Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin American Liberation

Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin American Liberation begins by examining the concept of utopia in Latin American thought, particularly its roots within indigenous emancipatory practice, and suggests that within this concept of utopia can be found a resonance with the dialectic of negativity that Hegel developed under the impact of the French Revolution, further developed by such thinker-activists as Marx, Lenin and Raya Dunayevskaya. From this theoretical-philosophical plane, the study moves to the liberation practices of social movements in recent Latin American history. Movements such as the Zapatistas in Mexico, Indigenous feminism throughout the Americas, and Indigenous struggles in Bolivia and Colombia, are among those taken up--most often in the words of the participants. The study concludes by discussing a dialectic of philosophy and organization in the context of Latin American liberation.

Eugene Gogol is a Marxist-Humanist activist and writer. Previous works on Latin America: Utopía y dialéctica en la liberación latinoamericana / Utopia and the Dialectic in Latin American Liberation (Juan Pablos Editor 2014), El concepto del otro en la liberación latinoamericana / The concept of the other in Latin American Liberation (Juan Pablos Editor 2004). Other work: Toward a Dialectic of Philosophy and Organization (Brill 2012).