SOCIAL STUDIES 395.02 (Carmen Martinez Novo)
Advanced Special Topic: Rethinking Indigenous Movements in Latin America. Until recently, most of the bibliography on indigenous movements in Latin America has focused on the reasons for the emergence of these movements. Their objectives and the challenges they have posed to liberal ideas of citizenship have been emphasized as well. However, more than forty years have elapsed since the emergence of the modern versions of these movements in the 1960s and 1970s. In this class, we will review an emergent literature that carries out a critical assessment of indigenous movements in the region. This course addresses the following questions: What have been the achievements and limitations of these movements to reduce inequalities and improve democracy in the region? Why are some of the most successful indigenous movements not progressing or undergoing a relative crisis (indigenous movement of Ecuador, the Zapatistas)? What are the relationships of these movements to multicultural neoliberalism (collaboration with neo-liberal governments, with the World Bank, etc.), and post-neoliberal regimes (Bolivia and Ecuador)? What has been the role of non-indigenous allies (the left, religious groups, anthropologists) in these movements? The class will be taught as a seminar and the methodology will be participatory. Prerequisite: 200-level Social Studies course.
August 26-December 9, 2010
