State Theory and Andean Politics
New Approaches to the Study of Rule

Christopher Krupa (Edited by), David Nugent (Edited by)

9780812246940

Hardback, published 14 April 2015

336 pages, 2 illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg

"A heroic, successful, and grounded assault on the apparent empirical reality of the state and its 'state effects.' These intrepid scholars hurl themselves at the Andean state, but they bring an analytical imagination and ethnographic practice to match the shape-shifting social production of the state that we can all learn from. A major break in the sterile, realist clouds that have obscured a more nuanced understanding of both state effects and state affects." (James C. Scott, Yale University) "A very important book for political anthropologists and historians of state formation. Its compelling and unique argument will be a fascinating intervention" (Nancy Postero, University of California, San Diego) "A splendid collection of very strong essays by first-class scholars that contributes to the regional ethnographic and historical literature and to discussions of the nature of the state, political rule, and citizenship in the region. State Theory and Andean Politics fills a void." (Finn Stepputat, Danish Institute for International Studies)

In the last few decades, Andean states have seen major restructuring of the organization, leadership, and reach of their governments. With these political tremors come major aftershocks, regarding both definitions and expectations: What is a state? Who or what makes it up, and where does it reside? In what capacity can the state be expected to right wrongs, raise people up, protect them from harm, maintain order, or provide public services? What are its powers and responsibilities?
State Theory and Andean Politics attempts to answer these questions and more through an examination of the ongoing process of state creation in Andean nations. Focusing on the everyday, extraofficial, and frequently invisible or partially concealed permutations of rule in the lives of Andean people, the essays explore the material and cultural processes by which states come to appear as real and tangible parts of everyday life. In particular, they focus on the critical role of emotion, imagination, and fantasy in generating belief in the state, among the governed and the governing alike. This approach pushes beyond the limits of the state as conventionally understood to consider how "nonstate" acts of governance intersect with official institutions of government, while never being entirely determined by them or bound to their authorizing agendas. State Theory and Andean Politics asserts that the state is not simply an institutional-bureaucratic apparatus but one of many forces vying for a claim to legitimate political dominion.
Featuring an impressive array of Andeanist scholars as well as eminent state theorists Akhil Gupta and Gyanendra Pandey, State Theory and Andean Politics makes a bold and novel claim about the nature of states and state-making that deepens understanding not only of the Andes and the Global South but of the world at large.
Contributors: Kim Clark, Nicole Fabricant, Lesley Gill, Akhil Gupta, Christopher Krupa, David Nugent, Gyanendra Pandey, Mercedes Prieto, Maria Clemencia RamÍrez, Irene Silverblatt, Karen Spalding, Winifred Tate.

Chapter 1. Off-Centered States: Rethinking State Theory Through an Andean Lens
-Christopher Krupa and David Nugent
PART I. CRITICAL PHENOMENOLOGIES OF RULE
Chapter 2. The Idea of the State in Colombia: An Analysis from the Periphery
-MarÍa Clemencia RamÍrez
Chapter 3. Respatializing the State from the Margins: Reflections on the Camba Autonomy Movement in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
-Nicole Fabricant
Chapter 4. State Formation and Class Politics in Colombia
-Lesley Gill
PART II. OFF-CENTERED MORPHOLOGIES OF STATE
Chapter 5. Cadastral Politics: Property Wars and State Realism in Highland Ecuador
-Christopher Krupa
Chapter 6. New Arenas of State Action in Highland Ecuador: Public Health and State Formation, c. 1925-1950
-A. Kim Clark
Chapter 7. The State and Indigenous Women in Ecuador, 1925-1975
-Mercedes Prieto
PART III. FEAR, FANTASY, AND DELUSION
Chapter 8. Haunting the Modern Andean State: Colonial Legacies of Race and Civilization
-Irene Silverblatt
Chapter 9. Appearances to the Contrary: Fantasy, Fear, and Displacement in Twentieth-Century Peruvian State Formation
-David Nugent
PART IV. CROSS-BORDER PROCESSES OF STATECRAFT
Chapter 10. Notes on the Formation of the Andean Colonial State
-Karen Spalding
Chapter 11. The Aspirational State: State Effects in Putumayo
-Winifred Tate
PART V. THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS
Chapter 12. Off-Centered States: An Appreciation
-Gyanendra Pandey
Chapter 13. Viewing States from the Global South
-Akhil Gupta
Notes
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments