In recent years, Latin America has been characterized by what has been described as the 'historical reversal of the indigenous issue': from submission to emancipation, from passive resistance to initiative, from shame to self-valorization. An exemplary case is the Bolivian 'cultural revolution' under the leadership of the 'first indigenous president' Evo Morales. The new outstanding role of ethno-identitarian movements in Bolivian national politics has been often interpreted as a result of a process of cultural awareness, and thus as an example of successful emancipatory process. However, these arguments often rely upon essentialist assumptions, whose main problem is to consider identity as given. Although, it is certainly true that we assisted to an improvement of life conditions and to an increase of the political weight of Bolivian popular sectors, a controversial issue is the effective impact of this dynamic in terms of their 'indigenous' consciousness as well as the link between bottom-up claims and top-down reforms. Relying upon a multidisciplinary framework and an ethnographic study of Bolivian ethno-cultural movements, this paper argues that the process of development of an 'indigenous' consciousness is neither linear nor bottom-up, but it rather follows a complex non teleological path. This will be done by showing how ethno-cultural identities and cultures are not necessarily given, hence triggering quests for recognition and citizenship, but are rather the by-product of institutionally channelled identity politics and of their performative potential. Such a misframing of the social process, moreover, may generate side effects such as social fragmentation or conflict.

The paper will approach the processes of ethnic and territorial reconstruction that have been occurring since the late 1990s among several indigenous groups in the Brazilian Amazon region, more precisely, in the lower Tapajós River, Pará state. It will remark the emergence of these processes as a result of territorial struggles as well as the indigenous groups' new historical perception of their symbolic relations systems constituted from shamanism representations. Thus, from an ethnographic perspective, the paper will show these processes in three distinct geographic areas in the Tapajós region, through where we might trace a network of shamans who had a strong interaction in decisive moments of their lives, and whose representations were critical to the emergence of the ethnic movement. Focusing on this triangular shaman connection in which a tied relationship can be observed between its representations and the ethnical movement, it will discuss how these representations became powerful images to update ancient historical events, reinventing the past and defining a new ethnic and cultural prospect on their lives.

The paper will emphasise the emergence and (re)building of indigenous identities when coping with conflicts related to natural resources exploitation in Peru. Arguments based on ethnic identity seem to be reinforced by conflicts with extractive companies as well as by international laws protecting indigenous populations and their land use (particularly the Convention No 169 of the International Labour Organisation). The relationships between local and global stakeholders (NGOs, Human Rights organisations, etc.) contribute to a new politicisation of cultural identities and lead to the emergence of an "alternative scene" where indigenous groups can express their rights and citizenship claims.

We especially focus on the case of the conflict surrounding the Conga mining project in Cajamarca, a region where few people traditionally recognise themselves as indigenous. The outbreak of the conflict in October 2011 showed the difficulty for the population who opposes against the development of the gold mining megaproject Conga to be heard in a crucial topic for the government policy. The ethnic argument is present in the opposition as a strategy (to attempt using indigenous rights), but also as an assertion to a specific lifestyle and another model of development that crystallises his claims around the defense of water (much needed resource to the mine and peasant life).

Following Hall (2006) I take cultural heritage to be a discursive practice around ideas of transmissions of cultural memory. In the bid to UNESCO for recognition as a World Intangible Heritage 'site', presented by Oruro's cultural authorities, emphasis was placed on the antiquity and accumulative powers of the celebration of the Oruro Carnival parade, which is officially promoted all over the world as an accurate representation of Bolivia's cultural heritage. My analysis approaches the Oruro Carnival as a site of cultural performance in the context of nationalist discourses since the 1940s and onwards. Its focus is on the transmissive and dialogical role of popular culture and cultural performance in relation to processes of production and transmission of national memory in Oruro, in its contemporary role as 'centre of national imagination'. In this paper I deal with the tangible manifestations of exclusion of indigenous actors and their legacies in the festive, and how these reflect on symbolic representations of the nation at a wider level. I will then look at the political responses that have emerged from the dialogical dimension of festive performance, and particularly the role of indigeneity as a source of political agency, through the emergence of new processes of 'self-production' (Hall 1997a, Hall 1996), and the engagement with wider politics of recognition (Taylor 1992).

The ethnic identity in Mexico has been historically defined by anthropologists and national institution regarding at the cultural manifestations of specific indigenous groups, taking native language, civil-religious cargo systems and coherent cosmology as elements of distinction from the rest of the national population. In the last forty years the self-identification through political claims in terms of multiculturalism and/or autonomy has become the main way to repositioning the role of indigenous groups, while they are claiming for the right of an ethnic citizenship and a full inclusion based on collective diversity.

Based on ethnographic data collected in different localities of the state of Jalisco (Western Mexico), the paper examines the linkage and mutual effects that ritual performances, i.e. especially specific monetary exchanges between villagers during religious festivals, serves to construct differentiated identity in a region in which the historical process of cultural homogenization and the progressive globalization through migration, seem to have borrowed all distinctions.

In some of these localities, the recent resurgent of ethnic identity and self-classification in terms of indigeneity, is also strategic to perform ecological struggles. The paper examines comparatively these ethno-political processes confronting the different outcomes they produced: in some places the ethnicity being revitalized and used publicly, in others being hidden and reserved to intimate rituals. The ethnographic regional comparison will drive to theoretical questions about the hypothetical function/continuity/shift that cultural performances can have in the process of reborn of indigeneity, in places of Mexico often depicted as culturally mestizo.

Performance is almost always associated with theatre, dancing, singing, playing music. It is an act of presenting a form of entertainment to a public, involving art, creation, putting yourself on stage. Thus, indigenous performance is often studied through dance, music, theatre, and in what ways it reinforces cultural identity, self-determination, and visibility in the national and global world. However, over recent years, indigenous media have also played an important role in 'performance'. Hypermedia, i.e. web-based platforms for blending video, audio and text based representations are, in particular, becoming increasingly powerful tools for delivering indigenous performances to a worldwide audience.

In the COBRA project (http://projectcobra.org/), communities of Brazil and Guyana are using video and photo to identify indicators of sustainability. If we believe that communities provide an objective representation of their situation then we would not be talking of performance. If local communities see Hypermedia as a tool to promote their own particular interests, from local to global scales, through careful choreographing of their representations, then we can justifiably talk about 'performance'. In what ways does leading Participatory Hypermedia project like ours empower, expose and affect local self-consciousness? In this paper, we will discuss how communities are constructing, communicating and performing a message with a purpose in mind that is very close to the ideals of a performance. We think indigenous communities, through the way they use these tools, reveal they have a clear conscience of their identity and how to shape it to serve their purposes.