Ethnographic exposure and embodied solidarity: getting into the ring with the Cholitas Luchadoras

ABSTRACT

For ten months in 2012, as part of ethnographic research, I wrestled in lucha libre events alongside Bolivian women known as the Cholitas Luchadoras. These wrestlers are costumed as ‘cholas,’ wearing pollera skirts closely associated with market vendors and indigenous women . Audience members debate whether they are authentic representations of indigenous women or essentialized racial characterizations. Regardless, the luchadoras have become popular locally and garnered international media attention. While my subjectivity is quite different from theirs,I argue that the exposure and risks of wrestling contributed to a form of ‘embodied solidarity’ among us. We both engaged in essentialization of our wrestling characters along gendered and racial lines, to attract audiences and advance our own aims. In doing so, both the luchadoras and I risked reinforcing some stereotypes and inequalities in order to challenge assumptions – transforming expectations for indigenous women and bringing performance and embodied knowledge more centrally into anthropological discussion. We both used essentialized performances in (hopeful) service of transformative politics. In centering attention on the body, I argue that solidarity in risk and exposure may at times outweigh global inequalities, momentarily reverse or equalize power dynamics, and provide a space in which ethnographic understanding may   subvert imperialist histories.

KEYWORDS:

• Bolivia
• chola
• colonization
• lucha libre
• performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In this article, I distinguish between wrestling characters (in-ring personas or gimmicks) and wrestling performers who exist and have intentions outside of the ring. For clarity, I use ‘Cholitas Luchadoras’ and specific character names to describe Bolivian luchadoras and luchadores as they perform in the ring, and personal pseudonyms or ‘luchadoras’ generally to describe their thoughts, actions, and narratives. In the same way, I use the first person when describing my emotions, physicality, and understandings connected to my experiences wrestling, and use ‘Lady Blade,’ my character name, when describing the performance and audience responses.

2. As de la Cadena (1995) points out, chola and cholo are not just differently gendered forms of the same word, but are categories that are not quite equivalent. Women ‘are more Indian than men’ and have a harder time achieving status as mestiza, and the chola is sexualized in ways that the cholo is not (de la Cadena 1995, 329). In recent years, the genderless term cholx has begun to be used, primarily by GLBT and feminist activists in Bolivia. However, the use of this ‘-x’ ending in Bolivia often carries upper class and transnational connotations, making its juxtaposition with the chola/o subjectivity transgressive.

3. These women were preceded by Remedios Loza, who became the first chola to have a radio program in 1962, a national legislator in parliament in 1989, and the first woman to run for the presidency in Bolivia in 1997.

4. The luchadoras’ international popularity has increased the frequency with which middle and upper class Bolivians invoke them in everyday speech (usually in critical ways), but has had limited impact on the numbers of working class locals who attend events. It has, however, incited increased pride from some locals who have long enjoyed lucha libre, one of whom called the luchadoras ‘our unique contribution to the world of wrestling.’

5. ‘Catchascan’ is a term for exhibition wrestling in Bolivia, derived from the English term ‘catch as catch can.’ This is also the meaning of ‘catch’ in the group’s name, Super Catch.

6. Some U.S. academics have asked if the upper class connotation of ‘Lady’ is perceived by Spanish speakers. My interlocutors suggest that it is more closely aligned with señorita, denoting a young woman of any class, rather than a woman of high social rank.

7. Though emerging gender-neutral uses of Spanish offer options of referring to this gender-mixed group as compañer@s or compañerxs, it was common at the time for luchadores to refer to other members of the group as ‘mis compañeros de lucha,’ so I have retained this linguistic form here.

8. These are based on a survey of 94 middle and working class Bolivians in La Paz and El Alto.

9. The very fact that I was wrestling in the first place is noteworthy, given my somewhat introverted nature. Certainly, teaching college students involves a certain amount of performance, but standing in front of the classroom, my body itself is not exposed in the heightened sense that it is in wrestling.

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Nell Haynes

Nell Haynes is an anthropologist focusing on popular culture in Latin America, paying attention to the ways gender and race are manifest in performance and media. Her work includes topics such as professional wrestling, graffiti, selfies and memes. She is author of Social Media in Northern Chile: Posting the Extraordinarily Ordinary (UCL Press, 2016) and co-author of How the World Changed Social Media (UCL Press, 2016).