Contesting Citizenship In Latin America: The Ri... May 2026

Here is a helpful story to illustrate the book's core arguments: The Story of the Changing Village

One day, the government changed the rules. It adopted , aiming to treat everyone as individual, equal citizens. While this sounded like "democracy," it actually stripped away the collective protections the villagers relied on for their local autonomy. Suddenly, their lands were at risk, and the "peasant" unions that once protected them were dismantled. Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Ri...

is available at retailers like Barnes & Noble and Strand Book Store . Here is a helpful story to illustrate the

According to Deborah Yashar , this village—and real movements in countries like and Bolivia —succeeded because of three specific things: Suddenly, their lands were at risk, and the

: The shift to neoliberalism unintentionally challenged their local autonomy, giving them a reason to fight back.

Feeling their way of life threatened, the villagers looked for a new way to defend themselves. They didn't just see themselves as workers anymore—they reclaimed their identity as . Why the Village Succeeded (Yashar's Three Factors)

The story doesn't end with a protest. These movements are now posing a . They are asking the state: "Can you be a democracy if you only recognize individuals, or must you also recognize our collective rights and autonomy as indigenous peoples?" .