In the month of October here in Peru there are two events celebrated by the majority of Peruvians: The month of the Lord of Miracles, and the day of the Creole song. I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you about how these two events are celebrated in my country. Above all I wanted to tell you about the typical Afro-Peruvian foods and Afro-Peruvian music celebrated on the day of the Creole song; however, my mother recommended not to do it. For one, all that information can be found easily on the Internet. But more so, it is not right that I, as an Afro-Peruvian person, write about these points because Afro-Peruvians are too often only defined by our food and dances as if that were the only thing that identifies us. The truth is that the moment my mother recommended that I not write about our food and dance, I felt upset and confused. But, after taking my time to reflect and talk again with my mother, I began to realize that I had gotten carried away with the currents of structural and systemic racism in Peru in which talking about a culture's custom or tradition is only relevant if you talk about its dances and food as a symbol of interest to others. It is true that our culture is shaped in part by its customs and traditions, however, is it the only important thing? Is it important for us to know how to dance or cook? Here in Peru, if you are an Afro-Peruvian, you have to know how to dance Afro-Peruvian music and know how to cook very well otherwise you are not considered a true Afro-descendant. This is just one example of how systemic racism here has pigeonholed.Afro-Peruvian culture is not based only on food or music. If we do not speak to the prejudices we face as a people and the conditions of our living, then we normalize the avoidance of the fundamental issues that shape our experience in Peru.
That is why today I am going to talk about prejudice in Peru towards blacks. Ana Lucia Mosquera Rosado, a researcher who specializes in intercultural communication, diversity, gender and non-discrimination issues, wrote an article on stereotypes in the representation of women and men. She mentions how complex it is to speak of Afro-Peruvian representation in the media due to the social structures based on ethnicity that strongly impact the media, and how representation affects Afro-descendant and indigenous ethnic groups. Apart from being made invisible, they are silenced, and their identities are distorted and based on negative stereotypes. The media use their power to put Afro-Peruvians under a standardized image that they use for the entertainment purposes as they make use of blackface and a characterization of an Afro-Peruvians as people of low intellectual capacity, with few social skills, and criminal behavior. These dire representations of Afro-Peruvian people position us as inferior subjects, stripping us of our culture and isolating us from social and institutional spaces. In this way, the media´s construction of the Afro-Peruvian image results in mockery and repression towards us. Sadly, there are humorous programs on Peruvian television that use physical features as a key element for the construction of Afro-Peruvian characters (extremely thick lips, large eyes, large body, etc. .). This legitimization of these representations has had harmful effects on the way the Afro-Peruvian identity is perceived and on how the negative valuation and commercialization of Afro-Peruvian bodies are reinforced since this construction turns Afro-Peruvian physical characteristics into commercialization and entertainment. Also our hair has become a characteristic element of Afro-Peruvian identity, as it is often used as a prop to characterize a character for humorous purposes. For many reasons, the objectification and commodification of the physical characteristics of Afro-Peruvians is very harmful. Historically and today these characteristics have been used to influence people's racism, defense of discriminatory ideology and a system of domination and oppression of people of African descent.
Reference:
¿Cómo nos vemos? Estereotipos en la representación de las y los afroperuanos | Alerta contra el racismo. (2011). Alertacontraelracismo.pe. https://alertacontraelracismo.pe/articulos/como-nos-vemos-estereotipos-en-la-representacion-de-las-y-los-afroperuanos-0