The Bolivia Reader: History, Culture, Politics (The Latin America Readers)

The Bolivia Reader provides a panoramic view, from antiquity to the present, of the history, culture, and politics of a country known for its ethnic and regional diversity, its rich natural resources and dilemmas of economic development, and its political conflict and creativity. Featuring both classic and little-known texts ranging from fiction, memoir, and poetry to government documents, journalism, and political speeches, the volume challenges stereotypes of Bolivia as a backward nation while offering insights into the country's history of mineral extraction, revolution, labor organizing, indigenous peoples' movements, and much more. Whether documenting Inka rule or Spanish conquest, three centuries at the center of Spanish empire, or the turbulent politics and cultural vibrancy of the national period, these sources--the majority of which appear in English for the first time--foreground the voices of actors from many different walks of life. Unprecedented in scope, The Bolivia Reader illustrates the historical depth and contemporary challenges of Bolivia in all their complexity. Read more... Contents 15 Acknowledgments 20 Introduction 22 I First Peoples and the Making of Andean and Amazonian Space 34 Myth of Inka Origin at Lake Titicaca 38 The Myth of Tunupa 41 Guaraní Creation Myth 43 Verticality and Complementarity 48 Peopling the Empire 55 Workers in the Fields of the Inka 59 Settlement and Landscape Transformation in the Amazonian Lowlands 62 II States and Conquests in the Andes 66 Conquest by the Inka 70 “Our Natives Were Well Governed” 73 The Myth of the Chullpas and the Emergence of the Sun 76 A Spanish Vision of the Conquest 78 An Uru Vision of the Conquest 86 A Guaraní Vision of the Conquest 90 III The Rich Mountain 92 Tales of Potosí 98 Imperial Panoply in the Baroque City 109 The Good Wife 111 Cacique Nobility and Heraldry 117 Trade with Potosí 122 Mining and the Mita 126 New Worlds, Jesuit Worlds 130 Echoes of the Missions 134 IV From Indian Insurgency to Creole Independence 136 Death to Bad Government 140 The Siege of La Paz 143 An Unbearable Yoke 148 The Specter of Justice 151 The Creole Cry of Freedom 154 Debate over Spanish Sovereignty 156 Guerrilla Patriots 162 Frontier Confrontations 167 Farewell 170 Inventing Bolivia 173 V Market Circuits and Enclave Extraction 182 A Conspiracy of Commerce 186 The Argument for Free Trade 191 The Silver Patriarch 196 Transforming the Property Regime 202 Disentailment and Its Discontents 205 Integration of the Lowlands 209 Dreams of the Railroad 214 Integration of the South 216 The Tin Baron 221 VI The Nation and Political Fragmentation 228 The Peru-Bolivian Confederation 232 In the Forests of the Yuracaré 235 “Are You Not Equal?” 241 Cosmopolitan Taste 243 War and Peace on the Frontier 246 A Tenuous Alliance 249 Egalitarian Revolution 253 The War of the Pacific 255 The God Man 260 An Aymara Command 264 Social Darwinism in the Courtroom 266 “The Slow and Gradual Disappearance of the Indigenous Race” 272 VII The Nationalization of Natural Resources 278 The Problem of the East 282 A Woman’s Realm 289 Everyday Life on the Hacienda 293 Landlord Counteroffensive 295 “Land to Those Who Work It” 299 The Catavi Massacre 308 Mines as Cemeteries 315 Mine Madness 319 The March to the East 323 A Beggar on a Chair of Gold 332 The Condemnation of Coca 336 The Blood of the Nation 339 VIII Revolutionary Currents 344 The Laws of the Land 348 Resurrection of the Race 352 A Voice for Women 358 A Woman’s Work 360 The Business of War 367 The Ayllu-School 372 Front Lines 378 Leaving for the Front 384 The Death of Servitude 386 Trotsky on the Altiplano 392 Nation vs. Anti-nation 397 The Sudden Upheaval 404 The People versus the Rosca 408 “They Fought without Holding Back” 410 History Redeemed 411 Requiem for a Revolution 413 Iconoclast and Prophet 420 IX Dictatorship and Democracy 428 Cold War Strongman 432 A Continental Vanguard 437 The Call to Armed Struggle 444 An Aymara in the Ranks 446 Under a Waning Moon 450 The Gospel of a Guerrilla 455 The Military-Peasant Pact 458 In the Name of Katari 460 Urban Underworld 468 We Need to Be Organized Too 473 A Strike of the Conscience 481 The Dictatorship on Trial 489 All Saints Massacre 498 Narco-Dictatorship 501 Labor and the Return to Democracy 507 The Crisis as Method 511 Horizons of Memory 515 Travails of the Migrant 520 X Neoliberalism and Lowland Ascendancy 524 “Bitter Medicine” 528 In the Name of the Nation 535 Farewell to Llallagua 538 The Workers Disperse 541 Pushing Privatization 547 Privatization Bolivian-Style 550 Make Your Dream a Reality 555 A Leaf in the Wind 557 “For Sale” Signs 559 XI Competing Projects for the Future 562 Song for the Flowers 568 Indian Theology 573 The Long March 576 In the Time of the Pachakuti 584 Radical Regionalism 596 Fiesta Power 602 Flaws in the System 605 A Day of One’s Own 608 The Cultural Life of Coca 610 The Coca Commodity Circuit 613 The Coca War 618 Even the Rain 624 Water Is Not for Sale 629 Like a Bird 634 The Gas War 636 XII Pachakuti? 644 Brother and Comrade 648 Deepening Divisions 654 Foot Soldiers of Camba Nationalism 657 Reclaiming the Capital 660 A New Social Contract 663 Living Well 667 Rights of Nature 671 Standoff in the Beni 674 “Creative Tensions” 683 The Wages of Development 688 A Final Offering 694 Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources 708 Index 720 The,Bolivia,Reader "The Bolivia reader provides a panoramic view, from antiquity to the present, of the history, culture, and politics of a country known for its ethnic and regional diversity, its rich natural resources and dilemmas of economic development, and its political conflict and creativity. Featuring both classic and little-known texts ranging from fiction, memoir, and poetry to government documents, journalism, and political speeches, the volume challenges stereotypes of Bolivia as a backward nation while offering insights into the country's history of mineral extraction, revolution, labor organizing, indigenous peoples' movements, and much more. Whether documenting Inka rule or Spanish conquest, three centuries at the center of Spanish empire, or the turbulent politics and cultural vibrancy of the national period, these sources--the majority of which appear in English for the first time--foreground the voices of actors from many different walks of life. Unprecedented in scope, The Bolivia Reader illustrates the historical depth and contemporary challenges of Bolivia in all their complexity." --Page 4 de la couverture "The Bolivia reader provides a panoramic view, from antiquity to the present, of the history, culture, and politics of a country known for its ethnic and regional diversity, its rich natural resources and dilemmas of economic development, and its political conflict and creativity. Featuring both classic and little-known texts ranging from fiction, memoir, and poetry to government documents, journalism, and political speeches, the volume challenges stereotypes of Bolivia as a backward nation while offering insights into the country's history of mineral extraction, revolution, labor organizing, indigenous peoples' movements, and much more. Whether documenting Inka rule or Spanish conquest, three centuries at the center of Spanish empire, or the turbulent politics and cultural vibrancy of the national period, these sources--the majority of which appear in English for the first time--foreground the voices of actors from many different walks of life. Unprecedented in scope, The Bolivia Reader illustrates the historical depth and contemporary challenges of Bolivia in all their complexity"--Publisher description First peoples and the making of Andean and Amazonian space -- States and conquests in the Andes -- The rich mountain -- From Indian insurgency to Creole independence -- Market circuits and enclave extraction -- The nation and political fragmentation -- The nationalization of natural resources -- Revolutionary currents -- Dictatorship and democracy -- Neoliberalism and lowland ascendency -- Competing projects for the future. From Andean antiquity and Spanish colonialism to the present, The Bolivia Reader provides a panoramic view of Bolivia's history, culture, and politics through a wide ranging collection of sources, most of which appear here in English for the first time.