Student movements and politics in Latin America: a historical reconceptualization

Abstract

Student movements have played a significant political role in the history of Latin America. Since the beginning of the 20th century until now, students have transformed their universities, resisted totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and struggled against US military occupations. In the early 1900s these movements promoted university reforms, autonomy, shared governance, Latin Americanism, and university obligations towards social change. During the 1960s and 1970s, they fought for democratization and committed to attempts for profound radical transformations of society in many countries. In the 1980s student movements resisted structural adjustment policies and attempts to increase tuition. A decade later they continued to defend public universities against privatization and marketization brought about by the neoliberal model. In spite of these historical facts, mainstream literature in the 1980s and 1990s predicted the decline and even death of student movements in the region. A historical reconceptualization of student mobilization is presented in this article in order to fully grasp the impact and sustained presence of student movements in Latin America up to the present day. In this way it is possible to understand the existing links between movements over time and across countries, the continuity and shifts in student discourses, demands and strategies, and the emergence of new struggles for gender equality and to eradicate violence against women.