Shakow, Miriam N.

DR. MIRIAM N. SHAKOW, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, received a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship in October 2010 to aid research and writing on 'States of Discontent: Patronage, Liberalism, and Indigenous Democracy in Bolivia.' This monograph narrates the surprising dilemmas of new middle classes in central Bolivia as they participate in and respond to the rise of a left-wing indigenous movement and party. Over the past decade, Bolivians have been at the forefront of movements for indigenous autonomy and against free market economic policies. The recent success of 'new left' parties in Latin American countries marked by longstanding social and economic inequalities, such as Bolivia, raises important questions about political change. How do people re-think their identities as citizens after the election of indigenous leaders? How are political ideals and practices affected by the rapid turnover of state regimes and ideologies? Following the election of Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous President, first-generation professionals in central Bolivia wrestled earnestly with how to distinguish their identity from those of their 'Indian' and 'peasant' parents, cousins and neighbors-and their new President. By tracing everyday dilemmas of class, racial, and political identification from 1995 to present in the central Bolivian municipality of Sacaba, States of Discontent highlights the unexpected hybridity of radicalism and neoliberal political practices. The book also traces Bolivians' attempts to reconcile conflicting social and political ideals of equality, upward mobility, and middle class distinction.