A01=Andrew Canessa
A01=Manuela Lavinas Picq
Anthropology and political theory
Author_Andrew Canessa
Author_Manuela Lavinas Picq
Category=JBSL11
Category=JHMC
Category=JP
Category=JPS
Category=NHTQ
Comparative political anthropology
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Ethnography of sovereignty
European philosophers and indigeneity
Evo Morales and Indigenous presidency
Indigeneity and sovereignty
Indigenous ethnic identity politics
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous statecraft
International law and Indigenous exclusion
Kichwa women shaping sovereignty
Latin American Indigenous activism
Modern Westphalian state exclusion
Plurinationalism in Bolivia & Ecuador
University of Arizona Press political science
Product details
- ISBN 9780816556717
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 17 Feb 2026
- Publisher: University of Arizona Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Although Indigenous peoples are often perceived as standing outside political modernity, Savages and Citizens takes the provocative view that Indigenous people have been fundamental to how contemporary state sovereignty was imagined, theorized, and practiced.
Delving into European political philosophy, comparative politics, and contemporary international law, the book shows how the concept of indigeneity has shaped the development of the modern state. The exclusion of Indigenous people was not a collateral byproduct; it was a political project in its own right. The book argues that indigeneity is a political identity relational to modern nation-states and that Indigenous politics, although marking the boundary of the state, are co-constitutive of colonial processes of state-making. In showing how indigeneity is central to how the international system of states operates, the book forefronts Indigenous peoples as political actors to reject essentializing views that reduce them to cultural “survivors” rooted in the past.
With insights drawn from diverse global contexts and empirical research from Bolivia and Ecuador, this work advocates for the relevance of Indigenous studies within political science and argues for an ethnography of sovereignty in anthropology. Savages and Citizens makes a compelling case for the centrality of Indigenous perspectives to understand the modern state from political theory to international studies.
Delving into European political philosophy, comparative politics, and contemporary international law, the book shows how the concept of indigeneity has shaped the development of the modern state. The exclusion of Indigenous people was not a collateral byproduct; it was a political project in its own right. The book argues that indigeneity is a political identity relational to modern nation-states and that Indigenous politics, although marking the boundary of the state, are co-constitutive of colonial processes of state-making. In showing how indigeneity is central to how the international system of states operates, the book forefronts Indigenous peoples as political actors to reject essentializing views that reduce them to cultural “survivors” rooted in the past.
With insights drawn from diverse global contexts and empirical research from Bolivia and Ecuador, this work advocates for the relevance of Indigenous studies within political science and argues for an ethnography of sovereignty in anthropology. Savages and Citizens makes a compelling case for the centrality of Indigenous perspectives to understand the modern state from political theory to international studies.
Andrew Canessa is a professor of anthropology at the University of Essex. Among his most important books are Intimate Indigeneities and Natives Making Nation.
Manuela Lavinas Picq is a senior lecturer in political science at Amherst College. Her most influential books include Vernacular Sovereignties and Sexualities in World Politics.
Manuela Lavinas Picq is a senior lecturer in political science at Amherst College. Her most influential books include Vernacular Sovereignties and Sexualities in World Politics.
