An Anthropological History of Indigenous Small-scale Mining in Porco, Bolivia: 1500-2018

FAIN: FEL-267930-20

Mary Van Buren
Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO 80521-2807)

Research and writing leading to a book on the history of small-scale silver mining by indigenous communities in Bolivia from prehistory to the present.

Indigenous technology and organization of small-scale mineral production has roots in the Andean past and is most productively analyzed in terms of its dialectical, mutually constitutive relationship with large-scale mining enterprises over time. I examine this issue from the perspective of a holistic form of political economy, and from the vantage points of indigenous households in Porco as well as broader regional and global events that shaped local conditions. My book project will result in an anthropological history of mining practices that draws on archaeological, ethnographic, and historical data collected over the course of nine field seasons in Porco.  [Edited by staff]