Page 96 - Cultural Studies Volume 11

90 CULTURAL STUDIES

of Colosio, Mexico’s first ever televised debate, and so on—how do you see this
intersection being negotiated?
NGC: Well, it appears that the crisis that the Mexican political system has
endured during the last year, year-and-a-half, is evidence of the conflicts and the
unresolved coexistence of different traditions and modernities that exist in
Mexico; huge inequalities—regional, ethnic, socioeconomic—which are linked
to the government’s/PRI’s inability to integrate segments of the Mexican
population and to promote an even and accessible modernization. While problems
of inequalities and disparities have been resolved for some segments, most
problems of access continue to go unresolved. Clearly Mexico isn’t Yugoslavia,
but here questions concerning multi-ethnicity, for instance, remain more
unresolved than in other countries.
PDM: Speaking of inequalities, how have women’s issues been addressed, or
more specifically, has a feminist perspective emerged as part of Latin American
cultural studies?
NGC: There is very little participation from feminist writers of women’s
studies in cultural studies, or for that matter any real kind of reciprocity.
Nevertheless, there are some important groups in Latin America that have
focused specifically on women’s issues. There are, however, some important
differences from the feminist work of the United States. In the United States it
appears to me that feminist studies are closely involved in political struggles for
the rights of women, or for questions of gender, empowerment, etc. In Latin
America there are important works concerning the condition of women, but these
have been articulated in reference to broader issues (for example, class,
ethnicity, etc.). A case in point is Rosa María Alfaro in Peru, who works directly
with women and whose central concerns are women’s issues, but her studies are
developed in reference to communication studies.
PDM: So you wouldn’t necessarily define her work as feminist?
NGC: No. And in fact I feel that that is usually the case. That is, there is more
work that would fall under the category of women’s studies than feminism. But
this shouldn’t be surprising because plainly the social sciences in Latin America
are biased towards masculine perspectives, which is what frames much of the work
produced. This is not only because there are many more men working and
writing, but also because many of the women working in the social sciences
overlook the specificity of women’s issues. But this doesn’t mean that there are
not fine studies dedicated to women’s issues. In fact there are quite a few books
and many articles that expand on women’s issues in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Chile,
Argentina and other countries. In addition, there have been feminist
contributions to our cultural studies, such as the case of Nelly Richard, but such
work has not necessarily found its own place in the current development of Latin
American cultural studies. I think that this is one of the investigative concerns of
English language cultural work that should be taken more into account by the
social sciences and humanities in Latin American.