A fragmented sovereignty. Indigenous peoples, war and political change in the process of independence in the Central and Southern Andes (1783-1825)

In “A Fragmented Sovereignty,” I argue that in the geographic space of what is currently Peru and Bolivia, indigenous communities played a significant role in fighting the war of independence that ended Spanish domination in the region. The research radically challenges not only narratives of independence from a national framework of analysis, but also the way the emergence of the nation-state in Latin America has been understood until now. Much of the research on this topic suggests that white creole elites led both processes while other social groups played a secondary role. While a few recent studies do recognize the important role of indigenous people for achieving independence, I demonstrate that indigenous political activism in the form of militias not only helped to consummate the defeat of the royalist forces in the South Andean macro-region, but also was a major factor in defining what sovereignty came to mean after independence. In the post-independence period, indigenous militias had a decisive role in the negotiation over the exercise of power between regional elites until at least 1850. In this negotiation, guerrilla warfare was an integral aspect of an indigenous political vision that understood sovereignty as decentralized in nature. The political instability of the post-independence era should be read under this light. For this reason, it is impossible to understand the construction of the republics of Peru and Bolivia without addressing the fundamental role that indigenous peoples played in their formation. Moreover, my claims broaden our historiographical understanding of the state formation process in Latin America by challenging views of indigenous peoples that present them as backward and anti-modern political actors.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Kosovych, Silvia Escanilla Huerta

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jacobsen, Nils
• Crowston, Clare
• Brosseder, Claudia
• Dávila, Walter

• Indigenous Peoples
• Age of Revolutions
• War of Independence
• Latin American History
• Political History
• Legal History

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Silvia Escanilla Huerta Kosovych

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115886

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F115886