Communities In Bolivia Research Articles

Strengthening the Rights of Children and Women in Bolivia

Nancy Salinas Ardaya and Claudia Schachinger show how the SOS social centres are successfully strengthening both women's and children's rights among very poor communities in Bolivia.

Reconstitución del ayllu y derechos de los pueblos indígenas: el movimiento indio en los Andes de Bolivia

The authors explore the 20‐year history of the Andean Oral History Workshop, documenting a shift from scholarly research on the history of indigenous movements and communities in Bolivia, to an activism based on the revitalization of an indigenous form of sociopolitical organization —the ayllu. A case study is offered of the historical fragmentation of Suyu Pakajaqi across the trajectory of colonial, republican, and modern history, out of which the first reconstituted ayllus emerged in the early 1990s. In this, they respond to criticism that the ayllu, following 500 years of external domination, is not an appropriate political format within a modernizing state. THOA's support and defense of this movement to "return to that which is our own," is grounded in a historical understanding of the ayllu that has emerged out of their earlier scholarly investigations.

Inflorescence Height Affects Visitation Behavior of Bees–A Case Study of an Aquatic Plant Community in Bolivia1

ABSTRACTWe studied the bee fauna visiting a plant community of 10 species of flowering aquatic plants in an inundated savanna region in Bolivia. In total we observed 36 bee species in 17 genera at the flowers. Cluster analysis of the similarities among the plant species in terms of their visitor spectra showed a division into two groups: plants with inflorescence heights shorter than the grass height and plants with inflorescences projecting out of the surrounding vegetation. Larger bees of the genera Apis, Melipona, Bombus, and Xylocopa were observed only at flowers above the surrounding vegetation. Smaller, mainly solitary bees (e.g., Augochlorella, Ancyloscelis) visited flowers in the dense vegetation near the water surface. Analyses of the pollen loads revealed that most individuals were highly flower constant. When bees carried different pollen types, it was generally pollen from flowers within a single stratum. We discuss specialization, flower constancy, competition, and different foraging strategies as possible reasons for stratum fidelity.

Participatory action research in two communities in Bolivia and the United States

Participatory action research in two communities in Bolivia and the United States

Cardiac morbidity due to Chagas' disease in a rural community in Bolivia.

The prevalence of cardiac morbidity due to Chagas' disease was assessed in a rural community in Central Bolivia. Sixty-nine of 104 persons (66%) were seropositive to Trypanosoma cruzi by two serological methods. Two of 35 (6%) seronegative individuals presented with modest ECG alterations (left anterior hemiblock), but 21 of 69 (30%) seropositives showed modest and severe abnormalities (6 complete right bundle branch block, 2 polyfocal or frequent extrasystoles, 9 ischaemic ST alterations). A high percentage (56%) of domiciliary Triatoma infestans was infected with T. cruzi. There was a significant association between seropositivity and substandard housing. Priority preventive measures should thus include house improvement (to reduce bug infestation) and health education.

Education as cultural development: experience in a Quechua community in Bolivia

El 1970, es va iniciar un proces d'alfabetitzacio a Bolivia per INDICEP, i en l'actualitat continua en el Centre d'Educacio Integrada d'Adults a les zones rurals (Centre d'Educacio Integrada per Adults a l'area rural). El context en que es va adonar d'aquesta experiencia es caracteritza per l'existencia d'una poblacio culturalment plural en que una societat predominantment nativa viuen junts (principalment composta per quitxues i aimares), que es oprimit i ignorat per un grup minoritari de caracter occidental. Qualsevol projecte educatiu i, en aquest cas, el d'alfabetitzacio, ha de tenir en compte aquest fet per evitar la indiferencia d'aquells a qui es dirigeix ​​el projecte. Els esforcos d'alfabetitzacio realitzades unti1 ara per entitats oficials no han tractat d'integrar en les comunitats natives, pero imposar el model occidental des d'una perspectiva paternalista del problema. Una imatge d'aquesta situacio es l'idioma (amb tots els seus continguts culturals) que ha estat utilitzat no era el dels nadius, pero la llengua espanyola, produint la perdua de la identitat cultural del subjecte. El nou projecte que s'esta experimentant en la comunitat quitxua es basa en el sistema Ruway AYNI, que entre altres aspectes es caracteritza per una institucionalitzacio simple, una participacio no competitiva i la promocio de la propia personalitat dels seus membres i una avaluacio continua. L'objectiu que persegueix aquest projecte s'expressa concretament en quatre punts: a) Estudi del blat i la seva comercialitzacio. b) l'estimul de produccio i comercialitzacio d'artesanies tradicionals. c) Creacio d'un programa de salut i nutricio correcta. d) Emergencia a la formacio de professors nadius. L'instrument educatiu principal que s'utilitza per a aquesta campanya d'alfabetitzacio es el diari en llengua quitxua, per tal de respondre a les necessitats i problemes del desenvolupament cultural dels subjectes i, en fer-ho, tindria un caracter motivador per a aquells que encara no tenen assolit aquest nivell basic d'instruccio. La formacio dels mestres rurals que s'esta desenvolupant la comunitat, mentre que la base s'esta preparant per ser capac d'iniciar aviat la formacio dels educadors nadius.

Changing Rural Society, a Study of Communities in Bolivia

Changing Rural Society, a Study of Communities in Bolivia

Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia.

Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia.

Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia

Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia

Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia.

Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia.

Waging anthropology in Bolivia

William J. McEwen. Changing Rural Society: A Study of Communities in Bolivia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975. xiv + 463 pp. Maps, illustrations, figures, appendices, bibliography and index. $15.95 (cloth) and $7.95 (paper).

Peasants, Revolution, and Drinking: Interethnic Drinking Patterns in Two Bolivian Communities

A comparison of interethnic drinking patterns demonstrates how the outcome of social revolution differs in two contrasting communities in Bolivia. Drastic social reforms introduced in the 1950's were explicitly intended to weaken the control of mestizo landlords and to give peasants a greater share of wealth and power. Anthropological research conducted between 1956 and 1965, combining directed and non-directed interviews with participant observation in two towns of about the same size and similar agricultural, commercial, and administrative importance, reveals both the pervasiveness and the inconsistency of revolutionary change in that ethnically diverse country. Around Montero, mestizo landlords used to drink occasionally with the Camba tenant farmers on their haciendas, but there is now almost no sociability between the groups. By contrast, around Coroico, where mestizo landlords used to scorn the Aymara tenant farmers as an almost untouchable servile caste, they now symbolize new relationships by drinking together in limited contexts. These diametrically contrasting changes in interethnic drinking reflect significant changes in the political, economic, and other social systems of the communities.