Instrumentalising Indigenous Differences: Modernity’s Ultimate Cul-de-Sac

Abstract

This is a critical examination of the contemporary comprehension of difference, focusing particularly on one of its most violent expressions: the systematic and often brutal instrumentalisation of Indigenous peoples in the wake of mainstream development and the ongoing encroachment upon Indigenous worlds, especially across the American continent. It argues that difference is not an incidental feature of social life but a central mediator of both internal and external relations, shaping how groups respond to one another and how new forms of interaction and conflict emerge. Throughout recent centuries, divergent and frequently antagonistic interpretations of difference – rooted in contrasting ideological and political projects – have collided, revealing the persistent struggle over whose worldview prevails in defining social order. This process unfolds through complex socio‑spatial dynamics in which conservative forces have consistently worked to relativise, domesticate, or negate autonomous forms of difference. In doing so, they reinforce entrenched hierarchies and sustain a status quo marked by structural intolerance and deep inequality. Difference does not merely exist within space; it is produced through spatial relations. Its political significance becomes fully intelligible only when examined through the collective and contested production of social space, where groups negotiate, resist and reshape the conditions under which they live. Ultimately, the management, suppression or mobilisation of difference plays a decisive role in structuring contemporary socio‑spatial orders, determining who is recognised, who is marginalised and whose worlds are allowed to flourish or are rendered disposable.