Navigating ethnicity in Peru: a framework for measuring multiple self-identification among indigenous Quechua women

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article maps the particular statistical representation of diversity that becomes visible when Quechua ethnoracial identification in Peru is framed as multiple. It does so against a backdrop of uncertainty regarding how to categorize the heterogeneity and complexity of subpopulations, which arise when multiple ascriptions are considered. Using the 2007–2008 Peruvian Demographic and Health Surveys, which provide data of women of reproductive age, the study examines how indigenous Quechua women self-identify and what factors affect their choices. We modeled the relationship between a number of cultural and sociodemographic variables and a self-identification measure that offered respondents the opportunity to identify with multiple ethnoracial categories and to ascribe to them with different degrees of intensity. Challenging the prevailing contraposition between indigeneity and mestizaje, the study reveals that multiple self-identification can yield relevant insights into cultural diversity and sociodemographic variability within the Quechua population, and offers an acceptable trade-off between the reductionism of single option self-identification and the maximized validity of unprompted open response methods.