casas_social movements as sites of knowledge production.pdf

Social Movements as Sites of Knowledge Production:

Precarious Work, the Fate of Care and

Activist Research in a Globalizing Spain

María Isabel Casas-Cortés

A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in the Department

of Anthropology.

Chapel Hill

2009

Approved By:

Dr. Arturo Escobar (Advisor)

Dr. Lawerence Grossberg

Dr. Dorothy Holland

Dr. John Pickles

Dr. Charles Price

Creative Commons License- 2009

María Isabel Casas-Cortés

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To

view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/ or send a letter to

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ABSTRACT

MARIA ISABEL CASAS-CORTES: Social Movements as Sites of Knowledge Production:

Precarious Work, the Fate of Care and Activist Research in a Globalizing Spain

(Under the direction of Arturo Escobar)

This dissertation centers on the shifting cultures of labor within the European Union due

to economic flexibilization, new patterns of feminine work and transformations in immigration. I

analyze how civil society efforts are engaging these overlapping processes through the practice

of activist research . These grassroots projects design, conduct and distribute their own research,

influencing public debates and everyday understandings of labor. The study focuses on

contemporary european movements engaging transforming notions and practices of work:

mainly, the increasing “ precarization” of labor conditions and everyday life; and the effects

generating what these movements call a “ care crisis ” with reference to changes in social

reproduction. I focus on Spanish feminist organizations as exemplary of alternative development

models stemming from social movements.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

What this dissertation does not show is the indispensable web of caring practices behind

it. My main acknowledgement is to the steady and everyday support from family, friends, as well

as Tata (my toddler’s way to refer to God), who accompanied me during this doctoral journey. I

especially like to mention my parents, Flaviano Casas y Maribel Cortes, for their joy-filled

encouragement and understanding throughout the PhD program, despite being a high-demanding

project in terms of distance and time. My brother Antonio Casas and his pareja Teresa Benito for

their affinity and complicity. My in-laws, Juan and Maria Cobarrubias, full of personal

experience in the matter, have always provided indispensable advice and staunch support. Our

son Gabriel himself also deserves some thanks for all the playtime missed because mama was

“working with letters”. Furthermore, this text is the fruit of many unexpected encounters and

long term collaborations. As such, rather than a lonely endeavor, it feels more as a process of

writing with. Writing with many individuals, networks and groups -both within and outside the

university- that have been central through this six-year project. This holds especially true to the

intimate teamwork conducted with my life-long journey companion, Sebastian Cobarrubias,

conducting a PhD program in Geography at UNC-CH. Nonetheless, due to institutional

requirements this work appears as authored by a single person. The following is an attempt to

name, albeit partially, the many contributors to this PhD dissertation.

Firstly, I would like to thank and acknowledge Dr. Arturo Escobar as my advisor,

intellectual mentor and personal companion. Since I first contacted him in 2003 inspired by his

innovative anthropological work and political commitment, he has been a pillar throughout my

family’s years in North Carolina. His intellectual breadth and openness, his consistent advice to

improve my work, his support in navigating institutional labyrinths or financial duress have been

constants. I would be hard-pressed to even imagine a better mentor or supervisor. Also, I would

like to thank the other members of my doctoral committee: the cutting-edge anthropologists

Dorothy Holland and Charles Price; the leading Cultural Studies figure Lawrence Grossberg; and

finally, the prolific and generous geographer John Pickles. The four of them have been central in

guiding me through the politics of academia with a critical and open perspective, offering

personal, financial and political support throughout.

Secondly, this dissertation is the result of the intellectual growth gained in several

working groups. My advisor and committee members are active initiators and participants of a

series of inter-disciplinary working groups hosted through the University Program in Cultural

Studies during the years of my PhD program. Being able to fully participate in these dynamic

research groups -especially the Social Movements Working Group , the Cultures of the Economies

Working Group, and the Autonomous Politics Working Group -, have provided me a unique

intellectual background on politics, economics, and research methodologies. The Duke-UNC

collaborative working project on the Geo-Politics of Knowledge has also nurtured my intellectual

trajectory with questions of post/de-colonial studies. I hope that relevant university

administrators are aware of the importance of maintaining these spaces of multi-departmental

interdisciplinary work and debate, allowing renown professors from various fields to work in

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