Hello there!

My name is Maria Jose Zegarra, I am 19 years old and I am an international student from La Paz, Bolivia. I recently moved to Vancouver to continue my undergraduate studies at the beautiful University of British Columbia. Today I would like to share my experience with interpretative communities. You might be wondering what is an interpretative community? Why this theme relates to myself?

During my ASTU 100A class these past few weeks we were discussing an article by Farhat Shahzad from University of Ottawa. He discusses about how memory and learning are influenced by interpretative communities. Interpretative communities are factors such as family, friends, religion, government and more that affect the interpretations we perceive from an event and/or issue. The impact that an event and/or issue has in someone’s life can be identified by how they tell the story, the type of emotions they express when they talk about it, etc. During this article the psychologist Vygotsky is mentioned because he comments that socio-cultural ties have an influence in our learning process. This means that learning is influenced by our culture, historical events and the relationships that surround us.

I believe that myself and other Bolivians would feel identified with this sentence because of the relationship we are facing with Chile these past years. You might be wondering what is happening between Chile and Bolivia?

The tension between Bolivia and Chile takes place since 1879 during the War of the Pacific. The main reason of this war was that Chile began to implement taxes on nitrate. This resource was located in the Bolivian territory specially Calama, however Chile invaded this place and began to use it as a source of income. Bolivia and Peru decided to make an alliance, however Chile sent a proposal to Bolivia that stated the idea that Chile and Bolivia should become allies. In exchange they wanted Bolivia to recognize the sovereignty of Calama to Chile and Chile would help Bolivia to take power of the Peruvian coasts. Bolivia did not agree and the battle took place. As a result, Chile was able to conquer the Peruvian coasts as well as other Bolivian territories. However, during 1904 the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Chile and Bolivia was signed to normalize the relationship between both countries.

As the years passed, the government of Bolivia realized the importance of having an access to the Pacific Ocean for the economy of our country. In 2013, Bolivia decided to send a lawsuit to the International Court of Justice of The Hague, claiming to Chile so that this country no longer postpone the multiple offers of negotiation and allow Bolivia to get an offer to access the sea. After waiting for a response from the International Court of Justice, on September 9th , 2015 the court announced that they voted 14-2 which means they are going to hear Bolivia’s case.

Maria…how does this issue relates to ASTU?

I can identify that the historical background there is between Chile and Bolivia is an interpretative community that affects in how both societies learn and perceive from one another. I was able to identify the image Bolivians have on Chileans during a soccer game I attended a couple of years ago. The soccer game between Bolivia and Chile was taking place in La Paz. I was surprised that during the game people were wearing boat shaped hats and most of them were screaming “Return the sea!” These reactions made me realize that history affected on the point of view Bolivians have towards Chileans. Another occasion where I am able to identify how the community and the government can also be identified as interpretative communities is every March 23rd. We celebrate “Día del Mar” which translates to Day of the Sea. During this day all Bolivians remember the loss of the territory during the War of the Pacific and is considered an opportunity to remember that as Bolivians we have the right to get an access to the Pacific Ocean. Now that the results are out, this week people from Bolivia came out to the streets to celebrate that our country is having an opportunity to have a voice regarding the access to the sea. All of the events demonstrate the emotional attachment that is created by the interpretative communities that are present in our lives and how they influence in how we learn and perceive issues.

Which interpretative communities can you identify in your culture?

Maria Zegarra