Political Theory in Latin America

Political thought, or political theory, is a
culturally situated practice. The word "theory,"
etymologically, takes us to the idea of "looking
at," or of "having a vision of," something. To
see, to have a vision, is to reach for the other
side of the visible-for "its" invisible. A theory,
the invisible of a visible, thus springs from
those events, processes, and experiences that, by
being theoretically interrogated as they appear,
become articulated experience. The political
theory coming out of Latin America therefore and
unavoidably springs from the region's multiple and
diverse shared experiences with political and
social life. During the semester, we will
close-read some of the most emblematic and revered
Latin American political theorists and their
political "visions": Brazilian philosopher
Marilena Chauí, Argentine political philosopher
and legal theorist Carlos Nino, Mexican social and
political thinker María Pía Lara, Colombian
philosopher Eduardo Mendieta, Brazilian public
intellectual and pragmatist Roberto Mangabeira
Unger, Argentine political and social theorist
Ernesto Laclau, and Ecuatorian sociologist and
political scientist Carlos de la Torre, among
others. The events and experiences from which
these theorists' work sprang are of course
multiple and complex. During the semester, we will
attempt an organization of this complexity by
focusing on four of the most globally influential
theoretically interrogated experiences in Latin
America-the figure of the politically engaged
intellectual, the human rights' violations and
their prosecution, the question of democracy and
its clash with the advent of neoliberalism, and
the Left turn and the emergence of the populist
dilemma.