I’m Miguel Centellas, a political science professor at Mount St. Mary’s University. Because of academic interests, I post frequently on Bolivian politics. I also occasionally discuss interesting books, pop culture, and daily life in Baltimore.
I didn’t actually attend the Boston ASA conference (K8 was giving a paper, so I was “Mr. Mom” & watched Javi). But K8 picked us up some interesting new books (all from Duke University Press).
Two of these are specifically on Bolivia: El Alto, Rebel City by Sian Lazar (Cambridge) & A Revolution for Our Rights by Laura Gotkowitz (University of Iowa). Another is an edited volume on the region as a whole, but focusing on the effects of commodities: From Silver to Cocaine edited by Steven Topik (UC Irvine), Carlos Marichal (Colegio de México), and Zephyr Frank (Stanford).
Gotkowitz was a contributor to the edited volume Proclaiming Revolution: Bolivia in Comparative Perspective (2003). Here, Gotkowitz looks at the growth of rural indigenous movements in from 1880-1952, and the role they played during the formative years of the national revolutionary project.
For those interested in contemporary Bolivian politics, the more interesting of the books will be Sian Lazar’s ethnographic political study of El Alto. It’s similar to Leslie Gill’s Teetering on the Rim (2000), which looks at how the political economy of El Alto is manifested in physical space (architecture, public infrastructure, etc.), or Daniel Goldstein’s The Spectacular City (2004), which looks at the politics of performance (particularly, lynchings) in a poor sector of the city of Cochabamba. Lazar’s book is (from my quick skimming) an excellent look at the special role El Alto plays in Bolivian politics—and how it helps redefine some of our understandings about the relationship between “citizenship” and the state. It also does a very good job of pointing out the ambivalent role “indigeneity” plays in public, political discourse.
I haven’t had much of a chance to look at From Silver to Cocaine yet. But it looks like an interesting book for an upper division course on globalization or for a political economy approach to Latin America.
Nice. Thanks for the recommendations. If I not had 7 books already on deck, with three more on standby, I'd be on Amazon.com right now.
When you do read them, please post on their worthwhileness (is that even a word?).
Posted by
GS
August 4, 2008 4:38 PM
Except when I use it for a textbook, I rarely actually "read" a book in the conventional sense (all the way through, page by page, from front to cover). One of the bad habits from graduate school is learning to rapidly skim through a book to get its main arguments, then pick & choose through the index to get more specific sections. In time, I may eventually read carefully through a good 25% of the books in question.
Though I may try to write a book review (for a journal) on El Alto, Rebel City (which so far looks very, very good). That will require that I read it through completely & carefully. I may also do the same w/ a few others, and write a review essay (one that looks at a number of different books).
Yes, I'm familiar with graduate school reading methods. I can sympathize. 'Tis the reasons for my self-deterrence from buying certain books (over $25, thereabouts)--don't quite feel like I'm spending money wisely when I don't read from cover-to-cover. Thanks for the tip on El Alto.
The Gotkowitz is a subject that interests me, having recently read a book on Zarate Wilka.
Posted by
GS
August 4, 2008 7:03 PM
The only one I have read is Goldstein's Spectacular City and it is interesting, especially for people studying Cochabamba. He attempts to draw parallels between carnaval performances and lynchings, which are a bit tenous at times in my humble opinion. The most compelling aspects of the work are the discussions of the city as the foundation of civilization and indigenity in that conception. It is also fascinating to get an insider's view of an unincorporated neighborhood, its realtionships with specualtors and city officials, competition with other neighborhoods, and the struggle for legitimacy.
Thanks for the lead Miguel...
Posted by
Miguel de los Shanqueros
August 5, 2008 12:04 PM
PS... new polls reported Sunday in La Razon suggest that Evo's popularity has improved.
Posted by
Miguel de los Shanqueros
August 5, 2008 12:07 PM
Hi Miguel,
I picked up El Alto: Rebel City and was left a bit flat after reading it. It has been written for anthropologists and I found some of the discourse wavering between the scientific and the plain objective, which was not always a bad thing.
I think I was looking for an idea of how El Alto organized for protests and still have many of the essential questions remaining in my mind. Not a comprehensive look but some very interesting chapters on the rise of Evangelicalism in El Alto.
Posted by
Steve
August 26, 2008 8:52 AM
Thanks for the thoughts. Yes, I think the title makes it sound like it will explain the mechanics of politics in El Alto. But it seems like the book is more interested in describing how El Alto evolved into a different kind of urban community.
