Movilizing Ethnicity. A theoretical Review with Applications to the Fourth Wave of Indigeneous Mobilizations in Latin America

Abstract

This research note presents a critical review of the main theoretical explanations of ethnic identity formation and mobilization and of the most influential accounts of the wave of indigenous mobilizations that took off in most Latin American countries in the mid 1970s. The review covers theories and approaches that use different epistemological assumptions (structure, culture and sintrumental rationality) and methodological approaches (quantitative, formal and case studies). Each theory is assessed  according to its causal logic, evidence and explanatory power. Threee conclusions follow. First: the Latin American cases have been grossly ignored in ethnic theorizing in comparative politics and sociology. A a result, most ethnic theorizing is statistically biased. Second: most interpretations of indigenous mobilizations in Latin America have stayed away from the main theoretical and methodological debates in comparative politics. Therefore, most of them are methodologically weak. Finally, all hypotheses on indigenous mobilization that have emergerd in past decades need to be put to systematic testing.