Voice and Nation in Plurinational Bolivia: Aymara Radio and Song in an Age of Pachakuti

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Karl Swinehart (University of Louisville, USA)

Voice and Nation in Plurinational Bolivia

Aymara Radio and Song in an Age of Pachakuti

Karl Swinehart (University of Louisville, USA)

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
13 June 2024

linguistics; Communication studies; Social & cultural anthropology

Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Linguistic Anthropology

This book offers ethnographic accounts of Aymara language media activism in Bolivia during the presidency of Evo Morales (2006–2019). It draws on research conducted among Aymara language radio broadcasters, hip hop artists, and community members during a period of radical social change and Indigenous political resurgence (pachakuti) in South America’s most Indigenous republic.

The Plurinational Republic of Bolivia counts Aymara among its official languages, but Aymara’s social status and transmission to newer generations raise concerns about whether, despite being one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages of the Americas, the threat of language obsolescence persists. This ethnographic account of Indigenous language activism shows how Aymara media and cultural workers combat this threat by making the language audible in diverse corners of Aymara life and examines the role Indigenous multilingualism plays in Bolivian politics. Through interviews and analysis of Aymara media texts, this study shows how language professionals determine how “the voice of the people” should sound. By introducing neologisms and archaicisms to avoid mixing Aymara with Spanish, Aymara language professionals disseminate a register of dehispanicized Aymara over the airwaves. The study reveals how these language professionals approach cultivating Aymara as more than a question of linguistic competence, but also of political commitment and anti-racist practice.

Organized into two sections, one on radio and one on song, and including clear explanations and illustrations of key concepts in linguistic anthropology, this book listens to Aymara language advocacy from devout Catholics, union militants, and hip hop artists and fans, who hear in their language both the past and the future of Bolivia’s Aymaras.

By: Karl Swinehart (University of Louisville USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 238mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 460g
ISBN: 9781350324718
ISBN 10: 135032471X
Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Linguistic Anthropology
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 13 June 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Karl Swinehart is Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Humanities at the University of Louisville, USA.

Reviews for Voice and Nation in Plurinational Bolivia: Aymara Radio and Song in an Age of Pachakuti

This is a unique and detailed piece of scholarship that presents a comprehensive view of Aymara cultural production at the end of the first decade of the 2000s. * Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology * Demonstrates how Aymara is a modern language in Bolivia, one that addresses very contemporary political and cultural challenges. Indigenous languages are in danger across the world but Voice and Nation shows how Aymara is vibrant, edgy, challenging, and socially and politically relevant in a modern world. - Professor Andrew Canessa, University of Essex, UK.