The Political Economy of Census Race-Making: Analyzing Ethnoracial Categorization Practices in Colonial and Republican Peru

• In Event: 41021 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 14: Race and Place

Abstract

Sociological studies of population politics highlight how states and racialized actors co-create and mobilize census data for recognition, while also revealing its use for oppression or resistance through non-enumeration. However, little attention has been given to the influence of the global political economy on these dynamics. Scholars of racial capitalism typically concentrate on the relationship between global capitalism, labor exploitation, and race, often overlooking the state's role in the processes of racialization. This article aims to integrate the literature on racial capitalism with scholarship on population politics. I propose a contingency-context theory that elucidates how shifts in the global political economy, coupled with the dynamics of states and the agency of racialized actors, shape ethnoracial categorization. Through a historical analysis of Peru, I explore periods when national censuses included ethnoracial data—specifically during colonial times (1725–1740 and 1776–1815) and the republican era (1876, 1940, and 2017). During the colonial period, censuses served tax and control purposes, classifying Indigenous and Afro-descendant populations within the mercantilist and agricultural economy. After independence, the persistence of colonial categories was reinforced by an enduring agrarian economy and cultural racism. The 1960s and 1970s saw a shift with the removal of ethnoracial categories influenced by class-based Marxist rhetoric, the Agrarian reform, and the adoption of the import substitution industrialization model. However, the neoliberal era brought their reintroduction due to multicultural policies and advocacy for statistical visibility from Indigenous and Afro-descendant groups. While this contingency-context theory is grounded in Peru's context, it also highlights broader Latin American trends, illustrating how colonialism, economic policy shifts, and political dynamics have shaped the production and mobilization of ethnoracial data in the region.

Author

• Alonso Burgos, Johns Hopkins University