The Latin American Cases: Bolivia and Peru

Bolivia and Peru are highly heterogeneous societies. In Bolivia, the latest census counted 41 percent of the population belonging to any of the 36 recognized indigenous peoples, each with their own language. In Peru, the 2007 Census of Indigenous Communities in the Peruvian Amazon recorded 51 different peoples. Yet despite this heterogeneity, these different groups are often summarized in policy and practice as “the indigenous population.” If any distinction is made, it is according to geographic origin, with the largest groups (the Quechua and Aymara in both countries) traditionally in the countryside of the Andean highlands and a much larger number of smaller peoples in the lowlands of the Amazonian rainforest. And despite this heterogeneity, ethnic politicization has been generally rather low in both countries, yet growing stronger during certain times, in different ways. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.