Gastropolitics and the Specter of Race: Stories of Capital, Culture, and Coloniality in Peru

María Elena García. 2021. Gastropolitics and the Specter of Race: Stories of Capital, Culture, and Coloniality in Peru. Berkeley: University of California Press. *Winner of Flora Tristán Prize for Best Book 2022, Peru Section, Latin American Studies Association. 

https://www.ucpress.edu/books/gastropolitics-and-the-specter-of-race/paper

In recent years, Peru has transformed from a war-torn country to a global high-end culinary destination. Connecting chefs, state agencies, global capital, and Indigenous producers, this “gastronomic revolution” makes powerful claims: food unites Peruvians, dissolves racial antagonisms, and fuels development. Gastropolitics and the Specter of Race critically evaluates these claims and tracks the emergence of Peruvian gastropolitics, a biopolitical and aesthetic set of practices that reinscribe dominant racial and gendered orders. Through critical readings of high-end menus and ethnographic analysis of culinary festivals, guinea pig production, and national-branding campaigns, this work explores the intersections of race, species, and capital to reveal links between gastronomy and violence in Peru.

Status of Research
Completed/published
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