Indigenous Agency in the Amazon

The Mojos in Liberal and Rubber-Boom Bolivia, 1842–1932

Nonfiction, History, Americas, South America
Cover of the book Indigenous Agency in the Amazon by Gary Van Valen, University of Arizona Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gary Van Valen ISBN: 9780816599783
Publisher: University of Arizona Press Publication: February 21, 2013
Imprint: University of Arizona Press Language: English
Author: Gary Van Valen
ISBN: 9780816599783
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Publication: February 21, 2013
Imprint: University of Arizona Press
Language: English

The largest group of indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon, the Mojos, has coexisted with non-Natives since the late 1600s, when they accepted Jesuit missionaries into their homeland, converted to Catholicism, and adapted their traditional lifestyle to the conventions of mission life. Nearly two hundred years later they faced two new challenges: liberalism and the rubber boom. White authorities promoted liberalism as a way of modernizing the region and ordered the dismantling of much of the social structure of the missions. The rubber boom created a demand for labor, which took the Mojos away from their savanna towns and into the northern rain forests.
 

Gary Van Valen postulates that as ex-mission Indians who lived on a frontier, the Mojos had an expanded capacity to adapt that helped them meet these challenges. Their frontier life provided them with the space and mind-set to move their agricultural plots and cattle herds, join independent indigenous groups, or move to Brazil. Their mission history gave them the experience they needed to participate in the rubber export economy and the politics of white society. Van Valen argues that the indigenous Mojos also learned how to manipulate liberal discourse to their advantage. He demonstrates that the Mojos were able to survive the rubber boom, claim the right of equality promised by the liberal state, and preserve important elements of the culture they inherited from the missions.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The largest group of indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon, the Mojos, has coexisted with non-Natives since the late 1600s, when they accepted Jesuit missionaries into their homeland, converted to Catholicism, and adapted their traditional lifestyle to the conventions of mission life. Nearly two hundred years later they faced two new challenges: liberalism and the rubber boom. White authorities promoted liberalism as a way of modernizing the region and ordered the dismantling of much of the social structure of the missions. The rubber boom created a demand for labor, which took the Mojos away from their savanna towns and into the northern rain forests.
 

Gary Van Valen postulates that as ex-mission Indians who lived on a frontier, the Mojos had an expanded capacity to adapt that helped them meet these challenges. Their frontier life provided them with the space and mind-set to move their agricultural plots and cattle herds, join independent indigenous groups, or move to Brazil. Their mission history gave them the experience they needed to participate in the rubber export economy and the politics of white society. Van Valen argues that the indigenous Mojos also learned how to manipulate liberal discourse to their advantage. He demonstrates that the Mojos were able to survive the rubber boom, claim the right of equality promised by the liberal state, and preserve important elements of the culture they inherited from the missions.

More books from University of Arizona Press

Cover of the book With the River on Our Face by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book A Full Life in a Small Place and Other Essays from a Desert Garden by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Beyond Alterity by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Our Lady of Guadalupe by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book A Land Between Waters by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Landscapes of Social Transformation in the Salinas Province and the Eastern Pueblo World by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Sor Juana by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Other Country by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Indian Pilgrims by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book How Myth Became History by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Looking Like the Enemy by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Sueños Americanos by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Landscapes of Freedom by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Indian Resilience and Rebuilding by Gary Van Valen
Cover of the book Mexican Americans and Education by Gary Van Valen
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy