"Desvío al paraíso"

citizenship and social Darwinism in Bolivia, 1880-1920

Marta Irurozqui

pp. 205-227

in: Thomas F. Glick, Miguel A. Puig-Samper, Rosaura Ruiz (eds), The reception of Darwinism in the Iberian world, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

The present work focuses on the progressive stigmatization experienced by the Bolivian mestizo, particularly with respect to citizenship.¹The change in category from mestizo to the denigrating one ofcholopermits a reflection on the social and political circumstances which inhibited or encouraged the reception of social Darwinism in Bolivia between 1880 and 1920. One can define this current as a conglomeration of ideas centering on the recognition of inequality between men, races, and classes as a fact, even a right, and which depicted social evolution as a constant struggle between victors and vanquished.²Judging by the research of Ramiro Condarco Morales,³Guillermo Francovich,⁴Juan Albarracín Millán,⁵and Marie Danielle Demelas,⁶Bolivia's libraries and bookstores offered access to texts representative of the multiple tendencies which gave rise to Darwinism.⁷In the last third of the nineteenth century, Bolivian elites demonstrated familiarity with European scientific, political, and philosophic debates, and were sensitive to the ambiguity of their relevance to Bolivia.

Cited authors

Darwin Charles