Choloaesthetics andmestizaje

Architecture in El Alto, Bolivia

Bibliographic Data

ID2178086
AuthorsDaniel Runnels (Indiana University Bloomington, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume14
Issue2
Pages138-150
Publication date2019-05-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-2222 • E-ISSN: 1744-2230
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17442222.2019.1630059
OpenAlexW2953553251
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited11

In this paper, I consider Bolivian architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre and his cholets that pepper the visual landscape of El Alto, Bolivia. I argue that his buildings represent a new aesthetic sensibility that also has a political function. Elements such as his use of bright colors, which mimic the Andean affinity for brightness in festive garments, and the incorporation of the Andean cross in his buildings make a striking visual stamp of indigeneity in Bolivia’s urban space most closely associated with indigenous peoples. This article asserts that Mamani’s work represents a gesture that I call ‘Indianizing the urban landscape,’ similar to Felipe Quispe’s notion of “indianizar al q’ara” (indianizing the White other). My paper is divided into two parts. First, I trace some of the discourses that constructed mestizaje as Bolivia’s dominant racial paradigm in the 20th century, then I reflect on Mamani’s practice to show how he establishes markers of indigeneity in public spaces that constitute a visual break from mestizaje as the dominant national type

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Ethnology · Gesture · Indigenous · Linguistics · Literature · Materiality (auditing · Political science · Politics · Sensibility · Sociology · White (mutation · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Law · Philosophy · Public Spaces through Art · Architecture

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