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Writer's pictureLatin American Geographies in the UK

Bolivian Indigeneity and Climate Change Governance Discourse

Updated: Oct 22


The 2024 Latin American Geographies Research Group (LAGRG) Undergraduate Dissertation Prize has been awarded to Christopher Weber of Durham University, for the dissertation ‘The Indigenous Other: Critically examining the construction of Bolivian indigeneity within contemporary climate change governance discourse. This post introduces that dissertation.

 

Studying such a multidisciplinary degree, with my essay topics ranging from hydrogen innovation to North Korean tourism, deciding a dissertation topic (let alone a title) seemed at first an impossible feat. It was a second-year group project that first sparked my interest in Bolivian indigeneity in relation to climate change debates. I was immediately drawn by the profound influence of Indigenous politics on recent climate change governance in/from Bolivia, and as I read further it became abundantly clear that my interest far exceeded the contents of our 4-minute video on wildfire responses.


The Plurinational State of Bolivia is the most Indigenous country in the Americas, with 62% of the population identifying as such in 2001 (Thomson et al., 2018: 5). There is a long history of Indigenous subordination in the country, including after independence from Spain in 1825 (Thomson et al., 2018: 5). The 2005 election was a landmark moment, with Evo Morales becoming Bolivia’s first Indigenous president the following year (Gustafson & Fabricant, 2011: 1). Morales gained himself and Bolivia global prominence for elevating Indigenous-influenced approaches towards nature on the international stage, such as vivir bien and Rights of Mother Earth (Oxfam International, 2009: 57). However, Morales and his government were subsequently accused of contradictory discourse and action (Postero, 2013, 2017; Tockman & Cameron, 2014; Villavicencio Calzadilla & Kotzé, 2018 et al.), particularly concerning the environment, climate change and Indigenous peoples.



Set against this backdrop of monumental shifts in recent Bolivian politics, my dissertation examined the construction of the (Bolivian) Indigenous Other within climate change governance discourse. In doing so, I sought to contribute to the emerging literature asking crucial yet under-considered questions around the Other of climate change, as well as postcolonial theory’s burgeoning engagement with climate change. Using the unique Bolivian context as an entry point for critical engagement with Sultana’s (2022) ‘climate coloniality’, my dissertation argued that the construction of Bolivian indigeneity within climate change governance discourse is infused with coloniality.


I like to think of my study as a point of convergence, particularly in terms of the literature and debates it drew upon. Of pertinence for my study was work around the construction of indigeneity, and I considered the contested social meanings that this label is and has historically been imbued with, particularly in the context of Bolivia and nature/climate. In terms of theoretical framework, I drew largely on postcolonial theory, engaging with the work of Said (1978) and Spivak (1988), and existing literature applying this corpus to questions of Bolivian indigeneity. Noting critiques of postcolonial theory’s implied confinement of coloniality to the past, I also considered the work of the Latin American modernity/coloniality research program, as well as Sultana’s (2022) application thereof through ‘climate coloniality’. Lastly, I drew upon critical scholarship on global climate change governance, particularly around the scales and institutions upon which society bases its understanding of this polycentric and multilevel governance problem.


My qualitative study was based on a multifaceted Foucauldian discourse analysis. Noting ethical considerations, I conducted semi-structured interviews with academics, NGO personnel and an individual with experience on Bolivian climate delegations. I also analysed 35 climate governance materials from a range of institutions. Additionally, contrary to what might be expected from a conventional study of governance, I analysed 5 pieces of videographic content. A mixture of documentaries and fictional cinema, these sources grappled with relevant themes around Bolivian indigeneity and climate change, allowing me to explore the construction of Bolivian indigeneity within the wider discourses surrounding climate change governance. Throughout my study study, reflexivity was at the core, noting in particular the complexity of indigeneity and thus the inherent limitations/partiality of understanding the construction thereof through my chosen methods.


In my discussion, I elaborated on how coloniality pervades the construction of Bolivian indigeneity within contemporary climate change governance discourse through three interrelated threads: appropriation, stereotyping and homogenisation. Drawing on postcolonial theoretical perspectives, I traced the coloniality beneath the construction of Bolivian indigeneity within and across multiple scales of climate change governance. In doing so, I moved beyond a reductionist focus of climate change governance discourse at the purely ‘global’ level. I also considered the various selves in different contexts of Othering, and the power relations underpinning their cementing as ‘selves’.


My study concluded with a reiteration of my argument around the coloniality pervading the construction of Bolivian indigeneity within climate change governance discourse. Following this, I called for a re-conceptualisation of Sultana’s (2022) climate coloniality as fundamentally multi-scalar, extending its focus beyond the conventional (international) scale of colonial relations, and drawing attention to the pervasion of coloniality within and across different scales/realms of governance. My study has implications for future studies of the Other of climate change, especially within (post)colonial contexts at the forefront of climate change. With this in mind, I encourage further interrogation of climate coloniality across different scales and realms of climate change governance, expanding this discussion to new foci e.g. social movements and urban geographies. I would like to thank my supervisor for his support, and the reviewing board for their time and recognition, and will end with the final sentence of my dissertation:


“Ultimately… it is my hope that further critical engagement with this construct of the Other will allow us to move towards a world in which the Other is accepted as part of the self, as the author rather than the subject of studies around climate change, and the need for research such as this is no longer.”


References

  • Gustafson, B. and Fabricant, N. (2011) ‘Introduction: New Cartographies of Knowledge and Struggle’, in N. Fabricant and B. Gustafson (eds) Remapping Bolivia: Resources, Territory, and Indigeneity in a Plurinational State. Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press, pp. 1–25.

  • Oxfam International (2009) Bolivia: Climate Change, Poverty and Adaptation. La Paz: Oxfam International. Available at: https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/bolivia-climate-change-poverty-and-adaptation-111968/ (Accessed: 29 November 2023).

  • Postero, N. (2013) ‘Protecting Mother Earth in Bolivia: Discourse and Deeds in the Morales Administration’, in J.M. Cooper and C. Hunefeldt (eds) Environment and the Law in Amazonia: A Plurilateral Encounter. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, pp. 78–93.

  • Postero, N. (2017) The Indigenous State: Race, Politics, and Performance in Plurinational Bolivia. Oakland: University Of California Press.

  • Said, E.W. (1978) Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books.

  • Spivak, G.C. (1988) ‘Can the subaltern speak?’, in N. Carry and L. Grossberg (eds) Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, pp. 271–313.

  • Sultana, F. (2022) ‘The unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality’, Political Geography, 99, pp. 1–16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102638.

  • Thomson, S., Barragán, R., Albó, X., Qayum, S. and Goodale, M. (eds) (2018) The Bolivia Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham: Duke University Press.

  • Tockman, J. and Cameron, J. (2014) ‘Indigenous Autonomy and the Contradictions of Plurinationalism in Bolivia’, Latin American Politics and Society, 56(3), pp. 46–69. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2014.00239.x.

  • Villavicencio Calzadilla, P. and Kotzé, L.J. (2018) ‘Living in Harmony with Nature? A Critical Appraisal of the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia’, Transnational Environmental Law, 7(3), pp. 397–424. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/s2047102518000201.

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