Rural Mobility and Extractivism. Two Cases of Agriculture and Mining in Bolivia

Abstract

The article explores the relationship between mining, agriculture and mobility in two socioterritorial entities of Bolivia: the municipality of Mapiri (in the department of La Paz) and Raqaypampa, an autonome indigenous region in the department of Cochabamba. The interviews, the review of primary and secondary information and satellite images lead us to propose two mobility types associated with rural extractivism, mining and agriculture. This exercise allows us to question some antecedents and assumptions about Bolivian rurality and to adapt key theoretical notions for the analysis of mobility in rural territories.