Ulla Berg
“Whiteness, Choledad, and New Elites in Neoliberal Peru”
This paper explores the social and cultural significance of the rise of the much-touted “entrepreneurial cholo” in neoliberal Peru. Despite having access to significant economic capital, this nouveau riche Peruvian of Andean background is not exempt from racism and adverse forms of discrimination. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among new elites in Lima and in the highland city of Huancayo, this paper seeks to map out the “whiteness projects” of these new elites. In doing so, the paper examines, empirically and theoretically, the multiple meanings and manifestations of “white privilege” in Peru and the intersection of race with the distribution of economic, social, emotive, cultural, political, and knowledge capitals in the changing character of Peruvian inequality.