Challenges and transformations: Community leadership and indigenous territorial governance in alto Wangki Bocay

Abstract

The Miskitu and Mayangna indigenous peoples of the Alto Wangki Bocay region, located in the northern part of Nicaragua, in the municipalities of Jinotega, San José de Bocay and Waspam, a core area of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, are in a process of leadership and governance transformation. This article analyzes the events in the recent history of the region that have had a direct effect on community and territorial govern­ance and leadership: from the relocation of these peoples from their territories during the war in the eighties and subsequent return, the formation of Territorial Associations and the subsequent creation of the Territorial Indigenous Governments. The article explores how the evolution of these forms of leadership and governance has impacted on the way the region faces the new challenges with which they deal.

This reflection is based on interviews with leaders of the region, at all levels of government, and by direct observation through work with the various government structures in the region, from the community level to indigenous territorial governments, between 2011 and 2016.

Revista Nicaragüense de Antropología Año 1 No.2 2017, p.34-43