ABSTRACT
Any attempt to make meaningful and valid generalizations about the contemporary indigenous peoples of the Americas is a daunting task given their vast geographical extension and wide variation in social forms and living conditions. The durability of the indigenas called for a different theoretical perspective. The working notion of this theory is that social identity is formed largely in opposition to others in a dialectic of what are called "othering" and "self-attribution". This chapter explores this twofold phenomenon of leveling and differentiation and assumes that it is inherent not only in local but also in global economic and cultural relations. The creation of the Federation of Shuar Centers in 1964 is a benchmark in the development of new forms of resistance by indigenous peoples in Latin America. The issues of boundaries and identities, of sovereignty and self-determination, promise to be increasingly salient issues to the indigenous peoples of Latin America in the twenty-first century.
