Indigenous Peoples and Movements in Latin America

3 units

This course focuses on the contemporary lives and political struggles of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America, with specific focus on Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Through course lectures, ethnographic texts, and four in-depth case studies, we explore how the politics of Indigeneity articulate with political and economic processes including (neo)colonialism, global capitalism, state transformation and social movement struggle. Themes include: demands for territory and autonomy; environmentalism and natural resource exploitation; gender and economic inequality; race, racism and political violence; language and education; and the complexities of building multicultural or plurinational democracies.