*Social Reality: Race and Ethnicity*

Even though I’ve only been here for 2 months, I must admit that before coming to Peru, I was a bit naïve and misinformed. And not just about the city and things that I probably should’ve known. But when I saw the syllabus for my class on “Social Reality” I was really interested in the section on “Race and Ethnicity.” I’m a minority in the states. This should be really easy to relate to right? In the states when race and ethnicity are discussed, there’s really only black and white. There are other struggles with other ethnicities, but in all circles, black-white race relations always come up first.


Before the class discussion, I ignorantly assumed that maybe race relations would be the same. People everywhere are prejudiced against citizens of African descent right? Wrong. Three things I learned very quickly are:

• White skin is still preferred. All Peruvians don’t look the same. Some are lighter or have curlier hair, there really is no exact description. And there shouldn’t be. One would think that because such a large proportion of the population is Andean and speaks Quechua, characteristics like straight, dark hair and darker skin would be accepted. But this isn’t so. Lighter skin and curlier hair are preferred. Europeans looks are still considered a standard of beauty and power.
• Skin color is relative. It was surprising to learn that people are considered “whiter” if they are of a certain social status. So even if a person has darker, Indian skin, if they are successful and richer, they have more power. More power and more money means better, and better means “whiter.”
• Asian immigrants were not welcomed with open arms and smiling faces. This is what I was the most naïve about. For some reason I thought that Asian immigrants were welcomed everywhere. I thought that maybe they left their countries because there was a promise of a better life. Surely there wouldn’t be so many chifa restaurants here if people were prejudiced against them? But the terms that they arrived under (as contracted labor) and the discrimination they endured (bombing entire neighborhoods and name calling) were really surprising to me.

The discussion on Asian immigrants was probably most like the struggle of African Americans in the states. Although they weren’t forced to come and were given small wages, they were not welcomed. Asians were brought here in the same way you would buy a tractor on a farm. The tractor makes things easier so it’s only rational that you pay for maintenance and upkeep. I don’t even remember discussing Afro Peruvians. I’m sure they were and are discriminated against. But the texts that described Asians as horrible and dirty people were eye opening. Asian immigrants never wanted to come here and therefore fiercely resisted against assimilation. They formed their own schools and communities to shelter their culture and language. From what I’ve seen being here in Peru, a few hundred years later, it seems that they’ve assimilated. I need to do some research, but what I want to know now is what happened to both those of both African and Asian descent. Why didn’t the population steadily grow?