Circular Conversations and Missed Opportunities: Hierarchies of Nutrition Expertise in Post-Revolutionary Bolivia

Abstract

Chronic malnutrition was one of the health problems the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario tackled after the 1952 Bolivian National Revolution. Actors working on the local, national, and international levels had different definitions of nutrition, understandings of the problem, and proposed solutions. These debates demonstrate the existence of hierarchies of expertise; national officials deemed knowledge about nutrition produced outside of Bolivia more valuable than that created by Bolivians working on the local level. These hierarchies of expertise caused tensions, miscommunications, and circular conversations that stymied the development of effective and efficient national programs.