"A Cable Car System for the Whole of Bolivia": How a Local Infrastructure Project Is Built on Na-tional Ambitions
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2024-06-23
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en
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The cable car system Mi Teleférico (MT) was built to combat the local struggles tied to the congestion issues that the ethnically different, but neighbouring cities of La Paz and El Alto face. Simultaneously, the project carries other national and international implications concerning Bolivia as a nation, that are less evident than the direct effects the project has locally by means of transportation.
These implications are discussed by utilising former president Evo Morales’s speeches celebrating MT and literature on Bolivian politics, culture, and history. Based on these sources, discourses surrounding nationalism Indigeneity and nationality are tied to MT, providing an insight into how MT is meant to be more than a local project.
Two methods help me comprehend the research question. By using a stakeholder analysis, I uncover who is affected by or affecting MT. Discourse analysis provides an insight into the significance of these stakeholders in the project and how the themes of nationality and Indigeneity emerge in his speeches. In this research project, discrepancies emerged between the forementioned discourses and Morales’s aim for a stronger Bolivia. These findings show Morales’s desire to unify the nation by excluding Indigeneity, paradoxically as the first Indigenous president of Bolivia.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen