Rosie Harrison Phd Thesis

"¡YO SOY AYMARA, YO SOY CALLE!" A STUDY OF YOUNG PEOPLE RE-IMAGINING INDIGENEITY AND RESISTING MARGINALISATION IN EL ALTO, BOLIVIA Charlotte Rose Harrison A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2013 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7504 This item is protected by original copyright “¡Yo Soy Aymara, Yo Soy Calle!” A Study of Young People Re-Imagining Indigeneity and Resisting Marginalisation in El Alto, Bolivia Charlotte Rose Harrison PhD in Social Anthropology The University of St Andrews 2013 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Rosie Harrison, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 70,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September 2006; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2006 and 2013. Date …… signature of candidate ……… 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date …… signature of supervisor ……… 3. Permission for electronic publication: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to all of printed copy but embargo of all of electronic publication of thesis for a period of two years on the following grounds: publication would preclude future publication Date …… signature of candidate …… signature of supervisor ……… Abstract This thesis explores the new self-narratives which are currently being created by young alteños with experience of living and/or working on the streets. These young people are projecting their visions for the future and challenging their marginal status by going back to their roots, looking to the history, myths, legends and practices of their ancestors for inspiration. They are constantly affirming and reaffirming their connections both to the older generations and to Pachamama (Mother Earth). These connections, rather than being threatened by the urbanity of their present existence, are actually enhanced by it. Specifically, this thesis addresses the creativity employed by young alteños as they make a claim to modernity through working as shoe-shiners, conducting rituals such as the ch'alla to Pachamama, participating in festivals to create collectivity and belonging, and politicising indigenous culture in hip-hop at La Casa Juvenil de las Culturas Wayna Tambo in El Alto. This thesis explores the hopes and ambitions of young alteños; the ways they conceive of the future. Whilst it is true that the Presidency of Evo Morales has acted as a catalyst in the processes of re-evaluation of indigenous culture currently underway in Bolivia, this thesis proposes that, in the case of young people in El Alto, they do not merely accept his authority, but are constantly questioning, challenging and - where necessary - opposing, the changes introduced. Therefore, this thesis investigates the ways in which young alteños navigate and re-imagine categories of “indigeneity,” “authenticity” and “modernity” - how they affect and are affected by them in their everyday lives. It asks what it means to be young and Aymara today, in El Alto, and argues that there is no contradiction being both 'Aymara' and 'Street.' In using a youth-centred methodology, this thesis aims to give a direct voice to these young people and weight to their claims as agents of change in contemporary Bolivia. 1 2 "In this pilgrimage in search of modernity I lost my way at many points only to find myself again. I returned to the source and discovered that modernity is not outside but within us. It is today and the most ancient antiquity; it is tomorrow and the beginning of the world; it is a thousand years old and yet newborn......We pursue modernity in her incessant metamorphoses yet we never manage to trap her. She always escapes: each encounter ends in flight” Octavio Paz 1990 'Memory, history: far from being synonyms, they are opposites. Memory is life, borne by living groups and in their names, it is in permanent flux, open to the dialectic of remembering and of forgetting, unconscious of its successive deformations, vulnerable to all of its uses and manipulations, susceptible to long periods of latency and to sudden revitalisations. History is the always problematic and incomplete reconstruction of that which is no longer. Memory is a still-active phenomenon, a living link to the eternal present; history, a representation of the past….. Memory is rooted in the concrete, in space, gesture, image and object. History only attaches itself to temporary continuities, to evolution and to the relations between things' Pierre Nora 1984 3 4 Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to my parents, for their constant love and support; for being with me throughout this rather long journey and helping me deal with a multitude of unexpected challenges ranging from altitude to academia: To my mother, for unwavering enthusiasm, interest and energy and to my father for having faith and always saying “Go for it!” Thank you also to my brother, Dan, for visiting me in Bolivia - for wholeheartedly embracing the standard anthropological methodology of 'participation observation' and for coming back down the mountain. Thank you to all the shoe-shiners of Fundación Nuevo Día and the association Los Heroés, particularly Hernán and Pablo, for friendship and teaching me how to survive the street. Thank you to Abraham Bojorquéz and all the young alteños at Wayna Tambo and the students of UPEA and UMSA who, over many hours, shared their lives. Thank you to Yu-Shan Liu, for camaraderie through the ups and downs of the PhD experience and for always pushing me on. To Mattia Fumanti, who became my principal supervisor in the middle of the writing-up phase, for finding structure in the chaos. Thanks also to Stephanie Bunn, my second supervisor, and to my examiners, Stan Frankland and Maggie Bolton. Finally, a great thank you to Michael for teaching me (among many things) patience and perseverance - and for helping me make sense of a shamefully neglected bibliography. 5 6 Contents Abstract..............................................................................................................................1 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................5 Introduction...........................................................................................................9 Aspirational Aymara City............................................................................................13 Youth, Indigeneity and Authenticity............................................................................17 Methodology................................................................................................................25 Structure of Thesis.......................................................................................................31 Chapter I El Alto: Community in Action.......................................................................................39 El Alto and La Paz from Conquest to Independence: Patterns of Exclusion and Interdependence....................................................................................................39 Neighbourhood Organisations.....................................................................................46 The Politicisation of the Ayllu......................................................................................51 Recent Mobilisations: El Alto as Rebel City...............................................................57 The Return of the Indian: Evo Morales and the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS).........................................................................................................62 Chapter II 'Geographies of Resistance' and Global Imaginations: Young Alteño Shoe-Shiners....................................................................................................................67 Challenges of the Street...............................................................................................69 Creative Solutions:

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