“Yo no veo aquí más que miserias”: Enfermedad social y capitalismo “humanitario” en En las tierras del Potosí

Autores

  • Ana Lucía Tello University of California, Berkeley

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/bsj.2022.214

Palavras-chave:

Capitalismo, disciplina, enfermedad, higiene, humanitarismo, minería

Resumo

Este ensayo propone leer En las tierras del Potosí (1911), de Jaime Mendoza, como un diagnóstico de la ”enfermedad nacional”. En esta novela, el autor explora los múltiples obstáculos que la nación boliviana enfrenta en su camino hacia la modernidad. Por un lado, al retratar los problemas de salud de los obreros en las minas de estaño en Llallagua, la novela denuncia la explotación por parte de la compañía minera. Sin embargo, el impacto de las acciones de la compañía es mucho más profunda: produce la descomposición moral de todo el cuerpo social. De esta manera, la “barbarie” de los obreros es producida por el capitalismo, y por tanto no puede ser reducida a factores raciales o geográficos. No obstante, la solución que propone la novela, no es la erradicación del capitalismo, sino la implantación de un capitalismo impulsado por un “móvil humanitario”. Por otro lado, los cuerpos indisciplinados de las mujeres son señalados como otra causa del fracaso del proyecto modernizador. No cumplir adecuadamente con el rol materno pone en riesgo “el futuro saludable” de la nación. Así, son dos los grandes obstáculos que enfrenta el proyecto modernizador: un capitalismo que produce pobreza, enfermedad y muerte, por un lado, y las mujeres indígenas, por el otro. Mientras el primer obstáculo escapa al campo de acción del saber médico, el segundo puede ser superado a través de prácticas disciplinarias como la higiene. Empero, la confianza en la posibilidad de superar el segundo obstáculo es más que nada una maniobra compensatoria, pues mientras persista el primer obstáculo todo intento de convertir al indio en un sujeto moderno, limpio y disciplinado está condenado al fracaso.

Biografia do Autor

Ana Lucía Tello, University of California, Berkeley

Doctorante en el Departamento de Español y Porgugués de la Universidad de California, Berkeley.

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Publicado

2022-12-02

Edição

Bolivian Studies Journal Vol. 28, 2022

Seção

Articles

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