Alcides Arguedas Díaz (July 15, 1879 in

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

– May 6, 1946 in Chulumani) was a

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n writer and historian. His literary work, which had a profound influence on the Bolivian social thought in the first half of the twentieth century, addresses issues related to

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describin ...

, and indigenous affairs. His most significant work, '' Raza de bronce'' ("Bronze Race") (1919), is considered one of the most influential Bolivian literary works and a precursor of

indigenism Indigenism can refer to several different ideologies that seek to promote the interests of indigenous peoples. The term is used differently by various scholars and activists, and can be used purely descriptively or carry political connotations. Th ...

Background and political and diplomatic roles

Son of Fructuoso Arguedas and Sabina Diaz, Arguedas studied in the Ayacucho school and then Law and Political Science (1904) at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés and sociology in

. He began working in various forms of media as a student, beginning with the Peruvian newspaper ''El Comercio'', moving on to columns for ''El Diario'', the short-lived '' Revista de América'' and '' El Mundial'', and eventually becoming deputy editor of '' El Debate'' in 1915. As a diplomat, he was second secretary of the Legation of Bolivia in Paris (1910), where he would meet

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

and Francisco Garcia Calderon and would have as boss the ex-president

Ismael Montes Ismael Montes Gamboa (5 October 1861 – 16 October 1933) was a Bolivian general and political figure who served as the 26th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1904 to 1909 and from 1913 to 1917. He was a member of the Liberal ...

. Subsequently, he was sent to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. After returning to Bolivia, he was elected deputy of the Bolivia's Liberal Party in 1916, and served as Bolivian representative to the creation of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

(1918). He also was consul general in Paris (1922) and minister plenipotentiary in Colombia (1929), where he was dismissed for criticizing the President Hernando Siles (1930). He maintained a critical stance toward certain political administrations, for which he was removed from office, exiled, and even slapped by then-President

Germán Busch Víctor Germán Busch Becerra (23 March 1903 – 23 August 1939) was a Bolivian military officer and statesman who served as the 36th president of Bolivia from 1937 until his death in 1939. Prior to his presidency, he served as the Chief of t ...

. He became senator for the department of

and eventually led the Liberal Party. Under the administration of President

Enrique Peñaranda Enrique Peñaranda del Castillo (15 November 1892 – 22 December 1969) was a Bolivian general who served as the 38th president of Bolivia from 1940 until his overthrow in 1943. He previously served as commander-in-chief of the country's Armed ...

, he served as Minister of Agriculture, Colonization, and Immigration (1940), and then left for Venezuela as minister plenipotentiary (1941).

Writer

Arguedas is one of Bolivia's best-known writers. His work describes the relationship between Bolivian society and its indigenous peoples, often cynically. Through his books, full of social analysis, he sought a solution for his country's permanent state of conflict. Some of the issues for which he contributed a significant amount of thought—conflicts between cultures, the complexities of

mestizaje ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...

, and the sometimes violent relationship between the indigenous and creole/mestizo worlds—were later taken up by other currents of thought, including

indigenismo () is a political ideology in several Latin American countries which emphasizes the relationship between the nation state and Indigenous nations and Indigenous peoples. In some contemporary uses, it refers to the pursuit of greater social and p ...

, albeit from a different perspective. His first literary works date from his student days, and the first book he published was ''Pisagua'', a novel which appeared in 1903. In the subsequent year, he wrote ''Wata-Wara''. His novelistic production would continue with ''Vida criolla'' (1912) and culminate with ''Raza de bronce''. His essay ''Pueblo enfermo'' ("sick people" or "sick town"), published in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in 1909, solidified his importance in Latin American letters, earning praise from major writers such as

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical ...

and

Amado Nervo Amado Nervo (August 27, 1870 – May 24, 1919) also known as Juan Crisóstomo Ruiz de Nervo, was a Mexican poet, journalist and educator. He also acted as Mexican Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay. His poetry was known for its use of metaphor a ...

. However, it created controversy in Bolivia, and Franz Tamayo responded critically to his ideas in a series of editorials that would later be compiled as his book ''Pedagogía de la educación nacional''. Arguedas coined the term "radical pessimism" for his stance on indigenous issues, explaining that it came from "a mixture of fatal biological laws, historical reasons and environmental circumstances

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

have made the indigenous an atrophied or infirm race". Unsurprisingly, some critics identify Arguedas with some of the more distasteful aspects of the Bolivia of his time and reject his relationship with ''indigenismo'' However, in his most important novel, ''Raza de bronce'' ("Bronze Race"), Arguedas lays out several themes that would later be instrumental in the development of Bolivian literature: the creole-mestizo oppression against indigenous peoples, their capacity to rise in the face of these abuses, the social placement of the "cholo-mestizo" (a term, now more commonly a slur, for those mestizos whose indigenous parentage exceeds their European), and the rift between creole and indigenous societies in Bolivia. Arguedas worked on this novel almost until his death. Although he published his first edition in 1919, he continued correcting and re-editing it until he released the definitive edition in 1945. The plot of ''Raza de bronce'' is an evolution of his second novel, ''Wata-Wara'', which went relatively unnoticed at the time of publication. In retrospect, despite widespread criticism, it was listed by experts as one of the essential works of Bolivian literature. Over the years, Arguedas found history to be a more direct medium for reflecting upon and interpreting Bolivian social reality. His first historical book, ''La fundación de la República'', was published in 1920. This marked a turning point in Arguedas's life: from here, history and politics came to the fore and his work in literature became secondary. The first volume of his ''Historia general de Bolivia'' was published two years later under the auspices of industrialist and millionaire Simon I. Patino. He completed only five of the eight projected volumes of that collection, ranging from the colonial period to its violent 19th-century era of caudillismo. Arguedas received the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

in France for his autobiographical book ''La danza de las sombras'' in 1935.

Personal life

Arguedas was married to Laura Tapia Carro from 1910 until her death in 1935. The couple had three daughters. In 1945, after spending a period of time in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, he returned to Bolivia and died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in Chulumani, a district of

, on May 6, 1946, at the age of 66.

Important works

* ''Pueblo enfermo'' 1909 (social commentary) * '' Raza de bronce'' (1919) (novel) * ''La fundación de la República'' (1920) (history) * ''Historia general de Bolivia'' (1922) (history) * ''Política y la Guerra del Chaco'' (1926) (history) * ''La dictadura y la anarquía'' (1926) (history) * ''Los caudillos bárbaros'' (1929) (history) * ''La danza de las sombras'' (1934) (memoirs)

References

External links

Diary of Arguedas (Diario de Alcides Arguedas)
(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Arguedas 1879 births 1946 deaths Bolivian male writers Writers from La Paz Bolivian senators from La Paz Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Bolivia) Agriculture ministers of Bolivia Colonization ministers of Bolivia Immigration ministers of Bolivia