Pioneering in San Julian: a Study of Adaptive Strategy Formation by Migrant Farmers in Eastern Bolivia

Pioneering in San Julian: a Study of Adaptive Strategy Formation by Migrant Farmers in Eastern Bolivia

PIONEERING IN SAN JULIAN: A STUDY OF ADAPTIVE STRATEGY FORMATION BY MIGRANT FARMERS IN EASTERN BOLIVIA Presented by David W. Hess In Partial Completion of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh December 15, 1979 %U PIONEERING IN SAN JULIAN: A STUDY OF ADAPTIVE STRATEGY FORMATION BY MIGRANT FARMERS IN EASTERN BOLIVIA David W. Hess Department of Anthropology University of Pittsburgh Dissertation Abstract The study had three principle objectives. The first objective was to observe and analyze the process of adaptation or adjustment of a population of highland-born and raised peasant farming households as they establish themselves in a pioneer agricultural resettlement or colonization zone called the San Julian Project in eastern Bolivia. The second objective was to test the appropriateness of a model as an analytic tool in understanding the adaptation of pioneer populations. The model is based on ecological and cybernetic concepts such as: the ecosystem as a set of complex direct and indirect challenges to populations; negative and positive feedback as moans for explaining retention and change of behavioral and organizational patterns in adaptation; and natural selection as the testing of adaptive solutions to environmental challenges. The third objective was to identify and analyze the effects of an integrated, or multi-component, set of activities in assistance, education, subsidy, and extension managed by private, Bolivian governmental, and international agencies. These activities were viewed as a comprehensive manipulation of the process of adaptation; a molding of adaptive challenges and opportunities to be confronted by the peasant migrant population through decisions made largely by people outside of the population. 1. Hess Abstract - 2 The San Julian Project is located approximately 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the northeast of Bolivia's second largest city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The city is the capital of Bolivia's largest department (equivalent to a U.S. state) and the center of an economically booming agricultural and petroleum-producing region. The San Julian Project is the most recent large frontier colonization zone in the large and expanding crescent-shaped area of settlement activity north of the city. For the last twenty-five years migrants from Bolivia's more heavily populated western regions of the Altiplano or high plateau and its associated high valleys have been settling in this crescent. The large majority, 80-85%, of the migrants have come and spontaneously established themselves along roads cleared for petroleum exploration, logging activities, and the founding of directed settlements. These directed projects have provided aid, ranging from almost complete subsidization to limited service and infrastructure support, for 15% to 20% of the migrant population. The population involved in the study has settled in the San Julian Project since 1972. In part, the study considered the adaptation of all 1200 households established in the zone. In addition, samples of that population were more closely examined through, for example, the use of a quantitative survey instrument with 100 farmers in ten of the nucleos or forty Hess Abstract - 3 household units. The study identified the general ecosystem of the settlement zone, the specific ways in which the environment is being manipulated by external agencies, and the varieties of adaptive or resource utilization strategies developed by the population. The primary method of data gathering was participant­ observation based on repeated open-ended and directed discussions and interviews with'members of the migrant population, and other people involved with planning and execution of the efforts to aid the population. This included persons at local, regional, and national levels. The study amplified its view of the process of adaptation of the pioneer population through several methods including: ethnographic photography to record visual data in the colonization zone and other places; aerial photography to examine the configuration of settlements, the agricultural productive activities, and the modifications occurring in the physical environment; research in private, governmental, and university archives and documents; and the application of a quantitative survey to test the basic conclusions developed by the end of the study. Further, data on the adjustments which the migrant population were making to the new environment were enhanced by brief periods of participant-observation in several areas from which migrants had come in the western regions of Bolivia. Hess Abstract - 4 The first finding of the study was that the model of the adaptive process provided a means of identifying the most crucial aspects of the establishment of settlement, productive activities, and social organization in the new location. These aspects centered on the formation of strategies for the utilization of the available resources. A model of resource use strategy formation is proposed in the study and various cases are cited as illustrations. The author proposes that the "success" of settlement not be defined in the terms of planners and administrators, but rather as relative to the goals of the individuals and groups within the migrant population. The variety of strategies produces a variety of goals and, therefore, a variety of definitions of success. The second finding concerned the aid extended to comprehensively support migrants through the initial founding of their settlement, improve their health and productivity through education and extension, and promote the organization of effective decision-making structures. The accomplishments of these efforts are particularly marked when compared to previous similar efforts in Bolivia and other Andean countries. The author sees the reasons for this in the flexibility of program personnel in development of their activities, only carrying out those most relevant and appropriate to the needs of the population. Further, project personnel avoided, as much as possible, the creation of a dependency relationship with the population. o.A Hess Abstract - 5 The third finding of the study was the presentation of a set of postulates, derived from the San Julian experience in the directed resettlement or colonization of migrant populations. These postulates indicate possible key variables in the adaptive process and means to positively affect these variables for the benefit of migrant populations. During the writing of the dissertation, my wife, Laura, who I appreciated the tireless work of, served as editor, councilor, and friend. I also want to thank Ian Rawson for providing constant thematic and stylistic guidance during the writing, going beyond the call of duty of his position on my committee. Finally, I need to thank Betsy Goodale and her Wang Word Processor, who brought the effort to a conclusion. Of course, my greatest debt of gratitude goes to the pioneer farmers of the San Julian Project. I learned from them and tried to share with them. I believe there are no braver people than those colonists who risk so much as they literally carve a new life out of the frontier forest of eastern Bolivia. As I worked, laughed, drank, walked, and rode my bicycle with them, I came to respect, admire, and care for them. I believe that many of them are finding a way of life that they consider an improvement over the past and I want to wish them the best throughout the years. I hope that this study can in some way positively affect their future and of other pioneer colonists. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE ............................... 9 .. ........ .Page 1 The Model of Pioneer Adaptation CHAPTER TO......................... Page 32 The History and Present Situation of Pioneer Colonization CHAPTER THREE................................ ......... Page 77 The San Julian Ecosystem CHAPTER FOUR.. ....... ... ....... Page 101 Unique Structures in the San Julian Environment CHAPTER FIVE ........ .................................... Page 136 The People and Culture of San Julian CHAPTER SIX............. ... ................. Page 201 Adaptive Strategies in San Julian CHAPTER SEVEN... .o.. ................... .. .... ..... Page 257 Conclusions: The Analysis of Pioneering as Ecological Process BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX ONE Photographs APPENDIX TWO Maps APPENDIX THREE Tables APPENDIX FOUR Figures APPENDIX FIVE Graphs I CHAPTER ONE THE MODEL OF PIONEER ADAPTATION Introduction This study examines the process of adaptation of pioneer migrant farmers as they move to settle a frontier colonization zone in eastern Bolivia called the San Julian project. The analysis will be based on viewing the individuals and groups occupyinq the frontier as a population which must articulate itself in an ecosystem and develop a strategy for exploiting its resources. The first chapter presents the theoretical framework for analysis, derived from ethology, biogeography, ecological anthropology, and cybernetics and systems theory. The chapter concludes with the statement of a model of the pioneer adaptive process which provides a structure for the remainder of the study by identifying the key questions in understanding the process. The model was developed to provide a framework for analysis of the total process of pioneer migration. In the present study, not all elements of the model were utilized in data gathering and analysis, rather emphasis was placed on the events in the pioneer process which occur once the migrants have reached the

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