Full Description
In recent years the concept and study of "civil society" has received a lot of attention from political scientists, economists, and sociologists, but less so from anthropologists. A ground-breaking ethnographic approach to civil society as it is formed in indigenous communities in Latin America, this volume explores the multiple potentialities of civil society's growth and critically assesses the potential for sustained change. Much recent literature has focused on the remarkable gains made by civil society and the chapters in this volume reinforce this trend while also showing the complexity of civil society - that civil society can itself sometimes be uncivil. In doing so, these insightful contributions speak not only to Latin American area studies but also to the changing shape of global systems of political economy in general. Edward F. Fischer is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt University. His work focuses on issues of political economy, identity politics, and globalization; he has conducted long-term fieldwork with the Maya of Guatemala and in Germany.
His publications include Maya Cultural Activism in Guatemala (1996), Cultural Logics and Global Economies: Maya Identity in Thought and Practice (2001), Tecpan Guatemala: A Modern Maya Town in Local and Global Context (2002, with Carol Hendrickson), and Broccoli and Desire: Global Connections and Maya Struggles in Postwar Guatemala (2006, with Peter Benson). His current research focuses on the interplay of moral values and economic rationalities.
Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Indigenous Peoples, Neo-liberal Regimes, and Varieties of Civil Society in Latin America Edward F. Fischer Chapter 2. Indigenous Politics and the State: The Andean Highlands in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Michiel Baud Chapter 3. La Mano Dura and the Violence of Civil Society in Bolivia Daniel M. Goldsteinwith Gloria Acha, Eric Hinojosa, and Theo Roncken Chapter 4. Empire/Multitude-State/Civil Society: Rethinking Topographies of Power through Transnational Connectivity in Ecuador and Beyond Suzana Sawyer Chapter 5. The Power of Ecuador's Indigenous Communities in an Era of Cultural Pluralism Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld Chapter 6. Civil Society and the Indigenous Movement in Colombia: The Consejo Regional Indigena del Cauca Joanne Rappaport Chapter 7. Indigenous Nations in Guatemalan Democracy and the State: A Tentative Assessment Demetrio Cojti Cuxil Chapter 8. Reformulating the Guatemalan State: The Role of Maya Intellectuals and Civil Society Discourse Marta Elena Casaus Arzu Chapter 9. El otro lado: Local Ends and Development in a Q'eqchi' Maya Community Avery Dickins Chapter 10. The Political Uses of Maya Medicine: Civil Organizations in Chiapas and the Ventriloquism Effect Pedro Pitarch Bibliography Index
