Hemmastadd i staden?

Aymaratalande migranter i La Paz, Bolivia

Abstract

In this article, the process of urban migration and what is considered "home" for migrants in Bolivia is discussed. I explore the meaning of "home" as a sense of belonging and identification connected to social relations rather than to a place or a house in a physical sense. In the process of setting into place, ideas related to the concept of "home" become important. In this process the migrants' embodied experiences from the rural areas are manifested in new ways in a creative process. For urban Aymara speakers, a sense of belonging is formed through new social relations based on traditional ideals and practices in interplay with the values of the dominant society in the city in a continuous process of change.