«La guerra de civilización» la participación indígena en la revolución de 1870 en Bolivia

Abstract

Through the analysis of the literary and political production of Casimiro Corral and the documents stemming from his administrative and military conspiracies, this article gives a new interpretation of the 1870 Revolution as the moment when the indigenous population of the La Paz Altiplano acquired public inclusion and national conscience. With the aim of analyzing the significance of the State institutions in the redefinition of previous colective identities, as well as their transformation from corporative to national identities, this article discusses the nature, reach and reception of the civic regeneration project proposed by the revolutionaries. Two phases are distinguished, that of the conflict itself and that of the following months. In this framework it is examined the meanings given by the revolutionaries to the indigenous participation and their alleged proposals to that part of the population. On the other hand, it is also discussed the reach of those promises and the interpretations given by the indigenous communities.