The free public lecture, titled “Forged Communities and Vulgar Citizens: Rescaling Indigenous Locality in Semi-Neoliberal Bolivia,” is set for 7 p.m. in the Bancroft Conference Room of the Croft Institute for International Studies. Orta plans to discuss the changes he has observed in the South American nation since 1989.<\/p>\n
“My lecture is based upon ongoing research in indigenous highland communities,” Orta said. “My talk will present their experiences of this latest round of decentralizing reforms and examine the ways new offices and political structures have interacted with more traditional forms of authority and report some unexpected outcomes.”<\/p>\n
An associate professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Orta is also director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies there. He authored “Catechizing Culture: Missionaries, Aymara and the ‘New Evangelization'” (Columbia University Press, 2004) and has written book chapters and numerous journal articles.<\/p>\n