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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores efforts by Afrobolivians for social inclusion and political representation and analyzes the role of 'uniquely afrobolivian' cultural expressions that have shaped those efforts and continue to play a crucial role within the context of the country's recent reforms.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores afrobolivian cultural and political activism and the dynamics of invoking 'uniquely afrobolivian' cultural heritage in the process of creating an identity-based movement. It further analyzes the role of concepts of culture and heritage in activists' engagement with the Bolivian state and its changing politics of recognition of cultural difference. Since the early 1980s, Afrobolivians have organized around the idea of re-valorizing and preserving their distinct identity and culture within a society that mostly ignored their existence and a state that denied official recognition as an ethnic group. In recent years, the Bolivian state has promoted significant reforms in terms of recognition of various ethnic groups, and Afrobolivians have achieved official recognition within Bolivia's new Constitution in 2009. The emphasis on 'authentic' cultural expressions that can be traced back to Africa is central in this regard. Not only has the performance of African-derived dances provided the stage for voicing demands for inclusion; the emphasis on a distinctly afrobolivian culture has also paved the way out of statistical invisibility and challenged ideas of the supposed acculturation of Afrobolivians to the Aymara population and appropriations of afrobolivian cultural elements by other sectors of society. Other efforts - such as the revival of a symbolic afrobolivian monarchy or the promotion of 'authentic' afrobolivian villages for tourism - serve as further examples of strategies employed in order to constitute their history, culture and heritage as an integral part of the multi-ethnic/plurinational society of the country, aiming at social inclusion and political representation.