Since the early 1970s women across South America have been uniting to confont the brutality and repression of military rule. In Out of the Shadows, author Jo Fisher interviews women in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay to show how they have moved into the vacuum left by the military's destruction of the male-dominated left. Chapters describe how women have organised - in communal kitchens in Chile's shantytowns, as trade unionists in Uruguay, peace activists in Paraguay, mothers of the disappeared and self-help groups in Argentina, as grassroots feminists in Chile - ending the isolation of home life. While built around the traditional female concerns such as providing food and care for their families, the new women's movements have developed a grassroots feminism that is strikingly different from the middle class feminism of the city centres and have had a seismic impact on gender consciousness throughout the region.

'City of God' explores the role of neo-Pentecostal Christian sects in the religious, social & political life of Guatemala. O'Neill examines one such church, looking at how its practices have become acts of citizenship in a new, politically relevant era for Protestantism.

"Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, Julie Shayne's study elucidates the gender dynamics of revolution--with implications beyond her Latin American cases--while also bringing life to the experiences of some extraordinary revolutionary feminists."--Valentine M. Moghadam, Director of Women's Studies and Professor of Sociology, Illinois State University and Chief, Gender Section, Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO "The Revolution Question offers a valuable and compelling examination of the crucial question of why feminism matters to social change. Until we all accept this fundamental truth, there will be no possiblility for real social change."--Margaret Randall, author of When I Look into the Mirror and See You: Women, Terror & Resistance "Julie Shayne has produced a well-written and thoughtful account of the importance of women to the success of revolutionary movements and the (largely inadvertent) role of the revolutionary leadership in creating the conditions for the rise of feminist movements. Scholars and students will find her extensive interviews to be valuable and thought-provoking, making this an excellent resource for the classroom."--Karen Kampwirth, Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Latin American Studies Program, Knox College What do women do for revolutions? And what do revolutions do for women? Julie Shayne explores the roles of women in revolutionary struggles and the relationship of these movements to the emergence of feminism. Focusing upon the three very different cases of El Salvador, Chile, and Cuba, Shayne documents the roles of women in armed and unarmed political activities. She argues that women contribute to and participate in revolutionary movements in ways quite distinct from men. Despite the fact that their political contributions tend to be seen as less important than those of their male comrades, the roles that women play are actually quite significant to the expansion of revolutionary movements. Shayne also explains how, given the convergence of political and ideological factors, feminism is often born in the wake of revolutionary movements. As a result, revolutionary feminism is a struggle that addresses larger structures of political and economic inequalities. Based on in-depth interviews with activists in all three countries, The Revolution Question offers new insight into the complex gender relations underlying revolutionary social movements and enables us to re-assess both the ways that women affect political struggle and the ways in which political struggle affects women. Julie D. Shayne is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Emory University.

DIVAnalyzes differences between men's and women's participation in Chile's Agrarian Reform movement, examining how conflicts over gender shape the contours of working-class struggles and national politics./div

Latin America has experienced a profound transformation in the first two decades of the 21st century: it has been fully incorporated into the global economy, while excluding regions and populations devalued by the logic of capitalism. Technological modernization has gone hand-in-hand with the reshaping of old identities and the emergence of new ones. The transformation of Latin America has been shaped by social movements and political conflicts. The neoliberal model that dominated the first stage of the transformation induced widespread inequality and poverty, and triggered social explosions that led to its own collapse. A new model, neo-developmentalism, emerged from these crises as national populist movements were elected to government in several countries. The more the state intervened in the economy, the more it became vulnerable to corruption, until the rampant criminal economy came to penetrate state institutions. Upper middle classes defending their privileges and citizens indignant because of corruption of the political elites revolted against the new regimes, undermining the model of neo-developmentalism. In the midst of political disaffection and public despair, new social movements, women, youth, indigenous people, workers, peasants, opened up avenues of hope against the background of darkness invading the continent. This book, written by two leading scholars of Latin America, provides a comprehensive and up-do-date account of the new Latin America that is in the process of taking shape today. It will be an indispensable text for students and scholars in Latin American Studies, sociology, politics and media and communication studies, and anyone interested in Latin America today.

Explores various forms of social exclusion in Latin America, including residential segregation in Bolivian cities, exclusion in health care in Brazil, barriers to legal status of Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica, geographic isolation in El Salvador, and educational inequality among the indigenous in Mexico.