Indigenous State: Race, Politics, and Performance in Plurinational Bolivia

by Nancy Postero

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit   to learn more.

In 2005, Bolivians elected their first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Ushering in a new “democratic cultural revolution,” Morales promised to overturn neoliberalism and inaugurate a new decolonized society. In this perceptive new book, Nancy Postero examines the successes and failures that have followed in the ten years since Morales’s election. While the Morales government has made many changes that have benefited Bolivia’s majority indigenous population, it has also consolidated power and reinforced extractivist development models. In the process, indigeneity has been transformed from a site of emancipatory politics to a site of liberal nation-state building. By carefully tracing the political origins and practices of decolonization among activists, government administrators, and ordinary citizens, Postero makes an important contribution to our understanding of the meaning and impact of Bolivia’s indigenous state.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Anthropology

242 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2017

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really did a fantastic job of articulating and organizing so many swirling, interrelated thoughts I (and I believe many others who study this topic) have been having about Evo Morales and the MAS' direction in recent years and the evolving rhetorical strategies used to gather support for or justify their policies. Of particular interest is the state's use of pan-indigenous political symbols, which, as Postero expertly argues, has created a new state-sanctioned language of "indigenous nationalism" that is used to obscure or even justify what has ultimately amounted to a nationalist, assimilationist, capitalist/extractivist agenda (all while saying all the "right things" about the environment/la pachamama when presenting his administration's goals to international audiences.) Overall another fantastic, well-researched, well-argued book from Nancy Postero! Check out her recent articles with Nicole Fabricant for more on some of the topics covered in this book such as the TIPNIS and other lowland/highland conflicts.

[Rodolfo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative book on MAS's project, how it developed a developmentalist line while "taming" decolonization, and how it created a base: which people it decided to include and exclude in its national project, as well as discussing the contradictions of this period. I just wished it had less "academic-speak", and at times unnecessary citations. I understand why this is the case, but it makes the book harder to read at times.