Meeting the Generals: A Political Ontology Analysis of the Paraguayan Maskoy Struggle for Land

Abstract

The defence of indigenous rights in Latin America
has often benefited from an alliance between indigenous and
nonindigenous sectors of the population. However, the narra
tives of these struggles have often been shaped by the assump
tions of nonindigenous commentators. In this article I confront
different public transcripts of the Paraguayan Maskoy strug
gle for land in the 1980s. Drawing on the emergent framework
of "political ontology," I argue that the ontological categories
sustaining modern political narratives inhibited the inclusion
of the Maskoy political practices in the public transcripts of the
land claim process, and that the acknowledgement of these
practices could encourage more inclusive forms of collaboration.