“Tenía una mujer, pero nunca la vimos”: Una mirada femenina al auge de la goma elástica (Bolivia, XIX-XX)

Abstract

The extractive rubber boom in Bolivian Amazonia (1880-1920) not only reconfigured interethnic relations between indigenous peoples and white settlers but also reshaped the geopolitics of the region, as well as the way in which the Amazon rainforest itself was perceived by the national and international imaginaries. However, the historical and anthropological literature usually presents us with a hyper-masculinised view that tends to ignore or render almost invisible the role of women during the rubber era. Our aim is precisely to describe and analyse the roles played by mestizo and indigenous women in these extractive circuits, in order to reconstruct their agency as protagonistsand to render their presence visible as active participants of the rubber industry.