Mobilizing Bolivia's displaced : indigenous politics & the struggle over land /

The book is a revision of anthropologist Fabricant's 2009 dissertation, based primarily on fieldwork from 2005 to 2007. She traveled with organizers of the Movimiento sin Tierra (MST-Landless Peasant Movement), taking part in their daily rounds to see how this land occupation movement functioned and how it was integrated into Evo Morales's 2005 election. The MST, founded in 2000, was a group of displaced laborers, agricultural workers, and highland and lowland Indians who saw themselves as refugees from neoliberal economies that resulted in the expropriation of protected resources by the elites, and from the elites' belief in the magic of the marketplace as a solution to the problems of poverty and inequality. Most of the volume discusses this group. Initially, Fabricant (Towson Univ.) saw Morales's New Agrarian Reform Law as a major step forward, but it has not been much more successful than the previous Bolivian agrarian reforms. She observed the disappointment of many of the landless in the policies of Morales, who speaks of co-governance with the people but who often fails to consult with the indigenous peoples on his initiatives, leaving the poor feeling the government continues to renege on its promises. Of interest to all social scientists. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. D. L. Browman Washington University