Social Outbursts Research Articles

“Until dignity becomes customary” archiving the #28A strike in Colombia

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to document the creation of the Archivo del Paro #28A, a digital archive created in Colombia as a result of the social mobilizations that took place in 2021. To this end, we situate the cycle of protests that has been referred to as “social outburst” in a context of economic, political, and social crisis deepened by the effects of unequal management of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also in a context of political opening following the peace agreements between the State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (FARC-EP) in 2016. In this context, we argue that the social outburst of 2021 constituted a historical milestone in terms of democratic political participation and, consequently, we respond to the ethical and political duty of archiving it. We then show that the project for creating the Archivo del Paro #28A is inspired by other initiatives that have taken place in the international arena. Finally, we describe the process of creating the archive through the campaign “Hacer eterno lo efímero” [Making the ephemeral last forever], which framed the processes of gathering, classification, valuation, and dissemination of the collected documents as a strategy to achieve a broad diversity of voices.

La protesta social y la educación en derechos humanos: estudiantes en movimiento

This article is part of a research process focused on teaching social protest in high schools, addressing the protests that took place in Colombia between 2019 and 2021, from the perspective of human rights education (HRE). The paper underscores the importance of this education to enable diverse relationships within academia, demonstrating the challenges of positioning this education in school and university spaces, as well as the ongoing tensions between theory, practice, and political training in schools. With this understanding, the research seeks to answer, among other questions, what happened to schools during the protests and how social mobilization impacted educational communities. To provide an answer, we employed a qualitative research approach, which facilitated the gathering of empirical data describing common and problematic moments through a multiple case study conducted in schools in Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín. The analysis of outcomes highlights the need to recognize how the social protests in Colombia between 2019 and 2021, also known as social outbursts, were, or were not, integrated into school and university contexts. This need is linked to the importance of HRE, citizen training, and the commitment to social transformation, understanding the fundamental role played by the young people, and how they either brought the classrooms to the streets or vice versa, as students mobilized for the defense and promotion of human rights. This demonstrates the necessity of incorporating human rights into primary, secondary, and higher education.

A body, a collective mass, a clothesline. A textile analysis of a collage to understand the Estallido social in Colombia

ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore the insights that textiles offer into the Estallido social [social outburst] experienced in Colombia in 2021. Our examination centers around a collective creation – a collage that brings together embroidered photographs of the social protests, garments worn during the mobilizations, and interconnecting threads in various hues. Employing the collage as our starting point, our analysis takes on a collage-like nature, interpreting textiles and textile creation as companion materials. Throughout our argument, expressed through detailed descriptions and compositions of drawn and embroidered images, we contend that textiles, beyond serving as protest tools, also function as research instruments. They enable us to articulate how intimacy and care play pivotal roles in shaping the dynamics of social protests, especially materializing imperceptible yet noticeable bodies, creating sheltering collective masses and revealing personal vulnerabilities in public spaces.

Squeezed from the top: "Social Outburst" (2019) and elite overproduction. A study of the dynamics of Chilean political instability from the approach of Structural Demographic Theory.

On October 18, 2019, Chile experienced the most important social upheaval since the country regained democracy in the late 1980s. The "Social Outbreak" surprised economic and political elites and seemed paradoxical to the international community who had often praised Chile as a model of successful development. In this paper, we used structural-demographic theory to analyze the interaction between the overproduction of elites and the stagnation in the relative income of the population as the underlying structural cause of Chilean political instability. This theory was able to predict the three most significant instances of political tension in the recent history of Chile: the crisis of the late 1960s that culminated in the coup d'état of 1973, popular mobilizations during the 1980s, and the recent student mobilizations and social upheaval. Our results suggest that, at least during the period 1938-2019, Chilean sociopolitical dynamics is determined by the same structural drivers.

Традиция и прецедент в зеркале предвыборной кампании США 2024 г.

Another presidential election ended in the United States in November. 2024 has become one of the most politically turbulent periods in recent US history. In a time of 3.5 weeks, the country has witnessed: a split of the Democratic party, J. Biden’s refusal to participate in the elections only 3 months before the end of the race, an attempted murder of his opponent, first black woman nomination as a candidate for presidential race, her appointment bypassing primary elections i. e. the will of American electorate. In 2024, traditionalistic country, the United States, which is governed by 235‑year-old Constitution, “violated” so many of its own rules, and created such long-term legal precedents that testify not only to the crisis of the US electoral system, but to transformations in its political systemin general. Their consequences will have an impact on the domestic policy of the country but also might raise the question of the United States’ global leadership. Methodological basis of this article includes systemic, historical and comparative approaches. They allow reader to consider internal political processes in the United States as a result of interaction among state institutions and society, under the influence of external factors, at a certain historical period. Comparative analysis allows to evaluate the dynamics of changes among this system key elements: political parties, President, Congress, electorate, as well as to assess how, and in what period of American history, external factors such as electoral cycle, public opinion polls, social outbursts, state of economy, traditions etc. influenced this balance. The author evaluates long-term consequences of the precedent when Democratic party appointed its new favorite, bypassing the voters. Based on the historically identified features of the modern American electoral system, raises the question if the party’s role in the electoral process has changed, or it is just a vision of changes. Finally, the author identifies possible areas for US electoral system reform.

Protest and social conflict in Ayacucho as contentious politics. A preview to the social outburst of December of 2022

Contentious politics regards protests and social mobilization as democratic disputes over the public agenda. Three social protests occurring in the department of Ayacucho before the social outburst of December 7, 2022, are examined under this approach. The three contentious actions and the local reactions to the social outburst are reconstructed through newspaper review. This permitted to identify similar dynamics in the protests and state limitations to channel them into peaceful solutions. Although protests had different agendas, it was possible to identify the recurrence of the Ayacucho People’s Defense Front (FREDEPA). For this reason, the trajectory of this collective actor from its emergence to the present is explored. It is concluded that contentious politics have different results at local and national levels. Locally it amplifies the public agenda, while at the national level polarizes political actors.

Estallido social en Puno. Entre la crisis política y el reconocimiento etnocultural

The essay describes and reflects on the Peruvian social outburst (2003), having the Puno region as place of reference. An historical setting of the Peruvian Andes where the cultural cradles of the indigenous Quechua and Aymara peoples merge. During the 2021 presidential elections, the citizens of Puno supported the candidacy of Pedro Castillo, finding once again the opportunity of a national government that would recognize and value their cultural space, as well as execute changes aimed at offering opportunities for the wellbeing of Andean populations. The presidential ousting of Castillo and president Boluarte subsequent decision of not calling for new elections lead to an outburst. The demonstrations in the south of the country were violently repressed by security forces. Puno became the region with the highest number of victims of the repression. As shown throughout national history, rejection to the protests of Andean citizen manifests in discriminatory actions by the State and other sectors of society.

Critical multimodal analysis of texts designed to call for protest demonstrations through Instagram during the Chilean social outburst (2019-2020)

Critical multimodal analysis of texts designed to call for protest demonstrations through Instagram during the Chilean social outburst (2019-2020)

Teaching about colonialism, nationalism, and neoliberal patriarchy during the Chilean social outbreak

While Chile currently commemorates 50 years since the 1973 coup, it is also immersed in the process of writing a new Constitution to replace that of 1980, which is responsible for the all over present neoliberalism, including the education system. The constituent process is a direct consequence of the social outburst of 2019. In this context, this article informs Other Sociologies of Education by describing the experience of a course inspired by decolonial studies and offered at a community higher education initiative that emerged from a local government, aiming to democratize education. To reconstruct the course experience, we used documents, our own memories and some participants written thoughts, and we wrote this article following the methodology of narrative productions. The article suggests that there is great potential in transmitting decolonial studies – for their capacity to explain and transform ethnic-racial relations in Latin American societies – in community education.

The effects of emotions on the disposition to normative and non-normative political action in the context of the Chilean post-social outburst.

This article analyzes the role of Chileans' emotions as predictors of normative and non-normative political action in the context of the post-social outbreak and the constituent process. We carried out three descriptive studies: first, a study conducted 1 year after the social outburst (n = 607), a second one carried out before the constitutional referendum (n = 320), and a third study conducted after the constitutional referendum (n = 210). The results indicated that participants present a higher disposition to normative over non-normative political action, although both lose strength as the studies temporally move away from the social outburst. Also, our research established that emotions directed towards different events related to the Chilean political process play a conspicuous role in predicting the disposition to mobilize in a normative and non-normative way.

Un estallido animal: Animalización y antropomorfización en el conflicto político chileno

AbstractThis article analyzes the political utility and potency of animal symbolism in human self‐representations, relationships and hierarchies during the social outburst of October 2019 in Chile. Based on personal files and secondary sources, we argue that animalization and anthropomorphization were strategies used by both sides of the conflict to produce an imaginary of each other, as well as racial and class content of their antagonism.

Predictors of perceptions of human rights violations during the Chilean social outburst of 2019.

The 2019 social outburst in Chile marked a significant turning point for the nation's politics and society, with widespread reports of human rights violations committed by the armed forces and the Police during demonstrations and riots. Despite the attention given to these events, few studies have systematically analyzed perceptions of human rights violations in such contentious contexts. To investigate the factors influencing perceptions of human rights violations during the 2019 Chilean social outburst, we conducted ordered logistic regressions using data from a nationally representative survey fielded during the unrest. Our findings reveal that participation in demonstrations, use of social media for political information, fear of crime, and proximity to violent protests are correlated with the perception that security forces frequently violated human rights during the outburst. These results contribute to the understanding of public perceptions of human rights violations in the context of the 2019 Chilean social outburst and provide insights for future research on the role of individual and contextual factors in shaping these perceptions.

Contextual graffiti and collective action frames at the Chilean social outbreak in 2019

Abstract Protest graffiti as visual activism provides a democratic space for demonstrators to articulate their narratives. Nevertheless, the lack of leadership in the Chilean social outburst in 2019 becomes a challenge in outlining its impact. Thus, this article provides an empirical case of political graffiti and explains how graffiti had a constitutive role in the social movement and the immediate country’s political course after that. This paper proposes a transdisciplinary approach by combining the analysis of graffiti as contextual texts (Pennycook, 2007) with ‘collective action frames’ in studying political graffiti collected in a six-kilometre walk in Santiago, Chile. As a result, graffiti frameworks of injustice denounce the state and police violence; frameworks of agency tend to organise protesters’ ideas for change, such as a new constitution and the end of the current pension systems; and a strong sense of feminism conforms part of identity frames.

La política del síntoma. A propósito de la crisis del Octubre chileno

THE POLITICS OF SYMPTOM: ABOUT THE CHILEAN OCTOBER CRISIS The study tries to reconsider the social outburst that took place in Chile on October 18, 2019. This will be carried out based primarily on the notion of symptom in Freud and in light of two relevant counterpoints regarding this psychoanalytic category, we’re talking about the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Derrida.

Chile's social outburst: Major arguments and demands by athletes, coaches, and leaders of the Chilean Olympic Movement

This work has been carried out within the framework of the VIDCA -2020-01 Research Project of the Directorate of Research, Development and Artistic Creation of the Austral University of Chile, to which the FGI-17 Project of the Metropolitan University of Education Sciences is added.

Awaiting Revolution: Performing Chile’s Hierarchies in Ernesto Orellana’s Inútiles

In response to the 2019 social uprising in Chile that resulted in several casualties, trauma, and an eventual plebiscite where the nation decided to rewrite its constitution, scholars are tracing what led to this social outburst. This study examines Ernesto Orellana’s Inútiles (2016) to show how theater crystallized the desires and need for change prior to the estallido social of October 2019. In this sense, the play is a prelude to the uprising. As a cultural product, it dismantles the racial and gender hierarchies that have been sustaining the nation and materializes a discourse of emancipation embodied by Mapuche characters. By analyzing the hierarchies unveiled by the 2016 play along with images that emerged during and post-October 2019, this study makes the case for art as intuitive toward social change and that art can help to eradicate the oppressing powers of a nation.

WhatsApp, Polarization, and Non-Conventional Political Participation: Chile and Colombia Before the Social Outbursts of 2019

Chile and Colombia are two South American countries with political and economic similarities that, during 2019, faced strong social outbursts, which translated into massive street protests and the weakening of their governments. Using data collected in the period immediately prior to the start of this social unrest, this study seeks to establish the role played by strong-tied social media—which are generally homogeneous, formed by close people, and with a high potential for influencing their members—in three phenomena associated with political conflict: (a) perceived political polarization, (b) affective polarization, and (c) non-conventional political participation. To estimate this influence, information collected through surveys in Chile in 2017 and Colombia in 2018 was used within the framework of the Comparative National Elections project. In both countries, probabilistic samples were employed to do face-to-face interviews with samples of over 1,100 people. In both countries, the results show that the use of social media with strong ties, specifically WhatsApp, tends to be related to two of the studied phenomena: perceived political polarization and non-conventional participation. An interaction is also observed between WhatsApp use and political ideology that amplifies the degree of perceived political polarization, affective polarization, and participation in one or both of the countries studied. We conclude by arguing that this dual phenomenon of polarization and participation can be problematic for democracy, since polarized groups (or groups that have the perception that there is ideological polarization in the political elite) tend to consider the position of the rest of the citizens to be illegitimate, thus undermining collective problem-solving.

Political socialization and legitimation of radical actions in adolescents: evidence from Chile (Socialización política y legitimación de acciones radicales en adolescentes: evidencia desde Chile)

ABSTRACT Can exposure to mass events with the presence of radical actions influence the legitimation of this type of protest in adolescents? How are changes in legitimation levels conditioned by socioeconomic status or by political socialization at home and school? To answer these questions, we used a sample of 1,203 students in their second year of secondary school in Chile who were surveyed as part of the School Citizenship Panel (Panel de Ciudadanía Escolar, PACES). In the middle of fieldwork in this study, the event known as the estallido social (‘social outburst’) stood out for its mass and presence of violence. We compare the students surveyed before and after this event. Contrary to our expectations, the students had similar levels of legitimation of radical actions before and after the estallido. We also found a trend towards moderation in students with a higher socioeconomic status, who had more frequent political conversations with their parents, and in students from schools that conduct civic education activities. In short, experiences of family and school political socialization can help lower an adolescent’s support of radical actions in radicalized contexts.

Performing art as a new form of youth participation and engagement in politics: The case of Chileans’ social outburst

Protest activity has become a central element for political change in Chile. In 2019, during Chileans’ October social outburst, performing arts were in the centre of the street protests. This article explores the inspiration social movements have gained from artistic practices and the role the arts in general have had as a new form of youth participation and engagement in politics in Chile. Also, this article examines the relation between the lack of formal citizenship education in the Chilean curriculum after the return of democracy and the birth of these new forms of political participation and activism within the youth. Additionally, based on the Chilean case, the article argues the need for new conceptualizations of citizenship education beyond the traditional boundaries of education institutions.

El martirio como forma narrativa, signo, y mito en Cóndores no entierran todos los días y Estaba la pájara pinta sentada en el verde limón

The genesis of the fictions of Gustavo Álvarez and Albalucía Ángel is demarcated in ‘el 9 de abril’, name given to the social outburst that occurs in Colombia after the magnicide of the politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (1948). The notion of martyrdom is assimilated in the literary works as a sign and a myth to depict the disproportion of violence under the frame of the bipartisan conflict. In the fictions martyrdom is implemented as a narrative device and an artefact to revisit the past and reflect on the nation. By adopting postmodernist readings in fields such as ‘biopolitics’, cultural sociology, and concepts like ‘culture hybridity’ proposed by Homi Bhabha, we find that disfigurations of original Christian myths take place in the fictions with a subversive purpose. Although modern martyrdom is rooted in Christianity, the phenomenon erases the borders between politics and religion, given that its secularization is manifested through social movements and the cultural construction that rises around the martyr. Nowadays, ‘el 9 de abril’ not only commemorates the magnicide, but it has established itself as a National Civic Day to pay homage to all the victims of the armed conflict.