Juanita Roca Sánchez

Research: Ethnonationalisms and Conflicts in Bolivia: the Role of International Aid Agencies in Ethnic Politics and the Reconstruction of Indigenous Identitities
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Michiel Baud (CEDLA)

Juanita Roca holds a degree  in History (University of Chile), and her masters studies are in Anthropology and Development (London School of Economics and Political Science), and Public Management (University of Potsdam). She has worked for the former Bolivian Presidential Representation for the Constituent Assembly (REPAC), the Bolivian Indigenous Affairs Ministry, and for international NGOs in intercultural  public policy and governance,  indigenous peoples’ legislation and decentralization. Her work has also focused on reserach on conflict issues and peace building for which she  received training  at the J.F. Kennedy School of Government-Harvard. She began her PhD at CEDLA in October 2010.

This research aims to disclose the role of international aid agencies that have worked with indigenous peoples as beneficiaries,  in the recovery of ethnic identities in Bolivia. Through a multi-sited ethnography, historical analyses and critical theoretical approaches from the anthropology of development and the anthropology of public policy, the study considers transnational flows of ideas and policies about indigeneity such as the 169 ILO Convention and its impact on indigenous peoples’ arguments to struggle for their rights for territory and self-determination. It also infers on how the international movement of indigenous peoples has had an influence on ethnonationalist narratives and ethnic identity recoveries that have lead to the current construction of the Bolivian Plurinational state, as well as the increase of conflicts  within indigenous and campesino organizations, which have confronted visions concerning  land, livelihoods and ethnic identites.