Resumo

GUARACHI RAMOS, Rodolfo  e  GUARACHI RAMOS, Renán. The ayni, a system of ancestral life (Today for you tomorrow form me). Rev Inv Sci [online]. 2017, vol.6, n.1, pp. 03-25. ISSN 2313-0229.

The present investigation made an approach to the social imaginary and its contrastwith the life experiences in some communities (Patacamaya, Tolerani andothers) ofthe province of Aroma in the department ofLa Paz. The study was made in the second semester of2016 and the population was constituted by adult people between 40 and 80 years old. The research methodology was framed within the qualitative approach being the main techniques the indepth interview and the participant observation. For the interviews, a team work of 62 people was integrated who collected the information in different scenarios and times. The interviews and observation were carried out at different times by the researchers who led this study and finally proceeded to systematize the information together with all the participants. At the end ofthe study two conclusions were taken out. First, the "ayni", which comes from the kollasuyu, became weakened about 25 years ago, being very infrequent and occasionally reduced to the family circle. Second, the "ayni" had an evolution in its modalities and an involution in its nature. The principal scenaries ofthe "ayni" practice are the patron saint festivities, commemorations, birthdays, marriages and money lending. On the other hand, it can be observed that the nature ofthe ayni today has a kind offorced debts stripping offits original nature of cooperation and solidarity. For concluding the "ayni" has disappeared or it is about to disappear.

Palavras-chave : Ayni; evolution; involution; communitarianism; solidarity; cooperation.