“En Bolivia lo hacen andar”: Régimen de mantenimiento, dimensión emotiva y prácticas de renovación vehicular del transporte colectivo de La Paz

Abstract

In this article I analyze the emotional logic that urban transport drivers in La Paz assign to their vehicles in their life cycle. I pay attention to the emotive dimension of the “technical rationality” of practices of vehicle renewal, reuse, and maintenance—that is to say, the set of emotions, affections, and, especially, feelings that emerge in keeping the vehicle in good condition or in its possible replacement. This emotional dimension does not emerge as an autonomous sphere of technical rationality but rather is inherent to it. My hypothesis also points to its overflowing and kaleidoscopic character, since it transcends the individual experience by allowing us to analyze other phenomena of social life.