Kaplan, Temma. Taking back the streets: women, youth, and direct democracy.
California , 2004. 275p index afp ISBN 0-520-23649-1 pbk, $21.95 . Reviewed
in 2004jul CHOICE.
Kaplan (Rutgers Univ.) relates the struggles of women and young people against
authoritarianism and for democracy in Chile, Argentina, and Spain. Focusing
on shaming rituals and attempting to reverse a trend to divide gender and political
studies, Kaplan analyzes how activists promote participatory democracy and
social justice through direct action. She triumphs the ability of ordinary
citizens to consolidate their efforts into social movements as a "fifth
estate" with dramatic impacts in the political sphere. In particular,
women use protected gendered spaces in a machista culture to engage in shaming
rituals to denounce government abuses. The juxtaposition of four case studies
from the 1970s and 1980s is compelling but potentially confusing to readers
without a background in this history. Women's resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship
in Chile and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo denouncements of the military
regime in Argentina make for logical comparisons, but chapters on conservative
opposition to the leftist Allende government in Chile, contemporary youth protests,
and a concluding chapter on Spain fit less tightly in this work. Summing
Up:
Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -- M. Becker, Truman
State University