggles for water through coproduction: Pandemic experiences in Highland Ecuador in historical perspective
No full textCovid-19 has exposed acute water inequalities within and between countries. Handwashing is widely seen as one of the most effective measures for preventing the spread of the virus. Yet more than two billion people lack sufficient access to clean water to carry out this basic task. Hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers also lack reliable access to irrigation water, making them extremely vulnerable to seasonal and climatic changes in water supply. The crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated water inequalities as economic activity has collapsed, government revenues have plunged, and poverty has soared
Traditional development or vivir bien? An analysis of the Bolivian ‘Gas War’ in 2003
Get PDFSince Evo Morales’ arrival to the Palacio Quemado and the nomination of David Choquehuanca as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolivian international policy has been marked by a rhetoric of environmentalism, defence of indigenous rights and cosmovisions, and the promotion of vivir bien (good living) as a new paradigm of development.This piece investigates the narratives that the actors of the mobilisations in 2003 — both in the urban context, in the city of El Alto, and in the countryside, in the province of Omasuyos — have enacted to explain their struggle. What sort of perspective(s) on development do they express in their accounts? How much of them can actually be related to a vivir bien formulation, which emphasises the importance of living in harmony with nature and with the community? By investigating these issues in people’s actual perception of their struggle, this piece attempts to cast light on processes that mediate between the empirical and the normative dimensions of development
Water Security, Justice and the Politics Rights in Peru and Bolivia
No full textThe overall goal of Water Security, Justice and the Politics of Water Rights in Peru and Bolivia is to scrutinize the claim by legislators, policymakers and development institutes that legal recognition of local water rights reduces water conflict and increases water security and equality for peasants and indigenous communities. This is indeed an ambitious goal of the author Miriam Seemann, given the fact that nearly no studies have looked at the actual impacts of water rights formalization policies on the ground so far. Nonetheless, the book touches a subject of major importance in view of the trend towards the adoption of new water legislations in the last decades, resulting in the formalization of water rights and entitlements, not only in Latin-American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, but on a global scale (Baillat 2010). Well aware of the shortcomings of mainstream approaches to property rights formalization, like de Soto\u27s (2000) theoretical presupposition that formal property rights are the most important institution for economic growth and development, the book demonstrates that uncritical formalization of local water rights may lead to weakening, instead of strengthening, local water security
IWRM and the legacies of large-scale agriculture in the Peruvian Amazon
Get PDFThe advancement of agribusiness in Latin America has created environmental strains and les to increasing conflicts with local based economies dependent on small scale agriculture. Among the efforts to halt its negative effects, new models of resource governance emerged aiming to integrate stakeholders and users into accountable organisations. This article reviews the attempt to impose Integrated water resources management (IWRM) over the water governance arrangements of a native community in the Peruvian Amazon that faces an increasing intervention of rice agribusiness in their lands. The resulting dynamic can be understood as an altered arrangement: it doesn’t lead to the creation of an IWRM institution, nor does it reject new governance architectures. The rescaling of water governance, the interpretation of IWRM meanings and the contingency of the results, all within the frame of a history of agricultural development interventions in indigenous lands, helps us understand this phenomenon
The Making of Caribbean Not-so-Natural Disasters
Get PDFHurricanes are not a novelty in the Caribbean. However, 2017 left several shocking facts for history books regarding intensity and frequency. Two Category 4 and two Category 5 hurricanes – the strongest category on the Saffir-Simpson scale – hit the Caribbean in a month\u27s-time. Despite the label ‘natural disaster’, colonialism and human-induced factors are behind the high levels of inequality, climate change and incomplete recoveries in the Caribbean region, which increase the region\u27s vulnerability to disaster. This special issue addresses the disaster conditions, responses and consequences not only in Puerto Rico but also in the impacted neighbouring islands of Barbuda and Cuba. We expect this to be the beginning of a number of critical social research examining the Dominica, Haïti, Turks & Caicos, Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, St Kitts & Nevis, St. Martin the Dominican Republic, and the rest of Caribbean countries who encounters natural and not-so-natural disasters