New Left, New Right: The Politicization of Class, Gender, Race and Sexuality in Latin America

This course explores how issues of class, gender, race, and sexuality are being politicized in contemporary Latin America, where the historical definitions of “Left” and “Right” as well as the political practices of collective actors are being redrawn. The Left has abandoned Marxism; the neoliberal Right left technocratic cosmopolitanism for radical xenophobia; and new alternatives seem to lie between Left-wing and Right-wing populism. Political cleavages and new forms of activism have emerged around issues of feminism, masculinity, race, ethnicity, religion, age, and class, and through coalitions and new social movements that are addressed through film, literature, pop-communication, and street practices.