Back to national development: State policies and indigenous politics in Northwestern Argentina

Abstract

This dissertation contributes to debates on processes of state formation and their relationship to indigenous policies and politics in Argentina. It analyzes and compares two major political economic configurations of the state: the neoliberal from 1989 to 2001, and the so-called "post-neoliberal" from the 2001 national crisis to the present. The study analyzes anthropologically how these two state models shaped strategies concerning the indigenous population that reflected specific political and economic orientations and interests; and conversely, the ways in which indigenous peoples have experienced continuities and variations between the two periods, as well as the changing indigenous' strategies resulting from these political fluctuations. While much has been written on the nature of the post-neoliberal state in indigenous regions for the Bolivian case and Ecuador, the Argentine experience has been largely overlooked, due perhaps to the strong state-led homogenizing tradition which has obscured the country's multiethnic character. If we assume that we are indeed witnessing a change of epoch in some Latin American nations, and that there is an evident process of recovery of state functions, the novelty and contribution of this dissertation will be to explore not only the nature of those claims but also to expand on de Sousa Santos' proposal: Which kind of state is back? (de Sousa Santos 2010). Which are the characteristics of this novel state model? To what extent it is it actually (and entirely) "new" or if it is taking/using elements, strategies and procedures of the prior neoliberal phase. And if so, which elements of neoliberalism still persist in this new political era and which ones are different from that period. Finally, this dissertation contributes to the bottom-up perspective, while analyzing the state considering societal mediators, societal actors that interface with the state. This inclusion allows us to observe in a very detailed manner the ways in which these actors shape and negotiate hegemony and state from below, while also being part of the state structure.