Mestizaje y conflictos sociales. El caso de la construcción nacional boliviana.

Abstract

This essay discusses the process of cultural mestizaje in Bolivia, exploring two of its most distinctive features: first the popular-mestizo irruptions associated with labor grievances and demands for political participation; and secondly the construction of a nationalist ideology that resolved theoretically, ethno-social conflicts. To develop these themes the essay goes back to the roots of colonial mestizaje in the Andes in order to demonstrate the continuity of problems posed by mixed cultures. Later the paper presents and analyzes some of the incursions of the mestizo populace that began to challenge the power of traditional elites, who, in turn, constructed a very peculiar ideology in order to consolidate the Bolivian nation. Finally, it discusses some aspects of the process of mestizaje in the context of the current multi-national state. The basic approach is that cultural mestizaje is not only an inevitable and to some extent unpredictable phenomenon, but at the same time can be manipulated and even re-defined.