Photos from Bolivia

Graced with a letter of introduction from the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, RI, where I was fresh off an invigorating 4-month fellowship surrounded by a delightful team of librarians and fellow fellows, and following a brief but lovely week at the Beineke in New Haven, CT, where I met a particularly kind librarian and an absolutely fantastic group of couch sufers, I had the amazing opportunity to conduct research at the Archivo Nacional in Sucre, Chuquisaca, Bolivia. In my two weeks there I read through approximately 40 legal cases and government documents surrounding the turbulent mining regions of Alto Perú: indigenous communities suing male and female Spanish owners of mines and refineries, indigenous men petitioning to be relived of their mita contribution because of their ethnic/racial identities or their participation in the church choir, an indigenous woman suing a male Spaniard for legal rights to the mine that she discovered. In short, all kinds of stories that we hear too little in the story of colonial mining operations.

In addition to all of the kind and supportive people I met in the archive, I had the pleasure of enjoying a number of engaging conversations with a range of people outside of the archive: namely my fellow couchsurfer Dayana Ramírez Vázquez, who runs a non-profit weaving workshop for kids in Sucre, and a host of enthusiastic (largely European) travelers embarking on incredible worldwide journeys. Although I spent most of my time swimming through the flowery letters of early modern scribes, I made sure to make the most of the archive's 2 hour lunch break. I ate delicious food (ahí de todo), strolled around the city for hours, ducked into all kinds of markets, and basked in the vouyeristic glory that is people watching. On the last Friday before I was set to return to La Paz, I met up with a dear friend from Chile and we traveled to the city of Potosí to take a tour of the mine. As the photos indicate, the conditions are extremely taxing; the machinery, rustic; the security measures, wanting; the lifespans, shortened due to the prolonged exposure to poor air quality. But the monthly earnings of the miners who work in the cooperatives range from 800-1000 bolivianos, with the always hoped for prospect of earning more upon finding a vein de buena ley.

And in 2011, I returned under the auspices of a research grant from UNC's Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies. My second trip was as fruitful as my first essay into the documents, and I met researchers and travelers just as lovely as those with whom my path crossed in 2010 -- Carmen from NYU (and Carmen's awesome mom) and Leticia from Paris, Pippa from New Zealand, a marketer who spends her free time volunteering in clinics in Sucre, and Julia from Germany, a recovering lawyer about to embark on a new career in non-profit work in Mexico. My research is all the better for the opportunity to work in Sucre, and I am, too.

iglesia san francisco, la paz   me at the archive!   calle potosí con san antonio
archive, day of protests   manifestaciones centro   manifestaciones centro
iglesia santa teresa   la recoleta   near the university
la merced   la recoleta   maría auxiliadora
avenida arce   arce   maría auxiliadora, sucre
la casa de la moneda, potosí   la casa de la moneda, potosí   la casa de la moneda, potosí
el cerro rico de potosí   el cerro rico de potosí   casa de la moneda, potosí
refining operations, 1st stage   colonial ovens   refining operations, 2nd stage
la faena, entrada nuestra señora del rosario   la faena   house, mine entrance
exit, la candelaria   el tio, la candelaria   exit, la candelaria
la casa de la moneda   mineral oxidation   la casa de la moneda, potosí
tarabuco   tarabuco   tarabuco
tarabuco   tarabuco   me, dayana, and jean-luc
my favorite alleyway   la paz, for claudia


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