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Fields of Fire

Emancipation and Resistance in Colombia

Louis Edgar Esparza

Fields of Fire: Emancipation and Resistance in Colombia identifies the concept of the emancipatory network as a coordination of loose, discrete, and differentiated actors to explain how activists successfully practice high-risk activism. Illustrating that previous studies on high-risk activism come to contradictory conclusions, Louis Edgar Esparza argues that networks rather than individual characteristics are associated with mobilization. The book features unique ethnographic material of a Colombian sugarcane worker strike and includes interviews with workers and human rights activists in Valle del Cauca and Bogotá that reveal different forms of knowledge that activists bring to a social movement. It argues that the combination of these different forms of knowledge bolsters the movement’s resiliency in the face of repression. The book provides a counterfactual chapter, illustrating a lack of mobilization where the emancipatory network is absent. Ultimately, it integrates English and Spanish-language social movement literatures, revealing important theoretical insights, and is detailed with data from various sources to outline the state context of social movement action.

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Lexington Books
Pages: 208 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-66692-702-3 • Hardback • October 2023 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
978-1-66692-704-7 • Paperback • June 2024 • $39.99 • (£30.00)
978-1-66692-703-0 • eBook • October 2023 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
Subjects: Social Science / Activism & Social Justice, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Caribbean & Latin American Studies, Social Science / World / Latin America, Social Science / Social Movements, Social Science / Political Sociology

Louis Edgar Esparza is professor of sociology at California State University-Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Risk

Chapter 2 Emancipatory Networks

Chapter 3 Humiliation

Chapter 4 Leadership

Chapter 5 Bogotá

Chapter 6 Conclusion

Appendix A

References

About the author

This is a brilliant and entertaining study of rural Colombia, showing how invisible social networks actually work to spark political action, often suddenly and surprisingly. It combines poetic ethnographic observation with high-level theories of political action.


— James M. Jasper, author of The Art of Moral Protest


Situated at the crossroad of social movement scholarship and Latin American Studies, a peak moment of political contention in Colombia's recent history is told with the accuracy of a social scientist, the vivid descriptions of an intrepid ethnographer and the empathy of a native son.


— Gilda Zwerman, SUNY-Old Westbury


Esparza's lively comparative study of Colombian social movements will fascinate readers interested in the possibilities for and efficacy of collective action in repressive political contexts. Among other findings, Esparza demonstrates how feelings of humiliation can produce rebellion as much as quiescence.


— Jeff Goodwin, New York University


Fields of Fire

Emancipation and Resistance in Colombia

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • Fields of Fire: Emancipation and Resistance in Colombia identifies the concept of the emancipatory network as a coordination of loose, discrete, and differentiated actors to explain how activists successfully practice high-risk activism. Illustrating that previous studies on high-risk activism come to contradictory conclusions, Louis Edgar Esparza argues that networks rather than individual characteristics are associated with mobilization. The book features unique ethnographic material of a Colombian sugarcane worker strike and includes interviews with workers and human rights activists in Valle del Cauca and Bogotá that reveal different forms of knowledge that activists bring to a social movement. It argues that the combination of these different forms of knowledge bolsters the movement’s resiliency in the face of repression. The book provides a counterfactual chapter, illustrating a lack of mobilization where the emancipatory network is absent. Ultimately, it integrates English and Spanish-language social movement literatures, revealing important theoretical insights, and is detailed with data from various sources to outline the state context of social movement action.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 208 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½
    978-1-66692-702-3 • Hardback • October 2023 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
    978-1-66692-704-7 • Paperback • June 2024 • $39.99 • (£30.00)
    978-1-66692-703-0 • eBook • October 2023 • $38.00 • (£30.00)
    Subjects: Social Science / Activism & Social Justice, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Caribbean & Latin American Studies, Social Science / World / Latin America, Social Science / Social Movements, Social Science / Political Sociology
Author
Author
  • Louis Edgar Esparza is professor of sociology at California State University-Los Angeles.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents

    List of Figures

    Acknowledgements

    Introduction

    Chapter 1 Risk

    Chapter 2 Emancipatory Networks

    Chapter 3 Humiliation

    Chapter 4 Leadership

    Chapter 5 Bogotá

    Chapter 6 Conclusion

    Appendix A

    References

    About the author

Reviews
Reviews
  • This is a brilliant and entertaining study of rural Colombia, showing how invisible social networks actually work to spark political action, often suddenly and surprisingly. It combines poetic ethnographic observation with high-level theories of political action.


    — James M. Jasper, author of The Art of Moral Protest


    Situated at the crossroad of social movement scholarship and Latin American Studies, a peak moment of political contention in Colombia's recent history is told with the accuracy of a social scientist, the vivid descriptions of an intrepid ethnographer and the empathy of a native son.


    — Gilda Zwerman, SUNY-Old Westbury


    Esparza's lively comparative study of Colombian social movements will fascinate readers interested in the possibilities for and efficacy of collective action in repressive political contexts. Among other findings, Esparza demonstrates how feelings of humiliation can produce rebellion as much as quiescence.


    — Jeff Goodwin, New York University


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