Bolivia Revisited: New Directions in North American Research in History and Anthropology

In: Latin American research review: LARR, Band 23, Heft 1, S. 63-90

Abstract

A recent diagnosis of the health of Latin American studies in the United States reveals that Bolivia is among the forgotten or ignored countries. U.S. scholarship on Mexico, Brazil, and Peru vastly outranks research on Bolivia. Following the Bolivian Revolution of 1952, U.S. universities turned out a host of dissertations and books on Bolivia, but since that time, the U.S. community of Bolivianists has declined. Yet anthropological and historical research on this southern Andean country seems to be flourishing. Although some political scientists attracted to problems and prospects for reform created by the Revolution have turned their attention elsewhere, Bolivia still fascinates scholars interested in the deeper currents of historical change and the remarkable resilience of rural Andean peoples in their struggle to preserve their cultural integrity.