Over the past decade, well-organized mobilizations have brought groups of Bolivian miners, urban workers, farmers, and especially indigenous peoples together in identification with and response to the rhetoric of indigenous self-recognition. These events culminated in the election of Evo Morales in 2005 as the country's first indigenous president. The contemporary resurgence of indigeneity has been perceived by many as either revolutionary or apocalyptic. My thesis examines why a country with an indigenous population of some 80%, has now decided to politically voice their indigeneity after years of silence. My paper begins with an analysis of the history of indigenous peoples in Latin America and shows that since colonization, Bolivia, like other countries in the region, has struggled with the question of how to "incorporate" indigeneity into the project of national identity formation. I argue that there is no one concept to identify clearly or unequivocally what being "indigenous" means. Indigeneity is therefore not something set; its meaning changes according to personal identification, the perceptions of others, and the social, cultural, political, and economic circumstances at hand. This conceptual problem makes it difficult to determine who is authentically indigenous, or what the demands of indigenous people really are. Within this complex scenario, Evo Morales has laid out a political strategy and agenda organized around the concepts of ethnicity and identity. To analyze Morales' platform and examine its relative success among indigenous Bolivians, I compare and contrast his work with that of another indigenous leader, Felipe Quispe. Quispe, who is a well-known figure across Bolivia, became involved with the indigenous cause in 1978, when he joined Indianist Movimiento Indio Tupak Katari. Quispe is not only an activist but also a prolific scholar who has written several works on issues related to indigenous oppression. Since beginning his career as an activist, Quispe has put forth a well-defined ideological project to form a separate indigenous nation and identity. However, the comparatively radical understanding of indigenous identity and the exclusiveness of his project (which only included self-identifying indigenous peoples and aimed to "indianize" non-Indians) limited his support among the general Bolivian electorate. In contrast, Morales' agenda as President of Bolivia has drawn on a diverse and pluri-cultural national identity in which "Indian element" can be incorporated and represented alongside whites, mestizos, blacks, and other historically marginalized groups. Morales' model breaks with previous understandings of Bolivian and indigenous identities as mutually exclusive and recognizes that these identities can be inclusive and in fact complementary. I argue that the project proposed and developed by Morales is compatible with the project of building a democratic society in Bolivia and consider the viability of that project in light of the many social, political, and economic challenges now being faced by his administration.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université Laval, 2008. / Bibliogr.: f. [126]-144. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

Orientador: Rachel Meneguello / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T14:04:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cilia_GustavoBianezzi_M.pdf: 2374178 bytes, checksum: 88e75cc9af1b35f6eca9afd21449551d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O partido boliviano Movimiento al Socialismo nasceu de uma federação de camponeses ligados ao plantio de coca no interior do país e mesmo com poucos recursos e experiência administrativa tornou-se o partido dominante do país a partir da eleição de Evo Morales em 2005. De forma particular à dinâmica política vivenciada neste período o partido manteve uma estrutura pouco institucionalizada e alto grau de variação em sua organização de acordo com arranjos locais. Utilizando-se da análise de instituições e da historiografia das demandas e grupos políticos este trabalho busca superar alguns obstáculos presentes na análise do MAS a partir de dois recortes distintos. Em primeiro lugar busca demonstrar como os cocaleiros encabeçaram uma rede de movimentos sociais insurgentes que, construída como alternativa política em um momento de crise no sistema partidário, impõese como um incipiente sistema político de representação popular em um país notadamente fragmentado neste sentido. Em segundo lugar busca encontrar as raízes deste sucesso nas tensões históricas que persistem como demandas populares desde a colonização espanhola, analisando a resignificação destas rupturas durante momentos de construção da identidade política nacional como a Revolução de 52 e a crise do neoliberalismo na virada do século XXI. Juntas, estas duas dinâmicas estruturantes (formação de rede de movimentos sociais e resignificação do discurso nacional-popular) sinalizam para a construção de um novo sistema político naquele país / Abstract: The Bolivian party 'Movimiento al Socialismo' [Movement towards Socialism] was born out of a federation of peasant coca growers in the rural area and even with few resources and no admnistrative experience has become the dominant party in that country with the election of Evo Morales in 2005. In a way characteristic of the political dynamics of the period the party has kept a poorly institutionalized structure and a high degree of variation in its organization according to local arrangements. Making use of institutional analysis and the historiography of demands and political groups this work seeks to adress some obstacles present in any analysis of the MAS with two different approaches. In the first place, it seeks to demonstrate how coca growers led an insurgent network of social movements that, built from the start as a political alternative in a moment of crisis in the party system, presents itself as a starting political system of popular representation in a country markedly fragmented on this subject. In the second place, it seeks to find the roots of this success on the historical tensions that persisted as popular demands since the Spanish colonization, being resignified in particular moments of construction of the national political identity such as the Revolution of 52 and the crisis of the neoliberal model at the end of the XX century. Together, these two structuring processes (both the network of social movements and the rebuilding of a national-popular discourse) signal the construction of a new political system in that country / Mestrado / Ciencia Politica / Mestre em Ciência Política

Bien qu'apparus à la même époque et dans des conditions similaires, le MAS et Pachakutik, deux nouveaux partis autochtones latino-américains, connaissent des évolutions différentes: le parcours du premier est marqué par un succès croissant, alors que le second, après une entrée fracassante sur la scène électorale, peine à maintenir ses résultats. Pour mieux comprendre cet écart, le présent travail utilise la théorie de la mobilisation des ressources et procède à une analyse comparée, inspirée de la méthode de différence de Mill et appuyée d'un process-tracing. Un examen de la performance électorale des deux organisations est d'abord réalisé, suivi d'une évaluation de l'efficacité de leur leadership et de la solidité de leur base organisationnelle. L'étude révèle que la qualité du leadership et de la base du MAS a contribué à son succès, alors que le déclin de Pachakutik au niveau national peut être lié à l'étiolement de ces ressources. / Although appearing at the same time and in similar conditions, the MAS and Pachakutik, two new indigenous parties in Latin America, have known a different development: while the course of the former is marked by growing success, the latter, after a staggering entrance on the electoral scene, has had difficulties to maintain its results. To understand this difference, this paper uses the resource mobilisation theory and carries out a compared analysis, inspired of Mill's method of difference and completed by a process-tracing. The electoral performance of both organisations is first examined. It is followed by an evaluation of their leadership's efficiency and their organisational base's strength. The study shows that the quality of the MAS's leadership and base has contributed to its success, while Pachakutik's decline at the national level can be linked to the deterioration of these resources.

In 2005 the largely indigenous country of Bolivia elected its first indigenous president, Evo Morales of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) Party. Morales ran on a promise of re-distributing wealth, to aid in the development of one of Latin America's poorest countries. Morales' first term in office marked a historical achievement for the indigenous movement in Bolivia, and sparked social change in the country. The government also experienced a momentous achievement through the re-writing of the Bolivian constitution, acknowledging the country's multi-ethnic and pluri-national character. Although his social, domestic and foreign policies have been controversial, particularly in the United States, Morales was re-elected to serve a second term in 2009. This research analyzes the outcomes of Morales' policy changes during his first term in office, from 2006-2009 to examine how the election of the MAS has impacted the marginalized status of indigenous people in Bolivia.