Post–secularity and political hope in 21st century socialism

Abstract

In recent years, in different parts of the globe there has been a rise in support for what I call ‘post-secular’ political projects. Societies and ideologies which were built on explicit secular premises are reconfiguring themselves. Is ‘postsecularism’ becoming a powerful and programmatic idea, as has the idea of ‘secularization’ (Casanova, 1994, 2006; Cannell, 2006), and if so, what are its effects? How does this idea shape (now and in the future) political hope and aspirations? This exploratory chapter looks at these questions in the context of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Agreement (Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra America – Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos – ALBA-TCP) and the development of the ‘socialism of the 21st century’ in Venezuela. While in earlier periods leftist politics tended to be promoted in secular and anti-clerical terms (notwithstanding notable exceptions such as liberation theology movements and links between leftist forces and the Catholic Church in, for instance, Chile and Nicaragua) the new so-called socialism of the 21st century is embracing and to an extent institutionalizing local sociocultural and religious practices, internalizing a variety of Christian, Afro-American and Amerindian localized forms. Hence the term ‘post-secular’ is used here to overcome the antinomy of secularism versus religiosity rather than to describe the resurgence of religion and the dismantling of secularism (cf. Habermas, 1992). It is also used to describe an explicit critique of the modernization project. Theoretically, the chapter revisits previous frames which focused on ‘themagical’ appeal of the Venezuelan state (Coronil, 1997) in the pre-Chavez era, by looking at the contemporary Venezuelan socialist experiment through the prism of vernacularization. I have elaborated the concept of vernacularization in other writings to explain the paradox of Indian democracy and the cultural production of popular politics in post-colonial settings (Michelutti, 2008). I call ‘vernacularization’ the process through which democracy becomes entrenched in the consciousness of ordinary people and acquires social roots in a particular historical and sociocultural setting. The general idea to draw from this approach is that the force of popular politics is often due to ideasand practices of democracy which have been appropriated by sociocultural groups and adapted to their needs. At the same time aspects of society (and in particular processes of identity formation and religion) are influenced. I have argued that this twin and circular process is fundamental to theorize the relation between culture and popular politics cross-culturally (Michelutti, 2008). In this chapter I aim to advance the ‘vernacularization thesis’ and explore a situation in which cultural and religious forms are not only a site through which a political idea and project acquires sociocultural roots (becomes vernacularized) and in this way enters (or not) people’s political imagination, but also becomes one of the constituting elements of a political project itself. More specifically, this chapter is based on fieldwork conducted in the vil-lage of Chuao on the North Venezuelan coast (Aragua state). The site is famous for being home to a well-known hacienda (plantation), which is globally recognized for producing the best cocoa beans in the world. The village is still mostly inhabited by Afro-Venezuelans who are descendants of former slaves who worked on the plantation during colonial times. The village of Chuao is accessible by boat only and is therefore somewhat isolated. This seclusion has allowed the place to retain many religious and cultural traditions, which have become lost in other parts of the country. The village has, therefore, the history, the Afro-religious culture, the spiritual and religious traditions, the economic products (cocoa) and, importantly, the racial make-up to be a national symbol of the new Bolivarian post-secular socialist Venezuela.1