Doctoral Dissertation Research: Locating Rural Black Women in the Racial Geography of Peru

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

Skin color plays an insignificant role in determining the racial status of indigenous Peruvians. For this reason, researchers have argued that race in Peru is a fluid and cultural construct. However, these arguments are based solely on the experiences of indigenous Peruvians. This study will examine whether or not race works differently for black Peruvians. Scholars have found that, when Indians migrate to the capital city of Lima, they become more modern, and thus 'whiter,' through mestizaje (racial and cultural mixing). The questions posed in this research are: Do black Peruvians also become 'whiter' when they migrate to Lima? Is racial identity a fluid construct for black Peruvians? To answer these questions, the researcher will conduct an ethnographic study, using participant observation and interviews, in a black Peruvian village and of black Peruvians in Lima. Neither the literature on race in Peru nor the literature on black Latin Americans provide a depiction of contemporary black Peruvian communities. The omission of the experiences of black Peruvians is more than a mere oversight, for an investigation of the black Peruvian experience may reveal inconsistencies in the cultural definition of race in Peru as well in the prevailing discourse on mestizaje as it relates to Afro-Latin Americans. The researcher will develop a theoretical framework of racial identity in Peru that accounts for the experiences of black Peruvians. This will contribute to a broader sociological understanding of the social construction of racial and ethnic identity, and of its variation across space. The broader impact of this research is that a better understanding of mestizaje as it relates to black Peruvians will serve to illuminate racial issues throughout Latin America as well as here in the United States. This is because the rhetoric of mestizaje and whiteness is present in all Latin American countries. US scholars are also currently arguing that race relations in the US are becoming more Latin America-like, and adopting a nationalist mestizo ideology - We are all Americans. This US version of color-blind ideology is quite similar to Latin American color-blind nationalism, expressed through the rhetoric of mestizaje. Additionally, the researcher intends to turn this dissertation into a book, which will be the first ethnographic account of black Peruvians published in the English language, and the first published in any language since 1980.