Fluid Identities: The Subaltern Political Hydrology of the Urus of Lake Poopó

Abstract

The Nación Originaria Uru encompasses the indigenous groups of the Titicaca/Desaguadero/Poopó/Salares aquatic axis of the Bolivian altiplano. The Uru communities of Lake Poopó traditionally lived on floating islands of totora reeds, their way of life deeply intertwined with the hydrological resources of the lake, upon which they historically relied for subsistence fishing and hunting. However, various hydrological factors contribute to the intermittent drying of Lake Poopó, resulting in ecological degradation, loss of livelihoods for the Uru communities, and ultimately acculturation. Despite international attention to their plight, media coverage often oversimplifies the complex historical and environmental context of these crises, the most severe of which has been ongoing since 2015. This paper explores the historical subaltern status of the Uru people, who have been marginalized and excluded from political and cultural hegemony since well before the Spanish conquest, by combining close interrogations of colonial-era records and Uru oral traditions. Through investigation of Uru exclusion from pre-Hispanic tribute systems, colonial era forced assimilation through conversion, and a land-use regime shaped by political hydrology, it becomes evident that environmental determinism was not as substantial a contributing factor to modern Uru vulnerabilities as were material socioeconomic impositions by ruling hegemonies.