The Social Construction of Race in Peru: Does television normalize Racism?

Racial discrimination is unfortunately one of the main social problems that has afflicted our country for decades and we can see it reflected in the main source of entertainment for Peruvian families, television programs such as JB, Recargados de Risa, Risas y Salsa and other humorous-style programs denote that Peruvian society enjoys making fun of non-white or mestizo races, thus we find characters such as La Paisana Jacinta (representation of the Andean woman), El Negro Mama (representation of the Afro-Peruvian man) and Kenji (representation of the Asian man and also homosexual), who despite reinforcing stereotypes, exaggerating their physical features in a non-aesthetic way, representing their respective races as people of low IQ and vulgar, are favorites of the public and remain on the small screen despite the protests made by the population that is aware that these kinds of acts are wrong.

Television has a lot of power with people, to the point where a group of people, as a form of ridicule, some group doesn't like, they shout it at the top of their lungs. Between 2013 and 2015, according to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, there have been 17 cases of discrimination against Afro-Peruvian soccer players. One of them was Luis Advíncula who was denigrated by Juan Aurich's fans at the Elías Aguirre stadium (Chiclayo) and there was no sanction. In many of these cases there was no type of sanction towards the club or towards anyone in general, which is worrying.

In 2019, a case in Arequipa about a lady, who was driving on the side that vehicular traffic was closed due to construction, shouted one of the most used phrases in Peru: "Chola de m*****a". According to the anthropologist Karina Pacheco, who gave an interview for France 24, she mentions that this phrase is used because of the need to make someone less because of their characteristics and more so in a country where being white is synonymous with wealth. A large number in Peru want to be white by making them cholean others to feel that thetehy belong to the white social group.

Augusto Delgado, a Peruvian otorhinolaryngologist, mentions for elDiario.es that, in Lima, he performs between 20 and 25 rhinoplasties per month. Many of his patients want to outline their aquiline nose which has the purpose of forgetting or not recognizing their features which cause discrimination. He mentions that many of his patients are people from the Andean province who have migrated to the capital. These people try to show the features of the capital.

Do you think that the effects of ridicule on television have something to do with it? Haven't all the people in Augusto been humiliated in the same way that is presented in La Paisana Jacinta? Isn't the mockery of Negro Mama so normalized that for those who attacked the soccer player Advíncula it was just a joke?

Reference:

Álvarez, P. P. (2014, abril 29). Perú, un país racista contra sí mismo: “Es una forma de 'blanquearse”. ElDiario.es. https://www.eldiario.es/desalambre/peru-pais-racista-mismo_1_4906317.html
Infante, G. S. (2016, marzo). Casos de racismo en el futbol (2013_2015). Una mirada desde sus protagonistas. Cultura.pe. https://centroderecursos.cultura.pe/sites/default/files/rb/pdf/Casos-de-racismo-en-el-futbol-2013-2015.pdf
Rampant, A. C. (2019, febrero 25). Racismo y clasismo, la discriminación que no se ha podido erradicar en Perú. France 24. https://www.france24.com/es/20190225-racismo-clasismo-discriminacion-peru
Sánchez, P. (s/f). Discriminación y burla: la necesidad de comenzar por pequeños grandes cambios. Alertacontraelracismo.pe. Recuperado el 28 de abril de 2022, de https://alertacontraelracismo.pe/sites/default/files/archivos/articulos/Patricia%20Sanchez.pdf

ABOUT US

The following blog aims to: explain, show and identify the social construction of race that has existed in Peru over the time. We will go from the colonial era to the 21st century to explain how Peruvians currently see the word “race” and the internalized racism that exists in it. Simultaneously, we will explain the social consequences that colonialism had in Peru and how we live with them day to day. We will also see how the 2017 census, in which they asked how we ethnically self-identified, became a topic of debate and why many of us did not know how to answer it and how that behavior influenced the use of the term "ethnic group" as an euphemism for "race", even though there are certain differences between the two terms "Race" and "ethnicity" are complex terms and are often used interchangeably. These terms were initially separated to designate "race" as a biological quality and "ethnicity" as a cultural phenomenon. Our posts main feature will be the confrontation of these topic and will try to explain why it's wrong to discriminate and socially exclude people using race as a weapon. We will also be talking about social media and how the new generations are growing with the “influence” of characters online and their life’s from the perspective that certain looks, body shapes and skin color are the way to gain fame and social media popularity. We have noticed how many Peruvians deny discrimination with the typical phrase "We are all Peruvian" or “We are all Cholos”, in the blog we will also explain how that nationalistic phrase really affects and disguises discrimination. Peru is organized in such a way that people are educated in discrimination. It's something you learn at school, in families. It is something "normal" and happens everywhere, including the provinces. Another point that is of vital importance for there to be racism in Peru in the XXI century, is due to the influence that parents have on their children, this is because if the children grow up in an environment where the father has racist prejudices, whether because of skin color, physical features or some taboo they may have, children can have the same prejudices (approximately more than 60% of children with racist parents end up being their children the same as them). This coming to cause ridicule and aggression to other children, for the simple fact of being different (bullying) In this blog we will know in depth the diversity of our culture, we will learn to appreciate it and we will seek to make the population reflect on some of our attitudes and behaviors that could be considered "racist" and that have been maintained over time.With this blog we will try to build a reader's point of view on this important issue for our society. Our point is to be able to bring the subject to more people and create a small debate among us, each of the members will tell how we define our own definition of Peruvian race and identity

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Does television normalize Racism?

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