Arturo Escobar is assistant professor of anthropology at Smith College. Sonia E. Alvarez is associate professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Arturo Escobar is assistant professor of anthropology at Smith College. Sonia E. Alvarez is associate professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Preface and Acknowledgments
About the Editors and Contributors
1 Introduction: Theory and Protest in Latin America Today 1
Pt. 1 Conceptualizing Social Movements in Contemporary Latin America
2 Social Movements: Actors, Theories, Expectations 19
3 Marxism, Feminism, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America 37
4 The Study of New Social Movements in Latin America and the Question of Autonomy 52
5 Culture, Economics, and Politics in Latin American Social Movements Theory and Research 62
Pt. 2 The Making of Collective Identities
6 "I Dreamed of Foxes and Hawks": Reflections on Peasant Protest, New Social Movements, and the Rondas Campesinas of Northern Peru 89
7 From Resistance to Social Movement: The Indigenous Authorities Movement in Colombia 112
8 Power, Gender, and Development: Popular Women's Organizations and the Politics of Needs in Ecuador 134
9 The Venezuelan Ecology Movement: Symbolic Effectiveness, Social Practices, and Political Strategies 150
10 Rethinking the Study of Social Movements: The Case of Christian Base Communities in Urban Brazil 171
11 Homosexual Identities in Transitional Brazilian Politics 185
Pt. 3 Articulating Strategies and Democratizing Democracy
12 Feminisms in Latin America: From Bogota to San Bernardo 207
13 The Evolution of Urban Popular Movements in Mexico Between 1968 and 1988 240
14 Radical Opposition Parties and Squatters Movements in Pinochet's Chile 260
15 Democratization and the Decline of Urban Social Movements in Uruguay: A Political-Institutional Account 276
16 Popular Movements in the Context of the Consolidation of Democracy in Brazil 291
17 Social Movements and Political Power in Latin America 303
18 Conclusion: Theoretical and Political Horizons of Change in Contemporary Latin American Social Movements 317
List of Acronyms 331
Bibliography 334
About the Book 365
About the Series 366
Index 367

An interdisciplinary anthology representing a collective theoretical reflection on the nature and present status of the comparative study of social movements in Latin America.