latin american studies
The Invention of the Brazilian Northeast
Rhythms of the Pachakuti
durval muniz de albuquerque jr . With a Foreword by James N. Green Translated by Jerry Dennis Metz
Indigenous Uprising and State Power in Bolivia raquel gutiérrez aguilar With a Foreword by Sinclair Thomson Translated by Stacey Alba D. Skar
“In this modern classic of Brazilian cultural history, Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr. provides a richly documented and theoretically illuminating exploration of how the most ‘regional’ of all Brazilian regions has been imagined, indeed ‘invented,’ as a space of alterity, poverty, and authenticity during the past century. In doing so, he reveals the discursive production of regions, the relations of power that produce them, and the stereotypes that make them recognizable to a national audience.” —CHRISTOPHER DUNN , coeditor of Brazilian Popular Music and Citizenship
“This wonderful book is both a detailed historical account of the 2000–2005 uprisings in Bolivia and a significant theoretical intervention into central contemporary questions about political action and revolution. In particular, Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar emphasizes the profound significance of indigenous social organization and worldviews for the contemporary political struggles in Bolivia and elsewhere.”—MICHAEL HARDT, coauthor of Empire, Multitude, Commonwealth, and Declaration
In the indigenous Andean language
Brazil’s Northeast has traditionally been considered one of the coun-
of Aymara, pachakuti refers to the
try’s poorest and most underdeveloped areas. In this impassioned work,
subversion and transformation
the Brazilian historian Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr. investigates
of social relations. Between 2000
why Northeasterners are marginalized and stereotyped not only by
and 2005, Bolivia was radically
inhabitants of other parts of Brazil but also by nordestinos themselves.
transformed by a series of popular
His broader question, though, is how “the Northeast” came into exis-
indigenous uprisings against the coun-
tence. Tracing the history of its invention, he finds that the idea of the Northeast was formed in the early twentieth century when elites around Brazil became preoccupied with building a nation. Diverse phenomena—from drought policies to messianic movements, banditry
try’s neoliberal and antidemocratic RH Y THMS OF THE PACH A K U T I Indigenous Uprising and State Power in Bolivia
R AQUEL GUTIÉRREZ AGUIL AR with a for ewor d by sincl air thomson
to new regional political blocs—helped to consolidate this novel con-
these mass collective actions, tracing tions to consider how motivation and
nordestinos, played key roles in making the region cohere as a space of
execution incite political change.
common references and concerns. Ultimately, Albuqerque urges historeveal their artifice and abandon static categories in favor of new, more
Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar documents the internal dynamics of such disrup-
cept, the Northeast. Politicians, intellectuals, writers, and artists, often
rians to question received notions, such as regions and regionalism, to
policies. In Rhythms of the Pachakuti,
“In Rhythms of the Pachakuti we can sense the reverberations of an extraordinary historical process that took place in Bolivia at the start of the
granular understandings.
twenty-first century. The book is the product of Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar’s
Durval Muniz de Albuquerque Jr. is Professor of Brazilian History at the
political engagement in that historical process. . . . Though of Mexican
Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. An award-winning author, he is considered one of Brazil’s leading historians. James N. Green is Professor of Brazilian History and Culture at Brown University. He is the author of We Cannot Remain Silent: Opposition to the Brazilian Military Dictatorship in the United States, also published by Duke University Press. Jerry Dennis Metz is translator and independent scholar, has a PhD in Latin American History from the University of Maryland, College Park. LATIN AMERIC A IN TRANSLATION/EN TRADUCCIÓN/EM TRADUÇÃO
nationality, [she] was intimately involved in Bolivian politics for many years and acquired a quasi-legendary status there as an intense, brilliant activist and radical intellectual. . . . [Her account is] . . . itself a revolutionary document. . . . Rhythms of the Pachakuti deserves to stand as a key text in the international literature of radicalism and emancipatory politics in the new century.”—SINCLAIR THOMSON , from the foreword
Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar is Professor of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Puebla. Sinclair Thomson is Associate Professor of History at New York University. Stacey Alba D. Skar is Associate Professor of Spanish at Western Connecticut State University. NEW ECOLOGIES FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY A Series Edited by Arturo Escobar and Dianne Rocheleau LATIN AMERIC A IN TRANSLATION/EN TRADUCCIÓN/EM TRADUÇ ÃO
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