'Memory, Mobility and Social Change in a Bolivian Town'
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Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Goldsmiths, University of London, September 2013. 22192637 Emma Felber 22-09-82 'Memory, mobility and social change in a Bolivian town' The following is all my own work. Abstract This thesis addresses social change in Tapacarí, a small rural town in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Tapacarí, which was once an important colonial town and home to an elite controlling the peasant population around it, is now largely empty due to high levels of migration to urban centres. The town retains symbolic and ritual importance for indigenous peasant people and former townspeople in different ways, but has become more economically marginalised as the economic and kin relationships between these groups has changed. The thesis proposes that the town now be seen as one point on a wider array of multiple residences used by indigenous and peasant people as they respond flexibly to unpredictable economic conditions and build autonomy. At the same time the town exists as a place of memory and history for the people who no longer live there, and who come once a year for the fiesta. Based on long-term multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, the thesis locates small-scale processes of cultural production, discrimination and resistance within larger national and international political and cultural narratives. Through examination of spatial divisions, ritual and local government bureaucracy, a depiction of the fractures and tensions of small-town life emerges. It engages with the elasticity of 'the local' and the different ways of belonging to a place where few people now live, in the context of a wider conversation about indigeneity, identity and memory arising from political and social change in Bolivia in the early years of the twenty-first century, including the election of Evo Morales. Through discussion of religious and civic events as well as everyday life, this research shows that those who belong to the town form intimate and contradictory relationships which both fracture along and cross over barriers of class, location and ethnicity. Acknowledgements The complete list of people who have contributed over the years to the development of this thesis would fill a chapter by itself. That said, I would like to extend thanks to the following individuals, institutions and communities for their inspiration, help and support. The research on which this thesis is based was financed by the Economic and Social Research Council. Numerous administrative staff at Goldsmiths College guided the various stages of research and submission, especially Lesley Hewings. My supervisors Victoria Goddard and Frances Pine have both offered superlative levels of support and patience, and I am deeply grateful to them. Tristan Platt, Joanna Overing, Lindsay Crickmay and Maggie Bolton at the University of St Andrews were responsible for opening up the road of Andean and Bolivian studies and to them I owe the spark for an enduring fascination. The anthropology department at Goldsmiths College has been a consistently stimulating and supportive environment to study, research and teach in. I would like to extend thanks to all who read the first drafts of some of the material which appears here and offered their comments: Frances Pine, Sophie Day, David Graeber, Keith Hart, Casey High, Mark Lamont, Olivia Swift, Veronica Barassi, Martin Fotta and Jesse Sklair. Thanks to the Bolivianists who generously shared their enthusiasm and experience over the years: Into Goudsmit, Melania Calestani, Nico Tassi, John Crabtree, Henry Stobart, Andrew Canessa and Miranda Shield-Johanssen. I also thank Alex Tilley and everyone at the Bolivia Information Forum for the many discussions. I owe deep gratitude to the many people in Cochabamba whose friendship and willingness to share details of their families and lives were incredibly generous. I would like to thank Monica Rocha, Lesly and Reynaldo Yucra and Susi Murillo in particular. I also thank Martin Ramos and Bernaldino Herbas for their much-needed introduction to tapacareño society. I was extremely lucky to have had the logistical support and companionship of everyone at the municipal government of Tapacarí, starting of course with the mayor at the time, Pedro Gutiérrez Cruz, the Official Mayor Eugenio Zárate, Subprefecto Juan Phuru, Simiona Gutiérrez and all members of the municipal council and oversight committee. All the civil servants at the municipal government helped considerably with this fieldwork, but special thanks go to Nora Flores, Richard Garcia, Willy Huarachi, David Torrez and Giovanni Muñoz, and to all others who shared their knowledge and perspectives with me. Without the willingness of the people of the town of Tapacarí and the village of Tikira, this thesis would not have been possible. Heartfelt thanks to Humberto Aviles, the Marca Castellón family, Doña Catalina Castellón and Don Jose Victor Gandarillas, Lucia, German and Ricardo Gandarillas and Paulina, Doña Elena and Mario too. Thanks to Georgina Guzmán, Aleja Alanes and Lucy Alanes and the residentes' association for allowing me to attend their meetings. In the UK, I would like to thank Jonathan Jarrett for the interdisciplinary conversation, Stephen Early for all the practical support, Afshin Darian 'El Padrino', Ian Jackson, Victoria Williams and Andrew May. For their assistance with proofreading and for helpful editorial comments, thanks go to Matthew Vernon, Clare Boothby, David Weir, Ayşe Tuslak, Maria Vorontsova and most particularly Nine, editor extraordinaire. I would also like to thank my parents, Tom Felber and Katherine Vine. All shortcomings and errors are, of course, my own. This thesis is dedicated to Olivia Harris and David Fisher who, having moved on too soon and too suddenly from this world, remain present in memory. Contents List of figures 9 Introduction 10 Spatial strategies: indigenous resistance 12 Intimacy and antagonism: the intertwined lives of rural towns 15 Memory and movement in affective relationships with the past 16 Broader context of this study 18 Methodology and timetable of fieldwork 22 Chapter 1: Literature review and context of fieldwork 39 Ethnic politics: the cycle of reform and rebellion 39 Lo Andino and the undertheorised mestizo classes 49 Two or more Bolivias? 55 Mobility and the field 58 Cochabamba: intermediaries and contact zones as sites of cultural production 62 Memory 64 Chapter 2: Town and archipelago 74 A town in decline 74 Four kinds of people 78 A forgotten town? 83 History of the town 88 Municipal boundaries 93 Ramadas 96 Tunas Vinto 97 Challa 98 Leque 101 Tapacarí 102 The river 105 The flood 108 Control over transport 111 Communications 113 A changing population 115 The vertical archipelago 117 Push, pull and possibility 121 Coca and cocaine 122 The weekly market 124 Lucia and Mario 126 Mobility and ethnic identity 128 Chapter 3: The alcaldía 130 Work environment of the alcaldía 131 Implications of the alcaldía for indigenous peasant people 134 Neoliberalism and grassroots organising 135 The municipality 136 Access to power 140 Layout and composition of the office 142 The authorities 144 The significance of language 147 Funcionarios 149 Travelling 150 Wilson and the Soldier 152 Evading office politics 153 Normative 'work' and processes of validation and exclusion 156 Primer Viernes de Q'owa and performance of belonging and authority 161 Work, movement and kinship 169 Photography, images and legitimacy 176 Chapter 4: Domestic spaces 190 Kinship and households in Andean social thought and Tapacarí social life 192 Intimacy 197 Finding a house 200 The Alanes house as case study: spatial and social divisions within the house 203 Bases, movement of goods and 'ethnic economy' 212 Compadrazgo 215 Work and domestic space 217 Water and households 218 The plaza, the weekly market and 'public space' 221 Fluidity and merging boundaries: chicherías and children 235 Chapter 5: Fiestas 242 The fiesta calendar 243 Alcohol 253 Carnival in the alcaldía, in the town and in a small rural community 257 Commensality, collective labour and social change: small fiestas 266 San Agustín and Virgen de Dolores: residente celebrations 274 'Hay que echarse de menos': making a place for absence in memories of the town 286 Conclusion 289 Glossary of Spanish and Quechua terms 300 Bibliography 304 List of figures Figure 1 Map of Tapacarí Province 87 Figure 2 Map taken from Plan Diagnóstico Municipal de Tapacarí, AGRUCO/Gobierno Municipal de Tapacarí (2003) 95 Figure 3 Doña Aleja's house 206 Figure 4 Plan of the plaza in Tapacarí 225 Figure 5 Plot of colonial plaza layout, copied from one elaborated by Thomas Abercrombie (1998) 227 Figure 6 Fiestas 246 Introduction This is a thesis about space, inequality, memory and social change, looking specifically at one small town in the Bolivian highlands. Bolivia is a postcolonial country whose history and current reality is influenced by a series of popular struggles against domination from external forces and internal minorities. Its economic profile is one of high poverty levels, including high levels of extreme poverty in rural areas, and striking ethnic and cultural diversity. Bolivia is also notable for a high degree of political mobilisation and a strong history of trade unionism which since the 1980s has coexisted with social movements originating around identity politics, particularly indigenous or peasant self-identifications. In the first years of the twenty-first century, the wish for control over natural resources and a redistributive economic policy,