REWRITING AND RECONCEPTUALIZING
INDIGENOUS AUTONOMY UNDER
THE SHADOW OF THE NEO-COLONIAL
STATE IN LATIN AMERICA
Alejandra Gaitan Barrera
S2782154
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Gideon Baker
Associate Supervisor: Wesley Widmaier
School of Government and International Relations
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:
This thesis uncovers a theoretical gap in the realm of institutional engineering,
in particular, in regards to its current approaches to redefining the nation-state
to include and grant autonomy to indigenous peoples. By critically examining
current models stemming from liberal theory (i.e. multiculturalism and
consociational democracy) and exploring unheeded indigenous autonomist
demands in Latin America, this research hypothesizes what I call
Revindicative Autonomism.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Due to the interpretive character of this thesis, it relies on a hermeneutical
methodology to unravel and expose the diversity of autonomist
conceptualizations in the region. These methodological tools, which are
grounded on indigenous rhetorical and practical contrivances, include
declarations, manifestos, communiqués and official correspondence—gathered
during extensive fieldwork in Latin America. In addition, it draws on a series
of interviews, impromptu conversations and other data collected during
participant observation in the region.
“...THIS RESEARCH HYPOTHESIZES WHAT
I CALL REVINDICATIVE AUTONOMISM.”
RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS:
For the most part, current literature has neglected what I denominate
Revindicative Autonomism. This thesis hypothesizes that this third set of
indigenous movements (including those in Nicaragua, Bolivia and Chile) is
not typologized in the current autonomist spectrum. Indigenous movements
under Revindicative Autonomism challenge the subordinate relationship to
the nation-state, claim legal rights to the revindication of their territory and
demand the total restoration of their pre-colonial sovereignty. In this context,
this monograph has shed new light not on Charles Hale’s ‘Indio Permitido’ but
on Richard Falk’s utopian subject. This work has uncovered the politics and
internal dialectics of under-studied and under-theorized indigenous movements
whose revolutionary rhetorics demanded to be studied per se.
IMPACT:
This research contributes to addressing a previously unheeded theoretical gap
in two major realms: a) institutional engineering 2) Latin Americanist scholarly
canon. It has challenged the avant-garde approaches to indigenous autonomy
by questioning the premises of a liberal theory of minority rights. In addition,
it has addressed the epistemological marginalization of a typology that
would endow social scientists to rank and follow the trajectory of indigenous
autonomist demands.
Griffith Business School
griffith.edu.au/gbs