Activism or Extractivism: Indigenous Land Struggles in Eastern Bolivia

This dissertation is a study of the tensions between the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) political party, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), and indigenous social movement struggles for territorial autonomy. This study takes a multiscale approach by examining (1) the emergence of competing indigenous leadership organizations, (2) state repression of civil society groups, and (3) strategic indigenous-NGO alliances to preserve Native Community Lands (Tierra Comunitaria de Orígen, TCOs). At the community level, the study examines new organizations of state-aligned indigenous groups that represent extractive interests and threaten social movement cohesion. At the national level, this paper analyzes the controversial road project in the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS) and similar state efforts to erode legal protections for native lands in the interests of extractivism. Analyzing the academic and public debates over indigenous politics in the Amazon, this study explores the struggle between the state and lowland indigenous groups over popular hegemony and the ability to shape international perception over indigeneity, socialism, and resource exploitation. The findings support lowland indigenous social movement claims of state repression but situate this criticism within a path dependent world system dominated by global capital