Rivers of Resistance: Rama Responses to Nicaragua's Grand Canal.

Abstract

This thesis examines the effects of Nicaragua’s Grand Canal plans on local politics in the community of Rama Cay, located on the southeast Atlantic Coast. While stalled, Grand Canal plans have had a major effect on grassroots politics in Nicaragua. This is especially true for the afro-indigenous Rama-Kriol community of the southeast Atlantic Coast. The Rama-Kriol Territorial Government recently agreed to lease 263-square kilometers of Rama-Kriol communal titled lands to the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co., Ltd. I explore three cross-cutting themes to better understand this locally-contested decision: rhetoric of support for the Grand Canal, interethnic land conflict, and Rama Cay political divisions. These thematic areas produce insights on neoliberal multiculturalism, the commons, and clientelism. They also invite reflection on the challenges of actual implementation of indigenous communal title on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua.