Indigenous Struggles for Autonomy: The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua

Indigenous Struggles for Autonomy: The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua offers a broad and comprehensive analysis of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast and the process of autonomy that was initiated in 1987 as part of a wider conflict resolution process during the years of the Sandinista revolution and has continued through to the present day. Over its 30 year period of development, the autonomy process on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast can be seen as a crucible for the autonomous struggles of minority peoples throughout the Latin American continent. Autonomy on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast remains highly contested, being simultaneously characterized by progress, setbacks, and violent confrontation within a number of fields and involving a multiplicity of local, national, and global actors. This experience offers critical lessons for efforts around the world that seek to resolve long-established and deep-seated ethnic conflict by attempting to reconcile the need for development, usually fostered by national governments through neo-extractivist policies, with the protection of minority rights advocated by marginalized minorities living within nation states and, increasingly, by intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States. This book presents analyses that reveal the broad implications for the struggle for autonomy on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, conducted by scholars with expertise in an array of disciplines including sociology, globalization theory, anthropology, history, socio-linguistics, cultural and postcolonial studies, gender studies, and political science.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Indigenous Struggles for Autonomy: The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua Luciano Baracco Chapter 2. From the Kingdom of Mosquitia to the Mosquito Reservation: The Demise of British Imperialism on the Mosquito Coast and the Challenge of Nicaraguan Nation-Building Luciano Baracco Chapter 3. The Company Times: Neocolonialism and Ethnic Relations on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast in the Twentieth Century Eric Rodrigo Meringer Chapter 4. The Sandinista Revolution and the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua: Revolution, Counter-Revolution, and Indigenous Struggles for Autonomy Luciano Baracco Chapter 5. Leasing Communal Lands…In “Perpetuity”: Post-Titling Scenarios on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua Miguel González Chapter 6. Negotiating Consultation: The Duty to Consult and Contestation of Autonomy in Nicaragua’s Rama-Kriol Territory Joshua L. Mayer Chapter 7. Autonomy in the Caribbean Coast: Neoliberalism, Landless Peasants and the Resurgence of Ethnic Conflict Govand Khalid Azeez and Alejandra Gaitán-Barrera Chapter 8. Strong Women: Memories of Miskitu Women forging Peace and Autonomy Dolores Figueroa Romero and Arelly Barbeyto Chapter 9. Cocaine Money, Cement Houses, and New Residential Arrangements in a Coastal Miskitu Village Mark Jamieson Chapter 10. The Role of Autonomy in the Revitalization of the Languages of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast Jane Freeland and Colette Grinevald Index About the Editor About the Contributors

About the Author :
Luciano Baracco is associate professor in political science and international relations at the Middle East Technical University, Northern Cyprus Campus.

Review :
Written by well-known specialists in the field and based on extensive fieldwork, this book offers new perspectives on the historical preconditions and current contradictions of Nicaragua's autonomy process. The book demonstrates then as now Nicaraguan governments consider the Atlantic coast primarily a source of natural resources. Once in the eye of a colossal geopolitical storm, the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua faded back into the margins of public awareness soon after the intense conflict of the 1980s subsided. Yet the struggle for autonomy—one major factor in that conflict—has continued, with equally high stakes and lessons to be learned for similar struggles elsewhere. The “post-conflict” scholars of this volume offer insightful analysis of these discouraging subsequent years, along with provocative revisions of existing historical interpretations, which merit serious and sustained engagement. This book persuasively shows how Black and indigenous Nicaraguan protagonists of these struggles for autonomy, though often invisibilized and always buffeted by more powerful forces, continue to exert a profound influence on the course of Nicaraguan and Caribbean Central American history.