AHA Session 213
Conference on Latin American History 43
Sunday, January 5, 2025: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Morgan Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)
Chair:
Javier Puente, Smith College
Session Abstract
This panel traces various processes by which state and civilian actors in twentieth-century Latin America struggled to assert the legitimacy of their respective political projects. The papers analyze diverse forms of contestation over il/legitimacy in Mexico, Guatemala, and Brazil, in both urban and rural settings. They consider a wide cast of characters operating at national and local levels, ranging from elite politicians to Indigenous broadcasters to private citizens, all of whom sought to negotiate their credibility during tense moments of political transformation. To that end, the broadly-construed theme of “information”—especially how information was portrayed and conveyed—is central to the three papers. They trace how perceptions of mis/information were constructed and circulated in public discourse, national debates, and mainstream and alternative media.
Clashes over authority, credibility, and the validity of information were significant not only because of their immediate outcomes, but also because of how they variously created and restricted opportunities for political resistance and change. In other words, struggles over legitimacy had high stakes as diverse constituencies fought to have a voice in society and politics. The resulting controversies destroyed political careers, threatened the work and lives of journalists, and laid bare the limits of democracy. Ultimately, these papers explore how questions about citizens’ rights and states’ responsibilities to the public were at the core of partisan struggles for power. This panel hopes to encourage more dedicated study of fraught disputes over legitimacy, their historical significance, and their reverberations in contemporary Latin American politics.
