Places, History and Memories: The Role of Rooting in the Processes of Ethnic Self-Identification in Peru

The main question of this study asks about to what extent people’s identification with an ethno-racial category—in the case of Peru, Quechua, Aymara, Amazonian ethnic group, or Afro-descendant—is conditioned by “living” memory practises that are present in their daily routines and lives and are associated with historical characteristics linked to their places of birth, a process we have called rooting. To discuss it, we have used information from official Peruvian national surveys database and historical administrative data. We find an association between ethnic self-identification and characteristics of people’s districts of birth, such as presence of archaeological monuments, or existence of resettlements existed, or long-time presence of Afro-descendant populations. These results should open new research topics related to how the collective experiences of places of birth are reproduced over time to continue shaping the cultural practices of citizens.