In Becoming a Plebeian Leader, José Antonio Villarreal Velįsquez examines situations where ordinary women and men become plebeian leaders in urban-popular neighborhoods.
Combining oral history, archival research, and ethnography, the book examines plebeian leaders moral careers through and within the meaningful and fluctuating connections among urban-popular neighborhoods in the city, and the nation-state from 1960 to the present time. Specifically, Villarreal Velįsquez reconstructs, compares, and explains the historical, sociological, and political formation of two plebeian leaders moral career paths in Guayaquil (Ecuador); the skills, feelings, and knowledge they acquired to perform their tasks and operate within societal hegemonic frameworks and large-scale structural transformations.
Becoming a Plebeian Leader will be of interest to researchers studying urban popular politics in the Global South.
Introduction. Part 1: Embodying Plebeian Leadership. Interpersonal
Ritual Acts, Ceremonial Behaviors, Guayaquils Land Seizures Processes, and
the Developmental State in Guasmo and Bastión Popular (1960-1985)
Chapter 1:
Remembering Plebeian Leadership as a Moral Career in Guasmo
Chapter 2:
Embodying Plebeian Leadership: Bettys First Steps in Nuevos Horizontes
Chapter 3: Remembering Plebeian Leadership as a Moral Career in Bastión
Popular
Chapter 4: Embodying Plebeian Leadership: Juans First Steps in
Bastion Popular Part 2: Being a Plebeian Leader. Theatrical Performances,
Crafting Sacred Goods, Guayaquils Urban Development, and The Neoliberal
State in Guasmo and Bastión Popular (1986-2005)
Chapter 5: Crafting Public or
Sacred Goods as a way of Building the Neighborhood, the City, and the State
from Scratch in Nuevos Horizontes (I)
Chapter 6: Crafting Public or Sacred
Goods as a way of Building the Neighborhood, the City, and the State from
Scratch in Nuevos Horizontes (II)
Chapter 7: Crafting Public or Sacred Goods
as a way of Building the Neighborhood, the City, and the State from Scratch
in Bastión Popular Part 3: Defending Plebeian Leadership. Defensive
Behaviors, the Citizen Revolution, and The Post-Neoliberal State in Guasmo
and Bastión Popular (2006 Onwards)
Chapter 8: Forging a Defensive Behavior
and the Twilight of Plebeian Leadership in Nuevos Horizontes
Chapter 9:
Forging a Defensive Behavior and the Twilight of Plebeian Leadership in
Bastión Popular. Conclusions
José Antonio Villarreal Velįsquez is an Associate Professor at FLACSO, Ecuador in the Departments of Sociology and Gender Studies. His research interests are related to the fields of urban history, political ethnography, collective action, and socio-political practices, among others.
