Relational Approaches to Social Movements in (and beyond) Latin America

Abstract

Abstract There are different ways of understanding what relational means in social movement studies. Schematically, this depends on the main dimension(s) studied as the focus of research. This chapter identifies four main relational approaches to social movements, all with applications in Latin American studies (and beyond). Intersectional approaches examine relations across core categories of identity—such as class, gender, and ethnicity. Historical approaches examine relations between movements and other actors across time, generally, in recurrent social mechanisms. Spatial approaches explore the co-constitution of the social and spatial in social movements as well as the (dis)continuities in movements across space. Finally, ecological approaches focus on the relations between movements and nature, signaling the importance of ontology for how we understand Latin American social movements. Each of these approaches is associated with different perspectives of social movement studies. Those scholars interested in the historical analysis of social movements are mostly linked to the political process and contentious politics approaches, while those with a geographical viewpoint to the new social movements approach. Moreover, the ecological approach is often linked to decolonial theories and the intersectional, to a certain degree, to all four. While there is no common understanding of what relationality is, there are interesting developments in each perspective that could potentially be used in eclectic combinations to study social movements.