Open AccessThree Takes on De-Colonizing the State Apparatus in Bolivia
Author(s) -
Chuck Sturtevant
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
bolivian studies journal/bolivian studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2156-5163
pISSN - 1074-2247
DOI - 10.5195/bsj.2019.212
Subject(s) - subordination (linguistics) , indigenous , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , political science , administration (probate law) , common ground , sociology , political economy , ethnology , law , communication , computer science , philosophy , ecology , linguistics , algorithm , biology
This response summarizes and compares three scholars’ approaches (Marcelo Bohrt, Robert Albro and Pamela Calla) to the Morales administration’s efforts to decolonize the government of Bolivia. Seeking the common ground among them, I find that all three recognize the importance of symbolic and discursive changes, which have allowed some previously-excluded individuals to access positions of authority within the state apparatus. On the other hand, these changes have been uneven, exposing rifts between indigenous communities, exacerbating existing inequities, and establishing new or renewed hierarchies of subordination.