Meeting the Generals. A political ontology analysis of the struggle for land of the Paraguayan Maskoy in the 1980s

The defence of indigenous rights in Latin America has often benefited from the alliance between indigenous and non-indigenous sectors of the population. However, the narrative of these struggles has been often shaped by the assumptions of its non-indigenous commentators. In this article I confront different public transcripts of the Paraguayan Maskoy struggle for land in the 1980s. Drawing on the emergent framework of ‘political ontology’, I argue that the ontological categories sustaining modern political narratives inhibited the inclusion of the Maskoy political practices in the public transcripts of the land claim process, and that the acknowledgment of these practices could encourage more inclusive forms of collaboration.