Black hole indigeneity: the explosion and implosion of radical difference as resistance and power in Andean Bolivia

• With the coming to power of Evo Morales and el Movimiento al Socialismo, an indigenized language of resistance became the language of power. In this paper I explore how epistemological and ontological 'radical difference' was co-opted and used to legitimize Bolivian state power. I argue that when institutionalized and instrumentalized within the state apparatus, indigeneity - as an emancipatory device of radical difference - implodes on itself and its radical potential is lost in the black hole that is coloniality. This paper provides an analytical and historical horizon against which recent political events in Bolivia can be understood.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Indigeneity

Evo Morales

Bolivia

resistance

power

decolonization

cooptation

politics

Government & Law

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)