Ethnography of the State in Plurinational Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge, Clientelism and Decolonizing Bureaucracy

Ranta, Eija

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-94000-3_11

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…There was a well-documented tension between the development of the legal framework of the 'Vivir Bien,' a political and social project that can be regarded as innovative, and its implementation in and impact on society. Also, this movement raises questions regarding the ethical relationship between development and the natural environment, which can become a contested political project, partly due to the activation of clientelism (Ranta, 2022; we may also think of the Roșia Montana and Sweighofer cases in Romania or the cyanide pollution of the Tisza River in Hungary).…”

Section: A Weberian Approach To Social Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Weber: Social Change between Disenchantment and Rationalization Processes in Plural Communities

Da Costa Caetano,

Toma,

Kemple

et al. 2023

Intersections

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More than a century after Max Weber, the issue of axiological neutrality, or in Weber's terms 'value-freedom' in the social sciences, is once again being raised with exceptional acuteness in the realm of education. The freedom to research, publish, teach, and learn a variety of subjects stemming from different and sometimes conflicting value spheres is being hotly contested. For instance, in Palm Beach, Florida, a teacher's contract was suspended 'after complaints that he was indoctrinating students during his lectures on racial justice' (Pelletier et al., 2023). Consequently, 'Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation ordering Florida state colleges to publicly share the textbooks and instructional materials required for "at least 95 percent of courses" offered in an academic term ' (Pelletier et al., 2023). This measure, in practice supported by the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the 'Stop WOKE Act', amounts to 'unconstitutional classroom censorship that restricts teachers and students from learning about and discussing race and gender' (Woodward, 2022). Politicians like DeSantis not only try to dictate which among countless thematic subjects should be open to critical reflection and regarded as socially relevant for students' academic development; they also decide which perspectives should be privileged for discussion in the classroom. Indeed, 'he accused the university of betraying its values-based mission by being "complacent" on an important topic like race' (Marcus, 2023) under the pretext that it was politically motivated by woke culture (Marcus, 2023).This stance decidedly contradicts Max Weber's staunch support for 'ethical passion for academic freedom' (Shields, 1949, p. v;Wessely, 2011), which he understood as valuefreedom (Wertfreiheit) in research and the freedom to teach and learn (Lehrfreiheit and Lernfreiheit) in the classroom; it also runs counter to his emphasis on preserving intellectual integrity and objectivity in the social sciences (Kemple, 2023). In fact, as Shields points out (1949, p. ix), Weber contributed to clarifying the problem of conflating 'the false identification of an apolitical attitude with scientific integrity,' and his arguments should help us 'to refute the unfounded charge that the social sciences are ethically relativistic or nihilistic in either their logical implications or their empirical consequences.' However, Weber would not be surprised by these positions. He believed that 'the "points of view," which are orientated towards "values," from which we consider cultural

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Section: A Weberian Approach To Social Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Weber: Social Change between Disenchantment and Rationalization Processes in Plural Communities

Da Costa Caetano,

Toma,

Kemple

et al. 2023

Intersections

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…48 Sometime after our interview, however, they accepted a political position with the MAS, indicating how the co-option of opposing voices may occur through the logic of clientelism. 49 This section has focused on identifying the liberal democratic narrative of the de facto centralisation of political power within the framework of a formally democratic political system. In the following section, I identify and discuss a second narrative of authoritarianism, one related to the complex articulations of indigeneity, state developmentalist agendas and the global political economy of extractivist capitalism.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Narratives of Authoritarianism in Times of Crisis: Democracy and Limitations of Progressive Politics in Plurinational Bolivia

Ranta

2023

J. Lat. Am. Stud.

Self Cite

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In Bolivia, expectations for a decolonised society turned into a political crisis in the autumn of 2019. Discussing the limitations of progressive politics in cultivating democracy, this article identifies three narratives of authoritarianism – liberal democratic, developmentalist and colonial – which the opponents of Evo Morales use to frame their disillusionment with his rule. It argues that these multiple narratives lend meaning to contradictory experiences in a context in which hopes for a major decolonising state-transformation process have devolved into a deep polarisation of Bolivian society. The events in Bolivia are discussed in the context of rising authoritarianism throughout Latin America.

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The mayor or the people? Indigenous identity and differences in managerial practices

Bello-Gómez

Avellaneda

2022

GPPG

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Ethnography of the State in Plurinational Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge, Clientelism and Decolonizing Bureaucracy

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Beyond Weber: Social Change between Disenchantment and Rationalization Processes in Plural Communities

Beyond Weber: Social Change between Disenchantment and Rationalization Processes in Plural Communities

Narratives of Authoritarianism in Times of Crisis: Democracy and Limitations of Progressive Politics in Plurinational Bolivia

The mayor or the people? Indigenous identity and differences in managerial practices

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