Pabel Camilo López Flores is a Bolivian social researcher, associated with the Postgraduate Program in Development Sciences CIDES-UMSA (Bolivia). Doctor in Sociology from the Scuola Normale Superiore and the Università di Milano 'Bicocca' (Italy). He has a post-doctorate in Geography at the Federal University of Uberlandia (Brazil), a Master in Social Policies and Sustainable Territory Management, a Master in Philosophy and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Law. He is currently a member and former coordinator of the Working Group "Territorialities in dispute and r-existence" of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences CLACSO.

His work is located between the areas of sociology of social movements, political sociology, and sociology of the territory, in a transdisciplinary perspective. His academic work and line of research are the socio-territorial movements of a community matrix, particularly of indigenous peoples in Bolivia and their processes of building autonomy. His current research focus refers to the socio-territorial issue, the experiences of community r-existence, and the processes where territorialities are disputed in tension with the frameworks of the nation-state, as well as the relations between societies and states.

Publications

Monographs (selection)

(In press). Contrahegemonía comunitaria: las experiencias autonómicas del pueblo Guaraní en Bolivia y del Zapatismo en México. Buenos Aires: Editorial El Colectivo. 

2018. Pabel Camilo López Flores y Gaya Makaran (coords.): Recolonización en Bolivia. Neonacionalismo extractivista y resistencia comunitaria. México: Editorial Bajo Tierra / CIALC-UNAM. 

 

Compilations (selection)

2017. Dossier: Etnicidad, territorio y pueblos indígenas: paradojas y desafíos de las políticas neoliberales. e-cadernos ces  28 (2017). Coimbra: Centro de Estudos Socias (CES), Universidade de Coimbra.

 

Articles / Chapters (selection)

2020. “Autonomía indígena en disputa: entre la reconstitución comunitaria y la tutela estatal. La experiencia guaraní de Huacaya en Bolivia”. En: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, (121): 49‑70. 

2020 (In press): “Societal Movements in Latin America: Indigenous Autonomies and Territorialities in Dispute”. En: Taylor Group y Francis Group (coords.): Handbook of Latin America and the Environment. Londres/ Nueva York: Routledge.

2018. “Territorialidades indígenas y la recreación extractivista del colonialismo interno en Bolivia”. En: Revista de Estudios Marítimos y Sociales (en línea), (13).

2017. “Defensa de territorios indígenas en las tierras bajas de Bolivia: derechos colectivos, neoextractivismo y autonomía”. En: e-cadernos ces (en línea), 28 (2017).

2017. “¿Un proceso de descolonización o un periodo de recolonización en Bolivia? Las autonomías indígenas en tierras bajas durante el gobierno del MAS”. En: RELIGACIÓN. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades 2 (6): 48-66. 

 

Research project as a fellow of CALAS (with Anna Preiser)

Title: Post-extractivist horizons in Bolivia and Peru: Socio-environmental dimension of the crisis and impacts of social movements and international actors

Abstract: A current characteristic in South America is expressed in the expansion of the extractivist border. At the same time, the effects of climate change and environmental problems such as deforestation, soil degradation, water, and environmental pollution are increasingly evident and worrying. In this context, in most of the countries of the region, socio-environmental conflicts have marked the 'eco-territorial turn' in Latin America (Svampa, 2019) and are placing in strong questioning and dispute the territorial policies of the States and governments, challenging the social and ecological costs as well as environmental racism towards indigenous peoples (Svampa, 2019; Martínez-Alier, 2004), the multiple inequalities that they generate and the effects of the “development” itself based on unlimited economic growth. At the same time, alternative proposals arise with a post-extractivist scope, demanding a new relationship between society and nature (Gudynas, 2012; Acosta / Brand 2017). Likewise, in recent years the influence of international norms and actors towards the ecological dimension and collective rights has been accentuating. However, its application seems insufficient and/or contrasting in relation to the demands of social movements. We propose an exploratory and comparative analysis of the changes and/or continuities of extractivist policies with a focus on environmental norms and collective rights in Bolivia and Peru and the possible horizons of change towards a post-extractivism, showing, on the one hand, of the effects of the struggles and ecoterritorial demands of social subjects and, on the other hand, the role of international norms and actors, particularly of European cooperation, their form of influence and type of impacts on national norms and policies and the degree of real appropriation by the States in both countries.