Afro and Indigenous Life-Visions in/and Politics. (De)colonial Perspectives in Bolivia and Ecuador

Authors

  • Catherine Walsh Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/bsj.2011.43

Keywords:

Abya–Yala, African Descendent Knowledges, Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, Life–visions, Living–well, New Political Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Plurinationalism, Sumak Kawsay, Suma Qamaña

Abstract

Ancestral cosmologies or “life visions” are increasingly visible today, both within the realm of Afro and Indigenous community-based struggles, and within the frame of State constitutions, rights, and politics. This article looks at what happens when ancestral life–visions are positioned as central principles of State and of State politics and public policies. Can these philosophies, rationalities and logics otherwise guide the remaking or re–founding of society and State, and how, particularly when the authority, organization, and practice of politics and State remain bound to Western frames and capitalist interests?

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Published

2011-11-17