Contenido: This dissertation relates food customs among aymara indians in the Bolivian Andes to their social structure. Relations within and between families and local groups in the rural and urban environment are analyzed and compared. Historical patterns of social relationships and values are contrasted to present-day relationships on family and community level with regard to various aspects of food culture. The aymara social structure is characterized by non-hierarchical relations, a high degree of flexibility and absence of social boundaries within the family group. On the other hand the aymara tend to mark the boundaries around small and local groups. Three analytical concepts are used to organize ethnographic data, independence, equality and reciprocity. These core values, expressed in social patterns, in particular linguistic codes and are institutionalized in interchangeable social, rotating leadership and permanent reciprocal relationships. Food is a medium of communication in hall the above relationships and in the enactment of the values inherent in the three core concepts. The same messages run parallel in the different stages of production, preservation, distribution, preparation and consumotion of food: food and meals are used to express group cohesion, boundary maintenance and boundary crossing, equality and competition, dependence and interdependence, inclusion and exclusion. The charanteristics of traditional social relationships within family and local groups also apply to the food sphere.

Ingles.