The region of the world commonly known as Latin America is a contested terrain. In the imaginary of colonial and neocolonial perspectives it has been at times thought of as a unified socio-economic and cultural region, as a geopolitical prey for advancing economic and cultural invasion, and/or as the backdoor space where cheap labour is found and where land robbing, extractivism, and accumulation by dispossession is still active. Other perspectives, such as those of radical scholars, social movements, and community activists, have stressed the diversity of Latin American territories and experiences practicing myriad ways of living that resist and move beyond colonial and neocolonial propositions. Indigenous, Afro-American, criollo campesino, campesino indigena, and popular organizations unfold ways of self-determined living that are showing us, in real time, how to practice non-exploitive pathways for doing economy and living well. Within Latin America, the diverse economies research field is increasingly being deployed to map, engage, theorize, and even co-create these less- and non-capitalocentric expressions of doing life/economy. However, these experiences have also shown us, over time, that in doing so, several contradictory forces are at play that require further consideration. For example, what is the relationship of these experiences with nation-states in Latin America? How are issues of gender, ethnicity, language and cultural differences addressed in these diverse experiences? And how do they relate to neoliberal capital discourses?