Meaningful Resistance

Erica S. Simmons is a Lyons Family Faculty Scholar and Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her dissertation, on which the book is based, was awarded the Latin American Studies Association's 2013 Oxfam America Martin Diskin Dissertation Award. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Commission and the Mellon Foundation, among others.

• 1. Introduction; 2. Water in Cochabamba; 3. ¡El agua es nuestra, carajo! The origins of the Bolivian Water Wars; 4. Corn in Mexico; 5. Sin maíz no hay país: the Mexican tortillazo protests; 6. Conclusions.

'Too often, in the study of contention, the material and the cultural have been seen as incompatible forms of explanation. In this empirically rich, theoretically important book, Simmons shows how the material and ideational were fused to catalyze popular protests over water in Cochabamba and rising corn prices in Mexico. In doing so, she has made it much harder for scholars of contention to ignore the causal force of grievances or to depict material threats in strictly economic terms.' Douglas McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, Stanford University, California