Along the Bolivian Highway: Social Mobility and Political Culture in a New Middle Class

Acknowledgments

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s On the long road that has led to this book, I have been lucky to have wonderful guides and traveling companions. My first thanks go to Brunilda Sánchez, Cristóbal Dı́az, and Armando, Efraı́n, Emiliano, Felicidad, Herminia , and Ladislao Dı́az Sánchez, as well as Luı́s Alberto Dı́az Hinojosa. I am also greatly indebted to Sonia Hidalgo, Vı́ctor Hugo Sánchez, and Rosa Sánchez for research assistance. Nélida Sánchez, Norah Hidalgo, Feliza Sánchez , Norah Mérida Balderrama, Antonio Garcı́a, Marga Mair, Deysi Ramı́rez , Blanca Vargas, and Orlando Orellana, among many others in Sacaba, offered their warm friendship and important insights. I extend my deepest appreciation to Michael Herzfeld, Kay Warren, Ajantha Subramanian, Kimberly Theidon, Lesley Gill, and Beth Conklin for their generous support and encouragement. Their synthesis of activism and impeccable scholarship has been an inspiration for me. I am also extremely grateful to Gary Urton, Smita Lahiri, Rosemary Coombe, Pauline Peters, Miguel Dı́az Barriga, Ken Sharpe, and Aurora Camacho de Schmidt. I would like to express my thanks to the institutions that have provided me with financial support for this research. The bulk of the writing and research were funded by a Wenner-Gren Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Fulbright-Hays Research Award. I received generous preliminary research support from the Fulbright IIE, the Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Program in Justice, Welfare and Economics, and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. A Foreign Language and Area Studies summer grant through Cornell University provided support for Quechua language study. The Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University, and the College of New Jersey provided generous support for research and writing. Thanks are due, as well, to the members of the Harvard Latin America Working Group and the Harvard Political Ecology Working Group. I am 258 Acknowledgments also grateful to the students of the Harvard Junior Tutorial in Politics and the State in Latin America, and students at Vanderbilt University and the College of New Jersey for their editorial suggestions. In particular, Jack Meyers at the College of New Jersey provided incisive and thoughtful comments at a crucial juncture. Tom Kruse and Pamela Calla provided a superb introduction to Bolivia, as did Susan Paulson. In Cochabamba, I was aided immensely by the institutional support and kindness of the directors and staff of the Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Económica y Social (CERES), including Pablo Cuba, Rosario León, and Blanca León. Susan Southerwood, Abraham Aruquipa , Deysi Vargas Salvatierra, Heidi Baer-Postigo, Theodoro Claros, Steve Vanek, and Leia Raphaelidis were extremely hospitable and encouraging. Many thanks to Bret Gustafson, Andrew Canessa, Isabel Scarborough, Carrie Furman, Christine Hippert, Amber Wutich, Maria Tapias, Krista van Vleet, Rob Albro, Daniel Goldstein, David Guss, Andy Orta, Nancy Postero, and Jill Wightman for their generosity in welcoming me to the community of bolivianistas. Esperanza Angelo and Micaela Calvetti gave me a home away from home, as did Nila Pinto, Eddy Mancilla, and their children. Many thanks to Analucy Choquechambi, Fernando Rea Campos, Deysi Vargas, and Gilka Gordillo Bazán for providing crucial help with transcription . Luı́s Morató Peña, Daniel Cotari, and Viviana Flores were wonderful Quechua teachers and perceptive analysts of Bolivian social and political life. The directors and staff of the Centro de Estudio y Trabajo de la Mujer (CETM) and of Yachay Chhalaku very generously allowed me to accompany them on their work in Sacaba. Andrés Uzeda at the Universidad Mayor de San Simon was exceedingly hospitable. I am especially indebted to Rosario Mérida Balderrama and Esperanza Angelo for taking such wonderful care of my son. I am very grateful to my editors. At the University of Pennsylvania Press, Peter Agree has been an editor sent from heaven: patient, kind, supportive , and a sharp reader. Alma Gottlieb, Noreen O’Connor, Sara Lickey, and Claudia Castañeda offered skillful editing. I also benefitted enormously from the perceptive comments of Bret Gustafson and an anonymous reviewer. I extend my gratitude to Rusaslina Idrus, Lilith Mahmud, Lindsay Smith, Maria Stalford, and Anne Pollock for their companionship on this project from start to finish. Words fail me in describing my debt to them Acknowledgments 259 for their optimism, empathy, and lavish meals...