21st-Century Chronicles and Contemporary Collectives from El Alto, Bolivia

Abstract: In this essay, I make three contributions to the understanding of the contemporary collective as it emerges in and around contemporary El Alto, Bolivia. First, I introduce El Alto and its history through the analysis of a painting from 1888 to explore foundational epistemological and political tensions between La Paz and its outskirts during the 1781–1782 indigenous rebellions. Second, I trace the tension between the individual and the multitude in recent chronicles published by the press Sobras Selectas, led by Alexis Argüello. And third, I offer that Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui's concept of ch'ixi provides a way into understanding the unresolvable interplay between the individual and the multitude that characterizes cultural production in El Alto today.