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Insurgent Legacy Fausto Reinaga and the Indian Revolution /

Abstract

The Bolivian Intellectual Fausto Reinaga produced an enormous body of literature addressing the critical themes of twentieth century Bolivia : race, nation, and colonialism. This thesis explores those works. It does so through political-anthropological, historical, ethnographic, literary, pedagogical, and language-based methods and discussions. The larger political, economic, and social contexts of Bolivia are narrated through Fausto Reinaga's biographical and literary trajectories (1906- 1994). This thesis emphasizes, as Reinaga's work did, non- Western perspectives. It also brings to light globally formational events across the historical landscape which had previously been obscured. In doing so, this thesis contemplates the difficult subjects of governance, citizenship, race, identity, philosophy, and even academia itself. It analyzes the trajectory of the legacy of this understudied writer, which changed radically through his lifetime, and also right up to the contemporary moment. The main argument of this thesis is that, by examining the subjective and objective realities of oppressed political subjects in Bolivia, Reinaga deconstructs the hegemony of Modern Western Democratic thought. By utilizing his own reformulations of political philosophy, what he sometimes called Amautic thought, he offers a way out of the violent dilemmas of Western Liberalism in the twentieth century. Building on ideas from historical actors presented throughout the following pages, this thesis seeks to illuminate the possibilities for that alternative political philosophy in an attempt to move towards what philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls 'the beautiful day of life'

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