The metaphor of "movement" has been applied in limited measure to indigenous action in Australia, and more to recent events (∼1960s and afterwards) than to earlier ones. This review characterizes movement in social-semiotic terms that allow consideration of such a notion over a longer time span and range of social circumstances than is usual in Australianist literature. Examination of a limited number of relatively well-documented cases from differing times and places reveals differences in the grounds of action and kinds of objectification that movements appear to have involved and also a continuing shift toward shared indigenous-nonindigenous understandings and forms of activism in the face of persisting social differentiation. The arguably limited impact of indigenous movements needs to be considered in the light of systematic constraints on them.
Más que un indio (More Than an Indian): Racial Ambivalence and Neoliberal Multiculturalism in Guatemala. By Charles R. Hale. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press, 2006. Pp. xii + 292. $34.05 paper. The Stroessner Regime and Indigenous Resistance in Paraguay. By René D. Harder Horst. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007. Pp. xi + 224. $50.05 cloth. Who Defines Indigenous? Identities, Development, Intellectuals, and the State in Northern Mexico. By Carmen Martínez Novo. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006. Pp. ix + 187. $23.95 paper. Now We Are Citizens: Indigenous Politics in Postmulticultural Bolivia. By Nancy Grey Postero. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007. Pp. xvi + 294. $26.05 paper. The four books under review address several of the most compelling issues that have arisen following the democratic transitions of the 1980s and 1990s in Latin American countries with indigenous populations. The main concerns shared by the authors, all anthropologists, are indigenous mobilization, indigenous-state relations, and official multiculturalism. Reforms that sought to bring marginalized indigenous populations into the political process receive particular attention. The paradox of neoliberal multiculturalism, according to Charles R. Hale, "is that a progressive response to past societal ills has a menacing potential to perpetuate the problem in a new guise" (12). The reforms "intended to heal the rift between the state and the populace," writes Nancy Grey Postero (220), did not work as planned, and the books reviewed here seek to understand why. Although the authors address several other topics, I focus on how they deal with indigenous organizing, neoliberal ideologies and policies, democratization, and the role of structural racism. The differences among the books are substantial, as a result of different research sites and the various interests, methodologies, and research scope of the authors.
Over the last two decades, Ecuador has come to be considered one of the most unstable democracies in Latin America. The Ecuadorian state has seen over ten different heads of state in just the last decade. At the heart of this tumultuous era lies the highly organized Indigenous Movement. Led by arguably the most effective indigenous social organization in the western hemisphere, CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the movement has seen both a drastic rise in international visibility and, more recently, a spiraling decline of influence within national politics.This paper attempts to contextualize the Indigenous Movement within the broader socio-economic portrait of the Ecuadorian state. I argue that the movement and the indigenous idea of 'a plurinationalstate' represent a dramatic, even revolutionary, new democratic force in Ecuadorian history with the potential to bring sustainable prosperity to the Ecuadorian Republic.
Over the last two decades, Ecuador has come to be considered one of the most unstable democracies in Latin America. The Ecuadorian state has seen over ten different heads of state in just the last decade. At the heart of this tumultuous era lies the highly organized Indigenous Movement. Led by arguably the most effective indigenous social organization in the western hemisphere, CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the movement has seen both a drastic rise in international visibility and, more recently, a spiraling decline of influence within national politics.This paper attempts to contextualize the Indigenous Movement within the broader socio-economic portrait of the Ecuadorian state. I argue that the movement and the indigenous idea of 'a plurinationalstate' represent a dramatic, even revolutionary, new democratic force in Ecuadorian history with the potential to bring sustainable prosperity to the Ecuadorian Republic.
Over the last two decades, Ecuador has come to be considered one of the most unstable democracies in Latin America. The Ecuadorian state has seen over ten different heads of state in just the last decade. At the heart of this tumultuous era lies the highly organized Indigenous Movement. Led by arguably the most effective indigenous social organization in the western hemisphere, CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), the movement has seen both a drastic rise in international visibility and, more recently, a spiraling decline of influence within national politics.This paper attempts to contextualize the Indigenous Movement within the broader socio-economic portrait of the Ecuadorian state. I argue that the movement and the indigenous idea of 'a plurinationalstate' represent a dramatic, even revolutionary, new democratic force in Ecuadorian history with the potential to bring sustainable prosperity to the Ecuadorian Republic.
1. INTRODUCTION This essay examines the emergence of Colombia's indigenous people as a political force, focusing in particular on the unequal relationship between indigenous communities (pueblos) and the state, as well as the effects of the half-century of violence. I first provide some general information about the pueblos and a brief history of indigenous organizing. A summary of changes brought about by the Asamblea Nacional Constituyente (ANC), and the Constitución Política of 1991 follows. I then provide a short overview of the Constitution's successes and failures with respect to indigenous concerns, a brief comment on language loss, and, finally, Discussion and Conclusions.
The politicization of indigenous identities -- Uprisings -- The emergence of an electoral option -- The last coup of the twentieth century -- Indians in power -- A citizen's revolution -- Rewriting the Constitution-- again -- 2009 elections -- Social movements and electoral politics
