INTRODUCTION

LATIN AMERICAN CRITICAL THOUGHT:

THEORY AND PRACTICE
Si la libertad
existiera,
sera un verbo.
Si el puo
permaneciera,
sera un mstil.
Si la causa
no feneciera,
sera una esperanza...
A. L. B.*

THE RESURGENCE OF LATIN AMERICAN CRITICAL thought in the

late 1990s and the early twenty-first century has brought about some
discoveries that distinguish it from the sociological production of the
world. It is a scientific framework that has taken on the features of a new
social scientific paradigm. A growing number of authors have aligned
themselves with this perspective, with visions that include critical readings geared to contributing to transformative social change, in a Latin
American context. Thus, we ask ourselves: What are the characteristics
that distinguish Latin American critical thought and give it its identity?
What are its germinal features and what are its unresolved matters?
A distinguishing feature of this thought is its belonging to social
sciences, particularly sociology and its traditions of critical theory,
whose roots, as Gramsci said, do not come from fundamentalist opposition but rather from the acquisition of scientific certainty on the
basis of critical analysis.
In scientific discussion [] To understand and to evaluate realistically
ones adversarys position and his reasons (and sometimes ones adver* If freedom existed, it would be a verb. / If the fist persisted, it would be a flagpole.
/ If the cause did not expire, it would be a hope. / If fists persisted, they would be
flagpoles. / If causes did not expire, they would be hopes. A. L. B

LATIN AMERICAN CRITICAL THOUGHT: THEORY AND PRACTICE

sary is the whole of past thought) means precisely to be liberated from

the prison of ideologies in the bad sense of the word that of blind
ideological fanaticism. It means taking up a point of view that is critical, which for the purpose of scientific research is the only fertile one1.

Here, scientific convergence is not about repeating, reiterating or translating, but, above all, about re-signifying and reversing the meaning of
science on the basis of a new objectification agreed by consensus.
This is also a debate on the consensus about social thought, a debate on the intellectual foundation of hegemony. Latin American critical thought is resurfacing after the long period that followed the impasse, or rather the decline, of the Dependency Theory of the 1970s
and the emergence of the intellectual and ideological domination of
neoliberalism, its political apparatuses and governmental technologies that prevailed from the 1980s on. This new critical thought has
called into question the hegemonic forms of understanding the capitalist market, the colonization of power and Eurocentric assumptions.
It has gained strength in line with the development of democratic political forms. When critical Latin American authors refer to the previous decline in critical scholarship / literature, thought point at the role
of the genocidal dictatorships in the region. They also find parallels
between their own work and social movements, especially the peasant, the indigenous and the urban unemployed movements of the late
twentieth century, as well as the landless workers, the Zapatism and
the piqueteros, and class fractions that do not have a central place in
classical theory. Beyond this consensus, authors seem to differ on the
magnitude of the democratic gains in / for the popular sector and the
restitution of rights as sources of expansion / in an expansive fashion
(1990-2010). There are also disagreements about the populist character of these democratic gains when the fragility of the processes of democratization and the close links between these electoral democratic
systems and the transnational capitalist market is considered.
This book, a collection / anthology of critical Latin American
thought, aims to present a sample of the knowledge produced in the
South, in line with international productions, and takes the Second
ISA Forum of Sociology Social Justice and Democratization to be held
at the University of Buenos Aires (2012) as an initial opportunity for
this. It puts together the views and analyses of outstanding authors
from Latin America, recognizing that their work represents that of a

1 Gramsci, Antonio 1971 Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci
(London: Lawrence & Wishart) p. 657. It is recommended the translation and edition
by Hoare, Quintin & Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (London: ElectBook, 1999).

Introduction

huge number of authors from the region, and also acknowledging the
existing language barriers. This collection does not cover the broad
range of topics brought about by the re-emergence of critical thought
but its outstanding features. With this, we expect to encourage the
fluid and symmetrical exchange between peers throughout the world.
We also expect to encourage discussions that cover theoretical contents, empirical references as well as epistemological foci.
This is a necessary and urgent dialogue in the context of the current crises in the core nations, taking into account that the concentration of power and wealth in both the North and the South makes them
comparable, not so much in their singular aspects as in the nature of
the systemic questions that includes and connects them. Speaking at
this particular moment in history, in which the very biological existence on the planet is at risk, a question which concerns us (as the
type of questions required by the sociological imagination do) arises.
Is sociology an applied science, a social resource for a more just and
sustainable society? Is the knowledge it produces transferable to society? Which are the adequate instruments for this transfer? Is it not the
case that we still have many deficiencies and insufficient knowledge to
address fundamental questions? We can see that social theories have
the greatest difficulty to become instruments for change, and at the
same time, we see that critical thought can go through travel across
the networks of collective intellect. The Latin American social phenomenon has as part of its recent experience (2011-2012), university
student mobilizations in Chile, Peru, Honduras and Mexico. We intend to read them as elements that converge with critical thought,
not only as a critique of the system of exclusion but also as a form of
inclusion in critical intellectual activity.
As already noted, the epistemic turn, the paradigm shift is necessary, but what is at stake is not only its denunciation or activist
content but the alteration in the ways in which scientific knowledge
in the social sciences is produced, as well as the individual collective
intellectual praxis. This is why a mutation in the epistemic basis of
the scientific paradigm is necessary. The transfer of knowledge (the
trickling down from the intellectual elite) seems to have reached its
limit. The social actors become authors, we see them taking part
in national and international meetings, making their influence felt
against institutional barriers, fighting to participate. This is a new
intellectual sovereignty and a renewed creative autonomy. Thus, we
assume that the subordinated / subaltern subjectivity fades away
when the collective self / subject places itself as a form of inclusion,
and each subject is able to create as a singular author, both diverse
from, and in common with others. This participative sociological

LATIN AMERICAN CRITICAL THOUGHT: THEORY AND PRACTICE

imagination has yet to be achieved. The task ahead is to lay the

foundations for a productive force. Critical thought, we think, is
taking steps in this gregarious and plebian direction. We still do not
know whether it will be able to dissolve the matrix of domination
that keeps us from dealing with the crisis as a productive intellectual force, comparable or equivalent to the religious formation of /
education in the capitalist system.
Here we can quote Anbal Quijanos remarks about the lineage of
Jos Carlos Maritegui in the seminal pages of Siete ensayos de interpretacin de la realidad peruana [Seven Interpretative Essays on Peruvian Reality] (1928) which are still fundamental:
This original theoretical and epistemic subversion can be recognized
as a source for the production of the Latin American idea of historical-structural heterogeneity, thus breaking with Cartesianisms radical dualism, which is at the origin of Eurocentrism and the positivist
propensity to reductionism and evolutionism. And without this new
starting point we would be unable to come to terms with the new
theoretical and political debate about the nature and history of the
current world power, especially the lively debate about the theoretical
proposal of coloniality and decoloniality of power in Latin America
and beyond2.

The authors in this book, all of them from Latin America, focus on
different topics. However, there is a shared logic that goes through
the entire work: the awareness that sociology in Latin America is produced between two types of tensions: internal tensions inherited from
coloniality, and external tensions that result from the global reach of
Latin American critical thought/the developments of Latin American
critical thought at the global level. A. Quijanos contribution to the
critique of development from the point of view of the heterotopy of the
buen vivir (live well), built on the basis of the experience and knowledge of the Andean World; Garca Lineras reflection on the original
multinational state that acknowledges the autonomy of the indigenous
peoples as a nation within the developmentalist state; and the analysis
of Jaime Preciado and Pablo Uc on the role of Cuba in the context
of inter-American relations, and the alliances between it and some
countries of the region in undermining the US governments attempts
to isolate it and challenging the long-standing Pan-American power
structure are important examples that call attention to the internal
changes experienced by Latin American sociology.

Maritegui, Jos Carlos 2010 La tarea americana (Buenos Aires: CLACSO) p. 21.

Introduction

Similarly, internal change has effects and is affected by external

factors that cannot be neglected. First, there is a tradition that takes
in the contributions of some European intellectuals to the critique of
coloniality. This sheds light on the existence of a critical thought in the
North that aims to challenge colonial domination, and is important to
recognize the Other in the building of the social world. Thus, in the
context of what seems to be the crisis of late capitalism and the concomitant death of the so-called postmodern thought, Eduardo Grner
offers us a stimulating anachronism that keeps the intellectual legacy
of two outstanding thinkers: Jean-Paul Sartre and Pier Paolo Pasolini,
who were able to anticipate current debates in the field of postcolonial
theory and subaltern studies. On the other hand, it is necessary to
bring up to date the debate on culture and democracy in the context
of the changes produced by peripheral globalization. In this regard,
Marilena Chauis work is crucial, as she reconstructs the meaning of
the word culture on the basis of different intellectual and political
contexts, explores the relations between culture and democracy in
light of the Brazilian experience and outlines the connections between
democracy and socialism.
On the other hand, in the current scenario, and as a part of the
theoretical challenge facing the Latin American left, it is worth paying attention to Emir Saders remarks about the absence of strategic
thinking in line with the current political challenges for the region,
and the ardent call to produce theory out of the practices of the region. Regarding this, Rafael Correas speech proposes a balance of
Social Sciences in Latin America, mapping the Latin American intellectual heritage, wondering about the meaning of the scientific and
social work, and arguing against influences of the neoliberal hegemonic thought, and in favour of a theory which implies corollaries
that enable the improvement of our reality. In order to address the
regional challenges, the intrinsic complexity of the world system has
also to be taken into account. In this vein, Theotonio dos Santos
argues that such complexity calls for economic and political coordinated action on global issues, rather than the invisible hand of
the market and the illusion of the law of comparative advantages in
world trade. The search of economic and social justice in the context of globalization needs shared development strategies located
within a scientific framework built at the global level. Finally, Jos
Vicente Tavares dos Santos presents a typology of the development
of Latin American sociology and calls for a deeper dialogue with
Chinese sociology in the search of a sociology of transformation. His
work focuses on the role of sociology in analyzing processes of social
transformation in Latin America, in the effects of the globalization

LATIN AMERICAN CRITICAL THOUGHT: THEORY AND PRACTICE

of social conflict and in the possibility of an intellectual dialogue

with the Asian giants sociology.
The debates presented in this book attempt to contribute to a
new way of thinking from the South, that it should also be put in
the context of broader South-South relations that also integrate other
countries producing original and important reflections in several continents of what we call the South and what we call the North.