Bolivian culture and society: a brief introduction

[Stasia]

Answering a question posed in another topic...

Since the language is Quechua, I was thinking that maybe this thread should be under the Runasimita Rimani forum.

Most musicians whose songs I have presented here would be bewildered by this suggestion - some would think you're joking, while others might be genuinely offended, as most Bolivian elites are, when they are suspected of being "Indian."

Bolivian culture, including Bolivian variety of Spanish, is a result of its Colonial past, and so to understand Bolivian culture today, we have to look at this history. In the Colonial era, your ancestry decided your position in the society: Spain-born Spanish on top, American-born Spaniards (criollos) below them, then mestizos - people of mixed blood (as indigenous women had sex with the Spaniards, some willingly, some not), and the indigenous people, as well as African slaves, at the bottom. Spanish were quite obsessed with that issue, creating complex charts of who-is-who depending on the ethnic makeup of one's parents (and when I say obsessed, I mean really obsessed: image, article).

In the 1820s there was a wave of successful independence movements in Latin America. Back then, Bolivia was known as Alto Peru, and as the name suggests, it was part of Peru, but one of the libertadores wanted a republic that would carry his name... and so Bolivia was officially born on August 6, 1825.

The new political border was drawn across the Altiplano without any consideration for the native people - and ethnically/linguistically speaking, there are the same people on both sides of that border, there is no difference (language, culture, music on both sides are the same).

From the indigenous point of view, nothing has changed. They continued to be oppressed and voiceless under the new republic, without a right to education, without a right to vote, without a right to even set foot on the Plaza Murillo in La Paz where the seat of the government is located.

Hence, from the indigenous point of view, there was no independence in 1825. The new freedom was for the criollos and mestizos only. Indigenous people continued to work the fields they did not own, and do menial jobs in the cities.

The first real changes began in the middle of the 20th century. I don't want to bore you all to death with the historical reasons and nuances (which go a couple of decades earlier), but in 1952 Bolivian indigenous people began to be citizens of their own country (which they had inhabited for thousands of years!), including the right to vote in elections, and in 1953 they were able to own the land on which they lived and worked (after the agrarian reform).

That does not mean it was all peachy afterwards. Indigenous people continued to be marginalized and discriminated against, more and more as "cholo barato" (cheap labor) in the cities, due to constant influx of migrants from rural to urban areas. The word "indio" is considered a racial slur today because of that history.

Fast forward to 2000s (for the sake of brevity although a lot of interesting things happened in the meantime), and there are again some pivotal moments (so-called water war 2000, then the gas war in 2003 - I won't go into details, but everything that I'm writing about is easily googleable) which strengthen the political power of the indigenous people, culminating with the election of the first indigenous president, Evo Morales Ayma, in 2006. His government did everything possible to empower the indigenous people, and so an indigenous person walking on the streets of La Paz today is less likely to be overtly mistreated than twenty years ago.

It still happens, but now it's more subtle. The q'aras - criollo/mestizo upper classes - no longer can tell an indigenous person "you can't stay here because this hotel is not for Indians," so instead they'll say "oh I'm sorry, but we're already full."

So this hopefully explains why elite Bolivians might feel offended if you wanted to put their music in the category of indigenous music.

But - then, why is Bolivian culture, even the elite Bolivian culture, so saturated by indigenous culture? Why is Bolivian Spanish so full of Quechua words (ananaw, wist'u, yapa, urpilla) and even possesses Quechua grammar structures (diciendo he dicho is one of my favorites)? Why do the elites eat native foods like ch'uño and ch'arki? Why do they believe in and follow native traditions, such as receiving medical and magical treatments from a yatiri (shaman)?

Well, all of these elites grew up surrounded by the indigenous culture. Their maids, cooks, and drivers are all indigenous. A generation ago, all elites had to speak Quechua and/or Aymara to communicate with their own maids, cooks, and drivers, as the indigenous people used to be monolingual. Generation after generation, the elites have been acquiring indigenous vocabulary and traditions.

Bolivian culture is not Spanish nor indigenous. It is its own thing, a mestizo creation born of all of the above. The same goes for the Bolivian Spanish - it is not Spanish from Spain, but neither Quechua.

[John238922]

Thanks [mention]Stasia[/mention].

Regrettably I've never been to the inland countries of South America.

While holidaying in Peru, Chile, and Argentina, I noticed that hotel staff were mostly bright young people, not apparently different from everybody else, but In Rio, I noticed that the hotel staff, porters, doormen and so on were much older, of darker skin colour and very deferential.

Is the rigid social stratification your describe more marked in Bolivia than elsewhere? Is it, perhaps a funcdtion of isolation?

[Stasia]

Thanks @Stasia.

Regrettably I've never been to the inland countries of South America.

While holidaying in Peru, Chile, and Argentina, I noticed that hotel staff were mostly bright young people, not apparently different from everybody else, but In Rio, I noticed that the hotel staff, porters, doormen and so on were much older, of darker skin colour and very deferential.

Is the rigid social stratification your describe more marked in Bolivia than elsewhere? Is it, perhaps a funcdtion of isolation?

This is an interesting question with a complicated answer.

The way how society classifies you as "Indian" both in Bolivia and Peru is not so much a question of your skin tone, but whether you speak an indigenous language, whether/how well you speak Spanish, how you are dressed, and your cultural traditions. The native language, dress, and other traditions are maintained in the rural areas, and often lost within a generation after migration to cities. Many parents decide against teaching their children the indigenous language/traditions, hoping that will give them a better chance of succeeding in society. Hence, I know people who are middle class and are perceived to be "mestizo" even though their parents are perceived as "Indian."

Regarding skin tone - high altitude sun is harsh on any skin, so even people of 100% European descent look quite dark after living in La Paz, so that is really not helpful. If during your vacations in Peru you had the occasion to visit both Lima (Pacific coast) and Cuzco (highlands), you might have noticed a skin color difference between these two cities. In Lima, there's sunshine only few weeks per year (that's not a hyperbole - the fog really lingers year long). In Cuzco, the sun is relentless day in and day out. So even though Lima is overrun by migrants from the highlands, people living in Lima are lighter skinned than people living in Cuzco.

[Corinnebelle]

And the slaves...? When did they get freedom and independence? They sound like they were in the social strata as the Indians.

[Stasia]

And the slaves...? When did they get freedom and independence? They sound like they were in the social strata as the Indians.

Before the US, actually, and without a war around it. 1830 in Bolivia and 1854 in Peru.

Their descendants are in the same social stratum as the indigenous people, though, and they are pretty much assimilated with them, including having Aymara as their native language in some areas of Bolivia.