Coca y representación: La hoja de coca en la constitución de la nación boliviana en la época neoliberal

• Published in: Latin American research review Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 23 - 38
• Main Author: Vazualdo, Diego Mattos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Latin American Studies Association 2014
• Subjects: Analysis; Coca; Bolivia
• ISSN: 0023-8791; 1542-4278; 1542-4278
• DOI: 10.1353/lar.2014.0002

This article reflects on one of the ways in which contemporary Bolivian society has tried to solve the abrupt sense of emptiness in the conception of the nation in the neoliberal era. The article argues that the coca leaf has been one of the most important elements used by certain sectors of the Bolivian society to fill this void. Its symbolic power has made it possible for the coca leaf (in certain political, social, and cultural circumstances) to pass from being a key element of local representation to a national one. Likewise, the coca leaf contains in itself the always-problematic relationship between the local and the global policies of eradication. More precisely, one aspect that contributes to the strengthening of the coca leaf as symbol in a certain moment is the struggle of the coca growers against such policies. As a theoretical framework, the article turns to Immanuel Wallerstein's notion of world-system, Thomas Barnett's concept of globalization, and Ernesto Laclau's conception of representation.