The Ambiguities of Indigenous Autonomy in Plurinational Bolivia

• In Event: Current Trends in Plurinational Bolivia

Abstract

Indigenous autonomy is a necessary element in transforming the structure of the Bolivian state in the direction of plurinationality by shifting power to local indigenous communities. However, indigenous autonomy can also operate to incorporate indigenous communities into the governing apparatus, thus making them more legible to the state and open to new forms of regulation, management, and control. Examining the state as a historically contingent social relation helps us make sense of the seemingly contradictory outcome where indigenous autonomy serves to actualize plurinationality while at the same time further incorporating indigenous communities into the regulatory rationalities of government.

Author

• Aaron Augsburger, University of South Florida