In the early twentieth century, Peruvian intellectuals, unlike
their European counterparts, rejected biological categories of race
as a basis for discrimination. But this did not eliminate social
hierarchies; instead, it redefined racial categories as cultural
differences, such as differences in education or manners. In
"Indigenous Mestizos " Marisol de la Cadena traces the history of
the notion of race from this turn-of-the-century definition to a
hegemony of racism in Peru.
De la Cadena's ethnographically and historically rich study
examines how indigenous citizens of the city of Cuzco have been
conceived by others as well as how they have viewed themselves and
places these conceptions within the struggle for political identity
and representation. Demonstrating that the terms "Indian" and
"mestizo" are complex, ambivalent, and influenced by social, legal,
and political changes, she provides close readings of everyday
concepts such as marketplace identity, religious ritual, grassroots
dance, and popular culture, as well as of such common terms as
"respect," "decency," and "education." She shows how "Indian" has
come to mean an indigenous person without economic and educational
means--one who is illiterate, impoverished, and rural. "Mestizo,"
on the other hand, has come to refer to an urban, usually literate,
and economically successful person claiming indigenous heritage and
participating in indigenous cultural practices. De la Cadena argues
that this version of de-Indianization--which, rather than
assimilation, is a complex political negotiation for a dignified
identity--does not cancel the economic and political equalities of
racism in Peru, although it has made room for some people to
reclaim a decolonized Andean cultural heritage.
This highly original synthesis of diverse theoretical arguments
brought to bear on a series of case studies will be of interest to
scholars of cultural anthropology, postcolonialism, race and
ethnicity, gender studies, and history, in addition to Latin
Americanists.
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