Hardcore punk as an effort to Indigenize the underground scene in La Paz during the neo-liberal era of resistance 1993–2003

Abstract

In Bolivia, neo-liberalism did not only have social-economic and political effects, but it also created spaces that allowed for new discourses related to culture and national identity. This research focuses on the changes of the metal underground scene in La Paz that led to the formation of a hardcore punk scene that tried to incorporate Indigenous symbolism in their music and performances as a form of resistance against western-cultural hegemony but also to highlight the positive values of their ancestral cultural heritage. Scholars, journalists and activists have written extensively about the transformations in Bolivia during the age of neo-liberalism but there has not been much research that focused on youth movements specifically those that use music to inspire new forms of social dialogues concerning national identity. This research is self-ethnographic and it includes qualitative in-depth interviews of band members and media figures of that time. The La Paz hardcore punk scene grew as an effort from band members to Indigenize the metal underground scene based on their interpretation of what they believed was Indigenous since none of the band members themselves were considered Indigenous. The meaning of Indigenous symbolism in their music was a result of their daily experiences of the social-political contentious environment during the country’s neo-liberal era. Street protesters used Indigenous symbols to defy the western-led free-market economic policies of the Washington Consensus. Therefore, the need to distinguish themselves from a metal musical genre that was traditionally western gave rise to a hardcore punk scene that focused on Indigenous cultural pride intricately connected to a form of patriotism and national pride. This was fuelled by the emergence of a national collective consciousness to reclaim the Indigenous culture due to the failures of western economic policies and US interventions tied to the ‘War on Drugs’.