Contribution to Book
Peru
Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society
(2008)
Abstract
Racial/Ethnic relations in Peru, a country with an estimated population of 27.9 million people in 2007, have experienced tremendous changes during the past 500 years but have always remained central to social and political life. Indigenous Peoples, while making up more than 40% of the current population, have been continually “othered,” even as large-scale demographic and governing changes have altered the country. Whites (criollos) have always struggled (overtly and covertly) to maintain their privileged position at the top of the racial hierarchy. A small population of Blacks continue to suffer from obscurity. But the mestizo population has demonstrated the greatest flux, emerging out of marginality to both pioneer some of the greatest historical changes and reproduce some of the most repressive social relations.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2008
Editor
Richard T. Schaefer
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Citation Information
Arthur Scarritt. "Peru" Thousand OaksEncyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society Vol. 2 (2008) p. 1039 - 1042 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/arthur_scarritt/18/