Klappentext
"By most measures, Bolivia has the largest percentage of citizens who identify as Indigenous of any country in Latin America. Not surprisingly, then, Andean Bolivia is where the political ideology of "Indianism" emerged in the 1960s and '70s. While the movement attracted followers, it did not achieve real political influence until the early 21st century, as urban Bolivians helped push the Indigenous candidate Evo Morales to the presidency in 2006. A right-wing, openly racist coup deposed Morales in 2019, but the election of 2020 was a landslide win for the socialist party, with significant Indigenous support. This manuscript is an ethnography of the social life of Indianism and how it shaped the Bolivian political landscape in the 21st century. The book is divided into sections that move chronologically through three distinct periods. The first section, composed of chapters one and two, covers the period before Morales, paying particular attention to how Indianist ideology spread through the Indigenous population, especially in urban spaces. Part two covers the Morales years, when Indianist concepts, now part of mainstream discourse, evolved into what the author terms "folk Indianism." Whereas the original spirit of Indianism emphasized the revival of Indigenous ideas and ancestral territory, folk Indianism is more focused on Indigenous liberation within the structural racism of Bolivia, advocating for things like a greater share of the revenue derived from mining and more representation in the government. Ravindran's ethnography is based in El Alto, "the most significant rebel city in Latin America," and he follows these ideas as they influence youth organizations and neighborhood groups. He then tracks how folk Indianism fed back into the intellectual circles of canonical Indianism, and how those thinkers applied theoretical rigor to it. This led to ideological conflict within state policies and political discourse. The last section, composed only of chapter seven, follows the events of 2019-2020, and how racial polarization further radicalized the Indigenous population, increasing the flow of ideas from the canonical to the folk sphere of Indianist political ideology"--
