Race, Ethnicity and Politics in Three Peruvian Localities: An Analysis of the 2005 CRISE Perceptions Survey in Peru

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss some of the findings of the Peruvian Perception Survey, which was conducted in 2005 for the research project ‘Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict’ of the Center for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Violence (CRISE), Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University. It analyzes relationships between ethnic identity, social exclusion, and political action in three different locations in Peru. In a first section, the paper discusses the issue of measuring ethnic and racial categories in Peru from a quantitative perspective. Then, it presents some of the survey's results in regard to the respondent's ethnic and racial self-identification. Finally, it analyzes and outlines some conclusions about the relationships that have been found in the survey between variables of ethnic or racial self-identification, perceptions of political and social exclusion, political activism, attitudes toward violence, and perceptions of the efficacy of political action.