Starting from Quirpini: The Travels and Places of a Bolivian People

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments Oneofthefirstthingsyoulearninanthropologyisthatnoonedoesanything ‘on their own.’ Like any kind of production, research and writing are social activities.OvertheyearsIhave beenaidedby thefavorsandinputofsomany people that I could not possibly remember all, or even most of them. The book has benefited immensely from the insightful feedback and moral support of innumerable colleagues and mentors, notably Tom Abercrombie , Claudio Lomnitz, Laurie Kain Hart, Setha Low, Hylton White, SusanPaulson ,JudithFriedlander,RogerRouse,AndyOrta,RobAlbro,Barnie Bate, Carmen Medeiros, Jesse Shipley, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo, Ray Fogelson, Alejandro Giusti, and Jean Comaroff. In writing the book, I have received valuable help at different times from two assistants: the promising young anthropologist Diego Cagüeñas, and my cousin Joanna Howard. Terence Turner, Nancy Munn, Paul Friedrich, and Alan Kolata of the Anthropology Department at the University of Chicago were great sources of inspiration and intellectual guidance. My fellow graduate students in anthropology at Chicago formed a challenging and supportive community that was ideal for stimulating creative work. The students in my spring 2009 “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” courses at Fordham University read the book manuscript; their impressions and advice were most helpful. In Bolivia I incurred countless debts to countless people. From the stranger who kindly shared his blanket as we waited out a campesino roadblock in the freezing highlands near Potosí, to the insightful, supportive au- x · Acknowledgments dience members at the first public presentation of my Argentina material in Sucre, I have repeatedly relied on the generosity of spirit that is so evident among Bolivians, and often shared by expatriate scholars. First of all I thank Pilar Giménez, whose friendship and intelligence made her a great support during my sojourns in Sucre, and who played a key role in helping me find the relationships that would enable me to enter San Lucas. Antonio Sánchez de Lozada and his wife Lulé shared with me their home, wisdom, and love of Bolivia; without them this project never would have come to be. When my search for a field site was stalled, Erick Langer suggested that I look at San Lucas, for which I am ever grateful. Primo Nina Llanos, language teacher extraordinaire, and the equally gifted Mamerto Torres, did more than just teach me Quechua; they shared their knowledge and guided my growing understanding of the culture of the Quechua-speaking people of the area. In SucreIwasluckytofindmyselfinthemidstofalivelygroupofscholars,given focus by the energies of Gabriel Martínez and Veronica Cereceda. I spent many happy hours comparing notes, ideas, and complaints with Gary Urton and Julia Meyerson, Antero Klemola, Colin Gomez, and Elka Weinstein. Luis Oporto at the Museo Nacional de Etnografía y Folklore in La Paz gave me crucial help, and Denise Arnold and Juan de Dios Yapita, as well as Wilbert Tejerina, Alison Spedding, and Rossana Barragán were good company, always ready to share their profound insights into Bolivia. All of my research would have been impossible without the active support of many people in Quirpini, San Lucas, and Buenos Aires. Miguel Paco and Emiliana Puma housed me, fed me, vouched for me, and spent hours answeringmynaïvequestions;theirchildren,especiallyJavier,weremygood friends. The friendship and support of Anisa Ibarra and Felix Villcasana, Genaro Mamani and Carminsa Santos, Filomón Villcasana, and Justinano Cruz made my work in Quirpini much more enjoyable and productive. Nicanor Huarachi guided me to Buenos Aires and looked after me while I was there. Mamerto Barrios, a San Luqueño living in Sucre, gave me a valuable entrée to the town. Adolfo Otondo and his family, as well as Macedonio Valverde, were of inestimable help. It would make perfect sense to mention all of my friends, and all those who have helped me over the years, but I will limit myself to a few people to whom I owe special thanks: John Hyslop, Craig Morris, Antoinette Molinié, Adele Greene, Althea Viafora-Kress, Jessica Bejamin, and Stephen Keogh. The financial support from my grandmother, Mary Clark Rockefeller, helped Acknowledgments · xi with fieldwork. I hardly know how to thank my oldest intellectual companion and one of my closest friends, David Graeber. Many of the ideas in the book might well have originated with him (as did this line; see Graeber 2001:vii); nearly all were refined in the course of our many conversations, which have been an endless source of ideas and inspiration since we were in high school. And, finally, I give all my love and plenty of thanks to...