The Citizen Factory: Schooling and Cultural Production in Bolivia (Suny Series, Power, Social Identity and Education) [Paperback]

Aurolyn Luykx (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 1999 | Series: Suny Series, Power, Social Identity and Education

This vivid ethnography of Bolivian students explores the challenges they confront as they try to maintain their indigenous identity. In examining how the concrete practices of schooling shape student identities, this book looks at how the discourses and texts produced by students themselves are appropriated toward this end, and how students mobilize their own cultural resources to contest this process, critiquing and subtly transforming the agenda of state-run education. These issues are addressed as they are played out in the lives of young Native South Americans (Aymaras) studying to become rural schoolteachers in Bolivia, the poorest and most "indigenous" of all Latin American countries. It is a vivid ethnographic account of how these students confront the assaults which their professional training wages against their indigenous identity, as they alternately absorb and contest the ethnic, class, and gender images meant to transform them from "Aymara Indians" into "Bolivian citizens.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aurolyn Luykx teaches in the Linguistic and in the Pedagogy departments at the Universidad Mayor de San Simon (UMSS), Cochabamba, Bolivia. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (December 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791440389
• ISBN-13: 978-0791440384
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #350,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Citizen Factory: Schooling and Cultural Production in Bolivia, August 30, 2006

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Gwenstowers - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Citizen Factory: Schooling and Cultural Production in Bolivia (Suny Series, Power, Social Identity and Education) (Paperback)

I purchased this book as part of my preparation for an upcoming trip to Bolivia where I will be working with teachers. Not only does this book prepare me for my upcoming work in Bolivia, the ideas with which Luykx works also effectively analyze the schooling situation in the United States. I am even thinking of adding the book to a course I teach on Critical Pedagogy because Luykx makes the ideas of social reproduction, societal dominance and culture clash so understandable. Further, it is always easier to look at problems in another country than in our own, even if they are similar. Nonetheless, in this process, students generally begin to make the connections.

The writing is strong and engaging. Some parts are fairly dense reading, particularly when she deals with theory and theorists, which she does abundantly. These sections, though dense, are powerful and helped me make connections I have not seen before. When she goes into actual examples with case studies in Bolivian schools, her writing is engaging and flows easily.

Luykx is a trained anthropologist and spent a number of years in Bolivia developing this book. It is a powerful piece of work and I recommend it highly.