-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Eilin R Pérez, Jessica Stites Mor. South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left., The American Historical Review, Volume 129, Issue 3, September 2024, Pages 1313–1314, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhae264
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
In South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left, Jessica Stites Mor successfully poses solidarity as a critical analytical category in historical contexts. The historian achieves this feat while developing the central argument that the Latin American left deserves more attention when recounting histories of internationalism in the 20th century. Out of this argument arise several subarguments that highlight the experience of participating in transnational solidarity movements, with an extended focus on the long-term impact of cultural production across political and legal contexts. Drawing on such varied sources as magazines, legal documents, posters, and political platforms, the author convincingly develops these theoretical and historiographical interventions throughout the monograph.
Stites Mor is at her best when conceptualizing solidarity, taking a sociocultural approach to understanding the formation of political subjects. She initially defines solidarity as a blending of “the notion of collective responsibility with that of cooperation in pursuit of shared political goals” (3) but does not stop there. For the author, individuals are the key to envisioning solidarity beyond the consolidation of a vision by one group, since they “become a site through which an understanding of distant struggle is fashioned and exemplified, from which accurate translations of events and positions might be made” (4–5). In turn, cultural objects produced in solidarity influence the lives of producers while also shaping the lives of their audiences, serving as apt artifacts through which to chart historical change. The structure of the book elaborates on this framing of solidarity through four agents: the state, international institutions, political parties, and social networks.
