ABSTRACT
In the last decades of the twentieth century, Indigenous peoples in Latin America experienced a remarkable political resurgence. Through large-scale mobilizations, political party formation, and transnational networking, Indigenous actors forged powerful challenges to political and economic orders that had often worked to marginalize them. In the memorable phrase of Ecuadorian Kichwa leader Luis Macas, the 1980s was not a “lost decade” for Indigenous people, but a “década ganada,” a decade in which Indigenous people won. They won in challenging orthodox economic reforms, creating pressure for constitutional reforms, and in winning political o ce at local and national levels. The rst decade of the twenty- rst century, however, prompted new questions about those gains and debates over their consequences. This chapter examines the evolving scholarly approaches to Latin American Indigenous politics, major developments in the eld, and recent debates about the contributions of Indigenous movements to democracy and development. The goal of this chapter is to demonstrate how the study of Indigenous politics has enriched the interdisciplinary study of Latin American politics by challenging our assumptions about the state, citizenship regimes, and social movements.
