The Culture of Democracy and Bolivia’s Indigenous Movements

Abstract

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.