El ‘vivir bien’ (suma qamaña/ sumaq kawsay) en Bolivia: un paraíso idealizado no tan ‘andino’

Abstract

The concept of “vivir bien” or “well living” and its possible meanings have generated heated debates in Bolivia and the rest of Latin America. This paper, based on a series of interviews with persons familiarized with these debates, examines the origins of the concept, its development, some interests behind it and the impact of its ideas in current Bolivian politics. Three conjunctures are identified in the development of the concept: first as a form of personal advice-giving within a family context linked to the regional practices of a moral economy; second as a public discourse assumed by international organizations, linked to alternative development projects, and third as a slogan in the populist politics of the MAS party (Movimiento al Socialismo) in Evo Morales’ second government. In each conjuncture, the paper identifies the principal social actors interested in the concept of “well living”, their wider interests and the factors at play in their modalities of disseminating the idea. Finally the paper questions whether the concept is authentically Andean, as is usually supposed.