Politics are the Sport of the Student: How Social Media has Changed the Riot Dynamic

Abstract

For engineering students in Colombia, law students in Mexico, and philosophy students in Brazil, scholarship took a backseat to political activism in the 1960s. This presentation examines why students were such a force within Latin American history during the period from 1958-1970. In 15 minutes, it provides an accessible, educational, and entertaining deconstruction of the origins of the Latin American student movement. I argue that this period represents the ‘tipping point’ of activism within Latin American Universities; one in which the sport of politics long practiced within institutions breached the walls of the ivory tower. In a quarter of an hour, the origins of this radicalism are presented:o Demographics (higher enrolment figures, diversifying student experiences, broadening academic curriculum into the humanities and social sciences)o Long-standing socio-cultural student respect (the position of students as ‘agents of change’, student co-governance of academic institutions)o Idealism (rejection of typical political process, ‘fetishization’ of counter-cultural’)all set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions. Organized against perceptions of government corruption, neo-liberalization and American interventionism, students protested, joined guerrilla groups, forced strikes, and – in the case of Mexico – were eventually massacred by the state. Latin American students broadened the definition of a university from a house of scholarship to a training ground for citizenry, with a directive to “provide leaders for nation-building.” The audience will be encouraged to ask questions and will leave with broader understandings of the role of students and universities in Latin America and beyond.