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<p><p>This dissertation examines the trajectory of military conscription in Bolivia
from Liberals’ imposition of this obligation after coming to power in 1899 to
the eve of revolution in 1952. Conscription is an ideal fulcrum for understanding
the changing balance between state and society because it was central to their relationship
during this period. The lens of military service thus alters our understandings of
methods of rule, practices of authority, and ideas about citizenship in and belonging
to the Bolivian nation. In eliminating the possibility of purchasing replacements
and exemptions for tribute-paying Indians, Liberals brought into the barracks both
literate men who were formal citizens and the non-citizens who made up the vast majority
of the population. This study thus grapples with the complexities generated by an
institution that bridged the overarching and linked divides of profession, language,
literacy, indigeneity, and urbanity. </p></p><p><p>Venturing inside the barracks,
this dissertation shows how experiences of labor, military routines, punishment, teasing,
and drinking led to a situation in which many conscripts became increasingly invested
in military service, negotiated its terms, and built ties that transcended local power
structures. In addition to examining desertion, insubordination, and mutinies, it
provides an explanation of the new legal categories created by military service, such
as reservist, <italic>omiso</italic>, <italic>remiso</italic>, and deserter. It then
points to the 1932-1935 Chaco War and its aftermath as the period when conscription
became a major force in tying an unequal nation together. The mass mobilization necessitated
by the war redefined the meaning and terms of conscription, even as the state resorted
to forcible mass impressment throughout the national territory while simultaneously
negotiating with various interest groups. A postwar process of reckoning initiated
by the state, combined with mobilization from below by those who served, added a new
hierarchy of military service that overlaid and sometimes even trumped long-standing
hierarchies based on education, language, profession, and heritage.</p></p><p><p>This
study thus explores conscription as a terrain on which Bolivians from across divides
converged and negotiated their relationships with each other and with the state. The
unique strength of this work lies in its use of unpublished internal military documents,
especially court-martial records. These sources are further enriched by extensive
use of congressional debates, official correspondence, reports of foreign military
attachés, memoirs, and published oral histories. Through an analysis of these
sources, this dissertation reveals not only elites’ visions of using the barracks
to assimilate a diverse population but also the ways that soldiers and their families
came to appropriate military service and invest it with new meanings on a personal,
familial, communal, and national level. In the process, a conscript nation would eventually
emerge that, while still hierarchical and divided by profound differences, was not
merely a project of an assimilationist state but rather constructed in a dialectical
process from both above and below.</p></p>
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