Post-Peasant Capitalist Graziers: The 21st Century in Southern Bolivia

Grazing elements in the household livelihood strategies of rural people in Tarija (southern Bolivia) are examined in order to show how they use a range of micro-environments in a sustainable way, how such strategies have evolved during the pres- ent century, and how grazing is intimately linked with out-migration. Grazing strengthens livelihoods and is easily integrated into the survival strategies of people living in what are evidently translocal and transnational communities. Environmental changes associated with these grazing practices are generally positive and degradation is probably less than it was a decade ago. This contra- dicts the orthodox views held by urban people and agricultural specialists who blame erosion on the current grazing practices rather than on those of the past. Present-day graziers use livestock as a means to accumulate capital in situations of labor scarcity.