Latin American readings of Gramsci and the Bolivian indigenous nationalist state

ABSTRACT

This article engages critically with recent theories on the eclipse of Gramsci’s notion of hegemony in the face of twenty-first-century practices of grassroots activism. It demonstrates how hegemony, and other concepts reworked from Gramscian thought, have been used as the theoretical basis for assimilating indigeneity into a new form of nationalism in Bolivia. The first section of this piece examines the role of Gramscian thought in the emergence of Latin American decolonial thinking, while the second section maps out its most influential Bolivian interpretations. Finally, the third section shows how these principles have played out in the MAS movement and Evo Morales’ presidencies (2006–2019). This article argues that the Morales administration, by weaving concepts of Gramscian provenance such as ‘motley society’ and the ‘apparent state’ into the Plurinational principle, created a new nationalist conservatism in the form of a hegemonic indigenous state that contradicts the basic theoretical and legal premises of Plurinationality.

KEYWORDS:

• Bolivia
• Gramsci
• hegemony
• integral state
• motley society
• Plurinational State

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michela Coletta

Michela Coletta is Assistant Professor in Hispanic Studies at the University of Warwick and Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London.

Malayna Raftopoulos

Malayna Raftopoulos is an Associate Professor in Development Studies and International Relations at Aalborg University. She is also an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London, the Human Rights Consortium, University of London, and the Centro Latino Americano de Ecología Social, Uruguay.