Dissertation Research: Local Level Politics and Culture: Peasant Union Brokerage in Quillacollo, Bolivia

本项目涉及芝加哥大学文化人类学专业一名学生的论文研究。该项目涉及对玻利维亚高地当地印第安农民劳工领袖的民族志研究。以高原小镇奎拉科洛为农民政治活动的代表性中心，研究主要的区域农民工会，采用参与观察工会会议和其他公共活动的方式；记录地方纠纷的历史及其解决办法；对领导人及其家属进行广泛采访，包括记录领导人的个人政治网络和政治传记，以及对生计模式的调查。这项研究将评估农民工会是否继续提供一种共同的社区意识，并在社会原子化的社区背景下作为集体行动的工具发挥作用。这项研究很重要，因为它将增加对南美洲安第斯地区知识渊博的专家队伍，并促进我们对工会主义演变和农民工会社区作用的理解。增加对农民工群体在其社区中的作用及其领导人的作用的了解，对于帮助我们理解这些群体在当代社会中的行为是很重要的。这一案例研究将为我们的知识提供宝贵的补充，有助于我们了解其他发展中国家的类似情况。

This project involves the dissertation research of a student of cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago. The project involves the ethnographic study of local peasant Indian labor leaders in highland Bolivia. Taking the highland town of Quillacollo as a representative center of peasant political activity, the project will study the main regional peasant union, using participant-observation of union meetings and other public activities; recording the history of local disputes and their resolution; extensive interviews with leaders and their familes, including recording the personal political networks and political biographies of leaders, as well as a survey of patterns of livelihood. The research will assess whether peasant unions continue to provide a sense of shared community and function as instruments for collective action in the socially atomized context of the community. This research is important because it will add to the corps of specialists knowledgeable about the Andean region of South America, and advance our understanding of the evolution of unionism and of the community role of peasant unions. Increased understanding of the role of peasant-worker groups with respect to their community and the function of their leaders is important to help us understand the behavior of such groups in contemporary society. This case study will provide a valuable addition to our knowledge which can help us understand similar situations in other developing countries.