108 CultureShock! Bolivia
make their own society speak more tolerantly, still tend to
lump all Latin Americans in one stereotypical mass.’Latin American Stereotypes
It is not frowned upon for different Latin American people to
stereotype each other. ‘Bolivians think of themselves (and are
thought of by many other Latin Americans) as a kindhearted
nation,’ Sims writes.
But between Bolivia and Chile, for example, not so
kindhearted things are said. Bolivians view Chile as an
expansionist country, not only from having lost their coastline
to Chilean occupation in 1880 but because a Chilean company
bought up a Bolivian railroad system within the framework
of the 1990s privatisation and capitalisation policies of the
Bolivian government.
In an important America’s Cup football match between
Chile and Bolivia, Chilean fans were heard to yell that no
country with a standard of living equal to Uganda could
beat them. (Bolivia needed a tie to eliminate Chile from the
tournament. Losing 2-0 midway through the second half,
Bolivia scored two goals to earn the tie.)
Of all the Latin American stereotypes, Argentine arrogance
is a prime target. Sims writes that, ‘Argentines are seen by
other Latin Americans as haughty. And they’re proud of it.’
A Chilean sociologist, Hernán Godoy, theorises that
Chileans stereotype Peruvians and Bolivians as backwoods
peasants with no sophistication in order to compensate for
feelings of inferiority in reference to the Argentines. “We
Chileans feel that Argentines are whiter, blonder and more
secure,” he said. “But on the other hand, the Chileans feel
blonder and whiter than Peruvians and Bolivians.”
Meanwhile, within Bolivia, some Chapacos of the
southern city of Tarija are proud to be accused of considering
themselves more Argentine than Bolivian. The Chapacos
are supposedly descended from Argentine gauchos who
ironically were once scorned by the Argentine gentry.
Just where honourable recognition of physical and national
traits ends and negative stereotyping begins is hard to say.
At a Bolivian social function, I was once moved to defend