The thesis investigates the content and composition of the despacho, the ritual offering used to propitiate principal earth deities in the Bolivian mining town of Oruro (Department of Oruro). The despacho is also designed to increase suerte which is viewed not only in terms of material fortune, but also personal well-being and harmony with the cosmos. The concepts and terminology of the despacho are discussed, as well as the different types of despacho used, and particular features of their content, composition and presentation. The first part of the thesis shows how the content and arrangement of the despacho constitute a symbolic language, communicating what is important about suerte, and creating a miniature picture of life on earth in all its abundance. The despacho’s symbolic language is particularly meaningful in terms of suerte and the Quechua and Aymara peoples’ worldview. The second part of the thesis investigates the use of six different curing mesas used in a ritual ceremony to restore suerte following a coca divination ceremony. Both ceremonies were performed by an Aymara ritual specialist from a village south of Oruro. The content and function of each mesa is discussed, and I show how the six mesas were used in a sequence to describe a transition from mala suerte to suerte, and as part of a broader sequence of ritual events. In this part of the thesis I demonstrate how symbolic language is also used in healing mesas to describe and bring about changes between different states, and to create access to suerte in ritual.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Toulouse le Mirail, 1990. / Includes abstracts in English and French. Includes bibliographical references (leaves clix-cclxxxii, 3rd group) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-292)

Tesis de grado para obtener el diploma academico de Licendiatura en Biología, Universidad Mayor de San Simon, Facultad Ciencias y Tecnologia Carrera Biologia. / Abstract in English and Spanish.

Tesis de Grado, Universidad Catloica Boliviana "San Pablo" Unidad Academica Campesina Tihuanaco, Carrera Ingenieria Zootechnica. / Abstract in Spanish and English.

Tesis de grado para obtener el titulo de Licenciatura en Biologia, Universidad Mayor de San Simon, Facultad de Ciencias Y Tecnologia, Carrera de Biologia. / Abstract in Spanish and English.

No description available.

Throughout Latin America the conservative terms established at the outset of democratization, which often limited the scope of democracy for the preservation of stability, have been exhausted. Coinciding with the emergence of the Latin American left, the initial terms of democracy are being redefined through the reconstitution of the state and the renegotiation of the role of the state in the economy. These phenomena are presently and precipitously unfolding in Bolivia. Bolivia’s failure to establish substantively democratic institutions resulted in a political-economy orientation incongruent to the preferences of the electorate. The electorate was forced to push their interests by means of increasingly assertive social movements, which coalesced, forming viable leftist party alternatives. Seeking to redefine the parameters of the state, the actualization of the left’s nationalization agenda reversed decades-old policies of privatization that had been maintained through pacted executive legislative relations. In redefining Bolivian democracy, the left has confronted a resistant opposition, which has thrust the country into a political impasse, the outcome of which has yet to be determined. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

En la costa de Atacama, a unos pocos kilómetros al sur de Tocopilla, aún se divisan los cimientos derruidos y ruinosos de las casas, la iglesia y las calles de Cobija, ahora una ciudad fantasma. Los restos de Cobija evocan el esfuerzo de hombres y mujeres que durante el siglo XIX convirtieron la costa desértica en un lugar lleno de vida. En la actualidad, una jauría de perros habita la zona alta de la ciudad y en el área próxima a la costa aún se reconoce los vestigios de un fuerte en cuyos restos rompen las olas. En los esbozos de las antiguas casas emergen habitaciones de material liviano, changuerías de pescadores, que aprovechan parte de los muros de adobe que aún resisten los insultos de un maremoto, el tiempo y el abandono. El puerto de Lamar en Cobija, se constituyó como un proyecto político de la reciente Bolivia cuyo objetivo radicó en ser una puerta de entrada al mundo moderno capitalista luego de la pérdida de Arica. En dicho contexto este enclave fue un centro de despliegue del sistema protocapitalista en la zona durante el periodo republicano −aunque siempre con un sustrato colonial fundante−, asociado principalmente a la explotación de materias primas como el cobre, el guano y el salitre.