Joanna Swanger Books

Focusing on the lives of Cuban campesinos from 1934 to 1974, the book explores the contrasting experiences in the Oriente and Escambray regions, highlighting the significant influences of race, gender, and land tenure. Through a comparative analysis, it delves into the social dynamics and historical contexts that shaped the identities and struggles of these rural communities, offering a nuanced understanding of their development over four decades.

This book tackles the question of why the United States is so resistant to radical change towards economic justice and peace. Taking full stock of the despair that launched the popular support for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, Swanger historicizes the political paralysis of post-1974 United States that deepened already severe economic inequalities, asking how the terrain for social movements in the early twenty-first-century US differs from that of the 1960s. This terrain is marked by the entrenchment of neoliberalism, anti-intellectualism, and difficulties paradoxically posed by the ease of social media. Activists now must contend with a paralyzing “post-factual” moment. Alain Badiou’s thought informs this book on breaking through contemporary political paralysis.