Leiden University Student Repository

Lenders, Janna (2021)

'Coca Live, Yankee Die' A study on the mediation of discourse around the coca leaf

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

This thesis studies the mediation of discourse around the coca leaf in Bolivia. In the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the coca leaf became classified as a narcotic drug. Indigenous groups in Bolivia ascribe great value to the coca leaf and call it a cultural practice. Thus, a political and cultural dichotomy exists with regard to the signification of the coca leaf. While the academic record has confirmed the existence of different types of discourse, it remains unclear how those have been constructed. Through carrying out a Foucauldian discourse analysis, and with Foucault’s ‘regime of truth’ in mind, this thesis deconstructs the discourse around the coca leaf. It concludes that the prohibitionist discourse is based on racial premises and the metaphor that perceives drugs as a diabolical force. Secondly, the discourses articulated by the MAS-government is based on a cultural argument, on indigenous knowledge and decolonisation.

coca leaf

Bolivia

international drug control regime

Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS)

United States

Evo Morales

regime of truth

Foucauldian discourse analysis

Author

Lenders, Janna

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Global Conflict in the Modern Era

Supervisors

Rodríguez Idarraga, Nicolás

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en