Search

Vigilante violence has become a common practice of creating 'security' in the marginal barrios that surround the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Surprisingly, this violence and the human rights violations it entails are appearing simultaneously with the expansion of civil society in Bolivia. This apparent contradiction, it is argued here, suggests that analysts must expand their definition of 'civil society' to include violent social groups and actors as well as peaceful ones. This article suggests that a fuller understanding of the nature of civil society in Bolivia and other Latin American countries requires us to broaden our understanding of what civil society includes, and so recognize that some acts originating in civil society may restrict rather than deepen and expand individual rights in neo-liberal democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a migrant barrio of Cochabamba, Bolivia, a community considered marginal in the social geography of the city, people struggle to assert their integration to urban and national life. They accomplish this through dance performances that are widely recognized as components of Bolivia's national Carnaval. By demonstrating mastery of national culture, barrio residents offer alternative constructions of urban space, restore community pride, and improve the area's physical infrastructure. Photographs of a local fiesta illustrate this process of contesting marginality. [Urban space, marginality, Andes, Bolivia] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]