“We are the Yanahuara Nación”: ethnic consciousness, neoliberal mining and mestizaje in Cotabambas, Apurímac, Perú

• In Event: Ethnic rights: the struggle for identity politics and self-determination

Abstract

In this ethnographic research, I study the emergence of ethnic consciousness in Cotabambas, Apurímac, Perú, where some Quechua communities are self-identifying as the Yanahuara Nation, a re-discovered historical ethnic group. In Peru, in contrast to Bolivia and Ecuador, indigenous Andeans have not built up an indigenous movement. Peruvian indigenous Andeans have mobilized in local conflicts generated by neoliberal mining, but politically they have not self-identified as indigenous peoples. This, however, might be changing. The enactment of the Law of Prior Consultation, which grants indigenous communities the right to be consulted with respect to extractive projects that potentially affect them, has enabled a favorable context for indigenous self-identification.
Previous studies emphasize explanations based on political opportunity and rational choice. These studies do not take into consideration the ways in which the ideology of mestizaje hinders an indigenous subject position, empowering non-indigenous Peruvians to define who is and who is not indigenous. Non-indigenous Peruvians consider that indigenous individuals are either archaic, unfit for modernity, or already assimilated into mestizo mainstream culture. In addition, these studies do not take into consideration the labour involved in turning indigeneity from an stigmatized to an upstanding, self-respecting condition.
Following James Clifford’s conceptualization of indigeneity as “articulated, and examining the ways in which social categories have changed, I demonstrate that the the affirmation of indigeneity also implies the transformation of the dominant common sense, questioning the naturalization of indigeneity as a condition of subordination.

Author

• Sergio Miguel Huarcaya, Universidad del Pacífico