New Languages of the State: Indigenous Resurgence and the Politics of Knowledge in Bolivia

Narrating Native Histories

by Bret Gustafson, K. TsianinaLomawaima (Series Editor), Florencia E.Mallon (Series Editor)

During the mid-1990s, a bilingual intercultural education initiative was launched to promote the introduction of indigenous languages alongside Spanish in public elementary schools in Bolivia’s indigenous regions. Bret Gustafson spent fourteen years studying and working in southeastern Bolivia with the Guarani, who were at the vanguard of the movement for bilingual education. Drawing on his collaborative work with indigenous organizations and bilingual-education activists as well as more traditional ethnographic research, Gustafson traces two decades of indigenous resurgence and education politics in Bolivia, from the 1980s through the election of Evo Morales in 2005. Bilingual education was a component of education reform linked to foreign-aid development mandates, and foreign aid workers figure in New Languages of the State, as do teachers and their unions, transnational intellectual networks, and assertive indigenous political and intellectual movements across the Andes.Gustafson shows that bilingual education is an issue that extends far beyond the classroom. Public schools are at the center of a broader battle over territory, power, and knowledge as indigenous movements across Latin America actively defend their languages and knowledge systems. In attempting to decolonize nation-states, the indigenous movements are challenging deep-rooted colonial racism and neoliberal reforms intended to mold public education to serve the market. Meanwhile, market reformers nominally embrace cultural pluralism while implementing political and economic policies that exacerbate inequality. Juxtaposing Guarani life, language, and activism with intimate portraits of reform politics among academics, bureaucrats, and others in and beyond La Paz, Gustafson illuminates the issues, strategic dilemmas, and imperfect alliances behind bilingual intercultural education.

Genres: Indigenous

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2008

Reviews

[Preethi Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been wanting to learn more about Bolivia, and have been inspired by the movement led by Evo Morales. Other than the last two chapters, there isn't much about Morales in this book. But because it takes the reader through the political environment in Bolivia before Evo, it was illustrative in two important ways -- One, how much of a challenge it must have been for Evo to succeed in a political environment that was embedded in a neoliberal ideology that continued to be racist towards indigenous people while propagating acceptable notions of "diversity". Two, that a socialist revolution (within the context of the state) is possible. This book is not about how Evo succeeded. However, the author argues that the policies that were meant to be a compromise from neoliberals - educational reform that allowed bilingual education -- while not revolutionary did provide some space for indigenous people to claim their citizenship and in the process secure power eventually. The educational reform implemented with the help of the World Bank and the UN aimed to include indigenous language as part of the curriculum alongside Spanish. The author argues that the reform, while seemingly inclusive of indigenous people's needs, may have been introduced to quash the class struggle led by indigenous people. This book also reminded me of Carol Anderson's White Rage. "Allowing" for the indigenous language to be part of the curriculum, should not seem to be much of a compromise. But even such a small allowance was met with rage and suspicion from the Christian majority. Theoretically, the book engages with the state and neoliberalism that I find very interesting - that neoliberalism does not always take the form of a state withdrawing from welfare, but rather a state that changes the possibility for revolutionary struggles. This book also engages with another question that I care about a lot - How do we integrate issues of ethnicity and race in the class struggle? I've always felt that the movement led by Evo Morale's could provide some answers. This book offers some insights about that discussion.
This book has a lot to offer - about indigenous struggles, about state and society, and the myth of education reform. I'll probably come back to say more.
Till them, read it, it's a very enjoyable read!

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!