"the quality or state of being brown"
- jpiresjancose
- Mar 22, 2017
- 6 min read
Merriam-Webster defines "brownness" as "the quality or state of being brown."
Been thinking a lot about the construction of brownness within different societies. In the U.S. I lump myself into the general category of "brown" in part because I feel disingenuous categorizing myself as Goan when I know so little about my own culture; and also because defining myself as "brown" describes my existence outside of the boundaries of "white". In retrospect this statement in it of itself is complicated given that Indians' "model minority" status often grants us entrance into the realm of whiteness - assuming, of course, that we don't have accents, don't wear any form of traditional dress and above all that we do NOT smell like curry!!! I once had a dude in my class turn to me and say, and I quote:
him: Sorry if I smell like curry
me, thinking he had eaten Indian food for lunch: Oh don't worry about it
him: I sat next to this Indian guy in the class before this and he reeked of it. He probably bathes in the stuff.
me: GUESS WHAT MF WE DO.
Jk I actually didn't say that although an internal dialogue ensued of whether or not I should tell him that I'm Indian. I finally decided to say nothing.
Anyway, all of this is to say that for me, being brown in America means not being white -- and all of the differing treatment and life experiences that follow simply by virtue of existing and navigating life in a non-white body. One reason why I decided to come to Peru, to South America in general, is because living in Costa Rica last summer gave me a small taste of what it is like to live in a brown country where I didn't feel "othered" every time I left my room (at least not on the basis of skin color). Idealistically and with a heavy dose of naivety, I felt that in coming to Peru I would once again be able to experience that divine feeling of walking down the street and seeing other brown people who looked like me. This has indeed been my experience and I am reveling in being surrounded by gente con piel de canela. However, it was embarrassingly naive of me to think that brownness would serve as some form of great equalizer here in Peru, or in Latin America in general. In our first few days of classes, we have recieved intro lessons on the construction of race within Peru.
The Incan empire in the Andean region of the country was strong af. I mean it was literally an EMPIRE. And then of course Spaniards showed up and through violence, manipulation and a host of shitty European diseases manage to overthrow Incan rule and gain control of the region. Initially only men came over from Spain to Peru leading to marriage (read: rape) of Incan women by Spanish men and the birth of the "mestizo" segment of the population - i.e. those who have both Spanish and indigenous ancestry. The Peruvian population is a melting pot of (mainly) indigenous, Spanish, and black ancestry, with enslaved Africans having been forcibly brought over to Peru beginning in the 1500s -- Perú21 describes Peru as "el país de todas las sangres". However, this is not to say that there isn't a hierarchy within Peruvian society on the basis of race and color. White supremacy is everywhere and so of course one finds the highest concentration of whiteness and wealth in Peru here in the capital city of Lima. Due to the country's centuries-old history of conflict between the Incan Empire and the Spanish, indigenous Quechua-speaking peoples from the Andean region of the country face the harshest forms of racism and discrimination. Today, the culture of the Andean region has slowly begun to receive acceptance in Lima and particularly trendy is the "Chicha" culture that has arisen as a fusion of la cultura andina y la cultura limeña. Despite this, quechuahablantes (Quechua-speakers) and migrants from the Andean region in Lima continue to face discrimination on the basis of their heritage.
Learning this reminded me of a quote by the illustrious Amandla Stenberg referencing the very similar dynamic that we have in the US with black Americans. Amandla asks: "What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we love black culture?” Indeed, here in Lima it appears that Andean culture has begun to enjoy a form of acceptance that migrants from the Andean region have yet to experience. The appropriation of this culture is slightly different than the appropriation of black culture in the U.S. given that here in Peru those doing the appropriating likely have indigenous Andean ancestry somewhere in their bloodline. That being said, this does not erase the marginalization that this appropriation represents on the basis of race, class, and origin (among other factors). The director of our abroad program told us that there is a saying in Lima: "mejorar la raza." In other words, "improve the race" by marrying someone whiter than you so that your children and future lineage can have lighter skin. Ah, the pervasiveness of internalized racism. I was googling this phrase and found a response on a Peruvian forum that I enjoyed so I will post it here:
Siempre he escuchado esa frase tanto de hombres como de mujeres que buscan parejas ya sean extranjeros blancos de ojos azules o peruanos que sean blancos de ojos azules o verdes con ascendencia extranjera porque según ellos quieren mejorar su raza...Incluso es dificil encontrar una mujer que tenga su pelo de color natural ya que la mayoria se lo aclara un poco o se lo tiñe completamente para parecer gringas como si el prototipo de raza perfecta o de belleza fuera la raza europea o de norteamérica...osea los blancos de pelo rubio y de ojos azules o verdes...y nuestra raza andina típica que desciende de los incas o quechuas es vista como inferior, me parece que aquí existe un gran complejo de inferioridad ya que nuestra raza autóctona es tan buena como cualquier otra y no tenemos que mejorar nada
I have always heard that phrase in reference to men or women looking for partners who are white foreigners with blue eyes or Peruvians who are white with blue or green eyes with foreign ancestry because, according to them, they want to "improve their race." It's difficult to find a woman with natural hair because the majority lighten their hair slightly or dye it completely in order to look like gringas as if the prototype of "the perfect race" or of beauty were the European or North American race, or of white people with blond hair and blue or green eyes. Our Andean race that comes from the Incans or Quechuas is viewed as inferior. It seems to me that here exists a great inferiority complex. Our native race is just as good as any other, we don't have to improve anything.
*more or less the translation*
In other words, it is not uncommon to see men and women alike attempt to alter their hair color and other aspects of their experience in order to appear more white. Much like in the U.S., the majority of the advertisements that I've seen here in Lima feature white, gringo-passing models. As our director explained to us, the mentality behind advertisements is not to reflect reality, but to reflect a societal "ideal".
In reference to this heirarchy of races, my host mom told me of another saying in Peru: "el que no tiene de inga tiene de mandinga" - "(s)he who doesn't have Incan blood has African blood". This saying reinforces racial inferiority complexes regarding black and indigenous blood here in Peru; however, it also points out that the racial heirarchy is complete BS because in reality most Peruvians have ancestry from different marginalized racial groups.
This is a bit of what I have learned thus far about race and the construction of brownness within Peru. I should note that, in this description, my intention was not to generalize the entirety of the Peruvian population and I certainly am no expert on race relations in this country. Above is merely a description of my understanding of what I have been taught along with my surface-level analysis of the parallels that I see between race relations in Peru and those existing in the U.S.
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