When I arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, one of the first things that I was told by a program coordinator was that we were going to see streets filled with trash on the bus ride home.
What I didn’t know coming to Bolivia was that its acts of activism and protest are great in number and magnitude. The program coordinator actually mentioned that the trash in the streets was an act of protest against the Bolivian garbage collection system. I didn’t think much of this until we began our field trip the next day. On the bus ride, we saw what was probably hundreds of Bolivians lined up in the streets with flags and signs, maybe protesting against a political figure. The bus rides to our destinations took much longer than anticipated (maybe an additional half hour or hour) because of all the blockades caused by the protests.
The following day, after I got off the bus to visit a museum with my classmates, I heard loud blasts that I thought could have been gunshots as I moved through the crowded sidewalks. I get easily startled and struggled with the walk to the museum, but our program coordinator let us know the sounds were caused by some sort of firecracker that protesters were using. This was the first “wow” moment I experienced on this trip, a moment that showed the strong sense of unity Bolivians have in times of social and political unrest.
However, seeing trash or protests in the streets wasn’t the only thing that signified the power of Bolivian activism to me. Throughout our field trips and guest speaker visits, I have seen numerous groups of Bolivians who made a huge impact in addressing social issues, especially gender equality. For example, my classmates and I got to meet some of ImillaSkate, a group of Indigenous Bolivian women who skateboard and wear traditional skirts called “polleras.” These polleras were a source of discrimination for Indigenous women before, and the women of ImillaSkate are changing the game by wearing their polleras with pride while encouraging other women to pursue a male-dominated sport. They not only push for gender equality by breaking stereotypes, but they also provide a safe space for kids by providing them with skating lessons.
Another guest speaker whose work really resonated with me was feminist artist Alejandra Dorado. Unfortuantely, gender-based violence is a very common occurrence in Bolivia. Dorado spreads messages on topics such as gender-based violence and femicide through temporary art installments. She showed us multiple performances of hers in a slideshow, and I was in awe after every one. Some that really stuck with me are when she asked women to wear shirts with stains that symbolized where victims of femicide were injured while they held signs of the victims’ names; when she sat on an ice block for an hour to represent the struggle of a woman who was tortured by being forced to sit on an ice block; and when she gathered 348 signatures of women while explaining Law 348, which was established to protect women against violence but was ineffective.
I am inspired by the creativity and messages spread by these female activists, and I feel that this study abroad program has taught me that different skills and talents can be powerful means of activism, even if they seem unconventional. I hope that in the future, I am able to put artistic talents of my own into projects similar to those of ImillaSkate and Alejandra Dorado.
