Co-producing ethnoracial categories: census-takers in the 2017 Peruvian National Census

ABSTRACT

The growing literature that analyzes the production of ethnoracial categories has focused primarily on the role of nation-states, social movements, and transnational trends. The internal institutional debates that influence these processes have received limited attention, and the role of census-takers in particular remains largely unexplored. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 54 census-takers in the 2017 Peruvian National Census, this paper argues that census-takers are influential actors in the production of ethnoracial categories and can be considered street-level bureaucrats. In our study, census-takers’ interpretations of the ethnoracial question and categories emphasized dimensions of race and ethnicity that increased the likelihood of residents to identify as mestizos. These findings suggest that, despite their temporary role, census-takers are important actors in the production of ethnoracial categories in societies where these are contested.

KEYWORDS:

• Census-takers
• ethnoracial categories
• mestizos
• Peru
• self-identification

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We could only find one study analyzing interviews with enumerators collecting ethnicity statistics: ‘Constructing ethnicity statistics in talk-in-interaction: Producing the “White European”’ by Sue Wilkinson (2011).

2. Censuses of 1940 and 1961 also included external classification by census-takers. In addition, small-scale surveys in the early 2000s asked individuals to self–identify based on ancestry and customs, but they were not designed to produce representative ethnoracial data.

3. The ENAHO is the most important social survey in Peru. It samples approximately 37,000 households annually.

4. The working group (Comité Técnico Interinstitucional sobre Estadísticas de Etnicidad 2013-2016) published a report that narrates the different activities that led to the final framing of the ethnoracial question. The report is available in Spanish at: https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/publicaciones_digitales/Est/Lib1460/libro.pdf.

5. The census question in original Spanish was, ‘Por sus costumbres y sus antepasados, ¿usted se siente o considera: (1) Quechua; (2) Aimara; (3) Nativo o indígena de la amazonía (especifique); (4) Perteneciente o parte de otro pueblo indígena u originario (especifique); (5) Negro, moreno, zambo, mulato/pueblo afroperuano o afrodescendiente; (6) Blanco; (7) Mestizo; (8) Otro (especifique).’

6. Promotional material for this campaign is available at: https://centroderecursos.cultura.pe/sites/default/files/rb/pdf/guia-de-preguntas-y-respuestas-censo.pdf.

7. Six interviews were not recorded and the notes for them did not capture whether the ethnoracial question came up spontaneously or not. Therefore, the total in this case adds to 48.

8. See in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the 2017 Peru National Census website, ‘V. Del Empadronador/a’ (V. census-takers) at http://censo2017.inei.gob.pe/preguntas-frecuentes/#1503351937700-60fa0d6e-e54c.

9. Household members were interviewed and recorded in the geographical area where they spent the night before the census, regardless of whether they typically resided there or not. Census-takers in rural areas were given from one to two weeks to collect the data.

10. Participants’ names are fictional.

11. Microdata and technical documentation from INEI’s surveys, among them the ENAHO, can be accessed here: http://iinei.inei.gob.pe/microdatos/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Meylin Gonzales Huaman

Meylin Gonzales Huaman is a doctoral student in Sociology at Harvard University. Her research interests are social inequality, immigration and ethnoracial identity in Latin America, as well as how these social phenomena interact with political regimes in the region.

Graziella Moraes Silva

Graziella Moraes Silva is an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. She is one of the authors of Getting Respect: Dealing with Stigmatization and Discrimination in the United States, Brazil and Israel (Princeton University Press 2016) and Pigmentocracies: Ethnicity, Race, and Color in Latin America (University of North Carolina Press 2014).

David Sulmont

David Sulmont is a Full Professor at the Social Sciences Department of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). His research interests are political sociology and ethnic and racial studies in Latin America. He was a researcher in the Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America (PERLA), and a member of the Technical Committee on Ethnic Statistics for the Peruvian National Statistical Institute (2013-2019). He is currently the Head of the Social Science Department at PUCP.