Bolivia: land of the Aymarás and Quechuas

This chapter reviews how, in the attempt to improve their standard of living, Indigenous people head to the city and, as urbanisation takes place, they are faced with lifestyle changes. The informal sector in Bolivia absorbs a high migration from rural areas to urban areas. Mobility from agriculture to informal enterprise is not a problem. When people move, they take with them their skills. There are, however, social barriers inhibiting the transition from the informal to the formal sector of the economy. With the mandate to be inductive and contextually sensitive, methodology for this exploratory study involved ethnographic fieldwork in Bolivia, using qualitative methods. An emic research design, focusing on the intrinsic cultural distinctions that are meaningful to members of a given society, was deemed most appropriate, in order to understand the underlying structures of culture from within. It was helpful to observe and interview simultaneously. Major techniques used for data collection included in-depth interviews with respondents from diverse backgrounds, participant observation and validation by triangulation with key informants.