57 research outputs found

    'So Much the Worse for the Whites': Dialectics of the Haitian Revolution

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    This article sets out from an analysis of the pioneering work of Susan Buck-Morss to rethink, not only Hegel and Haiti, but broader questions surrounding dialectics and the universal brought to light by the Haitian Revolution. Reading through the lens of C.L.R. James’ The Black Jacobins, I seek to correct a series of ironic silences in her account, re-centering the importance of Toussaint’s successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and underlining the dialectical importance of identitarian struggles in forging the universal. Finally, I offer Frantz Fanon’s reformulation of the Hegelian master-slave dialectic—overlooked in Buck-Morss’ account—as a corrective that allows us to truly rethink progress toward the universal in decolonized dialectical terms.</div

    Decolonial realism: Ethics, politics and dialectics in Fanon and Dussel

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    Este artículo aborda los debates europeos contemporáneos sobre el tema del realismo a través de las perspectivas ofrecidas por dos pensadores decoloniales: Fanon y Dussel. Si bien ambos comparten con el realismo un énfasis fundamental en la realidad como punto de partida para la teoría -una hipótesis compartida por muchos pensamientos decoloniales-, ellos ofrecen otra capa de especificidad en su consideración de la condición colonial, diagnosticando una fundamental falta de reciprocidad que dicta el curso de la decolonización como una transformación de la realidad. Por lo tanto, reconsiderar los debates sobre el realismo a la luz de estos conocimientos proporciona una base sólida para la formulación de cierto tipo de realismo decolonial y para participar en teorías políticas comparativas de manera más generalThis article approaches contemporary European debates on the subject of realism through the lenses offered by two decolonial thinkers: Fanon and Dussel. Whereas both share with realism a fundamental emphasis on reality as the starting point form theory -an assumption shared by much decolonial thought- they nevertheless provide another layer of specificity in their consideration of the colonial condition, diagnosing a fundamental absence of reciprocity that dictates the course of decolonization as a transformation of reality. Reconsidering the debates on realism in light of these insights therefore provides a powerful basis for both formulating a specifically decolonial realism and for engaging in comparative political theorizing more generally

    ‘To fill yourself with goodness’: revolutionary self-making in Bolivarian Venezuela

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    This article explores how utopian visions are articulated by chavista activists in Venezuela through the practice of 'revolutionary self-making'. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the city of Valencia between 2008 and 2012, it aims to demonstrate how close attention to the formation of new moral and spiritual selves is an integral part of the way that chavistas enact and experience political protagonism. In doing so, the article seeks to provide a ground level view of utopian visions as they are manifested discursively and practically in everyday life

    States Of Discontent

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    Latin America’s recent inclusionary turn centers on changing relationships between the popular sectors and the state. Yet the new inclusion unfolds in a region in which most states are weak and prone to severe pathologies, such as corruption, inefficiency, and particularism. The first part of the chapter outlines an argument, developed at more length elsewhere, regarding how “state crises” helped drive the consolidation of three distinct party system trajectories among the eight South American countries where the Left would eventually win power. The second part of the chapter argues that these trajectories differed in three ways that likely conditioned how the concomitant inclusionary Left turn unfolded in each case: the institutionalization of left-wing parties, the occurrence of state transformation via constitutional reform, and the level of state capacity. The discussion helps highlight the central role of the state and its pathologies in both driving alternative paths of political development and in conditioning the politics of inclusion. By putting the emphasis on the state and its pathologies, we can better consider not just the sources of sociopolitical exclusion but also the limits of sociopolitical inclusion

    Construir A Comuna

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    Popular participation in Venezuela’s Bolivarian process has been much debated. But just as the majority of existing literature tends to minimize the importance of the participation of social move- ments from below in the process, similarly this participation –whether in the communal councils or the communes of today– is frequently reduced to an expansion of the power of the Venezuelan state. In this essay, I argue that the communes represent –in theory as in practice– an anti-state horizon that is today spreading across the country. Understood in this way, the communes confront a series of challenges and contradictions that might seem insurmountable, but which in the context of the current crisis might represent strategic advantages as well.e ha debatido mucho el carácter de la participación popular en el proceso bolivariano en Vene- zuela. Pero así como la mayoría de la literatura existente suele minimizar la importancia de la participación de movimientos sociales en el proceso desde abajo, igualmente la participación –sea en consejos comunales o las comunas de hoy–, con frecuencia, se reduce a una expansión del poder del Estado venezolano. En este trabajo sostengo que las comunas representan –tanto teórica como prácticamente– un horizonte anti-Estado que se está desplegando hoy por el país. Entendido así, las comunas enfrentan una serie de desafíos y contradicciones que pueden parecer insuperables, pero que en el contexto de la crisis actual se pueden convertir en ventajas estratégicas.Em meio às complexidades da época pós Chávez na Venezuela, é fácil perder de vista a longa continuidade das lutas de base. Entretanto, os últimos anos têm presenciado não só uma simples oposição entre o poder de cima e o de baixo, mas sim uma interação complexa e dialética entre ambos. O momento contemporâneo não é nenhuma exceção: no contexto crescente de crise econômica e agressão direitista, os revolucionários venezuelanos estão construindo aos poucos uma extensa rede de comunas –pedras angulares para um socialismo territorializado– que, ainda aliada na atualidade com o Estado, ultimamente aponta para muito além. Este trabalho traça algumas das tensões e contradições do projeto comunal

    'So Much the Worse for the Whites': Dialectics of the Haitian Revolution

    Get PDF
    This article sets out from an analysis of the pioneering work of Susan Buck-Morss to rethink, not only Hegel and Haiti, but broader questions surrounding dialectics and the universal brought to light by the Haitian Revolution. Reading through the lens of C.L.R. James’ The Black Jacobins, I seek to correct a series of ironic silences in her account, re-centering the importance of Toussaint’s successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and underlining the dialectical importance of identitarian struggles in forging the universal. Finally, I offer Frantz Fanon’s reformulation of the Hegelian master-slave dialectic—overlooked in Buck-Morss’ account—as a corrective that allows us to truly rethink progress toward the universal in decolonized dialectical terms.</div

    The Time of the Commune

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    Realismo decolonial: ética, política y dialéctica de Fanon y Dussel

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    This article approaches contemporary European debates on the subject of realism through the lenses offered by two decolonial thinkers: Fanon and Dussel. Whereas both share with realism a fundamental emphasis on reality as the starting point form theory -an assumption shared by much decolonial thought- they nevertheless provide another layer of specificity in their consideration of the colonial condition, diagnosing a fundamental absence of reciprocity that dictates the course of decolonization as a transformation of reality. Reconsidering the debates on realism in light of these insights therefore provides a powerful basis for both formulating a specifically decolonial realism and for engaging in comparative political theorizing more generally.Este artículo aborda los debates europeos contemporáneos sobre el tema del realismo a través de las perspectivas ofrecidas por dos pensadores decoloniales: Fanon y Dussel. Si bien ambos comparten con el realismo un énfasis fundamental en la realidad como punto de partida para la teoría -una hipótesis compartida por muchos pensamientos decoloniales-, ellos ofrecen otra capa de especificidad en su consideración de la condición colonial, diagnosticando una fundamental falta de reciprocidad que dicta el curso de la decolonización como una transformación de la realidad. Por lo tanto, reconsiderar los debates sobre el realismo a la luz de estos conocimientos proporciona una base sólida para la formulación de cierto tipo de realismo decolonial y para participar en teorías políticas comparativas de manera más genera
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