Adaptation of Aymara and Quechua to the Bicultural Social Context of Bolivian Mines

Abstract

Bolivian tin miners recruited from Aymará and Quechua ethnic enclaves participate in a selective adaptation process. Control by the miner's union from 1952 to 1965 allowed the realization of revolutionary ideals—an open, achievement-based society following Western-urban patterns. Three modal categories are described: the part-time worker interested in cash to maximize ethnic values; the full-time, bicultural-bilingual miner balancing between Indian and non-Indian, switching codes according to context; and the committed member of the miner-worker class who has rejected his Indian heritage. Progress along this assimilation continuum is in terms of increasing commitment to union ideology and compartmentalization of ethnic values and behavior.