The Territorial Roots of Latin American Indigenous Peoples' Movement for Sovereignty

Abstract

In spite of the increasing phenomena of indigenous peoples transnational migration, de-territorialization, and the concomitant emergence of Latin American Indian diaspora, the notion and practice of community and the politics of identity are for the indigenous peoples' of Latin America fundamentally linked to the possession of ‘ancestral’ territories. Consequently, Indian struggles for self-determination, autonomy and sovereignty are still centered around century-old political strategies of counteracting colonial intrusion and oppression. The new ethnopolitical Indian movement is responding to neo-liberal globalization with adapted environmental and territorial strategies.