LAUSR

As both a focus and locus of vibrant scholarly work, the field of Bolivian studies burst onto the international scene, carving a distinctive niche for itself within the larger fields of Andean and Latin American studies over the past twenty-five years. Bolivia went from being the hemisphere’s “least studied” country, according to a 1984 LASA Forum survey, to becoming a beacon of intercultural dialogue, vanguard scholarship, and postcolonial debate. This essay traces Bolivian studies’ coming of age. Plotting the field’s developments and dialogues across history, anthropology, and ethnohistory, it argues that a dual process of academic decentering and epistemic reinvention unfolded in Bolivia at the height of its indigenous and popular mobilizations during the 1990s and early 2000s. The article closes by identifying five thematic clusters of recent research and briefly reflects on the place of Bolivian scholarship in the wider purview of Andean studies. Resumen Como foco y lugar de trabajo academico vibrante, el campo de los estudios bolivianos irrumpio en la escena internacional, labrandose un nicho distintivo dentro de los campos mas amplios de los estudios andinos y latinoamericanos durante los ultimos veinticinco anos. Bolivia paso de ser el pais “menos estudiado” del hemisferio, segun una encuesta del Foro LASA de 1984, a convertirse en un faro de dialogo intercultural, estudios de vanguardia y debate postcolonial. Este ensayo muestra la madurez de los estudios bolivianos. Trazando desarrollos de campo y dialogos a traves de Historia, Antropologia y Etnohistoria, argumenta que un proceso dual de descentracion academica y reinvencion epistemica se desarrollo en Bolivia en el apogeo de sus movilizaciones indigenas y populares durante la decada de 1990 y principios de 2000. El articulo cierra identificando cinco grupos tematicos de nuevas investigaciones, y reflexiona brevemente sobre el lugar de la investigacion boliviana en el ambito mas amplio de los Estudios Andinos.