Radical Women in Latin America: Left and Right

by Gonzalez, Victoria; Kampwirth, Karen

• ISBN13: 9780271021010
• ISBN10: 0271021012
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr

Summary

Radical Women in Latin America is a collection of original essays by scholars from a variety of disciplines -- anthropology, history, and political science -- on the political activism of women from both the left and the right. The stories of these radical women challenge traditional portrayals of men as violent and women as inherently peaceful. This volume forces us to confront the fact that there is no automatic sisterhood among women, even among those of the same class and ethnicity. At the same time, the essays show the similarities that can unite women across immense political divides.

This book analyzes radical women's actions and motivations through four interrelated themes -- maternalism, feminism, autonomy, and coalitions between left- and right-wing women -- in three Central American countries (Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala) and three South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile). The editors and contributors to this volume have done extensive and recent field research in Latin America.

Radical Women in Latin America challenges b

Author Biography

Lisa Baldez is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Harbinson Faculty Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis Maria Teresa Blandon is Director of the Central American Current (Programa Centroamericano La Corriente) Victoria Gonzalez is a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American History at Indiana University Liesl Haas is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University Patricia Hipsher is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma State University Karen Kampwirth is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Latin American Studies Program at Knox College Ilja A. Luciak is Associate Professor of Political Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Sandra McGee Deutsch teaches history at the University of Texas at El Paso Margaret Power is Assistant Professor of History in the Humanities Department at the Illinois Institute of Technology Kelley Ready is Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Northeastern University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	1	(30)
PART I: RADICAL WOMEN IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Chronology of Nicaragua	31	(2)
Chronology of El Salvador	33	(4)
Chronology of Guatemala	37	(4)
Somocista Women, Right-Wing Politics, and Feminism in Nicaragua, 1936-1979	41	(38)
Victoria Gonzalez
Women in the Armed Struggles in Nicaragua: Sandinistas and Contras Compared	79	(32)
Karen Kampwirth
The Coalicion Nacional de Mujeres: An Alliance of Left-Wing Women, Right-Wing Women, and Radical Feminists in Nicaragua	111	(22)
Maria Teresa Blandon
Right and Left-Wing Women in Post-Revolutionary El Salvador: Feminist Autonomy and Cross-Political Alliance Building for Gender Equality	133	(32)
Patricia Hipsher
A Feminist Reconstruction of Parenthood Within Neoliberal Constraints: La Asociacion de Madres Demandantes in El Salvador	165	(24)
Kelley Ready
Gender Equality, Democratization, and the Revolutionary left in Central America: Guatemala in Comparative Context	189	(34)
Ilja A. Luciak
PART II: RADICAL WOMEN IN SOUTH AMERICA
Chronology of Argentina	213	(2)
Chronology of Brazil	215	(4)
Chronology of Chile	219	(4)
Spreading Right-Wing Patriotism, Femininity, and Morality: Women in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, 1900-1940	223	(26)
Sandra Mcgee Deutsch
Changing the System from Within? Feminist Participation in the Brazilian Workers' Party	249	(24)
Liesl Haas
Nonpartisanship as a Political Strategy: Women Left, Right, and Center in Chile	273	(26)
Lisa Baldez
Defending Dictatorship: Conservative Women in Pinochet's Chile and the 1988 Plebiscite	299	(26)
Margaret Power
Conclusion	325	(6)
Contributors	331	(2)
Index	333