Carmen Soliz

Associate Professor

I am a historian of Latin America and the Caribbean with a particular emphasis on themes such as peasant politics, agrarian reform, rural state formation, nation-building, citizenship, and social movements in Latin America. My first book, Fields of Revolution: Agrarian Reform and Rural State Formation in Bolivia, 1935-1964 examines Bolivian agrarian reform and sees the role that Indians and peasants played in consolidating one of Latin America’s most radical and redistributive reforms.  Fields of Revolution was awarded the Socolow-Johnson Book Prize by the Council of Latin American History in 2023 and received an Honorable Mention for the 2022 Alfred B. Thomas Book Award. Additionally, an article related to my research, titled “’Land to Its Original Owners’: Rethinking the Indigenous Politics of the Bolivian Agrarian Reform,” was published in the Hispanic American Historical Review in May 2017.

In spring 2024, New Mexico Press published my co-edited volume The Struggle for Natural Resources: Findings from Bolivian History. This book examines Bolivia’s land and commodity disputes over five centuries, exploring local, regional, national, and transnational dynamics. The book portrays Bolivia’s political struggles over natural resources as enduring processes transcending immediate events. By delving into the Bolivian context, it fosters dialogue and comparison with other regions, particularly of the Global South.

My current research, How Revolutions Travel: Latin American Repercussions of the Bolivian National Revolution (1952–1964) is the first study to analyze the international impact of Bolivia’s National Revolution on neighboring countries. I argue that the revolutionary policies implemented in Bolivia regarding voting rights, land access, and the unionization of indigenous and peasant populations not only reshaped Bolivian society but also challenged the economic and social structures of neighboring nations. This project offers a transnational perspective addressing the gap in understanding how revolutions in one country inspired transformative movements or counter revolutionary forces in others, thus contributing to the diplomatic history of the Global South.

EDUCATION AND DEGREES

Ph.D. New York University. Department of History. July 2014

M.A. Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. Political Science. May 2007

M.A. Universidad de la Cordillera, Bolivia. Andean Studies. Bolivia. May 2004. 

Finish course work without thesis.

B.A. Universidad Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia Political Science. May 2002.

Universidad Mayor San Andres, Bolivia. History. Additional Course Work 1997- 2002.

PUBLICATIONS

Book

Fields of Revolution: Agrarian Reform and State Formation in Bolivia 1935-1964. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press, 2021.

Campos en revolución: Reforma agraria y formación del estado en Bolivia 1935-1964. La Paz: Plural, 2022.

Edited Volume

Natural Resources and Political Struggle: A Brief History of Bolivian Politics edited by Carmen Soliz and Rossana Barragan. New Mexico Press, April 2024

Most Relevant Articles

“Land to Its Original Owners”: Rethinking the Indigenous Politics of the Bolivian Agrarian Reform.” Hispanic American Historical Review. no. 97.2 (May 2017): 259-296.

“La modernidad esquiva: debates políticos e intelectuales sobre la reforma agraria en Bolivia (1935-1952).” Revista Historia y Cultura, no. 29 (2012): 23-50.

“El otro rostro de América Latina. En diálogo con La emergencia indígena en América Latina, de José Bengoa.” Nueva Sociedad: Democracia y Política en América Latina. Nueva Sociedad, no. 238 (2012): 126-137.

 “Repensando la formación de los Distritos Municipales Indígenas.” Revista de Análisis Político

(La Paz, Bolivia) 10: 6-23, 2005.

Book Chapters

“Indians and the State: Negotiating Progress, Modernity, and Development in Bolivia” in A Critical Handbook on Indigenous Development edited by Nancy Postero, Irma Alicia Velasquez, Andrew McNeish (forthcoming)

“Agrarian Reform in Bolivia in the 20th and 21th centuries” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History (August 2018)

“Estudio introductorio: tras los pasos de rebellion en las venas,” (Introductory study to the re-edition of Rebellion in the Veins) James Dunkerley, Rebelión en las venas: la lucha política en Bolivia 1952-1982. La Paz: Centro de Investigaciones Sociales, 2017, 17-40.

“La transformación de lo público y lo privado en Bolivia: una mirada desde el área rural.” In Lo público en la pluralidad: Ensayos desde Bolivia y América Latina, ed. Gonzalo Rojas. La Paz: CIDES, 2015, 293- 314.

“Reforma agraria: Balances, perspectivas y nuevos enfoques” In: Tomo VI: Construcción del Estado y constitución de los actores sociales: 1952-2000. La Paz: Plural, 2014, 225-262.

“Etnografía de la justicia estatal: La violación como prisma de las relaciones de género.” with Rossana Barragán. In Justicia y diversidad en América Latina. Pueblos indígenas ante la globalización. Edited by Chenaut, Victoria, Magdalena Gómez, et al. Mexico D.F.: CIESAS, FLACSO, 2012. 

 “Indígenas urbanos: El caso de los aymaras en la ciudad de La Paz y El Alto.” with Rossana Barragán In ¿Indígenas u obreros?: La construcción política de identidades en el altiplano boliviano. Edited by Arnold, Denise, Rossana Barragán, et al. La Paz: UNIR, 2009.

 “La violación como prisma de las relaciones sociales y el entramado estatal
en el ámbito jurídico” with Rossana Barragán. In Rompiendo silencios: Una aproximación a la violencia sexual y al maltrato infantil en Bolivia. Edited by Calla, Pamela. La Paz: Plural, 2005.

COMMUNITY ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP

Co-host of the podcast Historias in Spanish with Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, February 2020 to present.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Winner of the Socolow-Johnson Book Prize of CLAH 2022

Honorable Mention for the Alfred B. Thomas Book Award of the CLAH 2022

Faculty Research Grant (FRG) UNC Charlotte     2023-2024

Faculty Development Reassignment of Duties Program 2023

Battista Faculty Research Grant UNC Charlotte 2022

Pandemic Recovery Grant from the American Historical Association to develop Audio-documentaries (a Project with Historians Steve Hyland and Dustin Walcher) 2022

Faculty Research Grant (FRG) UNC Charlotte 2020

Frances Lumsden Gwynn Award UNC Charlotte 2018

CLAS Junior Faculty Development Award 2017

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend             2015

Faculty Research Grant (FRG)       2015-2016

GSAS Mellon Dissertation Fellowship                         2012- 2013

NYU- Global, London (Declined)             2013          

SSRC- International Dissertation Research Fellowship     2010- 2011 

NYU-CLACS, Tinker Foundation Summer Fellowship             2009                

NYU-CLACS, Tinker Foundation Summer Fellowship             2008           

NYU, Henry M.MacCracken Fellowship               2007- 2013

Universidad de Salamanca, Fundación Carolina                2005- 2006

LANGUAGES

Spanish: Native Speaker 

English: Fluent