TWO GENERATIONS OF BOLIVIAN FEMALE VENDORS

Abstract

Indigenous market women in the Bolivian Andes have challenged ethnic-based notions of class in a highly stratified society by nurturing a reputation for successful entrepreneurship based on their marketing knowhow. Today, these market women embody Bolivia’s indigeneity with their distinctive ethnic dress and also represent an astute entrepreneurship that has ruled these marketplaces for generations. The arrival of economic restructuring accelerated upward mobility for the youngest generation of female market vendors (cholas) who gained unprecedented access to formal education and are returning to the informal open- air markets armed with degrees in business and economics. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this essay shows how this generation is negotiating a space in Bolivia today by claiming indigeneity through entrepreneurial practices they code as “indigenous” and “non-indigenous.”