On Devils and the Dissolution of Sociality: Andean Catholics Voicing Ambivalence in Neoliberal Bolivia (Special COLLECTION: THE ETHICS OF DISCONNECTION IN A NEOLIBERAL Age) (Report‪)‬

On a short field research trip to Bolivia in January 2003, I spent several hours discussing the economic crisis and exchanging news about family and friends with Alejandro and his wife Anacleta before Alejandro asked if I wanted to hear a story about "a Christian brother, a believer (un hermanu, un creyente, Sp.)," in other words, an evangelical Protestant. (1) Alejandro and his wife Anacleta are getting on in years, their hair graying, their faces creased with wrinkles, and their grandchildren now entering high school. I met the couple in 1995 while doing my first extended fieldwork in a rural highland Andean community in a region called Sullk'ata (Chayanta, Department of Potos0, Bolivia. They soon after migrated to the city of Sucre so that their two sons could attend high school. On my subsequent trips to Bolivia over the past 15 years, I have made a point to visit them. Their sons eventually received degrees (in teaching and dentistry), but neither could find much work and migrated to Argentina and later Spain. For several years, Alejandro and Anacleta have cared for their grandchildren while their sons and daughters-in-law worked in Spain. Alejandro was a gifted narrator and often told stories--not only to visiting anthropologists but also to his grandchildren, compadres, and acquaintances. I was always a willing listener to his stories and Anacleta's quiet explanations of family and community relationships, but I was particularly intrigued because I was contemplating a project that would explore religiosity and family in the urban Andes. While Anacleta prepared lunch for us, Alejandro told a story, which I relate further below. The short and purportedly true story shocked me for it ended with the revelation that the believer is possessed by Santuku (Q.), Satan or the devil.