Accessibility navigation


We are originarios…‘We just aren't from here’: Coca leaf and identity politics in the Chapare, Bolivia

Grisaffi, T. (2010) We are originarios…‘We just aren't from here’: Coca leaf and identity politics in the Chapare, Bolivia. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 29 (4). pp. 425-439. ISSN 0261-3050

[img]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
· Please see our End User Agreement before downloading.

616kB

It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing.

To link to this item DOI: 10.1111/j.1470-9856.2010.00385.x

Abstract/Summary

This article first examines the ways in which coca leaf acquired an important symbolic value in forging a counter‐hegemonic discourse that wove together various strands of class and cultural identity struggles in the Chapare province, Bolivia. The second line of enquiry that runs through this article deals with the conflicts that arose when the coca union mutated into a governing political party. Now that the coca growers' leader, Evo Morales, is President of the Republic he is obliged by the international community to reduce the amount of land under coca cultivation. To do this President Morales has had to rhetorically pull coca leaf apart from Andean tradition. This presents a challenge to the integrity of indigenous‐peasant based movements in the Chapare because it brings attention to their constructed nature and thus questions the authenticity of the originario identity.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:No Reading authors. Back catalogue items
Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Human Environments
Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
ID Code:85323
Publisher:Wiley

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record

Page navigation