The dissertation employs an ethnohistorical perspective, combined with an ethnographic methodology, to examine the development of politicisation processes in Bolivia from the colonial period to the present day. These processes are viewed within the wider context of economic, political, and social relations shaped by the uneven development of global capitalism. The dissertation demonstrates how these relations have restructured the Ā«abigarradaĀ» Bolivian society and impacted the politicisation processes in various historical contingencies, as well as how the subjects have contested and challenged this restructuring.
The analysis starts from the position of those subjects that have been alternatively defined as indios, indigenous, campesinos within the Bolivian territory, exploring their political connections with different groups, such as women, workers, and urban activists. This approach provides a Ā«privileged epistemological perspectiveĀ» to understand how social movements influence the relationship between the State, civil society, and capital. The significance of these subjects lies not in their bearing of an alternative authenticity to capitalism, but in their ability to activate a set of myths, beliefs, and pre-capitalist residues ā€“ the Ā«resabiosĀ» ā€“ that contribute to the Ā«memoria largaĀ» of struggles. By grafting these elements onto capitalism, they can subvert the subaltern position imposed on them by the reproduction of capital in Bolivia.
The research also reveals the tensions and conflicts arising from different positions held by indigenous people, including women and men, young and old, and authority figures versus the ā€œbaseā€. The research demonstrates that indigenous identity is a product of the institutional response that has been given to neutralise the political emergence of heterogeneous subjects. Their heterogeneity has made possible an accumulation of strength such as to challenge the post-colonial Stateā€™s political, economic, and institutional arrangements.