The challenge for a multiethnic approach to development : the case of Bolivia

Abstract

This study depicts the social and economic development of Bolivia in the 20th century and argues the need for a multiethnic approach to development. It describes the various modes of accumulation that embodied the Creole-state ideology and pursued the "persistent dream of modernization". The study focuses on the initiatives of ethnic communities and organized labor that hold possibilities for the fulfillment of poplar and multiethnic development, as proposed in the 1952 Popular Revolution. Particular attention is given to social, productive and cultural inheritance in "Indian" communities since it constituted the soul of the struggles of Bolivia's indigenous peoples for their ethnic identity.

The study presents concepts of "community-nation" and "union-class" affiliations as valid tools of analysis. The study challenges also ethnocentric conceptions and suggests a holistic approach to development that includes ethnicity, ecology, gender and the equitable distribution of resources in Bolivia's development.