Description: The election of Evo Morales as Bolivia's president in 2005 made him the first indigenous head of state in the Americas, a watershed victory for social activists and Native peoples. El Movimiento Sin Tierra (MST), or the Landless Peasant Movement, played a significant role in bringing Morales to power. Following in the tradition of the well-known Brazilian Landless movement, Bolivia's MST activists seized unproductive land and built farming collectives as a means of resistance to large-scale export-oriented agriculture. In Mobilizing Bolivia's Displaced, Nicole Fabricant illustrates how landless peasants politicized indigeneity to shape grassroots land politics, reform the state, and secure human and cultural rights for Native peoples.
Review Quotes: "Rich and important. As Fabricant tells the political history of this social movement, she provides insight into all that is Bolivia--Evo Morales, indigenous politics, regional divides--and then links that story to the politics, economics, and culture of everyday life. A work of huge relevance for the whole region."--Steve Striffler, University of New Orleans