The Aymara: a case study in social stratification

United States, 1983

TV show
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Episode number 14 of Series “Faces of culture”.
For centuries the social structure of Bolivia consisted of three classes, a white oligarchy, the Spanish speaking mestizo middle class and an Indian peasantry. The 1952 revolution did much to change this, but the basic structure still exists, particularly in rural backwaters such as are portrayed in this video. In Ayata and Vitocoto the class system is still horrifically alive and well, as the despised peasantry labour for the mestizo landowners and priests for little or no pay and no hope of improvement due to inequalities in educational opportunities and health care. Narrated by David Carradine.

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Credits

director

Harry Ratner

producer

Ira R. Abrams

production company

Coast Community College District

Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Duration

00:30:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1983

Appears in

Faces of culture

Group of items

Faces of culture

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Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

303932

Language

English

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Bolivia

Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Indians of South America

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - United States

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Social classes

Places → Bolivia

Television

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/82766--the-aymara-a-case-study-in-social-stratification/ |title=The Aymara: a case study in social stratification |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=15 July 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}