When: Tuesday, 11 June 2024, 18:30
Where: Hybrid lecture at University of Vienna, NIG, Hörsaal II (ground floor), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna and online via Zoom (Meeting-ID: 689 0093 9984; Code: 818028)
Speaker: Maristella Svampa (Conicet - Consejo de Investigaciones cientificas y tecnicas; CeDInCI - Centro de Documentación e Investigación de la Cultura de Izquierda, associated to the UNSAM)
Facilitation: Ulrich Brand (Research Network Latin America, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna)
Comment: Tobias Boos (Research Network Latin America, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna)
Cooperation: Forschungsverbund Lateinamerika & Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut (LAI)
Abstract
How was it possible for a representative of anarcho-capitalism to win the presidential elections in Argentina? The question is not merely rhetorical and deserves to be answered on several levels of analysis: from below, from above, on a Latin American and global scale. Firstly, I will focus on what Milei's triumph means in terms of transformations in popular subjectivity, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in popular sectors (the precariat and young men). Secondly, we will analyze the transformations that made Milei's triumph possible from above, regarding the crisis of traditional political representation in the context of a strong polarisation (Kirchnerism/anti-Kirchnerism) and the right-wing political offer. Along these lines, it is important to point out what Milei's political project is, especially about the destruction of the state (autocracy, politics of cruelty, extreme neoliberalism, or crack-up capitalism). Finally, I am interested in understanding Milei's place in the context of the expansion of the extreme right in Latin America and globally.
About
Maristella Svampa, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina
Researcher, Activist, and Writer. She studied Philosophy at the National University of Córdoba (University Award), did specializations in History and Philosophy in France, and a PhD in Sociology at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris. She is a Senior Researcher at Conicet, based at the Center for Documentation and Research on Left Culture (CeDinCi), National University of San Martin. She received several awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2007), the Platinum Konex Award in Sociology (2016) and the National Sociological Essay Award for her book „Latin American Debates. Indianism, Development, Dependence and Populism“ (2018), the Simon Bolivar Chair of the University of Cambridge (2022) and the Forster Prize of the Humboldt Foundation (2023).
Her research addresses the socio-ecological crisis, social movements, and collective action, as well as issues related to critical thinking and Latin American social theory. She has published some twenty books, including essays, research, and novels. Her latest books are El colapso ecológico ya llegó. Una brújula para salir del (mal)desarrollo (with Enrique Viale, 2020) and La Transición energética en Argentina (2022, co-editor). She is a promoter of the Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact of the South, in Latin America. Her current field of research is the study of ecosocial transitions, with special emphasis on the energy transition. https://maristellasvampa.net/
More information
Hybrid link
Zoom (Meeting-ID: 689 0093 9984; Code: 818028)
