Grassroots Politics and Oil Culture in Venezuela

This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.
This book presents an ethnographic study of how grassroots activism in Venezuela during the Chávez presidency can be understood in relation to the country's history as a petro-state. Taking the contested relationship between the popular sectors and the Venezuelan state as a point of departure, Iselin Åsedotter Strønen explores how notions such as class, race, state, bureaucracy, popular politics, capitalism, neoliberalism, consumption, oil wealth, and corruption gained salience in the Bolivarian process. A central argument is that the Bolivarian process was an attempt to challenge the practices, ideas, and values inherited from Venezuela's historical development as an oil-producing state. Drawing on rich ethnographic material from Caracas' shantytowns, state institutions, as well as everyday life and public culture, Strønen explores the complexities and challenges in fostering deep social and political change.

Offers an overview of the main political and social processes taking place in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez Provides a critical reading of Venezuela's historical development as a petro-state Framed by over 10 years of original research

Autorentext
Iselin Åsedotter Strønen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway, and Affiliated Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway.

Klappentext
This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.
This book presents an ethnographic study of how grassroots activism in Venezuela during the Chávez presidency can be understood in relation to the country's history as a petro-state. Taking the contested relationship between the popular sectors and the Venezuelan state as a point of departure, Iselin Åsedotter Strønen explores how notions such as class, race, state, bureaucracy, popular politics, capitalism, neoliberalism, consumption, oil wealth, and corruption gained salience in the Bolivarian process. A central argument is that the Bolivarian process was an attempt to challenge the practices, ideas, and values inherited from Venezuela's historical development as an oil-producing state. Drawing on rich ethnographic material from Caracas' shantytowns, state institutions, as well as everyday life and public culture, Strønen explores the complexities and challenges in fostering deep social and political change.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Understanding Venezuela Before and Under Chávez.- 2. Barrio Lives and Histories.- 3. Contested Community Politics.- 4. The State as a Battlefield.- 5. Popularizing the State.- 6. Moralities, Money, and Extractive Capitalism.- 7. Collective Consumption and the Magical State.- 8. Corruption in the Petro-State.- 9. Conclusion: Understanding the Revolutionary Petro-State.