Affect, Ecofeminism, and Intersectional Struggles in Latin America
A Tribute to Berta Cáceres
Summary
The volume is an ideal contribution to environmental studies, cultural studies, and Latin American studies courses focused on social movements, activism, ecofeminism, and postcolonialism.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Advance Praise
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: ¡Berta no ha muerto, Berta se ha multiplicado! Paving the Way for an Affective Journey
- Chapter One: Preserving the Affective Being: Reconsiderations of Affect from a Non-Western Perspective
- Chapter Two: Indigenous Ecologies: The Relevance of Affect in Ecofeminist Movements
- Chapter Three: On Violent Affects: A History of Extractivism and Criminalization in Central America
- Chapter Four: From Outrage to Resistance: Social Movements in Honduras
- Chapter Five: Affective Solidarity and a Politics of Care: Reflection and Action Beyond Borders
- Chapter Six: On Mourning and Hope: A Transformational Path Toward Social Justice
- Conclusion: Utopia: An Affective Work in Progress
- Index
Book Cover
Top: Berta Cáceres with COPINH and Río Blanco community members honoring colleagues killed during the two-year struggle. Honduras’ violent climate is well known to many, but few understand that environmental and human rights activists are its victims. (Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize)
Bottom: Berta Cáceres and the Lenca community’s efforts successfully kept construction equipment out of the proposed dam site. In late 2013, Sinohydro terminated its contract with DESA, publicly citing ongoing community resistance and outrage following Tomás’ death. Agua Zarca suffered another blow when the IFC withdrew its funding, citing concerns about human rights violations. (Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize)
Introduction
←ix | x→Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
←x | xi→ ←xi | xii→←xii | xiii→I have written this book through a myriad of conflicting affects accompanied by many thousand tears. The time devoted to the production of a book is often insurmountable due to extra life and work duties along the way. However, in this case, the timing was timely. The composition of this book was intermittently interrupted by social media and breaking news notifications on environmental disasters, on the increasing number of environmental activists killed, on more injustice enacted throughout Berta’s trial, on the burning of the Amazons, on climate change, global warming, and on the reality of unaffected governments characterized by tremendous greed and corruption. The main idea erupted for the love of an incredible woman whose power, persistence, brilliance, and devotion to social justice was suddenly shattered on the night of March 2nd, 2016. The tremendous affect of Berta’s death led me to embark on a personal affective journey that echoes the capacity to affect and to spread affection of social and environmental movements such as COPINH. During the process, I have often cried watching interviews with Berta and listening to her daughters’ words full of outrage and indignation because of the extreme levels of corruption and political impunity in Honduras. Nevertheless, their frustration often brought contagious energy and strength full of tenderness, love, care, and hope invested in their endless struggle for social justice. All the tears and sadness activated my desire to contribute, with this book, to action; to ←xiii | xiv→continue the legacy of Berta and to “move” and “touch” as many people as possible, so one day we can inhabit a better and fairer world.
I am grateful to Butler University for the instructional and on-campus internationalization grants I obtained to develop courses on ecofeminism, allowing me the time to research what became the origin of this book. Similarly, the research grant was essential for in-depth reflection and the elaboration of the last chapters. I am also fortunate to have had the constant support of friends and colleagues such as Mar Soria López, Sholeh Shahrokhi, Ann Savage, and Terri Carney whose trust, friendship, and acts of care are boundless. The talented insights of my students with thought-provoking comments constantly enrich my own interpretations of current events and illuminate new perspectives on diversity, and on challenging topics such as violence, environmental racism, neoliberalism, etc. I have been able to incorporate photographs of Berta, Austra, and copines thanks to the Goldman Environmental Foundation that granted me access to use as many pictures as I desired. Thank you Edwina Dueñas for providing me with these beautiful images of Berta because an image speaks a thousand words and its affective capacity moves far beyond language.
My personal and intellectual affective journey would have never been possible without the unconditional love of my mother, Begoña, and my brother, Asier, whose daily words of encouragement fill the voids I feel, navigating an interstitial identity split between Bilbao and Indianapolis. I will be forever thankful for those endearing moments I spend with them during my trips back home and their visits to Indy; full of inspiring conversations and emotional support, they are the home I inhabit everywhere I go. Lastly, I am beyond thankful to my life partner Bridget O’Ryan; this book would have never seen the light without your infinite love and appreciation. Your tender, serene, and patient personality affects me in extraordinary and powerful ways I would have never thought possible. Thank you for irradiating so much abundance, and, above all, for sharing my passion for nature—my nature romantic.
←0 | 1→¡Berta no ha muerto, Berta se ha multiplicado! Paving the Way for an Affective Journey
“Berta no luchó por un río, su trabajo no era local. Murió por algo de lo que todos somos responsables: por la biodiversidad del planeta. No podemos dar la espalda a su causa.”
(Berta did not fight for a river, her work was not local. She died for something we all are responsible for: the Earth’s biodiversity. We cannot turn our backs to this cause.)
–GUSTAVO CASTRO
Details
- Pages
- XVI, 184
- Publication Year
- 2020
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781433165559
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781433165566
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9781433165573
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433159091
- DOI
- 10.3726/b15070
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2020 (June)
- Published
- New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Oxford, Wien, 2020. XVI, 184 pp., 8 color ill.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG