Conclusion: Between Politics and Policing
Nancy Postero
Chapter from the book: Postero, N. 2017. The Indigenous State: Race, Politics, and Performance in Plurinational Bolivia.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Postero, N. 2017. The Indigenous State: Race, Politics, and Performance in Plurinational Bolivia.
What has ten years of the “indigenous state” meant for Bolivia’s people? Morales lost a 2016 referendum that would have allowed him a third term. I conclude that indigeneity and decolonization have faded from their initial privileged discursive positions. Instead, increasingly, performances of indigeneity serve as tools of state legitimation rather than as sites of liberation. Second, the MAS chose to use the liberal nation-state model instead of any of the more radical alternatives proposed, and it used it to consolidate party power. Finally, decolonization has served as a form of policing to silence those who expected it to be the basis of their emancipation.
Postero, N. 2017. Conclusion: Between Politics and Policing. In: Postero, N, The Indigenous State. California: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.31.i
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Published on May 5, 2017