Willem Assies died in 2010 at the age of 55. The various stages of his career as a political anthropologist of Latin American illustrate how astute a researcher he was. He had a keen eye for the contradictions he observed during his fieldwork but also enjoyed theoretical debate. A distrust of power led him not only to attempt to understand “people without voice” but to work alongside them so they could discover and find their own voice. Willem Assies explored the messy, often untidy daily lives of people, with their inconsistencies, irrationalities, and passions, but also with their hopes, sense of beauty, solidarity, and quest for dignity. This collection brings together some of Willem Assies’s best, most fascinating, and still highly relevant writings.

Willem Assies died in 2010 at the age of 55. The various stages of his career as a political anthropologist of Latin American illustrate how astute a researcher he was. He had a keen eye for the contradictions he observed during his fieldwork but also enjoyed theoretical debate. A distrust of power led him not only to attempt to understand “people without voice” but to work alongside them so they could discover and find their own voice. Willem Assies explored the messy, often untidy daily lives of people, with their inconsistencies, irrationalities, and passions, but also with their hopes, sense of beauty, solidarity, and quest for dignity. This collection brings together some of Willem Assies’s best, most fascinating, and still highly relevant writings.

Foreword
Geert Banck

Acknowledgements
List of Contributors

Introduction
Gemma van der Haar, Salvador Martí i Puig, Ton Salman

PART I: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA

Introduction
Geert Banck

Chapter 1. Of Structured Moves and Moving Structures: An Overview of Theoretical Perspectives on Social Movements
Chapter 2. Urban Social Movements, Democratization and Democracy in Brazil

PART II: AGRARIAN ISSUES

Introduction
Cristobal Kay

Chapter 3. The Agrarian Question in Peru: Some Observations on the Roads of Capital
Chapter 4. From Rubber Estate to Simple Commodity Production: Agrarian Struggles in the Northern Bolivian Amazon

PART III: INDIGENOUS (LAND) RIGHTS

Introduction
André Hoekema

Chapter 5. Self-Determination and the “New Partnership”; the Politics of Indigenous Peoples and States
Chapter 6. Indian Justice in the Andes: Re-rooting or Re-routing?

PART IV: ETHNICITY AND CITIZENSHIP

Introduction
Salvador Martí i Puig

Chapter 7. The Limits of State Reform and Multiculturalism in Latin America: Contemporary Illustrations
Chapter 8. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Indigenous Peoples and Autonomies in Latin America

PART V: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN BOLIVIA

Introduction
Ton Salman

Chapter 9. David versus Goliath in Cochabamba: Water Rights, Neoliberalism and the Revival of Social Protest in Bolivia
Chapter 10. Neoliberalism and the Re-Emergence of Ethnopolitics in Bolivia

Bibliography Willem Assies