Contesting State Monologues: Indigenous Grassroots’ Struggles with Prior Consultation Norms in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

AbstractPrior consultation (PC) has been an internationally enshrined norm for indigenous peoples’ rights since the 1980s. Indigenous peoples have called for PC for decades, but when governments finally begin implementation, a paradox results: previous advocates increasingly turn away from consultation processes. I argue that only with the perspective that norms are and should be contested “on the ground,” we are able to understand this contradiction. Therefore, the article presents a new conceptual and methodological interpretive framework for studying indigenous grassroots contestation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon (2013–2016), I hone in on three layers of contestation—explicit contestation, attitudes and perceptions, and political implications—and demonstrate that (1) non-contestation confirms state monologues and is an alarming sign for silenced voices, not for norm support; (2) contested consultations reproduce asymmetries within indigenous groups replicating negotiations about extractive industry projects; and (3) opposition to consultation may be the most powerful tool for indigenous peoples to change narrow state interpretations and make use of veto rights. Scaling up these insights, the structure of PC accommodates two irreconcilable understandings: PC is either interpreted as an end in itself or as a means of indigenous self-determination.