Workshop on International Law, Natural Resources and Sustainable
Development
Indigenous Sovereignties against Extractive Nation-States: How Indigenous Autonomy is
Redefining the Conventional State in Latin America
Manuela Picq
University of San Francisco in Quito (USFQ)
From the mobilizations to preserve the TIPNIS in Bolivia to the Belo Monte Dam controversy
in Brazil, claims for indigenous autonomy regarding the exploitation of natural resources are
gaining center-stage in Latin American politics. After 2012 was marked by unprecedented
mobilizations for water and anti-extractive activities, in 2013 Canada's Idle No More has
been echoed in Haiti by the Kita Nago movement. If reluctantly, governments are
increasingly required to engage indigenous consultation in the design and management of
large development projects that affect ancestral territories. There are various studies
exploring experiences of indigenous autonomy across the region. Yet the significance of
their impact on state structures has yet to be analyzed in depth.
This paper explores the impact of indigenous autonomy on the state in Latin America.
Claims for autonomy invoke international law to contest state sovereignty over subnational
territories. The contestation of state authority involves a triangulation between local,
national, and international authorities. As states abide to indigenous autonomy, the practice
of sovereignty is redefined. To which extent are such processes also forging new political
systems? In particular, how are indigenous experiences of autonomy dislocating the legal
sovereignty of nation-states? If the European Union has experienced a dismantling of
sovereignty from above through supranational institutions, Latin America may well be
experiencing a dismantling of sovereignty from below through indigenous autonomy.
This paper explores indigenous claims against extractive industries to develop a theoretical
approach to indigenous experiences of autonomy in Latin America. I argue that indigenous
autonomy is dislocating sovereignty to subnational levels, introducing the concept of
“vernacular sovereignties.” Such political practices not only contribute alternative forms of
conceptualizing authority but also offer concrete venues to decolonize the structures of the
state.