Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution
The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Notice of Oral Defense of Doctoral Dissertation

Cheryl Lynn Duckworth

M.A., English Education, George Mason University
B.A., English, Mary Washington College

"Revitalizing Our Dances: Land and Dignity in Paraguay"

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Truland Building, Room 555
George Mason University, Arlington Campus

Abstract:

Throughout Paraguay, indigenous communities are facing increased and unnecessary hardship as their lands are sold to private agriculture business. They are often subject to arrest, intimidation and torture. As a result of losing their lands, they no longer have access to food security, potable water or shelter. Accordingly, they are increasingly organizing resistance to neoliberal policies, specifically land privatization. The stunning fall of Gen. Stroessner opened unprecedented social and political space for such mobilization. The new sociopolitical space enabled indigenous leaders to form critical (if complex) partnerships with NGOs, accessing social and financial resources. Movements nearly always coalesce around an organizing frame. The prominence of dignity in the framing of this movement is clear. This dissertation will offer my analysis of why that frame was the one to have occurred in this particular context, suggesting that it occurred rather than other possibilities because of the need for the resources of these NGOs, the political opportunity represented by Stroessner’s fall, and the dehumanizing conditions against which indigenous communities have struggled for centuries.

Dissertation Committee: