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Venezuelan Politics and Middle-Class Life in Times of Chavismo

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Venezuelan Politics and Middle-Class Life in Times of Chavismo Master’s Thesis in Cultural and Social Anthropology “It is the looking-glass world!” / “¡Es el mundo al revés!” Venezuelan politics and middle-class life in times of chavismo (by Ralph Steadman from a 1972 edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland) Supervisor: Dr. A.T. Strating Student: Mariana Abi-Saab Arrieche Second readers: Student number: 10839658 Dr. B. Kalir [email protected] Dr. E.G. Gomez Llata Cazares Amsterdam, 11th of December 2015 A Venezuela y su gente, en compensación por los años de ausencia. ABSTRACT Venezuela is broadly described by academics and non-academics as a polarized society. It would be out of the conceived reality of the country to talk about the current Venezuelan socio-political context and not recognize a division between those who are against the government (the opposition) and those who are in favor (the Chavistas). The present research aims to study the way politics and political identities are experienced and negotiated in the everyday life of middle- class Venezuelans. Moreover, it explores what this can tell us about the Venezuelans identified as Opositores. During almost four months of ethnographic field research in Venezuela, I observed and inquired into close relationships and family life with specific attention on those relationships composed by people with different political identities. This meant placing everyday experiences of what it implies to be a Chavista and an Opositor, in present day Venezuela, under a magnifying glass. This process enabled the study of a double movement: one related to the ways politics is present, and influent, within the private spaces of Venezuelans’ cotidiano, and another that pertains to how people negotiate the presence of politics in micro and private domains. Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital has been key to show how economic assets, race, the level of education, and other characteristics add value to a person’s, or group’s, ‘social capital’. By looking at Venezuelan middle-class’ specific understandings of status and class, it was possible to identify that the process of political identification in Venezuela is one in which people not only differentiate themselves from the others’ political choices, but also from their cultural capital. Studying Venezuela’s context has been a strategic way of shedding light on the way people make sense of their world, build chains of arguments, create discourses, deal with taken-for-granted understandings that do not fit with reality, and embrace positions and identities. Finally, this analysis adds to studies that focus on people faced with the dilemmas of crossing the divide between two different, even opposite, worlds. Keywords: Venezuela, chavismo, middle-class, politics, family life. PREFACE I’m convinced I had no agency in choosing my research topic. Venezuela and its socio-political reality chose me many years ago. Venezuela had always caused me sleepless nights. For many years, it has hurt, but also empowered me. I was born in Venezuela and lived there until I was almost 18 years old. The years of my adolescence corresponded to the first six years of Chávez’s government. During this period I engaged in political activism against the government, participating in various protests led by the student movements. In 2005, I moved with my nuclear family to Brazil. During the years of my BA studies, my academic life was also focused on the Venezuelan socio-political situation. After so many years of collecting and reflecting on data while looking for answers, I continued to defend the same arguments and critiques without finding any new response. I have felt throughout this passed years mixed feelings including frustrations, powerlessness and mostly a lack of understanding of what has happened in the country. I constantly wondered how we got to where we are and, more specifically, why chavismo (still) exists and is (still) in power. It took me several years to understand I needed to come back to Venezuela and listen to “the other side”. I needed to approach those who support the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. When I started to design my research project, it did not take me too long to realize how challenging it would be. For more than 16 years, which represents almost all of my conscious political life, I had criticized the Chavista government in Venezuela. All my references about the country and its political situation had been constructed under the lenses of those who were extremely disappointed by the rise of chavismo. But, I also had two things in my favor: first, I had an interesting position of an outsider and an insider, having lived many years abroad; second, I had learned a new set of tools and anthropological methods that could assist me in the process of giving faces, expressions, names and stories to that which was incomprehensible. The journey I was undertaking, ultimately, was one of ‘making the strange familiar’. Knowing the Venezuelan ‘temperament’, I foresee that many of my informants might feel uncomfortable with the analyses I will present. However, I deeply hope they can understand that this study is not a matter of personal criticism, but an exercise of trying to raise the right questions. In any case, I would like to make explicit in advance, that my intentions have never been to cause any harm or personal judgement. I would not be overstating this if I said that undertaking this field research was an opportunity in a lifetime to go back to my country and make peace with it. It gave me the great opportunity, after ten years, to be with my family again, celebrate my siblings’ birthday, participating in the spontaneous Sunday meetings at my grandmother’s and sharing our lives once again. Additionally, I was enabled to perceive again Venezuela’s beauty, to recognize and enjoy the richness of its people and to feel proud of where I come from. That is why this research certainly talks about and reveals me in many different ways. Venezuela used to make me have sleepless nights. Now it makes me dream. AKNOWLEDGMENTS I am profoundly grateful to each one of the Venezuelans who gave me the possibility to know and reach his/her stories, opinions, positions, feelings, intimacies, struggles, experiences and reflections. Thank you for your time and trust and for making this research much easier with your spontaneity and openness. In the case this study has a value, it is a direct result of your participants on it. All shortcomings are obviously my fault alone. To my beautiful country, for receiving me with wide open arms through the strong rain, the majestic of the Ávila and its, the clear light, and the sublime sunsets. To the Venezuelans, for making me learn what viscerality is, for your contagious passion and for having given me countless examples of empathy, an essential asset for this research and for anthropological endeavours in general. To Prof. Strating, Alex, for welcoming with enthusiasm and wise criticism my ideas and for raising always the right questions. This journey was much more pleasant thanks to all your motivation, sensitivity and stimulating words. To the University of Amsterdam for making possible this academic and personal adventure of one year and a half in Amsterdam. I have a tremendous personal debt with the people who gave me the good fortune of having close during all this process that started many months before coming to Amsterdam, and also includes my fieldwork period. To each one of you, who helped me in Brazil, Venezuela and from elsewhere; and you who unexpectedly transformed Amsterdam in a more welcoming and warm place to be and to learn, I am extremely thankful: Mari, Gabi, Tayná, Dani, Andrés, Yonca, Natalie, Marina, Thalita, Diego, Michelita, Joam, Juanfri, Alejandro, Pichu, Ferni, Mauri, Caro, Neni, Werner, Yuli, Stephy, Mina, Carmen, Traci, Lucrezio, Cristine, Saima, Fabienne. My especial gratitude to Lu for being my cómplice and my shoulder and for fulfilling my soul of peace. To all my family in Venezuela, los Abi-Saab and los Arrieche, for making me feel at home. Profound thanks to my grandmother, Rosa, a woman with a contagious brightness. Abuelita, this work is dedicated also to you for being my best partner in the field. I feel blessed for having had the opportunity to share these months with you and being part of your daily adventures. Finally, to my parents, Salim and Milagros, my brother, Javier, and my sister, Rosana, because with each one of you I have lived and understood what the amor infinito is. I will never be able to thank you enough for believing in me, for all the love I have received and for the sound support you represent in my life. ¡Los amo! Content 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Situating the Research: the what and whys .................................................................................. 1 1.2 On Operationalization & Methods ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Theoretical Approach ...................................................................................................................... 9 2 POLITICAL DISCOURSES AND IDENTITIES IN TIMES OF CHAVISMO ..... 14 2.1 A Brief Context of a ‘Divided Country’ ...................................................................................... 15 2.2 Everyday Life in Current Times of Chavismo ........................................................................... 19 2.3 Making Sense and
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