By hwscott
Since my last post, I have gained so many new understandings of the complexities of Bolivia that, as I read it, I feel almost childish. But I guess that is the point of naïveté. I'm sure the same will be true for my next post as well.
While I haven't started my research, and won't for a while, I have been exploring other research questions and topics, all within the general subject of the relation between Catholicism and revolution in Bolivia. I have been able to do this in the context of what we are studying in the program. So far, we have heard speakers on the Mexican, Cuban, Bolivian, and Venezuelan revolutions. We have dug deep into the history of indigenous to peasant back to indigenous struggle in Bolivia, and the differences between highlands and lowlands, the complex overlap between Aymara and Quechua languages. We just got back from Brazil, where we studied the Landless Workers Movement (MST), a 30 year old movement that occupies unused land for rural peasants, and then establishes communitarian agricultural settlements on the liberated land (also was founded in the context of Liberation Theology!) This week, we are back in Bolivia in Santa Cruz, looking at the movement for autonomy by the landed elites (quite a shock, coming from landless movement in Brazil, who fed us in tents on the side of the road). Spending a few days in uber-rich Santa Cruz by the pool has given me a chance to write this and think more about my potential Independent Study Project topics.
I have a few options which I could follow. The difference between the ways in which Catholicism entered the highlands versus the lowlands are very interesting and profound. In the highlands, the Spanish conquistadors found the Incan Empire, with state controlled methods of state labor extraction, and already established townships. They took control of these state structures to begin funding their own empire through heavy mining. Catholicism was a tool they used to control the native labor force, with regimented praying times, and fear of eternal punishment. On the other hand, the Incan empire had not been able to control the hunter-gatherer nomadic society of the lowlands, and the Spaniards did not succeed/had no interest in attempting to either. However, Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries saw the evangelization these peoples as a challenge, and so for them Catholicism was an end in itself. Later, the missionaries were expelled from the country, and while the religion stayed on in some places, it ceased to be an important colonial force. Meanwhile, in the highlands, it was intimately connected to the state structures and the mining centers.
This is the split that gives me my first two options for study. I could study how Catholicism has survived and mixed with indigenous practices in the lowlands. Or I could stay in the highlands.
In the Altiplano, in the mines of Potosi and Oruro, the Spaniards used to place devil figurines deep in the mines to remind miners what they faced if they didn’t work hard. In an ironic twist, the miners decided to begin worshipping these figures as an act of rebellion, calling them Tio (originating from a mix between Quechua and Spanish words for "God", not the Spanish word for "uncle" as most people assume). This practice continues to this day, and I would love to study its modern influences. Also, I've learned that in Bolivia, Liberation Theology had a huge impact in miners organizing in unions. This is another option for study.
Finally, I've started learning about an indigenous Aymara movement in the highlands to decolonize themselves by adopting what they believe are native religious practices, to fight against the highland colonizing influences of Catholicism. While this is super interesting, I'm not sure if I could separate out my own biases, or if I could gain much trust from that community due to my own Catholicism.
So those are my options so far. I'll post again when I find some more, and maybe start to narrow down my search!! Now for some more pool time.
BTW: The photo is of two other students in my program and I in the school building of the MST camp that we visited, with one of the kids. And no, Mariela and I did not coordinate outfits.