Contesting State Monologues: Indigenous Grassroots’ Struggles with Prior Consultation Norms in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract Prior consultation (PC) has been an internationally enshrined norm for indigenous peoples’ rights since the 1980s. Indigenous peoples have called PC decades, but when governments finally begin implementation, a paradox results: previous advocates increasingly turn away from processes. I argue that only with perspective norms are and should be contested “on ground,” we able to understand this contradiction. Therefore, article presents new conceptual methodological interpretive framework studying grassroots contestation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Peruvian Amazon (2013–2016), hone three layers of contestation—explicit contestation, attitudes perceptions, political implications—and demonstrate (1) non-contestation confirms state monologues is alarming sign silenced voices, not support; (2) consultations reproduce asymmetries within groups replicating negotiations about extractive industry projects; (3) opposition may most powerful tool change narrow interpretations make use veto rights. Scaling up these insights, structure accommodates two irreconcilable understandings: either interpreted as end itself or means self-determination.