Cultures of power and politics: Two cases of the limits of anti-essentialism in the political anthropology of lowland South America

Abstract

Post-structuralism's focus on hegemonic power, subjection, and political opportunity remains pre-eminent in political anthropology, but its appropriateness for the post-neoliberal conjuncture is up for question. While the arrival of neoliberal multiculturalism brought contingent identities and strategic deployment of culture-as-product into focus, questions remain about how and why some groups mobilize to claim cultural rights while others decline to do so. For this reason, this article returns to an earlier concern in Latin American political anthropology with cultural differences in the conceptualization and execution of political organization and power. This argument is based on two ethnographic case studies—from the Venezuelan Pume and the Ecuadorian Shuar—that demonstrate the contemporary significance for indigenous politics of evolving autochthonous notions of power and their expression in conventional forms of social organization. These politico-cultural qualities are already constituting the form and objectives of indigenous political action prior to their expression in the public fora whose terms and opportunities are often presented as driving indigenous people's politics. Such an approach is important for understanding the dilemmas of solidarity as indigenous groups become more empowered and diverse in their political orientations.