Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Scholars' dire predictions about the negative effects of the runoff rule in Latin America are not borne out in this study. While runoff rules are associated with a larger number of political parties, a larger number of parties is not necessarily problematical; if the number is problematical, a smaller number may be achieved through threshold rules for seats in the legislature. In most Latin American elections, there is probably little to gain or lose from either electoral rule; the impact of these rules on party alliances and on outsiders does not appear to be very significant. However, in certain elections, such as the 2006 Peruvian and Mexican elections, where voters were quite equally divided among three or more candidates and one or more of these candidates was at a political extreme, the runoff rule is advantageous. In the cases, the runoff rule helps to achieve the election of a president who is closer to the political center and more legitimate.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Más chola que nunca [More chola than ever]: The new face of Peruvian television

Gabriela Martínez

ABSTRACT
This paper will focus on Peruvian television comedy shows that sprout out beginning in 1998 four years after the arrival of cable TV to the country. The comedy shows I will be discussing here were transplanted from the streets and plazas of Lima (the capital of Peru) onto television, creating an interesting inter-textuality and raising questions of race, culture, gender, and class in Peruvian society. On looking at this transference from the streets to television this paper will answer, first, what is the meaning of "popular culture" in the Peruvian context; and second, what is the social and economic meaning of the inter-textuality between street skits and television comedy shows. The paper will also address how television has become a site for the "popular" to gain a voice while at the same time it perpetuates local hegemonic views of race, gender, class and culture.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The 2006 Peruvian election was another illustration of the weakness of the country's party system. Nevertheless, the comeback of the traditional parties, which had begun in 2001, continued in 2006. In particular, widespread fear of the anti-system candidate, Ollanta Humala, enabled Alan Garcia to reclaim the presidency despite memories of his disastrous first administration. Garcia did a masterful job of staking out the center ground in the runoff, moving somewhat to the left on domestic issues while using polemical exchanges with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to appeal to conservative voters.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Historically, the demand for domestic workers in Chile was met by native born women who migrated to urban centers from the southern rural regions of the country. Today, however, with the growth of female labor participation and educational opportunities in Chile, the number of Chilean women working in the domestic service has declined. One consequence is a demand for foreign labor to fulfill the duties once carried out by Chilean women. Despite their negative attitudes toward Peruvian immigrants, many Chileans now hire Peruvian women to work in their homes. Interestingly, most Peruvian domestic workers have higher levels of education than their Chilean counterparts and have no previous experience as domésticas. Although migrant domestic workers do experience economic gains in Chile, they also face a decline in their social status. Enduring long hours and harsh conditions, many Peruvian women express a desire to leave their jobs as domestic workers. This paper reveals the findings of a follow up study that was conducted in Santiago, Chile in 2006, which examined the conditions that motivated and allowed a group of Peruvian domestic workers to complete course work in the Chilean Red Cross as a means of achieving future labor mobility. For this paper, interviews were conducted with the same domestic workers to evaluate their labor perspectives a year after having completed the Red Cross course. Although small changes have taken place in their careers, most participants of the study reported having same labor conditions upon course work completion. However, unlike in other countries, in Chile foreign domestic workers are able to use their work contracts to legalize their immigration status and gain access to health care, social security benefits and citizenship rights.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines a consequence of Japanese negative stereotypes of Peruvians and other Latino migrants in Japan. Focusing on a group of Peruvian migrants residing in a public housing complex in central Japan, I examine how these migrants attempt to deflect their stigmatized identity by engaging in a process I call “ethnic othering.” This approach distances them from other migrants from Peru and South America by denigrating the latter as “bad foreigners” who fail to follow Japanese housing rules. These efforts also create the implied category of “good foreigners” for those foreigners who follow local rules. Based on participant observation and 29 intensive interviews, I describe how this practice both resists and complies with the Japanese racial and ethnic order. I also note how the absence of the term Nikkei in Peruvians’ identity work may reflect a weakening of the significance of that identity.

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