The article reflects on the relation of drama, image, and anthropological “writing” from a visual anthropological perspective, based on the case of the Hã-Hã-Hãe indigenous people from northeastern Brazil and the production of a short participatory video documentary in support of the Hã-Hã-Hãe's case. Drama is discussed as a genre that provides the basis not only for the filmic representation of the Hã-Hã-Hãe's struggle for recognition but also for the public negotiation of the Indians' story and the social drama of which they are a part. Due to the nature of the subject, the article is presented as a work in progress, tracing the author's engagement with a continuously developing narrative and seeking to give an account of the fragmentary and event-oriented nature of ethnographic representation.

Analysts of social movements have done a great deal to extend our understanding of how resistance groups frame injustices. They often assume that some form of collective (discursive) action is necessary to frame common understandings, but in many authoritarian regimes collective action is not tolerated. Instead, opposition is expressed in messages embedded in comics, films, and other images generated by popular culture. In this article we connect the literature on social movements and framing to the psychological and cultural understandings of humor, and specifically how text and images in humorous comics form a response to official frames of social peace, modernization, and development. Even when no one dares to write a letter of protest, or take to the streets, or set up a website, the political content of comics establishes understandings about group identity and justice. In more open and democratic regimes, dissident leaders are permitted to manipulate images and understandings. In closed authoritarian regimes, comics are “ready meals” for dissidents. We examine humorous comics in Mexico from 1970 to 1976 to show how text and images spoke of injustices such as torture, poverty, and marginalization.

Analisam-se neste artigo as principais concepções elaboradas por Paulo Freire (1921-1997) a respeito da educação e da mudança social, exercício que permitirá assinalar, no final do trabalho, que sua principal proposta, aquela pedagogia mediante a qual os oprimidos conseguiriam tomar consciência da dominação que sofriam, era uma estratégia complementar a outras formas de luta que assumiam os setores populares, incluindo aquelas que se apoiavam na violência. Para atingir esses objetivos o trabalho contará com quatro seções: na primeira se deterá no processo mediante o qual ele se alfabetizou, na segunda se examinarão as características que fizeram que sua proposta de alfabetização e conscientização tivesse tão boa acolhida, na terceira se contextualizarão suas reflexões no movimento intelectual regional que se propunha contribuir para a construção de uma nova sociedade, e na quarta se precisará o papel que ele outorgava à educação na luta revolucionária.

Social spending by central governments in Latin America has, in recent decades, become increasingly insulated from political manipulation. Focusing on the 3×1 Program in Mexico in 2002-2007, we show that social spending by local government is, in contrast, highly politicized. The 3×1 Program funds municipal public works, with each level of government—municipal, state, and central—matching collective remittances. Our analysis shows that 3×1 municipal spending is shaped by political criteria. First, municipalities time disbursements according to the electoral cycle. Second, when matching collective remittances, municipalities protect salaries of personnel, instead adjusting budget items that are less visible to the public, such as debt. Third, municipalities spend more on 3×1 projects when their partisanship matches that of the state government. Beyond the 3×1 Program, our findings highlight the considerable influence that increasing political and economic decentralization can have on local government incentives and spending choices, in Mexico and beyond.

Comparando espacios de participación (consejos, comités, gabinetes, etc.) en municipios similares en Brasil, Venezuela y Nicaragua, gobernados por partidos que se autodefinen como de izquierda, se indaga a partir del paradigma clásico de Maxine Molyneux, en qué medida estas experiencias contribuyen a “emancipar” a las mujeres. Los resultados muestran que, en el caso de Venezuela, en un contexto de movilización, hay una inclusión abrumadora de mujeres en las bases locales aunque no necesariamente un avance profundo en torno a sus intereses estratégicos. En contraposición, los espacios de interface local anclados en el paradigma de la participación en Brasil no muestran una inclusión amplia de mujeres, pero sí un incremento relativo de contenidos estratégicos. Finalmente, cuando el partido en el gobierno en Nicaragua sigue una estrategia de cooptación para consolidar un monopolio partidario, existe un fuerte retroceso en relación al contenido emancipador de la lucha por intereses estratégicos de las mujeres.

O Brasil vem experimentando nas duas últimas décadas mudanças significativas com a queda da desigualdade, estabilidade económica, ampliação das oportunidades no mercado de trabalho formal e ampliação da escolarização. O artigo procura analisar o acesso ao ensino superior dos jovens de 18 a 24 anos por raça e renda com o objetivo de provocar uma discussão sobre as desigualdades no contexto de expansão educacional e os alvos das ações afirmativas no ensino superior em vigor no país, em especial a adoção recente da reserva de vagas nas Instituições de Ensino Superior Federais. Os dados são oriundos da Pesquisa Nacional de Amostra Domiciliar (PNAD), realizada pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Estatística e Geografia (IBGE), nos anos de 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 e 2011, anos que marcam momentos específicos das mudanças ocorridas nas desigualdades e no sistema educacional brasileiro.

When studying the politics of taxation it is important to evaluate changes to the tax code in terms of rates, bases, and exemptions instead of just revenues. With that objective in mind, we have compiled a more comprehensive database of tax reforms for Latin America. In this article, we present a description of the database as well as the stylized facts. We also explore the economic and political determinants of reform such as the role of the economic and politico-institutional variables, and compare the results to the consensus. We find two interesting results. First, determinants of reforms seem to have changed over the years as democracies have solidified. Second, disaggregating reforms in various ways is a better strategy for understanding the mechanisms behind tax reforms than looking at the overall number of reforms. Having developed an exhaustive database that allows such disaggregation we provide motivation for future research on this topic.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, Latin America experienced a so-called left turn that sought either to reform or eliminate the neoliberal institutions established during the 1980s and 1990s. However, although Peru has electoral, economic, and social processes similar to those of its neighbors, the neoliberal institutions established in Peru by the 1993 Constitution remain firmly in place. This article aims to understand the mechanisms sustaining Peru's neoliberal regime since its creation. Why have these institutions survived and grown in strength in a regional environment that has been hostile to neoliberal legacies? The article answers that question, emphasizing the evolution of the balance of power between the precarious Peruvian political class and the empowered technocrats and bureaucrats within the state. The reformist politicians are too weak and amateurish to challenge the technobureaucrats within the state. Moreover, the article analyzes the different strategies deployed by technocrats and bureaucrats in order to ensure the continuity and stability of the neoliberal regime and its policies. Theoretically, the article suggests that institutional stability can arise from a daily process gradually shaped by actors and their strategies.

Este artigo examina a atuação do escritor Jorge Amado como redator chefe no jornal literário Dom Casmurro (1937-1946). Conhecido e consagrado por sua produção literária iniciada ainda em 1931, o escritor baiano também foi figura atuante na vida política e cultural nacional. Embora estudiosos considerem a importância de Jorge Amado como literato e militante neste período, a atuação em Dom Casmurro tem recebido pouca atenção. Ao assumir em 1939 a redação deste periódico, num momento marcado por perseguições e censura do Estado Novo, Jorge Amado já militava no Partido Comunista além de ter publicado seis romances de sucesso. Por sua vez Dom Casmurro se constitui em um relevante periódico de literatura e cultura, desenvolvendo em suas páginas intenso debate sobre qual era efetivamente seu papel. Era ele veículo de expressão literária ou representante de uma determinada corrente política? Interessa neste artigo compreender as tensões que marcaram as relações entre os intelectuais, a imprensa e a política durante o Estado Novo através deste jornal e da atuação de Jorge Amado.

This article examines the implementation of Peru's new water law and discusses how it produces new forms of water citizenship. Inspired by the global paradigm of “integrated water resources management,” the law aims to include all citizens in the management of the country's water resources by embracing a “new water culture.” We ask what forms of water citizenship emerge from the new water law and how they engage with local water practices and affect existing relations of inequality. We answer these questions ethnographically by comparing previous water legislation and how the new law currently is negotiated and contested in three localities in Peru's southern highlands. We argue that the law creates a new water culture that views water as a substance that is measurable, quantifiable, and taxable, but that it neglects other ways of valuing water. We conclude that water citizenship emerges from the particular ways water authorities and water users define rights to access and use water, on the one hand, and obligations to contribute to the construction and maintenance of water infrastructure and pay for the use of water, on the other.

In the context of urban poverty in Brazil, this article considers the national context of civil society starting in the 1950s through to the approval of the Statute of the City in 2001. Focusing on a case study of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, I unpack the perception of a declining civil society in that city. Rather than taking a retraction of civil society at face value, I make the case for alterations within civil society and the role of the political context.