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This book explores how young women navigate everyday moral dilemmas, develop understandings of se... more This book explores how young women navigate everyday moral dilemmas, develop understandings of self, and negotiate hierarchies of power, as they endeavor to “make life better” for themselves and their children. The ethnography is based on sixteen months of qualitative research (2009-2010, 2013, 2014) in an international NGO-run residence for young mothers and their children in the highland Andean region of Cusco, Peru. Drawing on feminist intersectionality theory, anthropological scholarship on reproduction and relatedness, and perspectives on the dialogical, or joint, production of social life and experience, this ethnography enriches understandings of ordinary life as the site of moral experience, and positions young women’s everyday practices, subjectivities, and hopes for the future at the story’s center. These mostly poor and working-class indigenous and mestiza girls care for their children and are positioned simultaneously as youth in need of care. As they seek to create a “g...

Anthropological Quarterly

ABSTRACT:Gendered and racialized identities are jointly produced among social actors, often in wa... more ABSTRACT:Gendered and racialized identities are jointly produced among social actors, often in ways that they cannot individually control. Drawing on ethnographic research in the city of Cusco, Peru and the surrounding region, I explore how gendered indigeneity is produced as a position of "alterity," or otherness, in strategic ways by young women. I focus on a theatrical performance, "History of Natasia," which was collaboratively created and performed by young mothers who live in an independent, NGO-run orphanage. I hold the words of characters in tension with the situation, a dramatic rendering of "a mother like us" for an audience of staff, children, and volunteers. By analyzing the unspoken assumptions and embedded dialogues that emerge between characters and performers in two scenes of the play, I demonstrate that social actors at once collude with institutional configurations of power and actively negotiate social hierarchies in tacit and explicit ways. The article contributes to ongoing discussions of indigenous identification and resistance in the Andean region by grounding these broader conversations in ordinary life and by tracing the micro-politics of interactions. Moreover, the article enriches understandings of the ways that young mothers, located in contexts saturated by power (an orphanage run by a humanitarian organization, for example), may themselves produce difference.

In the past, people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many,... more In the past, people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many, and many people have died who could have assisted them, and therefore orphanhood is a common phenomenon, not strange. The few who are alive cannot support them." A widow in her early fifties, Kenya 1 Cover photo: UNICEF/HQ96-1377/GIACOMO PIROZZI This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.

In the Bolivian Andes although violence between spouses is more frequent, violence also erupts be... more In the Bolivian Andes although violence between spouses is more frequent, violence also erupts between women who are affines. By examining events of violence through the discourses and practices that sustain asymmetries of power among affines, I demonstrate that kinship and violence in the highland
Andean region of Sullk’ata are shaped by multiple inequalities and embedded in, yet extend beyond, the domestic arena. Incorporating violence into an analysis of kinship further highlights the lived interactions of individuals rather than static structures of kinship. E

Este artículo analiza la adopción informal como lente para observar discursos de parentesco y rel... more Este artículo analiza la adopción informal como lente para observar discursos de parentesco y relaciones sociales y políticas más generales en Bolivia. Demuestro que los padres adoptivos (o ‘‘padres cotidianos’’) usan ideologías de ‘‘relación’’ así como distinciones entre lo privado y lo público para reclamar niños que son adoptados clandestina e ilegalmente. A veces los Sullk’atas distinguen a sus familiares legítimos pero también enfatizan que la base ontológica de parentesco reside en la circulación de comida, sangre y energía por el universo. Aunque los Sullk’atas emigrantes basan su concepto de parentesco en discursos locales, acuden también a abogados para legitimizar sus adopciones. Los padres cotidianos expresan juicios morales al hablar sobre burocracia y sacrificios personales, incluso cuando no se reconocen jerarquías de género, etnicidad y clase socioeconómica.

This paper explores informal adoption in Bolivia as a window onto broader social,
emotional, political relationships and discourses. I focus on cases in which an adoptive parent raises a child who has not been officially declared abandoned by the state. Drawing on ethnographic research in the rural highland region of Sullk’ata, Bolivia and in the cities of Cochabamba and Sucre, Bolivia I demonstrate that Sullk’atas draw on local ideologies of relatedness as well as a distinction between public and private to maintain their claims to a child. In Sullk’ata the fosterage and informal adoption of children is generally accepted. Sulk’atas sometimes distinguish their parientes legı´timos (Sp.), or ‘‘true kin,’’ from others, but they also emphasize the circulation of energy, food, and blood through bodies as the ground of relatedness. Although Sullk’ata migrants to Bolivian cities draw upon these local ideologies of relatedness, and voice resistance to state bureaucracy, they also turn to lawyers to further legitimate their adoptions.

Anthropological Quarterly - ANTHROPOL QUART, 2011

In the Andean highlands of Bolivia, people sometimes express their ambivalence over the religious... more In the Andean highlands of Bolivia, people sometimes express their ambivalence over the religious conversion of family and community members through stories about evangelical Protestants who have been possessed by Santuku or the devil. The article analyzes these narratives as part of a larger genre of devil stories and as a window onto the multiple ways Andean Catholics link migration, religious conversion, and death in the context of broader neoliberal transformations. From the perspective of those “left behind”—Catholic family and community members—conversion empties the future. Nevertheless, the necessary labor of dissolving or reconfiguring social relationships is undertaken by both Catholics and evangelical Protestants and sheds light on the production of sociality in 21st century Bolivia.

The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 2010

Tinkuys, o “batallas rituales,” son peleas a puñetazos que ocurren durante fiestas católicas en a... more Tinkuys, o “batallas rituales,” son peleas a puñetazos que ocurren durante fiestas católicas en algunas partes de los Andes de Bolivia y Perú. Aunque sus representaciones no circulan abiertamente, luchadores recuerdan sus peleas en días y, a veces, años después de una batalla. Basándome en la narración de un campeón del tinkuy, sugiero que peleadores pueden producir identidades complejas. En la Bolivia contemporánea pelear tinkuy implica ser “indio,” y además que solamente los indios andinos—nunca los “más civilizados”—lo pelean. Pero los peleadores que narran sus historias también movilizan asociaciones con muchos grupos, que incluyen a los españoles, la nación moderna, el ayllu, y la familia. Este artículo analiza los significados, tanto referenciales como no referenciales, de un relato del tinkuy y por lo tanto clarifica el proceso de la auto construcción del campeón. Indico los mecanismos por los cuales se afirma a la vez raza, género, etnicidad, y ciudadanía. Reflexionar sobre la narración del tinkuy como instrumento para reclamar masculinidad hegemonía y ciudadanía desafía las categorías binarias del indio y blanco; además sugiere caminos nuevos para investigar el tinkuy como práctica vivida.

Tinkuys, often termed “ritual battles,” are events of hand-to-hand fighting that occur during Catholic feast days in some parts of the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes. Although their representations do not often circulate widely, tinkuy fighters tell stories of their experiences long after the battle is over. Drawing on a narrative told by a self-described tinkuy champion, the article demonstrates that individuals may make complicated claims to subjectivity that imbricate race, gender, ethnicity, and citizenship in their stories. In contemporary Bolivia tinkuy is closely associated with racialized discourses of indianness and violence, yet fighters who narrate their experiences may mobilize multiple associations—with the Spanish and the nation as well as with the ayllu—and may negotiate belonging to diverse communities. Attention to the nonreferential, as well as to the referential, content of this fighter's narrative illuminates the mechanisms through which an individual may constitute self in interaction. Considering the ways narratives of Andean ritual violence may be used to claim hegemonic masculinity and citizenship challenges the categorical distinctions between indian and white and suggests potential avenues for further research on tinkuy as a living practice.

American Anthropologist, Jan 1, 1998

This book explores how young women navigate everyday moral dilemmas, develop understandings of se... more This book explores how young women navigate everyday moral dilemmas, develop understandings of self, and negotiate hierarchies of power, as they endeavor to “make life better” for themselves and their children. The ethnography is based on sixteen months of qualitative research (2009-2010, 2013, 2014) in an international NGO-run residence for young mothers and their children in the highland Andean region of Cusco, Peru. Drawing on feminist intersectionality theory, anthropological scholarship on reproduction and relatedness, and perspectives on the dialogical, or joint, production of social life and experience, this ethnography enriches understandings of ordinary life as the site of moral experience, and positions young women’s everyday practices, subjectivities, and hopes for the future at the story’s center. These mostly poor and working-class indigenous and mestiza girls care for their children and are positioned simultaneously as youth in need of care. As they seek to create a “g...

Anthropological Quarterly

ABSTRACT:Gendered and racialized identities are jointly produced among social actors, often in wa... more ABSTRACT:Gendered and racialized identities are jointly produced among social actors, often in ways that they cannot individually control. Drawing on ethnographic research in the city of Cusco, Peru and the surrounding region, I explore how gendered indigeneity is produced as a position of "alterity," or otherness, in strategic ways by young women. I focus on a theatrical performance, "History of Natasia," which was collaboratively created and performed by young mothers who live in an independent, NGO-run orphanage. I hold the words of characters in tension with the situation, a dramatic rendering of "a mother like us" for an audience of staff, children, and volunteers. By analyzing the unspoken assumptions and embedded dialogues that emerge between characters and performers in two scenes of the play, I demonstrate that social actors at once collude with institutional configurations of power and actively negotiate social hierarchies in tacit and explicit ways. The article contributes to ongoing discussions of indigenous identification and resistance in the Andean region by grounding these broader conversations in ordinary life and by tracing the micro-politics of interactions. Moreover, the article enriches understandings of the ways that young mothers, located in contexts saturated by power (an orphanage run by a humanitarian organization, for example), may themselves produce difference.

In the past, people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many,... more In the past, people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many, and many people have died who could have assisted them, and therefore orphanhood is a common phenomenon, not strange. The few who are alive cannot support them." A widow in her early fifties, Kenya 1 Cover photo: UNICEF/HQ96-1377/GIACOMO PIROZZI This map does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.

In the Bolivian Andes although violence between spouses is more frequent, violence also erupts be... more In the Bolivian Andes although violence between spouses is more frequent, violence also erupts between women who are affines. By examining events of violence through the discourses and practices that sustain asymmetries of power among affines, I demonstrate that kinship and violence in the highland
Andean region of Sullk’ata are shaped by multiple inequalities and embedded in, yet extend beyond, the domestic arena. Incorporating violence into an analysis of kinship further highlights the lived interactions of individuals rather than static structures of kinship. E

Este artículo analiza la adopción informal como lente para observar discursos de parentesco y rel... more Este artículo analiza la adopción informal como lente para observar discursos de parentesco y relaciones sociales y políticas más generales en Bolivia. Demuestro que los padres adoptivos (o ‘‘padres cotidianos’’) usan ideologías de ‘‘relación’’ así como distinciones entre lo privado y lo público para reclamar niños que son adoptados clandestina e ilegalmente. A veces los Sullk’atas distinguen a sus familiares legítimos pero también enfatizan que la base ontológica de parentesco reside en la circulación de comida, sangre y energía por el universo. Aunque los Sullk’atas emigrantes basan su concepto de parentesco en discursos locales, acuden también a abogados para legitimizar sus adopciones. Los padres cotidianos expresan juicios morales al hablar sobre burocracia y sacrificios personales, incluso cuando no se reconocen jerarquías de género, etnicidad y clase socioeconómica.

This paper explores informal adoption in Bolivia as a window onto broader social,
emotional, political relationships and discourses. I focus on cases in which an adoptive parent raises a child who has not been officially declared abandoned by the state. Drawing on ethnographic research in the rural highland region of Sullk’ata, Bolivia and in the cities of Cochabamba and Sucre, Bolivia I demonstrate that Sullk’atas draw on local ideologies of relatedness as well as a distinction between public and private to maintain their claims to a child. In Sullk’ata the fosterage and informal adoption of children is generally accepted. Sulk’atas sometimes distinguish their parientes legı´timos (Sp.), or ‘‘true kin,’’ from others, but they also emphasize the circulation of energy, food, and blood through bodies as the ground of relatedness. Although Sullk’ata migrants to Bolivian cities draw upon these local ideologies of relatedness, and voice resistance to state bureaucracy, they also turn to lawyers to further legitimate their adoptions.

Anthropological Quarterly - ANTHROPOL QUART, 2011

In the Andean highlands of Bolivia, people sometimes express their ambivalence over the religious... more In the Andean highlands of Bolivia, people sometimes express their ambivalence over the religious conversion of family and community members through stories about evangelical Protestants who have been possessed by Santuku or the devil. The article analyzes these narratives as part of a larger genre of devil stories and as a window onto the multiple ways Andean Catholics link migration, religious conversion, and death in the context of broader neoliberal transformations. From the perspective of those “left behind”—Catholic family and community members—conversion empties the future. Nevertheless, the necessary labor of dissolving or reconfiguring social relationships is undertaken by both Catholics and evangelical Protestants and sheds light on the production of sociality in 21st century Bolivia.

The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 2010

Tinkuys, o “batallas rituales,” son peleas a puñetazos que ocurren durante fiestas católicas en a... more Tinkuys, o “batallas rituales,” son peleas a puñetazos que ocurren durante fiestas católicas en algunas partes de los Andes de Bolivia y Perú. Aunque sus representaciones no circulan abiertamente, luchadores recuerdan sus peleas en días y, a veces, años después de una batalla. Basándome en la narración de un campeón del tinkuy, sugiero que peleadores pueden producir identidades complejas. En la Bolivia contemporánea pelear tinkuy implica ser “indio,” y además que solamente los indios andinos—nunca los “más civilizados”—lo pelean. Pero los peleadores que narran sus historias también movilizan asociaciones con muchos grupos, que incluyen a los españoles, la nación moderna, el ayllu, y la familia. Este artículo analiza los significados, tanto referenciales como no referenciales, de un relato del tinkuy y por lo tanto clarifica el proceso de la auto construcción del campeón. Indico los mecanismos por los cuales se afirma a la vez raza, género, etnicidad, y ciudadanía. Reflexionar sobre la narración del tinkuy como instrumento para reclamar masculinidad hegemonía y ciudadanía desafía las categorías binarias del indio y blanco; además sugiere caminos nuevos para investigar el tinkuy como práctica vivida.

Tinkuys, often termed “ritual battles,” are events of hand-to-hand fighting that occur during Catholic feast days in some parts of the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes. Although their representations do not often circulate widely, tinkuy fighters tell stories of their experiences long after the battle is over. Drawing on a narrative told by a self-described tinkuy champion, the article demonstrates that individuals may make complicated claims to subjectivity that imbricate race, gender, ethnicity, and citizenship in their stories. In contemporary Bolivia tinkuy is closely associated with racialized discourses of indianness and violence, yet fighters who narrate their experiences may mobilize multiple associations—with the Spanish and the nation as well as with the ayllu—and may negotiate belonging to diverse communities. Attention to the nonreferential, as well as to the referential, content of this fighter's narrative illuminates the mechanisms through which an individual may constitute self in interaction. Considering the ways narratives of Andean ritual violence may be used to claim hegemonic masculinity and citizenship challenges the categorical distinctions between indian and white and suggests potential avenues for further research on tinkuy as a living practice.

American Anthropologist, Jan 1, 1998