The Timing of Indigenous Communities’ Legal Recognition: Argentina, 1978-2022

• In Event: Multilevel Governance and the Subnational Turn in Latin America

Abstract

What accounts for the wide variation in the timing of legal recognition of ethnic communities? Does it respond to the size of the Indigenous peoples, their degree of mobilization, the government’s ideology, or institutional changes? In Argentina, almost a million people self-identify as Indigenous. At present, the state recognizes 39 Indigenous peoples or nations and 1,525 Indigenous communities across 23 provinces, excluding the City of Buenos Aires. We leverage the wide variation in the number of Indigenous communities legally recognized by year (from 1978 to 2022) and across and within provinces to probe demographic, political, and institutional explanations of legal recognition. Using statistical analyses of subnational census and political data, combined with text analysis, and fieldwork research, we uncover intriguing findings. Notably, our analysis reveals a positive correlation between the size of the Indigenous nation at the provincial level and the earlier recognition of such nation’s communities within that province. Additionally, we find that left leaning governments, both at the national and provincial levels, are more inclined to the recognition of Indigenous communities. Given the shifting political landscape in Argentina, our research suggests that subnational governments will assume a more prominent role in the future recognition of Indigenous communities.

Authors

• Tulia G. Falleti, University of Pennsylvania

• M Belen Unzueta