Meanings of indigenous autonomy: Between identity, authority, and integration

Abstract

State-recognized indigenous autonomy regimes have been one of the main avenues by which various Latin American countries, including Bolivia, have recently advanced indigenous rights. However, implementation of pluralistic political organization is slow and challenging. As States engage in supporting the increase of extractive activities, including in indigenous territories, tensions between local and national interests crystallize in struggles for territorial control which unavoidably focus on who gets to decide what autonomy or territory mean. Centering on the case of the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS), this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of autonomy conceptions among indigenous people, particularly in relation to natural resource governance. Through semi-structured interviews and a Q-sorting test, I investigated preferences allocated to multiple and sometimes conflicting autonomy meanings by residents of the TIPNIS – a site of contention that has fueled debates around development pathways and indigeneity in Bolivia. Findings highlight the foreign nature of the term “indigenous autonomy”, the relevance of natural resource governance within autonomy conceptions, and the heterogeneity of priorities in understanding indigenous autonomy depending on socio-spatial and generational factors. Building on debates in political geography, these findings illustrate both sensible pragmatism and tensions in approaching indigenous autonomy, as well as implications for fostering dialogues across communities and generations. This study supports the argument that indigenous autonomy should be understood as multidimensional, territorially-specific, relational, and dynamic. It also contributes to complexifying relations between indigenous autonomy and environmental conservation, which appear as heterogenous and fluid, challenging essentialist views.