Abstract
2021 marks the bicentennial of the declarations of independence of several Latin American countries. Indeed, in 1821 alone, formal independence was gained by Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. Other new states followed, such as Brazil and Ecuador in 1822, while other countries had already declared official independence by this time (Argentina in 1816 and Chile in 1818).
In this setting, the IACL-AIDC Research Group “Constitutionalism and Societal Pluralism: Diversity Governance Compared” decided to focus this year’s group symposium on this 200th anniversary and the still unfolding and unsettled relations between these states and their original inhabitants (Indigenous peoples). Hence, this symposium examines these independence processes by looking at contemporary aspects of Indigenous constitutional politics, how issues for Indigenous people have been handled in the creation of new states and over time, and what are the pressing issues in this regard today. Legal aspects of rights, legislation, litigation, and international convergence or divergence in Indigenous discourses in Latin America are the fil rouge of all this symposium’s entries.