Bret Gustafson has produced an encyclopedic, and at times epical, account of the bilingual education project in Bolivia as it transpired and evolved in the Guarani setting over the last few decades. Strategically situated as outside advisor, as collaborator in materials production, and as ethnographer of the project, Gustafson enjoyed access to the multiple realms of action that defined the progress of EIB, educación intercultural bilingüe, “bilingual intercultural education,” as it played out in Guarani communities, in the corridors of bureaucratic intrigue, in the programs of NGOs, and in the campaigns of political actors. There are many valuable lessons that emerge from this protracted engagement with every facet of the project. One of these is that the quest to modify educational policy and practice to encompass indigenous languages and worldviews quickly expands into cultural and political zones far removed from the purely educational; a second is that there are no easy answers, few villains or heroes, and instead of these palliatives, a great many figures and moments defined by the qualities of ambivalence and ambiguity. In a way, Gustafson’s book can be read as a caution against seeking simple solutions to complex social problems. But it would not be accurate to say that Gustafson counsels against taking up this good fight, for even if happy resolutions are not forthcoming, it is still the case that projects in bilingual intercultural education can achieve some amelioration of colonial structures of power distribution, and perhaps most significantly, can enable indigenous peoples to push ahead in a political project in which educational concerns constitute only one fragment in a larger agenda.

New Languages of the State begins with an introduction and then opens into three parts, representing three moments in an evolving chronology; interludes with a more personal tonality are placed between each part (and, in some cases, between chapters within parts). Part One, titled Resurgent Knowledge, traces in the historical context of the Guarani in Bolivia in accounting for present-day attitudes and social distinctions marking this community. A focal point here is the Massacre of Kuruyuki in January of 1892, in which several hundred Guarani men and boys were slaughtered as part of a campaign against a messianic insurrection; commemoration of this event will return as an article in contemporary Guarani political ceremonialism. This historical backdrop with its familiar Latin American colonialist mentality sets the scene for the struggle EIB will face in Bolivia of the 1990s – against the grain of repression and erasure, educational activists will seek “to open a new communicative space” (85) where Guarani youth will learn “to walk among the karai [whites] without shame” (86). Of special interest in this section of the book is a chapter titled, “Guarani Scribes: Bilingual Education as Indigenous Resurgence.” Gustafson portrays these individuals in the complex roles they occupy – teachers, local intellectuals, NGO operatives, and leaders in political movements. EIB gave these individuals an opportunity to re-envision the place of Guarani language and culture in the Bolivian polity even as they set about practical tasks associated with developing a Guarani curriculum for the schools. A telling moment is remarked by one of these scribes, who points to a “time when we started using ñande [the inclusive ‘we’]” (87). Through the efforts of this diverse group of activists – some were traditional Guarani, others bicultural Guarani, still others from karai or mestizo backgrounds – the idea of Guarani as speaking subjects in their native land began to take shape, even as questions arose as to how far the curriculum could go toward incorporating Guarani ways of knowing.

Gustafson draws our attention to the role of cultural symbols in this drive to enfranchise Guarani culture in the Bolivian setting. The simba, the long braid associated with traditional male identity, and the mandu, the woman’s one-piece dress, become attractive but tricky vehicles for capturing a Guarani essence. On the one hand, they do signify a rich indigenous heritage, but on the other, they have been utilized by cultural actors outside the community to reference a static, powerless Guarani past. Gustafson shows how Guarani scribes might inadvertently “collude in the folklorization of their own people” (103). In this close reading of the political implications of curricular creation in EIB, we come to see that every move opens a potential for misrepresentation, and the larger point shines forth clearly, that educational reform is not strictly, or even primarily, about education.

Part Two, Transnational Articulations, takes us into a second phase in the tale, shifting the time frame, scene, and tone of the action. The outward trajectory here is signaled in the interlude, which references the 1990 UN-sponsored World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand. Educational initiatives of the previous decade that activated Bolivia’s Guarani scribes to create a decolonized EIB are now swept up in a global, neoliberal crusade to produce “flexible and mobile workers” (176). The locus of action is now in the capital city of La Paz, in high-rise offices where state bureaucrats mingle with World Bank representatives, and where the indigenous agenda is subordinated to political schemes of economic development. Gustafson is especially good at bringing out the complexity of these linkages, and shading in the strategic calculations key players make as they seek to coordinate agendas that match up only imperfectly.

With this globalization of the EIB process, significant changes occur on the ground for the Guarani. EIB is absorbed “as a culturalist appendage to a managerialist project” (150) and the positioning of the Guarani scribes is reduced to that of “contextualizers” (199). The concern with local knowledge, and local ways of knowing, is set aside, and EIB is re-oriented towards “a Western, text-centric notion of literacy” (201). Gustafson does an admirable job of conveying these shifts in scene and tone, acquainting us with individuals along the way who bring their style and their purposes to bear on this amorphous, multifaceted program of educational reform. But there emerges from a reading of New Languages of the State a perception of a loss of innocence, or a fall from grace, in the transition from the “resurgent knowledge” of the book’s first section to the “transnational articulations” of its second.

Part Three, titled Return to Struggle, takes up an assessment of EIB as it enters into the Evo Morales period, and brings the book to a close on a slightly optimistic note. If the ideals of the earlier phases could not be fully realized – that is, if a truly Guarani epistemology could not be generated and deployed in the schools of the region – there are, nonetheless, some significant positives to take away from this case study, in Gustafson’s final accounting. Surprisingly, the advent of Morales, himself of Aymara background, did not signal a revival of a project designed “to place indigeneity at the center of knowledge production” (265). In December of 2005 Evo Morales and his MAS party came into power and there was talk of a pachakuti, a bold new era, in the making. But political paralysis deriving from a clash of regional interests prevented the new government from pursuing its more ambitious goals. In the realm of education, Gustafson shows how fear of an indigenous take-over led to retrenchment on the part of the political establishment, and how cross-cutting political alliances further stalled the momentum of educational reform.

In the end, Gustafson finds that the push for educational reform played its part in a larger drama of the indigenous quest for liberation in Bolivia. It opened a space for community activism but, in Gustafson’s final analysis, its goals never became the critical threshold for the Guarani, who remained focused on the perennial search for access to land and other resources, and at last, for rights to self-determination. The visions of intraculturalism, defined by Gustafson as “the strengthening of indigenous identities, histories, and languages from within” (271), could not be promulgated at the national level. But through hunger strikes, marches, and other political actions, the Guarani continued pressing, in the Evo Morales era, for their place in the sun. Gustafson sees the politics of knowledge in Bolivia over the past few decades as a phase in an enduring social and political movement, a phase that proved useful rallying community support and reinforcing community values.

In the present moment, as projects of regional autonomy interface with projects of indigenous autonomy, Bolivia remains a flashpoint where indigenous peoples seek to extend their political clout as full citizens of the state. Bret Gustafson, in this valuable chronicle of a revolution partly realized, partly failed, demonstrates the pivotal role of educational reform in the political turmoil that eventually swept Evo Morales into power. Gustafson adroitly handles a complex narrative, mapping in fond detail the pathways of articulation linking multiple players. Moreover, he commands an impressive discourse palette, ranging from sharply drawn vignettes of colorful characters he meets along the way to close analysis of curricular innovation to insightful discussion of global influences as they impinge on national and regional agendas. New Languages of the State is a vital contribution to understanding what Xavier Albó calls “the return of the Indian” (7), and Gustafson’s nuanced findings, as well as his robust methods of ethnographic inquiry, should prove to be influential as we continue to explore this evolving zone of social transformation.

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[Review length: 1547 words • Review posted on December 14, 2011]