Contesting Citizenship in Latin America

Abstract

Indigenous people in Latin America have mobilized in unprecedented ways - demanding recognition, equal protection, and subnational autonomy. These are remarkable developments in a region where ethnic cleavages were once universally described as weak. Recently, however, indigenous activists and elected officials have increasingly shaped national political deliberations. Deborah Yashar explains the contemporary and uneven emergence of Latin American indigenous movements - addressing both why indigenous identities have become politically salient in the contemporary period and why they have translated into significant political organizations in some places and not others. She argues that ethnic politics can best be explained through a comparative historical approach that analyzes three factors: changing citizenship regimes, social networks, and political associational space. Her argument provides insight into the fragility and unevenness of Latin America's third wave democracies and has broader implications for the ways in which we theorize the relationship between citizenship, states, identity, and social action.

A Conceptual Shift in Studies of Belonging and the Politics of Belonging

“…Belonging has often been used interchangeably with the term identity (Antonsich, 2010;Pfaff-Czarnecka, 2011), and has been used as a synonym of, or in association with, citizenship, which is agreed to be an entitlement describing a contractual relationship between a person and the state (Antonsich, 2010, Yuval-Davis, 2011. Belonging has recently been conceptualized in studies of migration, in sociology, and in anthropology (Anthias, 2006(Anthias, , 2009Bogner & Rosenthal, 2009;Christensen, 2009;Pfaff-Czarnecka, 2011;Savage, Bagnall, & Longhurst, 2005;Social Issues Research Centre [SIRC], 2007;Yuval-Davis, 2006 in order to better understand political contestations and their ethnic (Büschges & Pfaff-Czarnecka, 2007;Ströbele-Gregor, 2010;Yashar, 2005; for Africa see Lentz, 2006) 1 and religious legitimizations (Castells, 2002(Castells, [1997; Haynes, 2009). With respect to migration studies, where belonging is increasingly contested between and among "host" and "guest" communities, Yuval-Davis (2006) and Anthias (2006Anthias ( , 2008 have made important contributions to the theorization of belonging.…”

Securing the future in the anthropocene: A critical analysis of the millennium ecosystem assessment scenarios

“…The concern expressed in these 2005 figures have, of course, only intensified. The World Wildlife Fund for Nature's (WWF) 2016 Living Planet Report, 2016: Risk and Resilience in a New Era reveals that between 1970 and 2012 planetary populations of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles declined by 58 percent (WWF, 2016). The WWF advises that unless we act now this could rise to a two-thirds in the half century between 1970and 2020(WWF, 2016.…”

“…The World Wildlife Fund for Nature's (WWF) 2016 Living Planet Report, 2016: Risk and Resilience in a New Era reveals that between 1970 and 2012 planetary populations of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles declined by 58 percent (WWF, 2016). The WWF advises that unless we act now this could rise to a two-thirds in the half century between 1970and 2020(WWF, 2016. Along with the IPCC's assessments on climate change, the WWF report, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Conferences of the Parties (COPs) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COPs, the MA stands as the most important call in modern human history to transform humanity's relationship to the planet.…”

“All Together”: Leadership and Community among the Asháninka (Brazilian Amazon)

“…All of these measures combine to create a situation of legal insecurity for indigenous peoples across most of South America (Yashar 2005;Chirif and García 2007;Ruiz et al 2015).…”