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Guest Talk Ruben Dario Chambi

On Monday, May 30, Ruben Dario Chambi talks about "Indigeneity Beyond 'VIVIR BIEN'”

30.05.2022 at 18:00 

Ruben Dario Chambi, M.A (LMU Munich):

Indigeneity Beyond “VIVIR BIEN”

The reconfiguration of identity among Aymara traders in the city of El Alto

The incorporation of the philosophical framework of Suma Qamaña or Vivir Bien (Living Well) into the Bolivian constitution in 2009 is seen by many intellectuals as the culmination of the recognition of the rights and philosophies of Indigenous peoples by a state. However, it is also perceived by others as another instance of conceptual imposition upon Indigenous peoples, based on criteria that do not represent their own and current aspirations. My PhD thesis investigates historically and ethnographically whether and in which forms the criteria of Vivir Bien are constitutive of cultural identity formations in the contemporary life of a specific sector of the Aymara population, the traders of El Alto, the largest Indigenous city in Bolivia. In recent years, Aymara traders have become a prolific group in terms of social, economic, and political repositioning. My research aims at studying the processes underpinning the reconfiguration of identity - social, economic, political - in this emerging Andean city, with a particular focus upon novel material and visual expressions.

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When?     Monday, May 30, 18:00
Where?    Institut für Ethnologie, Oettingenstraße 67, 80538 München
                Room L155

Download Program Oberseminar (140 KB)