Colla Vs, Cambas (and Even a little Cunumi)

This is a topic that I want to possibly cover in my project three. It explores how language is a huge force field that often acts as a separation between the Collas and Cambas.

Cunumis are the minority but I still believe they are relevant enough to mention. In Bolivia, La Paz and Santa Cruz are the two biggest cities that make up the country. But although that share that similarity the culture is very different from one another. The hostility that people from these two cities share are rooted from racism and segregation. The way this anger against each other is often portrayed is by words of Colla and Camba (and sometimes cunumi). Paceños, people born in La Paz, are referred to as collas and Cruzeños people born in Santa Cruz are called Cambas. The word colla is used as a derogatory phrase and it offends Paceños. These two words have defined a fine line of racism and the segregation of different groups and how they are treated.

On the other hand, a cunumi isn't an ethnicity or race. It is the racism that falls when people aren't Spanish white but instead they're a brown shade of latino. They are seem as lesser than Camba.

language Accents

The Spanish language has so many different accents it's unbelievable! I am Bolivian and we share the border with Argentina. When I was really little I would claim that I would marry an Argentinian guy. They were so dreamy when I watched my telenovelas.  And their accent was so amazing! I always thought it was fascinating how I lived fairly close to the borders of Argentina, give or take a twelve hour trip by car, but their accent varied greatly from a next door camba.

Usually your accent depicts where you from and the assumption people make about you. If you have a southern accent then you might get stereotyped as a hillbilly. The same goes for Spanish speakers. Usually the more southern the country is the better they are regarded throughout the Spanish community. So a Salvadorian is regarded less than an Uruguayan.

The southern countries take pride in not having the same accents as central Americans. I read this article on the four different sectors of countries that can carry different accents:
       "Andean or Serrano Spanish (southern Colombia, part of Ecuador and Peru, part of Bolivia, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina), Caribbean Spanish (the Antilles, Central America, Venezuela and Colombia), Rio de la Plata Spanish (Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) and Mexican Spanish."

While reading this article it made a lot of sense the way the countries are separated and I fall under the sector of Serrano Spanish. A little bit of the accents of the sector Rio de la Plata Spanish can also be attributed to the way we and my family speak because of where we use to live and how it was closer to those borders.


https://www.latinoschools.com/blog/spanish-language-accents/