Mestizaje and Ethno-Racial Stratification in Contemporary Peru

Cristian L. Paredes, University of Texas at Austin

Several analyses of race and ethnicity in Latin-America published in the U.S. explain mestizaje as the Latin-American ideology that supports miscegenation as the founding principle of many national racial ideologies; and commonly depict the mestizo condition as phenotypic brownness. Nonetheless, the analysis of ethno-racial stratification in Peru suggests alternative interpretations of mestizaje that could improve our understanding of its dynamics. I argue that, in Peru, the mestizo condition is circumstantially negotiable, and may be captured not only by skin color and self-perception, but also by other ethno-racial indicators associated with region and ancestry that serve as cultural capital. Using national survey data, I suggest that skin color alone serves only to partially explain the ethno-racial disparities; and that other ethno-racial markers are still necessary as predictors. I also offer evidence of mestizaje as cultural differentiation by examining the effects of skin color and self-perception as concurrent predictors.