Constitutional Citizenship and Indigeneity: The Case of Latin America

Abstract

The article explores the impact of the recognition of plurinationality and related pluralist constitutional concepts on the constitutional construction of the relationship between the modern state and Indigenous nations and citizens. It uses the prism of the Indigenous constitutional citizen in order to undertake this task, focusing on the Latin American region and challenging some settled precepts about the place of the citizen in the modern state. The article concludes that Latin America presents a complex and evolving constitutional framework with regard to citizenship status, rights and identity in relation to the position of Indigenous peoples under the law. In plurinational states, legal conditions are in place for Indigenous peoples to identify both as citizens of the modern, settler state and as members of Indigenous nations. However, thus far, as regards effective implementation the story is somewhat more ambivalent. The enquiry is important, however, as it opens the issue of citizenship up to further enquiry with regard to impact of pluralistic thinking.

Keywords: Citizenship, constitution, indigeneity, Indigenous peoples, Latin America, plurinationality, pluralism