Description
Book SynopsisThe people of Quirpini, a rural community in the Bolivian Andes, are in constant motion. They visit each other's houses, work in their fields, go to nearby towns for school, market, or official transactions, and travel to Buenos Aires for wage labour. This work argues that by their travels, they play a role in shaping the places they move through.
Trade Review... an important contribution to the existing bibliography on the politics of movement.May 4, 2011
* Journal of Folklore Research *
[O]ffers a nuanced portrait of life in rural Chuquisaca during the 1990s, which sheds light on the dynamic and multi-scalar processes that go into the making of a place. The book contributes to the . . . literature on the social construction of place . . . .Oct. 2013
* Bulletin of Latin American Research *
[A] groundbreaking book . . . Rockefeller's in-depth descriptions and theoretically savvy analysis guide the reader through the process by which space and place [are] constituted.79.1 2014
* Rural Sociology *
Starting from Quirpini is a beautifully crafted, accomplished text that is essential reading for those interested in migration, transnationalism, Andean ethnography, and the anthropology of space.
* Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
[T]his is an important book that should be widely read by scholars of the Andes and of migration, as well as those interested in the construction of places and borders.
* American Anthropologist *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Part 1. Inscriptions
Introduction: Disorientations
1. Places and History in and about Quirpini
Part 2. Facets of a Place
2. Bicycles and Houses
3. The Geography of Planting Corn
4. Carnival and the Spatial Practice of Community
Part 3. From Quirpini
5. Ethnic Politics and the Control of Movement
6. Placing Bolivia in Quirpini: Civic Ritual and the Power of Context
7. Where Do You Go When You Go to Buenos Aires?
Conclusion: Coming Back to Quirpini
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
