Latin American Transnational Solidarities: Contexts and Critical Research Paradigms

Abstract

Manifestations of trans-border solidarity between geographically distant, different or unequal groups and communities are phenomena accompanying the evolution of a transnational Left during the 20th century. They attended struggles for civil and human rights, social movements and challenges to Cold War neo-imperialism. Transnational solidarity movements offered powerful political resources for accessing public opinion in order to mobilize for programs of social and political change. This dossier offers a set of case studies that demand theoretical re-considerations of earlier scholarly framings of solidarity to address a Latin American perspective. It seeks to explore the motivations and practices of phenomena of transnational solidarity throughout the 20th century, focusing on the distinct dynamics that emerged in the global South. The aim is to re-centre transnational solidarity analysis from the vantage point of the often neglected South-North as well South-South directions of solidarity activism, as well as to resituate the social and cultural exchanges of local agents.