On Political Imperfection
The Duty of Feminist Characters in Zapatista Fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18928637 |
|---|---|
| Authors | André De Oliveira Nascimento (0000-0001-9092-6357, Cornell University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 776-799 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Latin American Research Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0023-8791 • E-ISSN: 1542-4278 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/lar.2025.12 |
| OpenAlex | W4409684967 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 16 |
The relationship between Zapatismo and women’s liberation has sparked heated debates between academics and activists alike. Although the Zapatistas’ official communiqués have promoted gender parity, criticism has been aimed at Zapatista fiction for accentuating gender stereotypes and for contradictions regarding women’s rights. This article discusses the children’s books Habrá una vez (2016) and Hablar colores (2018), encountered during archival and ethnographic research in Zapatista territory, and examines how “Zapafiction” embraces contradiction as constructive revolutionary politics. The children’s books analyzed here depict ecofeminist characters, including Defensa Zapatista (an approximately eight-year-old schoolgirl), Gato-Perro (a cat-dog symbolizing nonbinary identities), a disabled horse, and Loa Otroa (embodying queer identities). Instead of solving contradictions, I argue that these characters reject the romanticization of progressive political movements while viewing Zapatismo as the venue for advancing dignity as a way of life ( jch’uleltik ). Through the concept of imperfect politics, Zapafiction leverages the principle of caminando y preguntando , “walking, we ask questions,” to reimagine the governing structures of the organization through fiction, moving beyond theoretical doctrines on how politics should be
Duty · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anarchism and Radical Politics · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Latin American Literature Studies · Law
Toward enacting a Zapatista feminist agenda somewhere in la Selva Lacondona
The Black Jacobins
Marx and Freud in Latin America
Contemporary Theatre in Mayan Mexico
El muralismo zapatista
Narrativa de la rebelión zapatista
Zapatismo And The Emergence Of Indigenous Feminism
Reflexiones sobre las luchas de las zapatistas ¿feministas
Consuming Interests
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |