This article describes the participation of Bolivia’s indigenous movements
in encompassing popular protest coalitions of the last five years. Pointing to the
importance of cultural heritage in current social movement efforts to revitalize
Bolivian democracy, this argument examines the importance of the ‘terms of
recognition’ in the negotiation of the very meaning of democratic
participation, between the traditional political class and popular protesters, but
also within protesting coalitions. As both indigenous and popular traditions of
struggle increasingly make common cause, Bolivia’s indigenous movements
are providing the cultural resources that frame the terms of popular protest. At the
same time, the terms of indigenous identity are also changing form, becoming more
available to growing urban-indigenous and non-indigenous popular social sectors now
willing to claim or reclaim an indigenous heritage. This article also explores key
transnational and national networks now involved in this transformation of the terms
of indigenous cultural heritage, making it the basis of an alternative democratic
public in Bolivia.
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