Interpreting social movements: Bolivian resistance to economic conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund

Abstract

Interpretive anthropology taken as a goal in itself tends to preclude the concrete, historically situated analyses that are the core of ethnographic studies. However, attention to specific aspects of action and discourse in the various moments of a social movement's unfolding may enhance our understanding of that movement. This article analyzes a protest against conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund for the payment of Bolivia's national debt, seeking to show how the various participants interpreted the events in which they were involved. In trying to assess the movement's impact on the nation, the author interviewed leaders and followers and consulted numerous media reports during the three weeks of crisis. She concludes that textual interpretation is useful only when employed along with traditional methods of participant observation and the eliciting of informants' own interpretations. The analysis of complex social movements, that is, requires a description of people's responses at different moments in time, a situating of the participant observer in the events, and the inclusion of interpretations by the media. By eliciting a reflexive, multivocalic array of texts, the anthropologist can make new interpretations and build on past constructions as the historical context changes. [interpretive ethnology, social movements, Bolivian mining communities]

The Indigenous State: Race, Politics, and Performance in Plurinational Bolivia

“…As a result, there is a long collective memory of the state's involvement in exploitation of what is considered the national patrimony. Perhaps even more important, the mines constituted a large sector of public employment, with good salaries, benefits, and high status associated with working for the nation (Nash 1979). The miners' layoffs in the late 1980s as part of the neoliberal restructuring were perceived by many as a blow to the dignity of Bolivia's working people (see Nash 1992).…”

“…Perhaps even more important, the mines constituted a large sector of public employment, with good salaries, benefits, and high status associated with working for the nation (Nash 1979). The miners' layoffs in the late 1980s as part of the neoliberal restructuring were perceived by many as a blow to the dignity of Bolivia's working people (see Nash 1992). Thus Morales struck a deeply emotional and nationalist chord when he staged the takeover in May 2007.…”

Debt and Devaluation

“…Studies of the impact of the Latin American debt crisis concur that the burden of debt and structural adjustment policies has fallen disproportionately on the poor (Dietz, 1989;Beneria and Feldman, 1992;Nash, 1992Nash, , 1994Beneria, 1992;Feldman, 1992;Safa and Antrobus, 1992;Payer, 1985;Frieden, 1985;Dornbusch, 1986;Cardoso and Helwege, 1992a and b). There is variation among Latin American states, however, that does not simply turn on the raw quantity of debt held.…”

“…24 No. 4, July 1997 9-33 0 1997 Latin Amencan Perspectives The clase popular's response has been framed within local categories of friction that index class politics (Ortner, 1995) as well as subsistence insecurity, the latter attributed to global pressures (Nash, 1992(Nash, , 1994Weiss, 1993Weiss, [1990; Edelman, 1990). Varied voices from this class use the imagery of proportion implicit in idioms of inflation and devalued currency to measure the hard times.…”

“…Poverty intensified as a result of the austerity and structural adjustment packages instituted by the state in response to IMF demands (Payer, 1985;Frieden, 1985;Bolles, 1986;Pastor, 1987;MacEwan, 1990;Sachs, 1989a;Edwards, 1989;Beneria, 1992;Dietz, 1989;Handelman and Baer, 1989; Haggard and Kaufman, 1989;Nash, 1992;Safa and Antrobus, 1992;McFarren, 1992;Feldman, 1992;Cardoso and Helwege, 1992a). Included among the poor is the popular class that, Garcia Canclini (1993) argues, has emerged in and through the economic and political process of development in Latin America.…”