Rethinking Indigenous Autonomism in Latin America
Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Baker, Gideon
Other Supervisors
Widmaier, Des
Year published
2015
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This thesis contributes to a broader scholarly understanding of how indigenous movements in Latin America articulate autonomy. One of the central objectives of this research is to address a simple, yet often either assumed or unheeded, question: what does the indigenous subject want? What are the distinct meanings behind the political projects put forward by indigenous movements in the region? How do they envision their liberation from the current systems of oppression? And, most importantly, how do they define concepts such as “self-determination” and “autonomy”? These questions are central to understanding the nuanced ...
View more >This thesis contributes to a broader scholarly understanding of how indigenous movements in Latin America articulate autonomy. One of the central objectives of this research is to address a simple, yet often either assumed or unheeded, question: what does the indigenous subject want? What are the distinct meanings behind the political projects put forward by indigenous movements in the region? How do they envision their liberation from the current systems of oppression? And, most importantly, how do they define concepts such as “self-determination” and “autonomy”? These questions are central to understanding the nuanced transformative processes that indigenous peoples in Latin America have set into motion. In this sense, this thesis will demonstrate that far from homogenous, each movement, according to its own lived experiences of colonization and settlement, national building processes, local history, as well as cultural and political imaginaries and collective memories, conceives autonomy in a different way. Out of these distinct articulations of autonomy, this thesis argues there are two movements at the forefront of an unheeded and overlooked autonomist project: the Council of Miskitu Elders in Mosquitia (Nicaragua) and the Arauco-Malleco Coordinating Committee in Wallmapu (Chile).
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View more >This thesis contributes to a broader scholarly understanding of how indigenous movements in Latin America articulate autonomy. One of the central objectives of this research is to address a simple, yet often either assumed or unheeded, question: what does the indigenous subject want? What are the distinct meanings behind the political projects put forward by indigenous movements in the region? How do they envision their liberation from the current systems of oppression? And, most importantly, how do they define concepts such as “self-determination” and “autonomy”? These questions are central to understanding the nuanced transformative processes that indigenous peoples in Latin America have set into motion. In this sense, this thesis will demonstrate that far from homogenous, each movement, according to its own lived experiences of colonization and settlement, national building processes, local history, as well as cultural and political imaginaries and collective memories, conceives autonomy in a different way. Out of these distinct articulations of autonomy, this thesis argues there are two movements at the forefront of an unheeded and overlooked autonomist project: the Council of Miskitu Elders in Mosquitia (Nicaragua) and the Arauco-Malleco Coordinating Committee in Wallmapu (Chile).
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Thesis Type
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Griffith Business School
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Item Access Status
Public
Subject
Autonomy in Latin America
Indigenous movements, Latin America
Council of Miskitu Elders in Mosquitia (Nicaragua)
Arauco-Malleco Coordinating Committee in Wallmapu (Chile)