Capitalism and Culture in Peru’s Neoliberal Process (1990–2013): Notes from an Ayacucho Community

• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Mario R. Cepeda-Caceres
• Date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19864138
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19864138

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 228, Vol. 46 No. 5, September 2019, 174–185

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19864138

© 2019 Latin American Perspectives

174

Capitalism and Culture in Peru’s Neoliberal Process

(1990–2013)

Notes from an Ayacucho Community

by

Mario R. Cepeda-Caceres

Translated by

Victoria J. Furio

Peruvian society underwent a profound transformation following the crisis of the

1980s and the structural reforms implemented in the 1990s. New paradigms were created

in rural areas that connected previous discourses on local identity with market dynamics

through tourism. The campesino community of Lucanas went from successful manage-

ment of the vicuña to an economy that pursued market performance practices by adopting

a neoliberal paradigm. A distinctive way of living with the structural changes, here called

“culturally appropriated capitalism,” produced a new national consciousness—a new

way of seeing and relating to the world, from the economic to the cultural.

Luego de la crisis peruana de la década de 1980 y las reformas estructurales implemen-

tadas en la década de 1990, la sociedad peruana sufrió una transformación profunda. En

el ámbito rural, se crearon nuevos paradigmas que enlazaban antiguos discursos sobre la

identidad local con las dinámicas del mercado a través del turismo. La Comunidad

Campesina de Lucanas pasó de tener éxito en el manejo de la vicuña a una economía que

apuesta por las prácticas performativas del mercado adoptando el paradigma neoliberal.

Una forma particular de vivir las reformas estructurales, aquí llamado “capitalismo acho-

rado”, produjo una nueva conciencia nacional—una nueva manera de ver y relacionarse

con el mundo, desde lo económico hacia lo cultural.

Keywords: Neoliberalism, Peru, Structural reforms, Campesino community, Lucanas

The campesino community of Lucanas, in the Ayacucho region of the

Peruvian Andes, has been working for more than 20 years on a project to bring

back the vicuña (Vicugna mensalis). The Vicuña Project is the largest community

initiative for managing this endangered species. The social organization of

Lucanas has been defined by work with the vicuña, and the community has

unique dynamics that go beyond the economic-productive sphere (Cepeda-

Mario R. Cepeda-Caceres has a Master’s degree in anthropology from the Pontificia Universidad

Católica del Perú. He is a teaching assistant in the university’s Department of Social Sciences and

a member of the Interdisciplinary Group on Memory and Democracy. This text is a synthesis of the

main findings of his research on vicuña management in the Andes. He is grateful for comments on

drafts of the text by Félix Reátegui, a senior researcher at the university’s Democracy and Human

Rights Institute, and by his adviser, María Eugenia Ulfe, a professor in the Department of Social

Sciences. Victoria J. Furio is a translator and conference interpreter located in Yonkers, NY.

864138LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X19864138Latin American PerspectivesCepeda-Caceres / CAPITALISM AND CULTURE IN AYACUCHO

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