Social and Behavioral Sciences | Open Access Articles

The Santa Cruz Autonomía Movement: Preliminary Considerations On A Case Of Non-Indigenous Ethnic Popular Mobilization, Miguel Centellas

Miguel Centellas

This paper discusses the recent autonomy movement in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, within a theoretical framework typically reserved for “ethnic” political or social movements. The paper begins with a brief chronology of the Santa Cruz autonomía movement as it developed into a powerful political oppositional movement during the rise of Evo Morales. In doing so, the movement’s leaders consciously adopted the organizational tactics and forms of discourse typically identified with traditional, indigenous-popular Bolivian social movements. As such, the Santa Cruz case both highlights the fluidity of multiculturalism and challenges our notions of how ethnic identity is publicly constructed.

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Savina Cuéllar And Bolivia's New Regionalism, Miguel Centellas

Miguel Centellas

The social forces that brought Evo Morales to power reshaped the dynamics of politics in Bolivia. Although partly driven by ethnic or socioeconomic differences, regional move- ments have support beyond a narrow elite base and reflect changes in Bolivia’s political landscape stemming from 1990s political reforms, older historical legacies, and recent political developments. The June 2008 election of Savina Cuéllar, an indigenous woman, as prefect of Chuquisaca highlights the complex and evolving nature of political identi- ties. Identities constructed on the basis of regional claims are as important as—and analytically distinct from—identities constructed on the basis of ethnicity or socioeco- …

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