The Aymara or Aimara people are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America; about 2.3 million live in northwest Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru
History
The region where Tiwanaku and the modern Aymaras are located, the Altiplano, was conquered by the Incas under Huayna Capac (reign 1493–1523), although the exact date of this takeover is unknown. It is most likely that the Inca had a strong influence over the Aymara region for some time. Though conquered by the Inca, the Aymaras retained some degree of autonomy under the empire.
The Spanish arrived in the western portions of South America in 1535. Soon after, by 1538, they subdued the Aymara. Initially, the Aymara exercised their own distinct culture now free of Incan influence (earlier conquered by the Spanish) but acculturation and assimilation by the Spanish were rapid. Many Aymara at this turbulent time became laborers in mines and agricultural fields.
In response to colonial exploitation by the Spanish and elite in the fields of agriculture, mining, coca harvesting, domestic work, and more the Aymara (along with others) staged a rebellion in 1629. This was followed by a more significant uprising mostly by Aymaras in 1780 in which the Aymara almost captured the city of La Paz and many Spaniards were killed. This rebellion would be put down by the Spanish two years later. However, uprisings would continue to occur against Spanish rule intermittently until Peruvian independence in 1821.
The War of the Pacific started in 1879 and led Chile to occupy Peruvian territory with Aymara populations already by 1880. Tarapacá Department was formally annexed in 1883 and Arica in 1929. When compared with the Mapuche people of Araucanía who were also incorporated into Chile in the late 19th century the Aymara obtained relatively unfavorable views as "foreign elements" by Chilean elites contrasting with Mapuches who were seen as "primordial" Chileans.
The major reforms caused by the Bolivian Revolution of 1952 resulted in the Aymara being more integrated into mainstream Bolivian society. This also caused many Aymara to become severed or not affiliated with their native communities any longer. Most Bolivian Aymara today engage in farming, construction, mining, and working in factories though a growing number are now in professional work. The Aymara language (along with Quechua) is now an official language in Bolivia and there has been a rise of programs to assist the Aymara and their native lands
Geography
Most present-day Aymara speakers live in the Lake Titicaca basin, a territory from Lake Titicaca through the Desaguadero River and into Lake Poopó (Oruro, Bolivia) also known as the Altiplano. They are concentrated south of the lake. The capital of the ancient Aymara civilization is unknown. The present urban center of the Aymara region may be El Alto, a 750,000-person city near the Bolivian capital, La Paz.
Culture
The Aymara flag is known as the Wiphala 
; it consists of seven colors patched together with diagonal stripes.
The native language of the Aymaras is Aymara. Many of the Aymaras speak Spanish as a second or first language when it is the predominant language in the areas where they live.
Most of the contemporary Aymaran urban culture was developed in the working-class Aymara neighborhoods of La Paz such as Chijini, and neighboring El Alto. Both Quechua and Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia took up the style of wearing bowler hats in the 1920s.
The luxurious, elegant, and cosmopolitan Aymara Chola dress, which is an icon of Bolivia (bowler hat, aguayo, heavy pollera, skirts, boots, jewelry, etc.) began and evolved in La Paz. It is an urban tradition of dress. This style of dress has become part of ethnic identification by Aymara women. Another recent innovation drawing on the Cholas' colorful aesthetics is buildings designed in a "Neo-Andean" style concentrated in El Alto
The Aymaras have grown and chewed coca plants for centuries, using their leaves in traditional medicine as well as in ritual offerings to the father god Inti (Sun) and the mother goddess Pachamama (Earth). During the last century, there has been conflict with state authorities over this plant during drug wars; the officials have carried out coca eradication to prevent the extraction and isolation of the drug cocaine. However, the ritual use of coca has a central role in the indigenous religions of both the Aymaras and the Quechuas. Coca is used in the ritual curing ceremonies of the yatiri. Since the late 20th century, its ritual use has become a symbol of cultural identity.
Chairo is a traditional stew of the Aymaras. It is made of chuño (potato starch), onions, carrots, potatoes, white corn, beef, and wheat kernels. It also contains herbs such as coriander and spices. It is native to the region of La Paz.
Politics
The Aymaras and other indigenous groups have formed numerous movements for greater independence or political power. These include the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army, led by Felipe Quispe, and the Movement Towards Socialism, a political party organized by the Cocalero Movement and Evo Morales. These and other Aymara organizations have led political activism in Bolivia, including the 2003 Bolivian Gas War and the 2005 Bolivia protests.
Evo Morales is an Aymara coca grower from the Chaparé region. His Movement Toward Socialism party has forged alliances with both rural indigenous groups and urban working classes to form a broad leftist coalition in Bolivia. Morales has run for president in several elections since the late 20th century, gaining increasing support. In 2005 he won a surprise victory, winning the largest majority vote since Bolivia returned to democracy. He is the first indigenous president of Bolivia. He is credited with the ousting of Bolivia's previous two presidents.
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Serious question: does a materialist point of view necessarily mean that much of philosophy should be discarded as immaterial? I haven't thought about the intersect of philosophy and materialism before, so just feeling this out
Every philosophy thinks other philosophies are hot garbage
What's the point of a philosophy that doesn't accurately reflect and allow for a useful understanding of the real world
no, unless you're conflating dialectical materialism with a naive kind of literalism which draws a rhetorical circle of non-existence around every kind of abstraction... but still, much of philosophy should be discarded for other reasons.
that's very helpful, thanks
Dialectics is all about mixing and mashing seemingly incompatible concepts together and seeing what fits. E.g. language philosophy can shed light on some interesting things, but they get cause and effect wrong
It's useful to know it, in a "this is obsolete" kind of way. I recommend The Destruction of Reason by Georgy Lukacs for a very (very) in-depth look through the bourgeoise philosophers preceding and following Marx and how they never get beyond idealism, or a mechanistic, nihilistic materialism that ultimately loops back around to idealism.
I think it's quite important to see that 'Marxism' (Dialectical Materialism) is an organic development from the most advanced bourgeoise philosophy, that of Hegel, but freed from the shackles of bourgeoise ideology - and as such is the natural extension of a history of philosophical development stretching back to the Greeks. All bourgeoise philosophy developed afterwards can only define itself in response to Marxism, it can never try to surpass Hegel again in some other direction because Marxism is the only correct development beyond Hegel. And Lukacs does a thorough job of showing how absolutely reactionary every 'vaunted' bourgeoise philosopher arising afterwards is, from Schelling through Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzche, a bunch of pre-, mid- and post-WW1 fuckwits, and ultimately Heidegger. It's also fascinating to see how each philosophy was - inevitably - shaped by the material conditions of the time, both in its original development and the moment of its rise to prominence (which were sometimes widely separated) based on its usefulness in reassuring the bourgeoisie that the status quo is fine (or if not fine, then inevitable) so they can relax with clear consciences. There are some obvious parallels with philosophers of the 'New Left' and Postmodernism that I'll refrain from getting into, cause that's another whole comment on its own.
It's also hilarious to see in other works like Anti-Duhring by Engels, as well as Marx, Engels and even Lenin's letters and arguments with the exact same types of debate perverts that exist today and try to go "beyond Marxism" - I'm thinking about this article which was linked in a thread on Slavoj Zizek from a while ago,
and more specifically this Marx quote that could be about an entire class of guy from 170 years ago or today
Anyways tldr, we live in a world that has been drained of philosophy for the simple reason that capitalist philosophy is in an inescapable dead end, but philosophy is important and Dialectical Materialism is not only not antithetical to it, it's actually the most advanced one* **.
*so far **available in the West
Adding to Marxism in actual good faith has obviously been impossible in the western academy for 170 years; Lenin made important contributions to knowledge under the lens of Marxism, and the USSR probably made some developments but they were very busy for the entire time they were still led by committed Marxists; and western society is, needless to say, pretty well insulated from any developments in the Chinese or Korean academies)this is really helpful and the direction I was thinking, in that the immaterial reflects the material and can serve to protect or attack the bourgeouis but, if unchallenged, it will default to protection because of our inherited capitalist brainworms. I'll pick up Lukacs, it's been a while since I've read any philosophy or hermeneutics. I think Bourdieu and Gadamer were the last big thinkers I read and I struggled with both. i have a hard time with abstract concepts in general anyway lol