Plurinational Afrobolivianity

In Bolivia's current »plurinational« moment, processes of collective identification, political articulation, and legal reform converge in unprecedented efforts to »re-found« the country and transform its society. In this context, Moritz Heck analyzes practices and collective identifications of Afrobolivians at the intersection of local communities, politics, and the law. This study of Afrobolivianity aims not only at filling an ethnographic lacuna by systematically addressing the experiences of people of African descent in Bolivia, but also contributes to anthropological debates on indigeneity and Blackness in Latin America by pointing out their deep entanglements and continuous interactions.

Moritz Heck studied social and cultural anthropology at the University of Freiburg and pursued his PhD at the University of Cologne as a member of the interdisciplinary a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities. His research focuses on Afrodescendants in Latin America, race and ethnicity, as well as identity politics and social movements.