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

本课题涉及一位来自芝加哥大学文化人类学专业学生的论文研究。 该项目涉及对高地玻利维亚当地印第安农民劳工领袖进行人种学研究。 该项目将以Quillacollo高地镇作为农民政治活动的代表中心，研究主要的区域农民联盟，通过参与观察联盟会议和其他公共活动，记录地方争端及其解决的历史;对领导人及其家人的广泛采访，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联合会是否继续提供一种共同的社区感，并在社区的社会分化背景下作为集体行动的工具发挥作用。 这项研究是重要的，因为它将增加对南美洲安第斯地区有了解的专家队伍，并促进我们对工会主义的演变和农民工会的社区作用的理解。 加强对农民工群体在社区中的作用及其领导者的作用的理解，对于我们理解当代社会中农民工群体的行为具有重要意义。 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.