Search

This paper provides a Latin American perspective on ESD, with a focus on transformative and participatory learning in community contexts. With a long history of critical pedagogies, Latin America provides a fertile ground for exploring alternative forms of education as a means to address deep-rooted challenges in western traditional strands of education. We start by providing an overview of pertinent educational currents present in Latin America, then ground these perspectives in two case studies carried out by the authors – one from Colombia, the other from Brazil – which explore grassroots initiatives in community settings that utilise different forms of education and learning. We then propose an integrative model to foster alternative educational approaches that might lead to decolonial and regenerative praxis, finishing with a discussion on how Latin American-rooted regenerative decolonisation perspective and praxis can inform global ESD discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to introduce, in the context of Latin America, the theoretical epistemic discussion regarding the theme of the 'common' as a political principle which substantiates instituting and autonomous processes of government, control and community regulation. The work seeks to relate a democratic scenario of the 'common' with the discourses of pluralist and decolonial normativity, in a way that would guarantee not only horizontal communal self-management, but also a legitimate ordering of forms of life, founded on common interest, social relations and interconnected structures. For this purpose the instrument of critical-socio-legal analysis is applied at the intersections with the 'participative-communitary' type of legal pluralism. Our proposal is to combine the contemporary meaning of the 'common', its relation to the Latin American principles of 'buen vivir' (living well) and 'interculturalidade' (interculturality), as well as the instituting practice of the 'common', that engenders a normativity built 'from below', which is in opposition to the traditional positivist and state legal system imposed through colonization in Latin America. Such achievements that, although formalized, are not being successful against institutional ruptures, have 'cloistered' the practices of the 'common' and made the existence of legal pluralism invisible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cultura Latinoamericana is the property of Universidad Catolica de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Escritos is the property of Escritos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The images of revolution in Latin America have long been part of the metropolitan left imagination. Yet there is not much input from the complex and grounded Latin American debates rethinking the left into the global discourse. I will develop an argument/analysis addressing that gap in three phases. First in Theory I will seek to place the Latin American debates from a postcolonial perspective focusing on the reception of key debates in the global North. I then move on to the ‘left decade’ itself in Practice laying out some of the basic parameters, its complexity and contradictions. Post 2000, Latin America became a laboratory of left experimentalism that deserves closer attention. Finally, in Futures I cast a cold eye on alternative scenarios for the left with a view to going beyond the simplifications current in Northern left coverage. Any global rethinking on ‘augmenting the left’ would benefit from the various views from (not just on) Latin America. There is much to learn from debates which might help rethink a left strategy that is fit for purpose in the 21st century, learning from the mistakes of the past and from the now seemingly ebbing left decade or ‘pink tide’ in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Andean and Amazonian regions of South America new environmental ethics have emerged that postulate intrinsic values in the non-human. These biocentrisms do not derive directly from the deep ecology of Arne Naess, presenting several differences, but there are also important similarities, which are briefly noted. Southern biocentrism recognizes the rights of Nature but does so in an intercultural perspective, is much more politicized, and is part of 'ontological openings' to alternatives of ecological community that go beyond modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analizes the epistemological assumptions that have shaped the environmental communication (EC) in Spain and Latin America. It was established that Iberoamerican authors who have studied the EC do not consider the notion of environment; they are limited to presenting strategies which promote environmentally-friendly behaviors. In addition, this article proposes the EC notion of environment to be extended, resorting to the categories of relationality, enaction and the Good Living. Finally, this article recommends environmental communicators to cultivate a self-analysis enabling them to identify biological and cultural heritages which, unconsciously, shape their notion of environment and their relation with nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper sets out to review the content of Buen vivir (‘good living’) as an emergent discourse, reflecting on its genesis and contributions to the sustainability debate, as well as on incipient attempts at its institutionalization. First, we briefly revisit criticisms to the development discourse and then engage in deeper exploration of the status of its direct descendant: sustainable development (SD). Next, we consider the Latin-American position in the discursive field of SD and the situation of Buen vivir vis-à-vis SD. Drawing on the traditional repository of the continent's indigenous cultures, this discourse has been theorized in the academic sphere and translated into normative principles that have started to permeate the public, but also the political sphere, especially in Ecuador and Bolivia. In this article we refer to Buen vivir as the contemporary discursive reelaboration of the Quechua concept Sumak Kawsay and similar principles from other indigenous peoples. It includes both the idea of interdependence between society and nature and a conception of the universal as a plurality. Lastly, we outline some inbuilt tensions of the Buen vivir discourse, but also its dialogic potential with several variants of the heterogeneous discursive field around the idea of SD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In Latin America, particularly after the failure and subsequent questioning and delegitimizing of neo-liberal politics that has taken place since the beginnings of the 2000s, the search for new paths is evident, within social movements and political forces. Without disregarding the centrality of orthodox economic politics, a new construction of ideas is emerging in the periphery, not without weaknesses and contradictions. Feminist proposals share much of this questioning and include a gender perspective that cross-cut the analysis of families, social environment and macro policies. The IDeA team share the ongoing dialogue among feminists in the region in the following five contributions that contributing to fertile ground to challenge the hierarchical and unequal gender order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a period of retreat, critical approaches to development are back in Latin America. These include some old components, many of them originated in the region (like some elements of dependency theory), with new issues (like those related to the environmental crisis), and incorporating perspectives from indigenous knowledges. Under this process emerges the current ideas of Harmonious Coexistence, a good life that is not a new instrumental development alternative, but an alternative to the whole western idea of development. The different approaches to Harmonious Coexistence are described, including its introduction in the new constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador, and also the key current debates. Some perspectives are rooted in indigenous knowledges, while others are represented in marginal and critical perspectives within Modernity. Harmonious Coexistence is plural and multidimensional concept, still under elaboration. Nevertheless, these different approaches shared a common political platform, based on features like the rejection to classical developmentalism, a distinct ethics (e.g. intrinsic values in Nature), a decolonial attitude, and the prosecution of alternatives to development. These components are described and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laura Fano Morrissey traces the rise of indigenous movements in four Andean countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. By analysing how these movements have formed, she discusses issues of identity and belonging and the role these concept have played in making indigenous groups a growing force in the continent. She also provides an account of the new constitutions adopted in Bolivia and Ecuador and the innovative traits they have introduced in the political discourse on ethnicity and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]