Bulletin of Latin American Research最新文献

This article examines a thesis that has become a common currency in Latin American critical thought, namely that ‘coloniality’ is constitutive of modernity. This proposition rests on a reifying conception of modernity as a Eurocentric civilisational project which, I contend, is theoretically flawed and politically pernicious. I will trace this conceptualisation of modernity and some of the problems it involves in recent works of Arturo Escobar and Walter Mignolo. I argue that modernity is better understood as a politico-theoretical toolkit that, while having no immanent ideological content, is vital to the analysis and critique of (neo)colonialism and imperialism.

This article explores Latin America's response to the Russia–Ukraine War by navigating the delicate balance between tradition and pragmatism. Historically championing self-determination and non-intervention, the region faces challenges in coordinating responses due to ideological divisions. Analysing reactions from Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the study reveals various responses, ranging from diplomatic neutrality to outright support. Economic dependencies, power dynamics and domestic priorities influence approaches. As Latin America struggles with internal challenges and external pressures, the study advocates a nuanced understanding of the role of the region in the evolving international order, emphasising the need for cohesive diplomatic strategies.

Latin America has promoted the nonintervention principle as a fundamental tenet of the international order. The region defends this principle to prevent abuses of force by great powers. Why, then, have Latin American governments been reticent to support Ukraine against the ongoing Russian invasion? The Latin American reactions to the Russian invasion do not represent a normalisation of aggression or a rejection of the international order. The Latin American responses are anchored in two regional approaches to the international order favouring nonintervention: republicanism promotes collective responses while pluralism defends non-Western values. If the West wants to win more Latin American support for Ukraine, it is necessary to disentangle supporting Ukraine and defending the international order.

This paper examines the consequences of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's strategy of appointing military officials to high-level positions within the federal executive branch and its effect on public opinion about the Armed Forces. The main argument is that the outsized role of the Armed Forces in the Bolsonaro administration harmed public perceptions of the Brazilian military. Despite the robust recruitment process in the public bureaucracy, Bolsonaro found a way to surround himself with ideologically extreme bureaucrats at the highest level. The study explores the systematic approach of enhancing military personnel's presence in the government and hypothesises about declining levels of trust in the Armed Forces. The paper draws on data from three waves of the Brazilian survey ‘A Cara da Democracia’ (The Face of Democracy) to show that the population's level of trust in the Armed Forces decreased during Bolsonaro's tenure. Furthermore, the Brazilian survey data also suggest that lower trust in the Armed Forces is robustly associated with dissatisfaction with Brazilian democracy.

The public dimension of education is a key issue in democratic countries. However, in a time of conspicuous privatisation and pluralism, the value and meaning of the public sphere in education are in dispute with other value preferences. This paper offers a phenomenological account of the discussion that took place in Chile's Constitutional Convention, which represents an interesting case study due to the country's background of extensive privatisation of education. The main themes that revealed the spheres of values in dispute in this respect revolved around: the public function of the State, the public arena and its relationship with freedom of education and the diversity of educational projects, and finally the relationship between the public arena and the preferences of families. The paper describes the value controversies implicit in this debate and explains the philosophical foundations that enable us to continue questioning what constitutes the public dimension of education.

Postcards, as ‘travelling communication devices’, have been identified as excellent tools for their ability to collapse ‘the field’ in a new, visually experiential way. Though often presented as a (post)colonial medium that has exoticized ‘the other’, they may also be able to give snapshots of diverse biographies otherwise silenced, and can therefore be utilised as a form of collaborative ethnography. This paper analyses postcards sent from Venezuelans living in Bogota during the pandemic. It will suggest that when migrants express lived-experience via postcards, the coloniality of the medium is challenged and reimagined as collaborative ethnography.

Today, Kanhgág people live mainly in small Terras Indígenas (Indigenous Lands) in southern Brazil. Those lands are the outcome of a history of equivocal alliances and conflicts between indigenous peoples and European colonisers. Presenting aspects of these relations in both historical and contemporary settings, this article traces continuities and transformations in indigenous politics and cosmology, focusing on the struggles over territory and resources now playing out around soy cultivation. Avoiding simplistic presentations of colonial impositions, it draws on kanhgág people's dualist cosmology, factional sociality and the fecundity of alterity to consider those territorial struggles within indigenous autonomy and alliances.