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Examines the role of women in communidades eclesiais de base (CEB [or Christian Base Communities]) in Santo Antonio, a poor parish on the periphery of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Personal stories of the women are related to shed light on their relationship to the popular church. Although CEB's encouraged female participation, & women were almost always the most enthusiastic assistants, the progressive church has not been particularly helpful to women. CEBs & liberation theology focus on transforming class consciousness but neither has addressed the patriarchal gender norms associated with Catholicism & the liberationist church remains embedded in a religious institution that discriminates against women. However, neither the CEBs, nor their female members, have expectations of changing cultural norms related to gender. They are far removed from the kind of widespread gender consciousness Western feminists identify with. Nonetheless, by giving women an opportunity to develop leadership skills & participate equally in some religious & political activities, the CEBs have enhanced women's visibility, as well as their role in bringing about social change. 28 References. J. Lindroth

Examines the role of women in communidades eclesiais de base (CEB [or Christian Base Communities]) in Santo Antonio, a poor parish on the periphery of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Personal stories of the women are related to shed light on their relationship to the popular church. Although CEB's encouraged female participation, & women were almost always the most enthusiastic assistants, the progressive church has not been particularly helpful to women. CEBs & liberation theology focus on transforming class consciousness but neither has addressed the patriarchal gender norms associated with Catholicism & the liberationist church remains embedded in a religious institution that discriminates against women. However, neither the CEBs, nor their female members, have expectations of changing cultural norms related to gender. They are far removed from the kind of widespread gender consciousness Western feminists identify with. Nonetheless, by giving women an opportunity to develop leadership skills & participate equally in some religious & political activities, the CEBs have enhanced women's visibility, as well as their role in bringing about social change. 28 References. J. Lindroth

A critique of Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International (1993) focuses on the relation between the progressive construction of deconstruction & the object it transforms, specifically the specters of capital. The ontological importance of Karl Marx's spectral reading of ideology as applied to capital/society is examined, maintaining that a specter is the "movement of an abstraction that is materialized & becomes powerful." To Marx, the phenomenology of capitalist production, via this spectral movement, demonstrates capital's metaphysics & the autonomy of its power. The contributions of deconstruction to an updated critique of capitalism are discussed, claiming that irreversible transformations of postmodern labor & relations in production affirm the inadequacy of Marxian critiques of value & create a new spectral reality in which no measure is perceptible. The specter of communism & Derrida's avoidance of the word "exploitation" are explored, suggesting that, although Marx's ontological description of exploitation is out of date, the mechanisms that produce it are even more powerful in the era of postindustrial capitalism. Suggestions are made for a radical new form of Marxism. J. Lindroth

Empire is a new form of sovereignty that has succeeded the nation-state. Empire today has monarchical & aristocratic components with some democratic representation. However, within Empire representation loses its meaning & conflicts with notions of popular sovereignty. Obstacles to democratic reform are discussed, with the conclusion that representative democracy is unrealizable. Counter-power in the form of resistance, insurrection, & constituent power that is unbounded & immeasurable may take the place of democracy. This would be the alternate democracy of the multitude in Empire. M. Pflum

Empire is a new form of sovereignty that has succeeded the nation-state. Empire today has monarchical & aristocratic components with some democratic representation. However, within Empire representation loses its meaning & conflicts with notions of popular sovereignty. Obstacles to democratic reform are discussed, with the conclusion that representative democracy is unrealizable. Counter-power in the form of resistance, insurrection, & constituent power that is unbounded & immeasurable may take the place of democracy. This would be the alternate democracy of the multitude in Empire. M. Pflum

"The frontier between the south of Spain and Portugal is established by the river Guadiana. Next to the sea, the cities of Ayamonte (Spain) and Vila Real de Santo António (Portugal) are facing each other on opposite banks of the river. The research on which this chapter is based focuses on these two cities. The authors study specifically personal and social relationships and processes of the identity building of experts on cross-border cooperation in the southern European cross-border area of Spain and Portugal. Are the experts who are frequently involved in cross-border experiences, as a result of their personal and professional lives, experiencing or having transnational lives and transnational flows? To answer this question the authors analysed the biographies of a wide range of people with different life experiences regarding cross-border cooperation in both countries. The interviews were open-ended and included a structured module for analysing the social networks of the respondents. The results suggest that there are no traces of a significant transnational character in the relationships established in this particular cross-border area." (author's abstract)

The examination of the relationship between public opinion, political socialization, & regime stability in post-1950 Venezuela addresses four puzzles to argue that the policies of political socialization received by President Chavez have consolidate the negative images that most Venezuelans held of Punto Fijo democracy. The highly centralized power of the Punto Fijo regime reserved the exercise of power for party executives, the president, high-level bureaucrats, & congressional leaders. After 16 years of frustrating delays in implementing reforms, the regime unraveled due to the effects of changes in oil policy implemented in 1973-74. Analysis of key forces shaping the oil industry through 2020 are related to political views that identify attitude at the overwhelming majority of the time had come to gambling on voting for the candidate most hostile to the existing state of affairs. The legacy of the Punto Fijo democracy was a political socialization process that helped to fix democracy is a basic orientation to the Venezuelan people. This legacy was reflected in the revocatory referendum to recall President Chavez as evidence that democratic norms continue to orient political behavior as Venezuelans seek to craft new political institutions & process. Tables, Figures. J. Harwell

Argues that antiracism movements in the African-Brazilian population must first acknowledge race as a factor in Brazilian culture. The notion that Brazil is an antiracist nation is contradicted by the racial usage of color & class. Although it is posited by some scholars that there is no clear classification of race in Brazil, it is argued that physical appearance -- ie, color -- serves as a surrogate for race. It is advocated that the antiracist movement illustrate the institutionalism of racism in the public, private, & educational sectors. 37 References. M. Greenberg