01942nas a2200301 4500000000100000000000100001000000100002008004100003260000800044653002600052653001600078653001100094653002800105653003100133653003300164653001600197653001100213653001700224653001600241100002000257700001500277245008100292856014300373300001200516490000700528520108500535022002001620 2021 d cdec10aBolivarian Revolution10aIndigeneity10aMapoyo10aRevolución bolivariana10aUNESCO intangible heritage10aUNESCO patrimonio inmaterial10aindigenidad10amapoyo10anacionalismo10aNationalism1 aGabriel Alfonzo1 aAna Mendez00aBolivar s Sword: The Mapoyo and the Politics of Heritage-Making in Venezuela uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85120869598&doi=10.1111%2fjlca.12563&partnerID=40&md5=995b5214a7820b404802304fafea6f66 a386-4070 v263 aThis article analyzes the political dynamics involved in the inclusion of the Mapoyo oral tradition into UNESCO s lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. We frame this designation as an “event” that encapsulates a contested process of negotiation between the Mapoyo Indigenous community and the Venezuelan state. Our article evaluates the intersection of two asymmetrical (but nonantagonistic) political agendas in terms of how they are enacted through heritage-making practices: (1) the Mapoyo s demands for territorial autonomy and (2) the Bolivarian Revolution s nationalist program. We focus on the way this heritagization process was tied to discourses of patriotic indigeneity centered on a sword attributed to Simón Bolívar. We argue that even though heritage-making practices mostly reproduce nation states’ hegemonic discourses, they can also open spaces for subaltern groups to exert relational forms of agency. Ultimately, we show the implications of the Mapoyo heritage designation in reimagining the place of Indigenous peoples in Venezuela s national history. a19354932 (ISSN)