"And then Evo appeared...". Transnational Politics and Indigenous Recognition in Greater Buenos Aires

Abstract

This paper analyses the act of declaring certain municipalities in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina “plurinational and intercultural”, along with the implementation of projects and activities that qualify the province where the municipalities are located as well. The hypothesis that has been developed is that the circulation of these categories, especially "plurinational", which is the one most highlighted by the key actors in these processes, is associated with the progressive presence of Bolivian entities and referents in the zone concerned. Using an ethnographic approach to the transnational politics of the aforementioned country and interviews with stakeholders involved in the recovery of this concept, it is proposed that Bolivian diasporic activism and diplomacy, which has a strong connection to political collectives and institutions in the context of reception, favoured the incorporation of certain languages, symbols and commemorations that were part of the broadening of the recognition of diversity in the region. Consequently, we have identified subjects and modes of influence in the formations of otherness that do not fit into the classifications of "local", "national" or "global" elements: these are transnational stakeholders that not only operate as part of an international context, but also function as internal factors, constituting contact zones.