Yvon Grenier's Books

The Emergence of Insurgency in El Salvador

Ideology and Political Will

By: Yvon Grenier

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The Emergence of Insurgency in El Salvador

Ideology and Political Will

By: Yvon Grenier

Grenier offers a better understanding of the causes of revolution in El Salvador through an analysis of the central role of ideas and ideologues. The insurgency was not merely the charismatic embodiment of structurally determined processes, as it is commonly suggested, it was the expression of a distinct and forceful political will. The focus is placed on the period of emergence of insurgency (roughly, the 1970s and early 1980s), a period too often confounded (and not only in the Salvadoran case) with subsequent periods of the revolutionary cycle.

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Page Count

236

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

1349148334

ISBN 13

9781349148332

From Art to Politics

Octavio Paz and the Pursuit of Freedom

By: Yvon Grenier

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From Art to Politics

Octavio Paz and the Pursuit of Freedom

By: Yvon Grenier

This book offers an analysis of Paz's political thought, arguing that it is rooted in two separate and often antagonistic traditions, Liberalism and Romanticism. Grenier shows that Paz's political thought is best approached not so much by looking at the specific positions Paz took in the issues of his day, but rather by uncovering the core values at the heart of Paz's political philosophy. From Art to Politics gives not only a better understanding of Paz's thought, but also a discussion of the political culture and democratization of Mexico. The book takes a novel look at issues such as the relations between art and politics, the role of intellectuals, and the penchant of academics for "machination" theories in the area of art and culture. The result is an account of Paz's work that is both more focused and more ambitious than those offered in previous books on Paz's politics.

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Page Count

180

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0742511286

ISBN 13

9780742511286

Culture and the Cuban State

Participation, Recognition, and Dissonance under Communism

By: Yvon Grenier

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Culture and the Cuban State

Participation, Recognition, and Dissonance under Communism

By: Yvon Grenier

Culture and the Cuban State examines the politics of culture in communist Cuba. It focuses on cultural policy, censorship, and the political participation of artists, writers and academics such as Tania Bruguera, Jesús Díaz, Rafael Hernández, Kcho, Reynier Leyva Novo, Leonardo Padura, and José Toirac. The cultural field is important for the reproduction of the regime in place, given its pretense and ambition to be eternally “revolutionary” and to lead a genuine “cultural revolution”. Cultural actors must be mobilized and handled with care, given their presumed disposition to speak their mind and to cherish their autonomy. This book argues that cultural actors also seek recognition by the main (for a long time the only) sponsor and patron of the art in Cuba: the “curator state”. The “curator state” is also a “gatekeeper state,” arbitrarily and selectively opening and closing the space for public expression and for access to foreign currencies and the global market. The time when everything was either mandatory or forbidden is over in Cuba. The regime seems to have learned from egregious mistakes that led to a massive exodus of artists, writers and academics. In a country where things change so everything could stay the same, the controlled opening in the cultural field, playing on the actors' ambition and fear, illuminates a broader phenomenon: the evolving rules of the political game in the longest standing dictatorship of the hemisphere.

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