The Customs of the Faithful: Evangelicals and the Politics of Catholic Fiesta in Bolivia

Abstract

In Bolivia, folkloric dancing represents a kind of national resource, central to Bolivian national culture and identity. In the early 1950s, the Bolivian state declared folkloric music and dancing to be elements of the nation’s official cultural patrimony, cataloging varieties of “folk” performance and issuing decrees naming these dances property of the Bolivian nation (and, by extension, of the Bolivian state).1 In particular, the city of Oruro, site of Bolivia’s annual folkloric Carnaval, gained recognition for its prowess in musical and dance performance, and in 1970 a governmental decree named Oruro the “folklore capital of Bolivia.”2 Such declarations, of course, are predicated on the idea of Bolivia as a predominantly Catholic nation, one in which national culture is derived explicitly from performances dedicated to Catholic saints and keyed to the Catholic ritual calendar.3 Oruro’s Carnaval is particularly well-suited to the task of representing the Catholic nation: Oruro was an important center of the Bolivian mining industry, long the economic backbone of the nation, and Carnaval was held annually to honor the Virgin of the Mineshaft, the patron deity of the region.4 Even as they have become emblematic of the Bolivian nation, however, the popularity and visual appeal of Carnaval dances like the Diablada and the equally familiar Morenada have made them available for appropriation by others. The globalization of these dances—their expropriation and performance by non-Bolivians in international performance contexts—is viewed by some Bolivians as a threat to national identity, as the ownership of Bolivia’s national cultural patrimony appears to fall under foreign control.