ABSTRACT
The political prominence of indigenous and Afro-descendant social movements in Central America coincided with a period of peace and overall political stability that contrasted with the brutal military conflicts of the 1970s to the 1980s that claimed thousands of lives and inflicted displacements and violence on these groups (CEH 1999). During the past 25 years since the signing of the peace accords and the tentative beginning of democracy in the region, indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples have experienced some common trajectories that broadly speak to their social, cultural and political significance in national contexts. In this Introduction we highlight three common features: (i) efforts towards securing legal reforms under a multicultural citizenship model, including shared agendas regarding the protection of communal lands and territorial autonomy; (ii) increased prominence in national polities along with a widening role in promoting coalition-building and transnational advocacy networks; and (iii) growing threats to peoples’ livelihoods brought about by extractive industries.
