ABSTRACT
Since they were founded, the Andean countries have struggled with the concept of difference. Parallel to this, policies grounded in indifference towards ‘the other’ have perpetuated socio-economic differentiation. Scientific, economic, political and legal models have inspired policies that attempt to homogenize the amazing diversity of the Andes. Notwithstanding the contradictions that emerge when such models are imposed in diverse social, ecological or economic settings, the state and national elites typically continue to embrace this standardizing approach. They seem to ignore the fact that assimilation-and integration-driven experiments designed to ‘nationalize’ indigenous peoples have failed or that the fragile ecological diversity of the Andes or the Amazon regions makes agro-ecological development approaches preferable to models promoting economies of scale. The persistence of such policies makes it necessary to review their foundations and to ask what alternatives to hegemonic paradigms could contribute to transforming relations among the state, political and scientific elites, and indigenous or campesino societies.
