Sources for Latin American Research Visualizing Social Movements in Bolivia ( 1992-2010 )

URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-114299 © IISH. Open Access contribution distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License http://creative commons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. ERLACS is published by CEDLA – Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation / Centro de Estudios y Documentación Latinoamericanos, Amsterdam; www.cedla.uva.nl; ISSN 0924-0608, eISSN 1879-4750. No. 94 (2013) April, pp. 97-101 www.erlacs.org

The re-examination of old sources has led to new and alternative methodologies in order to 'read' traditional sources in new ways.At the same time, the urgency to 'find' new kinds of sources has characterized the new perspectives in history and social sciences in the last decades.These 'unconventional sources' help to transcend the limits of the written sources in order to gain new insights into multiple topics like family, popular culture, gender or political activities.The preservation and dissemination of alternative historical sources has been fostered by the South-South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (SEPHIS) since its establishment in 1994 through the Social Memory: History and Social Movements programme.The use of photographs and oral material as primary sources acquired a particular relevance.In these perspectives photographs are not just 'illustrations', but proper historical sources.
The Collection 'Social Movements of Bolivia ' (1992-2010) is the result of one of the projects initiated by SEPHIS that is preserved today in the Archives of the International Institute for Social History (IISH).The aim of the collection was to create a digital and visual collection of social movements, which have emerged since 1992.In this year Spain and several other countries 'commemorated' the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492.In countries such as Bolivia, the celebration of this event triggered a political discussion about this commemoration, the colonial encounter and its legacies.
The digital collection consists of 5,520 photographs from the daily newspaper Ultima hora, 6,780 articles from this journal, 4,500 audio recordings from Radio ERBOL -one of the most important radio stations in investigative journalism in Bolivia, 1,434 documents from the feminist anarchist movement 'Mujeres Creando' (Women Creating), and 1,353 documents from the transgender group 'Familia Galán'.
The audio collection is in itself unique because most radio stations in various countries of Latin America do not store their emissions.The new sources in this digital collection available for researchers today include programmes such as interviews related to breaking news, the Constituent Assembly, neoliberal or nationalist policies, and discussions about democracy.
The collection of documents from Feminists, Lesbians and Gays gives important insights into the promotion of women's equality, nondiscrimination, emancipation and gender rights.'Mujeres Creando' is also a key social actor in politics and everyday life.Overnight, in beautiful handwriting, words appear on the walls of cities' main buildings, particularly in La Paz.Their graffiti are critical but spiced with humour: 'Ni Dios, ni amo, ni marido, ni partido' ('Neither God, nor master, nor husband, nor party') or 'No hay nada más parecido a un machista de derecha que un machista de izquierda' ('The male chauvinist of the right is the same as the male chauvinist of the left').90s the miners' proletariat dominated the scene (Photograph 2).Since the last decade of the twentieth century the peasants and indigenous movements have come to the forefront.Better than any written document could do, photographs show the social demands coming from people according to age and gender: the children, the elderly people, the women (Photograph 3).These images defy our definitions of citizenship as only based on individual rights and make us think about the force of a collective in bargaining with the state.Through the images one can see that demonstrations and marches are an important part of the political life of a country in which different tactics and strategies are used in order to pressure governments (Photographs 4 and 5).Another visible part of urban political life is the graffiti of the feminist collective 'Mujeres Creando' with their sharp criticism of the predominant machismo (Photograph 6).
An overview of the Latin American Collections of the International Institute of Social History can be found at: http://socialhistory.org/en/collections/latin-america-collection-guide.