Reviews
"This revision of the author's 2003 dissertation is a historical ethnographic vignette of life in 1993-94 in the Quechua-speaking hamlet of Quirpini in Nor Cinti, Chuquisaca. Anthropologist Rockefeller (Columbia) couches his theoretical perspective in his view of movement and places, about ways the folks of Quirpini make the places they live in and live in the places they make. He is particularly interested in the creativity of movement, the ways that Quirpini is created and re-created through action and circulation, and the relationships of movement, place, and power. The author examines the relationships between different places as invented by context, as amalgams of geography, memory, movement, and power, by focusing on the situational context of people's actions and movements in space. The volume will join other ethnographies of Chuquisaca, providing a snapshot of the daily life of local groups at specific times and places. Of particular interest to Andeanists and social scientists wrestling with explication of place. Five pages of glossary and 24 illustrations. Summing Up: Recommended. Appropriate for all levels. — Choice"—D. L. Browman, Washington University, March 2011
"... an important contribution to the existing bibliography on the politics of movement.May 4, 2011"—Journal of Folklore Research
"[O]ffers a nuanced portrait of life in rural Chuquisaca during the 1990s, which sheds light on the dynamic and multi-scalar processes that go into the making of a place. The book contributes to the . . . literature on the social construction of place . . . .Oct. 2013"—Bulletin of Latin American Research
"[A] groundbreaking book . . . Rockefeller's in-depth descriptions and theoretically savvy analysis guide the reader through the process by which space and place [are] constituted.79.1 2014"—Rural Sociology
"Starting from Quirpini is a beautifully crafted, accomplished text that is essential reading for those interested in migration, transnationalism, Andean ethnography, and the anthropology of space."—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
"[T]his is an important book that should be widely read by scholars of the Andes and of migration, as well as those interested in the construction of places and borders."—American Anthropologist
"A groundbreaking book [that] re-envisions place as formed by individual movements, trips and digressions as well as a situational context for action."—Setha M. Low, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
"It is very difficult to write ethnography about a small and unfamiliar place that is compelling to read, that flows from detail to detail, event to event, with the pleasurable sense of one's following along as a relaxed, but deeply curious, and somewhat surprised observer. [Stuart Rockefeller] succeeds in this. . . . [A] beautifully written ethnography. . . .an example of careful and evocative writing about what people do. It is a pleasure to read and a model of good writing as well as good anthropology."—Laurie Kain Hart, Haverford College
