Rethinking Indigenous Autonomism in Latin America Author Gaitan-Barrera, Alejandra Published 2015 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Griffith Business School DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2784 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366022 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Rethinking Indigenous Autonomism in Latin America By Alejandra Gaitán-Barrera Master of Arts (International Relations) Bachelor of Arts (International Relations) School of Government and International Relations Griffith Business School Griffith University Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2015 Abstract This thesis contributes to a broader scholarly understanding of how indigenous movements in Latin America articulate autonomy. One of the central objectives of this research is to address a simple, yet often either assumed or unheeded, question: what does the indigenous subject want? What are the distinct meanings behind the political projects put forward by indigenous movements in the region? How do they envision their liberation from the current systems of oppression? And, most importantly, how do they define concepts such as “self-determination” and “autonomy”? These questions are central to understanding the nuanced transformative processes that indigenous peoples in Latin America have set into motion. In this sense, this thesis will demonstrate that far from homogenous, each movement, according to its own lived experiences of colonization and settlement, national building processes, local history, as well as cultural and political imaginaries and collective memories, conceives autonomy in a different way. Out of these distinct articulations of autonomy, this thesis argues there are two movements at the forefront of an unheeded and overlooked autonomist project: the Council of Miskitu Elders in Mosquitia (Nicaragua) and the Arauco-Malleco Coordinating Committee in Wallmapu (Chile). Furthermore, this thesis aims to fill in a theoretical gap in literature, namely, how does liberal multiculturalism, as a Western political engineering project, affects the lives of indigenous peoples and how does it understand and address these “unconventional” indigenous autonomist demands? Can it achieve more than mere rhetorical processes of national reconciliation and political inclusion? Does it allow the revitalization of indigenous forms of government? And, does it permit a theoretical space that allows for self-invention, a process crucial in the path towards decolonization? These questions are particularly significant if as scholars we wish to make sense of the ways in which native societies, dominated at home and abroad, are reacting to the imposition or vertical implementation of these liberal multicultural models and regimes of autonomy. Liberal multicultural theory claims to have granted freedom and autonomy to the indigenous subject via conferring on it a differentiated form of citizenship. Within political theory, Will Kymlicka’s approach to federacy, Arend Lijphart’s consociationalism and Rainer Baubock’s pluralistic federation are some of the most influential approaches in this realm of studies. However, this thesis argues that these approaches, drawing from a Western-centric and liberal theory of minority rights, while heeding to the demands of certain indigenous peoples and nations, they prevent others from seizing tangible local forms of autonomy and from following their own paths towards decolonization. 3 Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Date Signature INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I: INDIGENOUS AUTONOMIES IN LATIN AMERICA .................................... 23 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 23 CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS DEMANDS IN LATIN AMERICA ........................................................ 28 TAXONOMY OF INDIGENOUS AUTONOMY IN LATIN AMERICA ......................................................... 48 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 49 CHAPTER II: INDIGENOUS AUTONOMY AND MULTICULTURALISM ............................................................................................................... 52 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 52 INDIGENOUS AUTONOMY IN CONTEMPORARY INSTITUTIONAL ENGINEERING ............................ 55 INDIGENOUS AUTONOMY AND “NEOLIBERAL MULTICULTURALISM” IN LATIN AMERICA ......................................................................................................................................................... 71 INCLUSION OR AUTONOMY: TYPOLOGIES OF INDIGENOUS DEMANDS ........................................... 86 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 94 CHAPTER III: MISKITU AUTONOMY IN NICARAGUA ..................................................... 98 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 98 A GENEALOGY OF AUTONOMY IN MOSQUITIA.................................................................................... 99 CONSEJO DE ANCIANOS DE LA NACIÓN COMUNITARIA MOSKITIA ................................................ 119 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 141 CHAPTER IV: MAPUCHE AUTONOMY IN CHILE............................................................ 145 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 145 A GENEALOGY OF MAPUCHE AUTONOMY ......................................................................................... 147 COORDINADORA DE COMUNIDADES EN CONFLICTO ARAUCO-MALLECO (CAM) ........................................................................................................................................................... 160 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 181 CHAPTER V: REVINDICATIVE AUTONOMISM ............................................................... 185 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 185 REVINDICATIVE AUTONOMISM: A SUBTRACTIVE DEFINITION ...................................................... 187 THE CENTRALITY OF TERRITORY ....................................................................................................... 203 REVINDICATIVE AUTONOMISM: BETWEEN SEPARATISM AND SECESSIONISM ........................... 211 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 217 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 221 APPENDIX I: LIST OF INDIGENOUS MOVEMENTS ....................................................... 241 APPENDIX II: ETHICAL CLEARANCE ................................................................................ 244 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 246 7 Acknowledgments There are many people I would like to acknowledge and to whom I extend gratitude for the support their have offered during my doctoral candidature. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Gideon Baker, for his excellent intellectual guidance and support throughout this journey. Since the inception of this research project, he has provided not only insightful and challenging feedback but has also been a constant source of encouragement. I would also like to thank Dr. Wesley Widmaier for his wise advise as associate supervisor. From early on, he introduced me to a wide array of Latin American literary sources from which this thesis has benefited immensely. I thank him for his time and readiness to support at any stage of this doctoral candidature. I would also like to express my gratitude to the School of Government and International Relations, the Graduate Research School, the International Experience Incentive Scheme Office and the Centre for Government and Public Policy, all at Griffith University, as well as the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) in Mexico for the generous material support they provided for the conduction of my field research in Mosquitia and Wallmapu. This thesis would certainly have not been possible without the trust that indigenous organizations, communities