Radicalisation and political crisis: the personal transitions of a Guatemalan social Christian militant, 1942–1981

Women in the Movement of Rural Women Workers (Movimento de Mulheres Trabalhadoras Rurais or MMTR) in southern Brazil envisioned a social movement that represented their interests both as women and as small farmers and agricultural workers, while also allowing for a plurality of voices and strategies. This article describes the feminist and democratic culture of militancy that these women sought, from the 1980s through to the 2000s, and shows how difficult it was to establish and sustain such a culture. These women not only confronted the deep, ongoing difficulties of challenging gendered social relations, but also the pain, shame and silencing that intertwined with gains in voice and equality. They also confronted larger social movements whose leaders understood power differently to the way these women did. For the women described in this article, women’s activism requires a deep form of democracy where all voices are heard. Paradoxically, in the context of rural Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil and the panorama of movements that are active there, the rootedness in the everyday lived experience that made the movement relevant to women who advocated for this form of democracy also kept them from taking on powerholders within the movement who chose to ally with larger, more hierarchical movements, sacrificing significant forms of autonomy and voice in the process.

‘The whole process of gender’: a feminist culture of militancy in southern Brazil

Rubin

2023

Life history and cultures of militancy in Latin America’s Cold War

Schaefer,

Blanc

2023

Thinking through biography

Harmer

2023

This Afterword considers the articles in this special issue of Radical Americas. Reflecting on how a biographical lens can illuminate the past, it draws out some of the key findings of the special issue articles and interrogates their significance for understanding militancy in Latin America in the late twentieth century. Specifically, it explores what life histories can tell us about space and scale, and the opportunities and the costs of militancy during the Cold War in Latin America. It contends that there is more to learn and gain from thinking through a biographical lens going forward.