Celebration in Chijnaya:

An Applied Anthropology Project

On September 23, 2023, the community of Chijnaya on the Peruvian Altiplano will celebrate the 60^th anniversary of its founding. The project sponsored by a regional government agency, CORPUNO, involved disaster relief for victims of flooding around Lake Titicaca. It was also the first agrarian reform project in the region. This was one of the most important applied anthropology programs in Peru in the 20^th century. The originator of the idea for this program was Hugo Contreras, a Peruvian agricultural engineer who had worked on two other applied projects, the Cornell-Peru Project at Vicos directed by Allan Holmberg and Mario Vazquez and the Cuyo Chico Project in Cuzco organized by Oscar Nunez del Prado. Contreras recruited me, a Peace Corps volunteer, to serve as field director of the Taraco-Chijnaya Project.

I will be informally leading a group of friends and colleagues to join the fiesta, which will include traditional dances and music, speeches, poetry, and more. Before and after the celebration in Chijnaya, we will also visit some agricultural communities on Lake Titicaca, artisan associations in Pucara, and alpaca communities in the mountains. If anyone would like to join this “tour”, they can contact me for details: ralph.bolton.39@gmail.com.  

Chijnaya Fiesta Ritual

Dancing Fiesta

Flooding in Taraco