ABSTRACT

This work considers the paradoxes of perceived differences whereby Peruvians frequently assert that those who are more indigenous or authentically Andean live ‘más arriba,’ or higher up. Historically, there has been great social and economic interdependence across ecological zones in Peru. Today, social standing is often measured in inverse proportion to the altitude of one’s origins, with Lima at sea level holding the greatest prestige. When Andeans migrate to nearby cities or to the urban coast, they often ‘upgrade’ their status by claiming to be from somewhere other than their rural home. Using a practice referred to as ‘choleando’ (racial one-upmanship), Peruvians may reject ethnic labels for themselves just as they project them on others, in an effort to show they belong in a society that excludes many of them. At the same time, desires to embrace what is Andean as the source of celebrated national cuisine, heritage, and cultural identity are in dramatic evidence as Peru builds its ‘brand’ for global consumption. In this article I trace ambivalent notions of racialized and gendered bodies and territories across three research locations, from rural peasant community to provincial city and urban capital.

摘要

这项工作考虑了感知差异的悖论，秘鲁人经常断言，那些更土生土长的人或真正的安第斯人生活在“más arriba”或更高的地方。从历史上看，秘鲁的生态区之间存在着巨大的社会和经济相互依存。今天，社会地位通常与一个人的出身海拔成反比，海平面的利马享有最大的声望。当安第斯人迁移到附近的城市或城市海岸时，他们经常声称自己来自农村家庭以外的其他地方，从而“升级”了自己的地位。使用一种被称为“choleando”（种族优势）的做法，秘鲁人可能会拒绝自己的种族标签，就像他们将这些标签投射到其他人身上一样，以努力表明他们属于一个排斥他们中的许多人的社会。同时，随着秘鲁为全球消费建立“品牌”，渴望将安第斯作为著名的民族美食、遗产和文化特征的来源，这一点得到了显着的证明。在这篇文章中，我在三个研究地点（从农村农民社区到省会城市和城市首府）追溯了种族化和性别化的身体和领土的矛盾概念。