Messing with the Enemy: Movement and Cinematic Representations of the Traitorous Intermediary in Neoliberal Bolivia.

This paper examines a shift in cultural and movement discourse in Bolivia, arguing that as neoliberalizing governments and organizations attempted to enforce ‘surgical’ austerity measures, indigenous movements and aligned intellectuals began to focus on internal rather than external threats, naming and attempting to expel the figure of the traitorous intermediary from the national body. By analyzing Jorge Sanjinés’ 1989 drama La Nación Clandestina alongside the writings of Bolivian movement intellectuals, this paper shows how Bolivian cultural representations and movement representatives in the neoliberal era animate the figure of the traitorous intermediary in an attempt to revive an indigenous nation. This discourse of the traitorous intermediary draws on the long history of mestizaje that frames the colonial rape and exploitation of indigenous women as an evidence of women’s betrayal and traitorousness. After demonstrating how, in neoliberalism, women and their demands for gender equality are seen once again as symptoms of selling out the nation, this paper moves to the more recent period, analyzing how Rodrigo Bellott’s 2007 film ¿Quien Mató a la Llamita Blanca? and government responses to lowland indigenous groups over the Villa Tunari – San Ignacio de Moxos Highway – playfully stage but ultimately reinforce this tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]