ABSTRACT
This chapter uses a mobilities framework to make two arguments about the relationship between small-scale mining and Indigenous autonomy in the tin belt of Norte Potosí, Bolivia. First, small-scale tin mining in this region is increasingly characterized by two relatively new forms of mobility: the movement of people between ayllus (Quechua and Aymara communities) and nearby tin mines, and the regional circulation of mining-derived profits within rural areas. While mining in Bolivia has long relied on the forced migration and labor of Indigenous people, Indigenous communities have been historically excluded from the wealth derived from their extractive labors; now, money from mining is mobile along with Indigenous miners themselves. Second, these mobilities are thoroughly ch’ixi (motley) in that they involve the strategic use of capitalist economic activities to support contemporary expressions of Indigenous autonomy. As developed by Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, the Aymara word ch’ixi implies a non-synthetic coexistence of Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds. As used in this chapter, the concept supports a critical analysis of the degree to which new mining mobilities have the capacity to support Indigenous autonomy efforts.
