Performing national identity through Peruvian food migration in Santiago de Chile

Walter Imilan

doi:10.11143/46369

Abstract

The article explores the processes of re-production of national identity based on food-related practices and discourses of Peruvian migrants living in Santiago de Chile. The meeting point of these three fields – migration, national identity and food – is most evidently performed in the celebration of the Peruvian National Holidays in Santiago. The article finds evidence that the performance in this national festivity reinforces a sense of Peruvianness, thus contributing to the study of contemporary processes of renewal of national identities in transnational contexts. The case study also demonstrates that the ascription of national identity by Peruvian in Santiago is strategic, and it operates as an assemblage of various and locally situated elements.

Highlights

The presence of Peruvian migrants in the city of Santiago de Chile has become increasingly visible thanks to a booming of food-related businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores
This article explores the ways in which migration, food and national identity intersect in the case of Peruvian migrants in Santiago
The proliferation of restaurants and activities linked to gastronomy are usually observed as an indicator, an expression of social networks based on the origin of the migrants that encourages business activities as incorporation strategies of the migrant population

Summary

Introduction

The presence of Peruvian migrants in the city of Santiago de Chile has become increasingly visible thanks to a booming of food-related businesses such as restaurants and convenience stores These businesses advertise themselves with a Peruvian image through the display of national symbols like flags, photographs and logos that certify the national origin of their products. Peruvian migrants in Santiago use food as a way of performing their national distinctiveness from the host society In this sense, they clearly reenact the kind of identity process theorized by Goffman (2009) and Bruner (1986), which stress the importance of communication to achieve recognition from ‘others’, in this case, the host society. Among all the Peruvian communities abroad, it is only in Santiago that Peruvian migrants have attempted to recreate a sense of national identity by at the same time seeking recognition from the host society

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Conclusion