Sayaña

Sayaña, a plot of land in the Bolivian altiplano and in the valleys to which the holder and his family have exclusive access. A sayaña may consist of a single plot, but it is often fragmented because of inheritance patterns and additional land acquired by the sayañero. Sayañas range in size from less than 2.5 acres to 75 acres or more. Sayañas probably existed during pre-Columbian times, and on the northern altiplano present-day house plots may still correspond to their boundaries.

Prior to the agrarian reform of 1953, both the free peasant and the peon on the hacienda had sayañas that they could cultivate as they desired. However, the colono had to work (as much as five days weekly) without pay on hacienda lands in exchange for usufruct rights on the sayaña.

The agrarian reform did not drastically change land categories. It gave legal titles to all peasants for the land they had previously occupied and worked for their own benefit. It did not break up large sayañas but increased the number of sayañas by converting some aynokas (large sections of land cultivated in a strict pattern of rotation).

See alsoAgrarian Reform .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William E. Carter, Aymara Communities and the Bolivian Agrarian Reform (1964).

Dwight B. Heath, Charles J. Erasmus, and Hans C. Buechler, Land Reform and Social Revolution in Bolivia (1969).

Additional Bibliography

Antezana Ergueta, Luis. La política agraria en la primera etapa nacional boliviana. La Paz, Bolivia: Plural Editores, 2006.

Vargas Vega, John D. La reforma agraria desde las regiones: Tierra y territorio. La Paz, Bolivia: CIDES-UMSA, 2004.

                                  Maria Luise Wagner