ABSTRACT
Struggles that were previously confined to remote localities, limited to action and reaction between indigenous peoples and their governments, and barely visible to the outside world, are now the subject of worldwide coverage in mass and social media, amplification by large and influential NGOs, and consideration in international governmental fora. This chapter explores how these struggles impact indigenous peoples, and how the struggles of those people affect international and civil conflict. Since the 1990s the indigenous rights movement has catapulted from resource-poor local activists to global activists. To trace the transnational networks to the articulation of norms supportive of indigenous claims and the interplay between local and global political processes, the chapter examines two cases of transnational indigenous activism and domestic responses in the Andean region of South America. The Bolivian indigenous rights movement is framed not only by ethnic identity and increased political and economic autonomy but also as part of a larger, worldwide anti-globalization movement.
