After lunch with the YMCA Peru, we invited a guest lecturer to come in and speak with us about identity and the indigenous populations in Peru. He is a professor and researcher and just published another book on the topic. We thought the Y of Peru staff would leave while he presented, but they stuck around to listen. This added a complex dynamic.

There are 76 ethnicities and 16 different dialects in Peru. There are Andian-Indigenous (those who live in the Andean mountains) and non-Andian Indigenous (those who live mostly in the jungle).

The Census in Peru does not have boxes to check related to identity like the US does. Thus, they can't capture demographic information related to ethnic identity.

This professor measured the "Genie co-efficient" - the gap between the haves and the have nots. In 2004 - 43% of the Afro-Peruvians lived in poverty - but that was less than the national poverty average. Afro-Peruvians live on the coast. The Indigenous populations primarily live in rural areas. The population who is worse off in Peru is the indigenous population. One of the most prominent causes of this divide is that the educational system is built around the Spanish language. The majority of the indigenous populations live in rural areas - and don't speak Spanish. They speak their native tongues. The 2 most prominent native tongues spoken are Quecha and Arayma.

This professor believes that not having access to education is not a result of not having money, it's a result of not valuing education, which is cultural.

In Peru, you can be more or less of a race. How x you are is not based on skin color as much as it's based on how much money you have, how educated you are, how you dress and behave, etc. BUT this does not necessarily apply to the Afro-Peruvian group. It is not as easy for them to change social class.

Peru has a common term called "whitening". "whitening" could be related to what we know as affluence. Indigenous populations have range on the color spectrum, whereas, Afro-Peruvians are either black or white. "Passing" is not the same as "whitening".

The 2 major things that determine how "white" you are, are 1. Class and 2. Gender/race.

They do not have a large Afro-Peruvian population in Peru - the government estimates about 2%, but the stereotypes are still the same.

They are starting to look at bullying because race-based bullying is becoming more prominent among teens. There are Afro-Peruvians, Amazonian Indigenous and Andian Indigenous.

The term "Zambo" is used to describe those mixed with indigenous and black ancestry. It is a derogatory term.

The term "Chulo" is a term that refers to an indigenous person. It used to be derogatory, but some people are "reclaiming" the word and using it as an empowering term for identity.

"Cholear" is a derogatory Spanish term meaning "to become more Indigenous".

At the end of the presentation I got up and presented a plaque to the Y CEO in Spanish. It was the first time I'd spoken Spanish in a professional public forum in a long time. It was only day 1, I was nervous and it hadn't come back to me yet, but it's getting there.

It was interesting to see how the YMCA Peru staff received all of this information. Some were reluctant, some disagreed, some said that even though this was research, in real life it all manifested differently. The entire YMCA Peru cabinet appeared to be of the "whiter" class. And, these are conversations they are just starting to have in Latin America, so I think it was incredibly overwhelming and confusing to them. Similar to how someone in the US who grew up in a small homogenous community their entire life would react when hearing contradictory information for the first time.