Taking the contested relationship between the popular sectors and the Venezuelan state as a point of departure, Iselin Åsedotter Strønen explores how notions such as class, race, state, bureaucracy, popular politics, capitalism, neoliberalism, consumption, oil wealth, and corruption gained salience in the Bolivarian process.
Iselin Åsedotter Strønen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Norway, and Affiliated Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway.
1. Introduction: Understanding Venezuela Before and Under Chávez.- 2. Barrio Lives and Histories.- 3. Contested Community Politics.- 4. The State as a Battlefield.- 5. Popularizing the State.- 6. Moralities, Money, and Extractive Capitalism.- 7. Collective Consumption and the Magical State.- 8. Corruption in the Petro-State.- 9. Conclusion: Understanding the Revolutionary Petro-State.