The athletes practice ollies, kickflips, and other tricks at a skate park in Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third-largest city.

Luisa Dörrluisadorr.com

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4, SL.6-8.1

NCSS: Culture • Time, Continuity, and Change • Individual Development and Identity • Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

WORLD NEWS

Shredding Stereotypes

These skateboarders in Bolivia have serious skills—and they’re using them to honor their Indigenous culture.

September 2022

By Rebecca Zissou

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

These skateboarders in Bolivia have serious skills—and they’re using them to honor their Indigenous culture.

The women are part of an all-female group called ImillaSkate. (Imilla means “girl” in Aymara and Quechua, the two most widely spoken Native languages in the South American country.) They celebrate their roots by skateboarding in polleras, the traditional layered skirts of their ancestors.

More than half of Bolivia’s population is of Indigenous descent, but the skirts aren’t a common sight anymore. Many of Bolivia’s Indigenous people stopped wearing their traditional clothing, including polleras, in recent decades to avoid being discriminated against.

But the women of ImillaSkate don the skirts with pride. Daniela Santiváñez, who co-founded the group in 2019, says the skateboarders’ goal is to celebrate their culture—and to promote diversity in general.

“By skating in polleras, we want to show that girls and women can do anything, no matter how you look or how people see you,” Santiváñez told reporters. “The message is to be yourself and be proud of who you are.”