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Indigenous and Feminist Movements at the Constituent Assembly in Bolivia: Locating the Representation of Indigenous Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Stéphanie Rousseau
Stéphanie Rousseau*
Affiliation:
Université Laval
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Abstract

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This article analyzes the recent constituent assembly in Bolivia as a political context in which the indigenous movement and the feminist movement presented different platforms to influence the content of the new constitution. The representation of indigenous women's gender-specific claims is examined through a study of their forms of organizing at the intersection of both social movements and content analysis of the movements' constitutional reform proposals. The success of both movements and the capacity of indigenous women to position themselves as a central actor in the process are explained through reference to the strength of the indigenous movement in national politics, the history of indigenous women's mobilization, and the collaboration between indigenous women and the feminist movement. Indigenous women's collective agency has benefited from this political context to develop new organizations and spaces to claim their rights and perspectives.

Resumen

Resumen

La reciente asamblea constituyente de Bolivia se analiza como un contexto político en el cual el movimiento indígena y el movimiento feminista presentaron diferentes plataformas para influir en el contenido de la nueva Constitución. La representación de las reivindicaciones de género de las mujeres indígenas es examinada tras el estudio de sus formas de organización en la intersección de ambos movimientos, y con un análisis de contenido de sus propuestas de reforma constitucional. El éxito de ambos y la capacidad de las mujeres indígenas para posicionarse como un actor central en el proceso se explican en relación a la fuerza del movimiento indígena en la política nacional, la historia de movilización de las mujeres indígenas, y la colaboración entre mujeres indígenas y las del movimiento feminista. La agencia colectiva de las mujeres indígenas se benefició de ese contexto político desarrollando nuevas organizaciones y espacios para reclamar derechos y afirmar sus propias perspectivas en este cambio político.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , 2011 , pp. 5 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

This article was presented in an earlier version at the Latin American Studies Association, Twenty-Eighth International Congress, June 11–14, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro. I thank Cecilia Salazar de la Torre, Ivonne Farah, and Christian Jetté for their collaboration during fieldwork in Bolivia, Itzel Adriana Sosa Sánchez for her research assistance, and the LARR anonymous reviewers for their very useful comments.

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