Indigenous Autonomy

UN bodies have increasingly emphasized the need to improve the political participation of indigenous peoples. This book proposes a composite right to political participation of indigenous peoples, identifies its recognition in international law, and explores its application in two – apparently divergent but substantially more similar than expected – case studies in Latin America: Bolivia and Chile. The core sources of international law, including the decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, serve as the main sources for the recognition of this right. This analysis ultimately integrates the non-(strictly)-legally binding outcomes of international organizations, the writings of publicists, and the scholarly literature of other disciplines (political science, sociology, and anthropology).
For the two case studies, it covers a period of approximately ten years (2005-2015), and assesses the national legislation and their implementation, as well as the domestic jurisprudence.

En este trabajo se analiza una de las muchas experiencias autonómicas presentes hoy día en el territorio mexicano: el Sistema de Seguridad, Justicia y Reeducación Comunitaria de la Costa Chica y Montaña de Guerrero, mejor conocido por el nombre de las estructuras que lo conforman: la Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias y la Policía Comunitaria

Dinerstein offers a much-needed critical review of the concept and practice of autonomy. Defining autonomy as either revolutionary or ineffective vis-à-vis the state does not fully grasp the commitment of Latin American movements to the creation of alternative practices and horizons beyond capitalism, patriarchy and coloniality. By establishing an elective affinity between autonomy and Bloch’s principle of hope, Dinerstein defines autonomy as ‘the art of organizing hope’, that is, the art of shaping a reality which is not yet but can be anticipated by the movements’ collective actions. Drawing from the experience of four prominent indigenous and non-indigenous urban and rural movements, Dinerstein suggests that the politics of autonomy is a struggle that simultaneously negates, creates, deals with contradictions and, above all, produces an excess beyond demarcation that cannot be translated into the grammar of power. Reading Marx’s method in key of hope, the book offers a prefigurative critique of political economy and emphasises the prefigurative features of indigenous and non indigenous autonomies at a time when utopia can no longer be objected.

If the 1952 National Revolution sought the wide incorporation of indigenous majority through their cultural assimilation and the process of building inclusive mestizo nation, the new project is based on the concept of the Plurinational State, incorporating numerous indigenous nationalities on the equal terms and granting them the right to self-determination. However, the concrete implementation of the indigenous rights is partial and ambivalent, provoking the question about the real change of power relations between the state and indigenous peoples. Moreover, since the indigenous discourse became inherent part of state narratives and symbolic machinery, the state has gained monopoly about indigeneity and uses it to construct a new political-cultural community, based on plural ethnic identities merged into a broad, inclusive indianised state nation. This paper seeks to respond if the new Bolivian (pluri)national project is truly new or is it rather a renewed version of an old nation-state project?

Hasta ahora, la mayor parte de los análisis sobre la lucha de los
pueblos originarios por las autonomías políticas se han enfocado
predominantemente en explicar sus orígenes y demandas, resaltando las características de las organizaciones que llevan al cuestionamiento de las estructuras sociales y políticas injustas y excluyentes. No obstante, son menos los estudios y trabajos que se plantean revisar los procesos históricos, sociales y políticos que permiten que  se mantengan dichas estructuras, que son expresión de relaciones de dominación, subalternización y marginación histórica, y de lo que Quijano llama la “colonialidad del poder”, y que González Casanova (1965) denominó hace medio siglo como “colonialismo interno”, acaso aún vigentes en el subcontinente configurando, en gran parte, el terreno en el que se debate y se lucha por las autonomías indígenas. En ese marco, la temática de las autonomías indígenas ha tomado relevancia, ya sea a nivel de las reivindicaciones generales, como en demandas y propuestas concretas de los movimientos y organizaciones indígenas, así como en los debates y procesos referidos a la reforma y/o refundación del Estado en América Latina.

The current epoch of ‘‘globalization,’’ in which European-American political and economic forms are exported and used to dominate other areas of the world, is not a new phenomenon. Forcible expansion of an intercontinental system based on nation-states and nascent capitalism began in 1415, when Portugal seized the North African port of Ceuta. Other European nations followed on the heels of the Portuguese, eventually generating near-global exploration and settlement, with the conquest and exploitation of indigenous peoples following in its wake. This chapter provides a framework for the archaeological study of the intercultural relations caused by post-1415 European colonialism.

En las últimas décadas los movimientos indígenas de Latinoamérica han reivindicado ante la sociedad y los Estados el reconocimiento de sus derechos como colectividades y han demandado inclusión en la estructura estatal y en la constitución de sus territorios originarios. El caso boliviano es precisamente uno de ellos, donde este movimiento ha demostrado capacidad movilizadora y organizativa para presionar a las élites políticas y lograr cambios normativos favorables a sus derechos, así como ha debido enfrentarse a nuevos desafíos en el campo de la institucionalidad política y estatal.
En este lapso no sólo se ha acumulado una experiencia movilizadora y de lucha social, sino un aprendizaje interno sobre el ejercicio de la política y la gestión y administración del territorio con base en la identidad étnica. El presente estudio se aproximó a dos casos territoriales culturalmente homogéneos en lo étnico: Jesús de Machaca, pueblo aymara asentado en La Paz, y San Antonio de Lomerío, pueblo chiquitano asentado en Santa Cruz, con el fin de conocer los procesos históricos, las herramientas y visiones que se han desarrollado y los problemas que se han presentado para encarar una administración del territorio indígena. Al mismo tiempo quiere ser un instrumento que aporte al debate sobre la posibilidad de la autonomía y autodeterminación de estos territorios en el sentido más amplio del término.

Carlos Montemayor, Prólogo: "Este libro, Otras Geografías. Experiencias de autonomías indígenas en México, de Giovanna Gasparello y Jaime Quintana Guerrero, es un valioso encuentro y recuento con aspectos viejos y novísimos de realidades que están en proceso de cambio y de af irmación en varias regiones de México y en varios pueblos indígenas de Guerrero, Oaxaca y Sonora. Se trata de proyectos, programas y procesos variados de Seguridad y Justicia Comunitaria, Comunicación Comunitaria y diversos retos de organización y administración del ejercicio autónomo".

This article focuses on the interplay between shifting regulatory practices of the Mexican neoliberal state and attempts to destabilize them by Zapatista civilian support bases, as they enact practices of autonomy, particularly through the sphere of conflict resolution. In doing so, the article suggests that the cultural practices of justice unsettle relevant regulatory forces during a particular moment in Chiapas state formation and
are hence central to disrupting the continued legacies of colonial power – knowledge. Similarly, the argument offers a framework of analysis that allows us to trace the possibilities and challenges of indigenous and afro-descendent struggles in subverting hegemonic state processes.

In December 2009, Charazani was one of eleven municipalities in Bolivia to vote in local referendums to begin a process of becoming in an indigenous autonomy or Autonomía Indígena Originario Campesina (AIOC). My research studied how the autonomy project arose in Charazani, and why it has still not come to fruition. Charazani’s autonomy project was derailed by conflicts between the local branches of the highland indigenous peoples’ federation, CONAMAQ, and the peasant union, the CSUTCB (Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia). I examine the conflict as between different ideals of nationalism and autonomy. The first vision, embodied by CONAMAQ (Consejo Nacional de Ayllus y Markas del Qullasuyu), is the nationalism of the plurinational constitution, which disconnects the nation from the state, and conflates it with ethnicity. The second vision, of the peasant union, inherited from the National Revolution, is a nationalism of the Bolivian state, defining autonomy as the autonomy of the Bolivian state from foreign interference. Through Charazani’s autonomy project I discuss how class, ethnicity and different visions of autonomy and the nation clash within the plurinational state.

This article examines a single large outdoor fire pit (Feature 5) from the ca. 1715–1754 Seneca Iroquois Townley-Read site, exploring the untidy intersection of contemporary gender theory, archaeological remains (encompassing artifacts, subsistence remains, features, spatial relations, and contemporaneous mortuary data from the region), and normative conceptions of Iroquois gender roles. While many social categories of people presumably circulated through the feature area, women were consistently present and likely controlled most of the work that took place. The Feature 5 assemblage suggests that Seneca women smoked pipes and worked brass, were involved in complex sets of tasks and “changes of hands” that contributed to subsistence and trade, and labored and demonstrated control over resources and personnel in a way that was not in any sense “private.” The spatial separation of gendered areas of control was one way in which both Seneca kinship and gender identities were performed and reproduced.

Abstract

In Mexico, conflict among the state, drug cartels and the extractive industry over control of territory and the (legal and illegal) economy has brought about a humanitarian crisis. Indigenous communities suffer new and old forms of violence that violate human rights, increase social vulnerability, and threaten their physical and cultural survival. In this article, I describe the trajectory and achievements of indigenous peoples’ movements throughout Mexico. With a renewed radicalism, they represent a positive response to violence and, by claiming security and justice as collective rights, they aim to construct concrete spaces and processes for peace, based on social participation and the revitalization of indigenous cultures.

Following a series of profound conflicts in the early 21st century, Bolivia became the world’s first pluri-national state in 2009. The idea of the pluri-national state goes beyond the (uni-)national state; imagining a state that allows peoples’ coexistence on an equal footing in a state that facilitates their autonomy (Garcés, 2011). However, recent research indicates that, in practice, the Bolivian state transformation is full of tensions.
Based on a framework that brings together Open Marxism (Holloway and Picciotto, 1977; Clarke, 1991c; Bonefeld et al., 1992b, a; Bonefeld et al., 1995b) and the 'de-colonial option' (Quijano, 2006), I offer in-depth insights into contemporary Bolivia. In this, I understand the state as the political form of the social relations of capital, which is marked by modernity and its 'darker side' - coloniality (Mignolo, 2011). This thesis offers tools for studying how the state 'translates' indigenous- and non-indigenous struggles into policies, law and polity (Dinerstein, 2015) while also mediating external pressures.
After embedding the pluri-national state in its historical context, covering the emergence and development of the Bolivian state form, I look in depth at the pluri-national state. In this, I unpack the multifaceted struggles for autonomy and find that when mediating autonomy into the pluri-national state, something essential to the definition of plurinationality is lost in translation. First, struggles for autonomy as peoples’ self-determination and deepened decentralisation became subordinated to, yet not annihilated by the government’s social-communitarian model that is advocated in the name of the pueblo’s self-determination and ensures the state’s material basis. Secondly, state-recognised autonomy comes at the cost of submission to a state which continuously operates pre-dominantly according to modern/colonial ideas of law, order and organisation. The contradictions found in the pluri-national autonomy regime and the state are inherent in it and hence, cannot be resolved through reform.

Recent anthropological work demonstrates rising concern for understanding group-level autonomy, particularly the maintenance of opposition to expanding states and economic systems. Archaeologists are well poised to contribute to this effort, especially when aided by renewed attention to Eric Wolf’s concept of process.  Wolf’s concept can be applied to indigenous-driven, broad-scale processes of intercommunity connection to help
understand the generation and maintenance of autonomy in the face of colonial encroachment. Archaeologically informed reexamination of the relationships between the principal Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) homeland towns and satellite communities during 1600–1775 provides a case study. In many parts of the Iroquois homeland, large towns were surrounded by nearby small satellite villages; Iroquois people also founded communities distant from the homeland, moving into what is now Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Both nearby and distant Iroquois satellites manifested incorporation of outside groups and colonization of new territories—Native-led processes that helped maintain Iroquois autonomy.

Abstract

From 1960s onwards, liberal multiculturalism – from Iris M. Young's notion of a ‘differentiated citizenship’ or what Rodolfo Stavenhagen terms ‘internal self-determination’ to Will Kymlicka's multicultural citizenship and federacy arrangements, Arendt Lijphart's consociationalism and Rainer Bauböck's pluralist federation – has played a fundamental role in the recognition of difference as well as questioning the configuration of the nation–state as racially homogenous and administratively unified. So far, these liberal approaches have successfully addressed and accommodated some of the core political and cultural demands of religious and ethnic minorities. Yet, drawing on field research conducted in Chile and Nicaragua as well as a critical examination of this liberal canon on multiculturalism, this paper theorises that in the case of indigenous quests for autonomy, these approaches exude nothing but epistemological blindness, ignoring or dismissing alterity. At worst, they function as an epistemic violence that silences, incorporates and decontests synchronic alternative autonomist indigenous articulations.


Sinopsis

A partir de la década de 1960, el multiculturalismo liberal, representado preponderantemente por las teorías de “ciudadanía diferenciada” de Iris M. Young—o lo que Rodolfo Stavenhagen ha denominado “autodeterminación interna”—así como los modelos de ciudadanía multicultural y federacía desarrollados por Will Kymlicka; la democracia consociacional elaborada por Arendt Lijphart y la federación plural desarrollada por Rainer Bauböck, ha jugado un papel predominante en el reconocimiento de la diferencia étnica. De la misma forma, el modelo liberal de multiculturalismo ha sido pionero en el cuestionamiento de las premisas del estado-nación como ente racialmente homogéneo y administrativamente unitario. Hasta ahora, estos regímenes multiculturales han exitosamente tratado las exigencias culturales y políticas y han llevado a la transformación de legislaciones nacionales a favor de las demandas de un gran número de minorías étnicas y grupos religiosos. Sin embargo, este artículo, a través de una examinación crítica del multiculturalismo liberal y la yuxtaposición de este modelo inherentemente Occidental con las articulaciones de autonomía emanadas de movimientos indígenas en América Latina, en particular en Nicaragua y Chile, teoriza que estos modelos de autonomía, en el mejor de los casos, exudan únicamente una ceguera epistemológica que ignora o descarta alteridad. En el peor de los casos, funcionan como una violencia epistémica que silencia e incorpora articulaciones autonomistas indígenas sincrónicas.

Over the past fifteen years, archaeologists who study Indigenous peoples impacted by post-1415 European expansion1 have engaged in an increasingly sophisticated debate over the theoretical models used to frame and characterize intercultural engagements . One trend emerging from this debate is that many scholars currently take the concept of colonialism to be the guiding force within the sub-discipline.  Overall, this trend has been enormously productive, not least because the study of colonialism provides a crucial bridge from archaeology to other disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. At the same time, archaeologists’ use of colonialism has had its excesses, and it is perhaps time to prune back the concept.

Este breve escrito propone una rápida mirada de algunos procesos
socioterritoriales de resistencia, construcción y disputa por las
autonomías indígenas en Bolivia y México, en el marco de las discusiones en torno a las recientes transformaciones político-estatales.
Una aproximación que intenta ser pensada principalmente en un macro-
contexto latinoamericano, así como ser situado en posibles escenarios
realmente ‘postneoliberales’ y en perspectivas de democratización y
descolonización en el subcontinente latinoamericano.

Esta investigación analiza el proyecto de autonomía indígena zapatista como una forma de construcción de una paz híbrida y subalterna sin el estado en los territorios rebeldes de Chiapas, México. El estudio parte de la siguiente pregunta central de investigación: “¿Cómo se ha construido la paz al margen del estado en los territorios controlados por el movimiento zapatista?”. Para responder a este interrogante se aplica una estrategia metodológica cualitativa, utilizando los métodos de análisis de documentos, entrevistas semiestructuradas y observación. Asimismo, se parte de la teoría de la paz híbrida o postliberal de Mac Ginty (2011) y Richmond (2011) y del enfoque de la paz subalterna de Cruz y Fontan (2014). El proyecto autonómico zapatista ha construido una forma híbrida de paz debido a que esta ha emergido en un contexto de confrontación entre los intentos del estado mexicano de imponer su visión liberal de paz y la resistencia del movimiento zapatista a aceptar dicho modelo. A su vez, la autonomía indígena chiapaneca construye un tipo de paz subalterna porque es erigida por un grupo social tradicionalmente marginado de las estructuras de poder económico y político: los pueblos originarios mayas. Estos indígenas organizados en el movimiento zapatista muestran su capacidad de agencia local subalterna al impulsar un proceso de construcción de paz emancipadora, contrahegemónica y desde abajo, en oposición a las instituciones estatales. Mediante estructuras de autogobierno como las asambleas comunitarias, municipios autónomos y Juntas de Buen Gobierno, los zapatistas alumbran un modelo de paz positiva dirigido a reducir la violencia directa, estructural y cultural que han sufrido los pueblos indígenas desde hace siglos. Asimismo, las políticas autónomas de educación, salud y justicia aplicadas desde el alzamiento de 1994 constituyen elementos de construcción de una paz sin el estado, donde los sistemas sociales zapatistas compiten con los oficiales por atraer la fidelidad de la población. Mientras el estado mexicano implementa una estrategia contrainsurgente que combina aspectos militares y civiles y busca restar apoyos a los rebeldes, el movimiento zapatista lleva adelante su proyecto autonómico en un ambiente de hostilidad que convierte a la paz construida en una forma híbrida, subalterna y al margen del estado.

Orlando Aragón documenta la emergencia de autogobiernos indígenas en Michoacán cuya creación expresa una ruta singular hacia la autonomía vía la judicialización de las luchas indígenas, y un tipo de “constitucionalismo comunitario” de litigación que alimenta tanto las interacciones con las cortes, como la construcción de consensos locales. No obstante, Aragón advierte sobre los riesgos inherentes de la judiciali-zación al trastocar los “usos y costumbres” de las comunidades y en algunos casos, el resultado es atizar un tipo de fragmentación y animosidad intracomunal que puede cancelar la ruta hacia el autogobierno.

Formation of Indigenous First Peoples and Peasant Autonomies in Bolivia: A Precarious Process The goal of the article is to explore the obstacles to the process of the creation of Indigenous First Peoples and Peasant Autonomies (AIOC – autonomías indígenas originarias campesi-nas) in Bolivia. In the specific case of the municipality San Pedro de Totora Marka we will verify the relevance of the Dickovick's and Eaton's theories of recentralization and institutional layering that emphasize the political factors as the principal obstacles to the decentralization process. The actors' perception (primarily political and indigenous authorities) of AIOC and its main obstacles is more important than the normative-institutional context (such as laws, orders). The discourses of the main protagonists are examined for the purpose of capturing the main obstacles to the process. The data comes from the semi-structured interviews carried out in Bolivia in the period between July and October 2015. Resumen El objetivo de este artículo es explorar las mayores trabas en el proceso de la formación de las autonomías indígenas originarias campesinas (AIOC) en Bolivia. En el caso concreto del municipio San Pedro de Totora Marka verificamos la relevancia de las teorías de recentrali-zación y estratificación institucional de Dickovick y Eaton quienes consideran los factores políticos como principales obstáculos del proceso descentralizador. En este sentido, más importante que el contexto normativo-institucional (leyes, reglas etc.), es la percepción de las AIOC y sus frenos potenciales por parte de los mismos protagonistas del proceso (sobre todo las autoridades políticas y originarias). Con el fin de descubrir los obstáculos principa-les son examinados los discursos de los protagonistas del proceso utilizando ante todo los datos de las entrevistas semiestructuradas realizadas en Bolivia en el período desde julio hasta octubre 2015. Palabras claves: autonomía indígena, Bolivia, pueblos indígenas, go-bierno.

Este libro relata cómo los indígenas de la Selva Lacandona enfrentan las violencias que viven y, en el ejercicio de su autonomía, construyen día tras día un sistema de justicia que se basa en la conciliación y la reeducación. Asimismo, analiza la justicia del estado en Chiapas en su relación con los pueblos indígenas, y la situación de los indígenas en las cárceles de la entidad.
Las prácticas de conciliación y administración de la justicia en las comunidades indígenas y zapatistas de la Zona Selva-Fronteriza, en el oriente del estado de Chiapas, son un elemento central en el gobierno autónomo, pues refuerzan su estabilidad y su legitimidad; al mismo tiempo, son las herramientas principales de las autonomías para enfrentar las violencias y los conflictos.
La importancia del tema trasciende en la situación social de México durante la segunda década del nuevo milenio, ya que el país vive una violencia generalizada ligada al conflicto entre cárteles del narcotráfico, el Estado y las empresas extractivas para el control del territorio y de los sectores legales e ilegales de la economía. Ante ello, las justicias indígenas e interculturales, en el marco de la autonomía, representan una lucha contra la injusticia dominante, la normalización de la impunidad, la corrupción y el racismo en las instituciones, en particular las destinadas a garantizar la seguridad pública y administrar la justicia.

El Sistema de Seguridad y Justicia Comunitaria-Policía Comunitaria de Guerrero es una institución autónoma que mantiene la seguridad e imparte justicia en un contexto históricamente violento y discriminatorio hacia los indígenas. Muchos investigadores
destacan la legitimidad del Sistema; no obstante, el Estado no lo reconoce como ejercicio del derecho a la autonomía. La academia puede desempeñar un papel importante: demostrar la eficacia del Sistema para garantizar el acceso a la justicia de los indígenas de la región y reducir los niveles de violencia y conflicto, y presionarla apertura de un marco jurídico para el reconocimiento de esta y otras experiencias autonómicas.
Palabras claves: Sistema de Seguridad y Justicia Comunitaria, Guerrero, autonomía, reconocimiento jurídico, resolución de conflictos.

El 6 de julio de 2007 se celebró el Segundo Encuentro de los Pueblos Zapatistas con los Pueblos del Mundo, un encuentro que sobresale frente a la docena de encuentros realizados en territorio zapatista desde 1994 porque los representantes de los gobiernos autónomos de las cinco regiones, conocidas como Caracoles, presentaron por primera vez, pública y detalladamente, una evaluación de su desempeño como autoridades civiles, ubicando sus esfuerzos en una trayectoria histórica de lucha social local. En sus narraciones fue evidente la teorización de lo político que emerge a raíz de más de una década de prácticas cotidianas de la autonomía. En el Caracol IV Torbellino de nuestras palabras, con sede en el ejido Morelia, ubicado en la región que abarca el municipio oficial de Altamirano, Aurelia,* joven tseltal de 17 años, relató cómo trabajan las mujeres del municipio autónomo 17 de Noviembre: Luchas "muy otras". Zapatismo y autonomía en las comunidades

Studies on territory in Latin America have noted that the trend of state recognition and devolution of Indigenous territorial rights, known as the territorial turn, has created new spatial configurations that are compatible within neoliberal governance, rather than promoting compensatory justice and decolonization. Using a case study of the Awajún of Peru, we argue that Latin American Indigenous movements do not simply respond to or align with neoliberalism. Rather, territorial autonomy is forged through negotiations with the state and other parties at different scales, beyond recognized territorial rights. This study suggests that to assess the effects of territorial turn on Indigenous struggles, we need to elucidate the significance and role of territory in the construction of autonomy as a negotiated strategy within the context of the state and beyond. Based on ethnographic methods and critical literature on territory with a decolonial lens, we examine Awajún territorial practices and territorio as a lived and a conceived space. In a context of limited recognition, material disparity, and external threats, territorial autonomy is historically constructed through territorial practices and embodied and daily experiences. Awajún territoriality thus resonates with a broad impetus in Latin American Indigenous movements, which challenges and complicates official territorial organization under singular nation-states.

Since the late 1980s, forms of Indigenous self-government were introduced in the constitutions of five Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua). The two Andean countries, Bolivia and Ecuador, have experienced further profound constitutional changes lately, giving more room (at least on paper) to forms of Indigenous self-government or autonomy. In Mexico, enhanced by the Zapatista movement, the 2001 constitutional reform also recognised the Indigenous right to autonomy, albeit to be implemented at the federal level. In Panama, five indigenous Comarcas have been created so far, the first (officially) in 1953, and the last in 2000. Nunavut and Greenland are other two well-known cases of (territorial) autonomies. Also in Taiwan, since the 1990s indigenous autonomy has been one among the main indigenous movements’ demands, following inserted in the 2000 White Paper on Indigenous Policy. Indeed, in the Final Report on discrimination issues against indigenous peoples submitted in 1983, the Special Rapporteur Mr. José R. Martínez Cobo underlined the importance of giving autonomy to Indigenous peoples (para.579). The 1993 UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2007 officially adopted Declaration clearly state the right to autonomy for Indigenous peoples in exercising to their right to self-determination. However, in the 21th century, called by some the “Age of Autonomy” (Skurbaty 2005), what shall be this kind of autonomy? Shall they mainly be territorial autonomies, or also forms of non-territorial autonomy, enjoyed (although with some limitations), by linguistic/national minorities, for example? Are ‘reservations’, as in USA, also forms of indigenous (real) autonomy? What shall be the minimum criteria to establish an Indigenous autonomy that fully respects their rights to self-determination, land, and cultures, inter alia? What can we learn from these case studies?
This chapter would thus explore quite an under-researched topic. Taking stock of the widely debated notion of the right to self-determination, it focuses on what should be the minimum standards or main criteria in order to comply with Indigenous peoples’ right to autonomy, as well as with their expectations for realising it. The achievements and failures of case studies of (mainly, territorial) working indigenous autonomies will be analysed (to be selected among Bolivia, Chiapas-Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Greenland, Nicaragua, Nunavut, Panama, Taiwan, USA). As to the methodology, the legal framework of the selected countries will be  assessed. The normative overview will then be complemented by relevant interdisciplinary literature, NGO shadow reports, newspapers, and other (critically selected) media and internet sources in order to give an overview of is the situation on the ground. A main limitation of the scientific analysis is—apart the case of Bolivia—the lack of fieldwork (given the wide range of cases). This will be partially compensated by the use of anthropological data, as well as other literature and sources that cite fieldwork.

This paper focuses on the demands for autonomy of the Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa and
Kankwamo peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta with regard to control over
their territories, self-determination, indigenous legal jurisdiction, management of the
environment, food sovereignty, and political control through their own authorities.
The main argument is that the autonomy of indigenous peoples is being influenced
by the current context of local, national and international conflicts and other specific
circumstances in the region in such a way as to require viewing autonomy as a complex
process that transcends national and supranational legal frameworks. Indigenous
autonomy is articulated within local, national and international dynamics and within
processes of recognition of, and disregard for, indigenous rights – obliging us to
understand it as a relational indigenous autonomy. It is relational because it is expressed
in different ways depending on the interactions among different social actors and the
specificities of the historical contexts.

Este texto reflexiona sobre los medios de comunicación de y para los pueblos indígenas, en particular las radios establecidas y operadas por organizaciones y pueblos indígenas. A partir de la valoración de algunas radios en Guerrero y Oaxaca, reflexiono sobre la función cultural y política que cumplen los proyectos indígenas de comunicación, y sobre su impacto en la vida comunitaria y en el espacio regional.
Asimismo, abordo el debate sobre la difícil legalización de las radios comunitarias, un tema que refleja -en el ámbito de la comunicación- el irresuelto debate sobre el reconocimiento legal del derecho a la autonomía de los pueblos indígenas.
Palabras claves: radio comunitaria, radio indígena, autonomía indígena, México

Mexico is currently subject to generalized violence due to conflicts between drug cartels , the state, and resource-extraction companies jostling for territorial and economic control. In 2011 and in this context, the inhabitants of the indigenous municipality of Cherán confronted the criminal organization responsible for kidnappings, extortion, and illegal logging in their communal territory. Study of this conflict and the communal responses generated in the peace process reveals that the violence was founded on social inequality and was both cause and effect of the indigenous population's material and cultural dispossession. The peace formation process involved the valorization of a collective and territorially rooted identity, the strengthening of security and justice practices based on the authority of assemblies, and an incipient interest in the construction of economic alternatives for the local population. Actualmente, México vive una situación de violencia generalizada debido a los conflictos entre los cárteles de droga, el Estado y las empresas de extracción de recur-sos que luchan por el control territorial y económico. En 2011 y en este contexto, los habitantes del municipio indígena de Cherán se enfrentaron a una organización criminal responsable de secuestros, extorsiones y tala ilegal en su territorio comunal. El estudio de este conflicto y las respuestas comunitarias generadas en el proceso de paz revela que la violencia se fundó sobre la desigualdad social y fue tanto causa como efecto del despojo material y cultural de la población indígena. El proceso de paz implicó la valorización de una identidad colectiva y territorialmente arraigada, el fortalecimiento de las prácticas de seguridad y justicia basadas en la autoridad de las asambleas, y un interés incipiente en la construcción de alternativas económicas para la población local.

Este capítulo propone reflexionar sobre las autonomías indígenas en Bolivia desde las ciencias sociales, y con las pretensiones más generales o universales que pueden ser de utilidad analítico-teórica en toda la región latinoamericana. La problemática de las autonomías indígenas como la encarnación formal-institucional de la libre determinación de las naciones y pueblos indígena originario campesinos en el seno del Estado, está aproximada desde la indivisible triada Estado-poder-sociedad. Ésta, a su vez, lleva a la cuestión de la contradicción o paradoja de la libre determinación en la condición del reconocimiento estatal, que limita su potencia emancipadora, aunque asegura el ejercicio formal de derechos territorial-políticos de los pueblos indígenas. El caso boliviano demuestra que la búsqueda de la autonomía a través del Estado es una empresa interminable, un “imaginario práctico en permanente construcción” y el horizonte no tanto de la felicidad final sino de la esperanza constante. Un aparente fracaso en la búsqueda de la liberación definitiva no debe hacer a los movimientos sociales a renunciar de sus imaginarios utópicos, sino perseguir su renovación en los siguientes ciclos coyunturales. Aunque existen perspectivas inciertas sobre el proyecto plurinacional estatal, el futuro puede traer también las posibilidades de replantear cuestiones como el alcance de las autonomías indígenas u otras propuestas para el problema de “qué hacer con el indio” en Bolivia.

This article examines the legacy of 1990s’ neoliberal decentralization reform in shaping an indigenous autonomy project in Bolivia. It focuses on the municipality of Charazani, which is in the process of becoming an Indigenous Autonomy, or Autonomía Indígena Originario Campesina (AIOC), examining the local origins of the autonomy project, and the reasons why it has stalled. To do so, I refer to political projects of indigenous authorities in Charazani in the early 1990s, to take power locally as a bloc and disconnect themselves from the power of the local townspeople by challenging fictive kinship ties with them. The article explores the role that local devolved forms of government have had in producing competition among indigenous communities since the 1990s and the effect on the formulation of a joint project for indigenous autonomy. The establishment of indigenous autonomy requires cooperation and agreement among the communities of the municipalities undergoing conversion to an AIOC. This article posits that internal disagreements, which threaten autonomy, are closely entwined with the neoliberal structures upon which local governance is based (and from which AIOCs are supposed to spring), which encourage intercommunity competition for scarce resources.

El Municipio Autónomo de San Juan Copala, ubicado en el estado de Oaxaca e integrado por comunidades indígenas triqui, representa una de las muchas y diversas formas en que los pueblos indígenas de México están construyendo su derecho colectivo a la autonomía.

This article discusses application of indicators of well-being in indigenous societies of the Colombian Amazon, addressing benefits and potential drawbacks of indigenous peoples' participation in developing indicators. Following a social information system perspective, through a case study based on fieldwork, we analyse how Indicators of Well-being among Indigenous Peoples (IWIP) contribute to indigenous peoples assessing the state of their livelihoods, managing information, and negotiating with government agencies. We address the positions of indigenous organizations and research institutions regarding repercussions of such use of indicators on their participation in developing public policy and on their autonomy. While indigenous organizations and government agencies may use information systems and indicators to promote communication and collaboration among local actors in order to counteract inequality in decision-making, use of indicators makes indigenous peoples legible to the State and are promoted in contexts of asymmetrical power relations between indigenous organizations and government agencies.

Abstract
In 2011 the inhabitants of Cherán, an indigenous municipality of Michoacán, Mexico, matched the
criminal group responsible for kidnapping, extortion and illegal felling of the wood in the communal
territory. Crossing contributions from anthropology and Peace Research, the paper describes
the main aspects of the conflict, the community responses to violence through the process of peace
formation, such as community participation, reconstruction of the territory and communal security,
and actions aimed to reconciliation.

Resumen
En 2011 los habitantes de Cherán, municipio indígena de Michoacán, enfrentaron al grupo criminal
responsable de secuestros, extorsiones y de la tala de madera en el territorio comunal. Cruzando
aportes de la antropología y de la Peace Research, la ponencia analiza los principales aspectos
del conflicto, las respuestas comunitarias a las violencias impulsadas en el proceso de formación de
paz (participación comunitaria, reconstrucción del territorio, seguridad comunal) y las acciones
dirigidas hacia una difícil reconciliación.

Archaeologists studying American Indian peoples impacted by the post-1500 European expansion have been slow to acknowledge that in many situations, the political-economic power of Indian groups was equal to or even greater than that of European colonizers. Although such settings can be readily recognized in both the historical and archaeological records, archaeologists have few theoretical tools or even a basic terminology for investigating these contexts. This chapter takes steps toward remedying this situation by surveying the long-term history of Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) political-economic autonomy.  I begin by identifying several factors responsible for scholars’ lack of consideration of political-economic equality, and then propose that supralocal processes linking indigenous communities — particularly
alliance, trade, mobility, and conflict — were crucial to the maintenance of native autonomy. Methodologically, assessment of intercommunity connection requires that archaeologists supplement excavation data with concentrated attention to scales well beyond those researchers typically consider. I illustrate these points with a case study examining continuity and change in Seneca Iroquois intercommunity interaction from 1550 to 1779, which also reviews the pre-1550 roots of these processes. If archaeologists engage in systematic examinations along these lines, in many settings they will determine that indigenous groups were entangled with European colonists rather than dominated by them, and at the same time they will discover some of the factors responsible for the persistence of native autonomy. The products of such examinations will be objectively more accurate than conventional approaches that center on European colonialism, as well as potentially more relevant to present-day American Indian groups.