A Tale of Two Crises in Peru: Livelihoods and Social Reproduction During the 1980s and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Susan Vincent; Patrick Clark; Aparicio  Chanca Flores

doi:10.18357/anthropologica6412022374

Authors

Susan Vincent St. Francis Xavier University
Patrick Clark York University
Aparicio Chanca Flores National University of Central Peru

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18357/anthropologica6412022374

Keywords:

Financialization, monetization, reciprocity, reproductive work, crisis, livelihood strategies, COVID-19 pandemic, Peru, gender

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the livelihoods of
people around the world. Structural economic constraints are highlighted
at such moments of crisis, while those most affected have recourse to their
repertoire of managing strategies. This case study of people from Allpachico,
a Peruvian peasant community, compares their responses to the current crisis
with their responses to one in the 1980s, showcasing similarities in strategies
(especially reciprocity and the sale or exchange of necessary reproductive tasks
and products) and differences in the form they take. In the 1980s, women’s work
and kin reciprocity helped people access use-values. By 2020, neoliberalism
had transformed the national economy and Allpachiqueño migrants
overwhelmingly had precarious informal and contract work. Reciprocity and
reproductive tasks are still central to livelihood, but now tend to be monetized
rather than involving use-values. As that earlier crisis shattered both secure
employment and peasant farming to lay the basis for neoliberalism, so now it
appears that the COVID-19 pandemic, through the monetization of government
support and reciprocity alike, is accelerating financialization in the form of
financial services and debt.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

AFP Noticias. 2021. “La Gente no Tiene Qué Comer”: Ollas Comunes Florecen en la Cuarentena en Perú.” [The People Don’t Have Anything to Eat: Community Soup Kitchens Flourish in Peru During the Pandemic]. AFP Perú, 4 February 2021, https://gestion.pe/peru/la-gente-no-tiene-que-comer-ollas-comunes-florecen-en-la-cuarentena-en-peru-noticia/ (accessed 5 March 2021).

Alarcón Soto, Verónica Cristina, Ariel Marlon Arroyo Laurente, Karolin Viviana, Missael Bautista Quintana Cahuana Arroyo, Terry Samyr Camargo Mancco, Daniel Huaroc Taípe, Betzy Mildree Menéndez Quintana, Juan Ernesto Messa Rojas, Elian Katia Molina Zenteno, Jhery Edely Orosco Rodríguez, Ayme Yadira Pecho Suarez, Elver Aldair Pérez Maravi, Jhomira Mayli Poma Barreto. 2021. Los Roles de Género en los Procesos de Reactivación Económica en las Ciudades de Lima, Huancayo, Jauja, La Oroya, Pampas y Chupaca. [Gender Roles in the Process of Economic Reactivation in the Cities of Lima, Huancayo, Jauja, La Oroya, Pampas And Chupaca]. Student Fieldwork Report, Anthropology Program, UNCP- Huancayo. Huancayo: Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú (UNCP).

Alberti, Giorgio and Enrique Mayer, eds. 1974. Reciprocidad e Intercambio en los Andes Peruanos [Reciprocity and Exchange in the Peruvian Andes]. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

Allen, Catherine J. 1988. The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Álvarez Cisneros, David. 2013. Obstacles and Opportunities to Financial Inclusion in Peru. Center for Financial Inclusion, Publication 21. Washington: Center for Financial Inclusion, https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/research (accessed 28 April 2021).

Anonymous. 2021. “Cheques and Balances.” The Economist 438: 70–71.

Balbi, Carmen Rosa. 1997. “Politics and Trade Unions in Peru.” In The Peruvian Labyrinth: Polity, Society, Economy, edited by Maxwell A. Cameron and Philip Mauceri, 134–151. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Botoeva, Gulzat. 2015. “The Monetization of Social Celebrations in Rural Kyrgyzstan: On the Uses of Hashish Money.” Central Asian Survey 34 (4): 531–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2015.1092742. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2015.1092742

Burneo, María Luisa and Abdul Trelles. 2020. Migración de Retorno en el Alto Piura en el Contexto de la Pandemia por la COVID-19. [Return Migration in the Highlands of Piura in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic]. Piura: CIPCA.

Cameron, Maxwell. 1997. “Political and Economic Origins of Regime Change in Peru: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Alberto Fujimori.” In The Peruvian Labyrinth: Polity, Society, Economy, edited by Maxwell A. Cameron and Philip Mauceri, 37–69.University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Chacaltana, Juan. 2020. Rapid Response to COVID-19 under High Informality? The Case of Peru. ILO Note Series. Geneva: International Labour Organization (ILO). https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_746116.pdf. (accessed 7 April 2021).

Cuadros, Fernando. 2020a. “COVID-19 Dejaría Cerca de 3 Millones de Peruanos en la Pobreza.” [COVID-19 Will Leave Close to 3 Million Peruvians Living in Poverty]. La Republica, 10 August. https://larepublica.pe/economia/2020/08/10/coronavirus-en-peru-covid-19-dejaria-cerca-de-3-millones-de-peruanos-en-la-pobreza/(accessed 13 March 2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2021.019.02.03

——. 2020b. “La Desventura de Subsistir con S/ 5 Diarios Durante 10 Meses de Pandemia” [The Misfortune of Subsisting on 5 Soles a Day During 10 Months of the Pandemic]. La República, 7 December. https://larepublica.pe/economia/2020/12/07/la-desventura-de-subsistir-con-s-7-diarios-durante-10-meses-de-pandemia/ (accessed 8 December 2020).

Deutsche Welle. 2020. “La Pandemia en los Campos de América Latina: Olvido, Pobreza y Pérdidas.” [The Pandemic in the Countryside of Latin America: Oversight, Poverty and Loss]. 29 May. https://www.dw.com/es/la-pandemia-en-los-campos-de-américa-latina-olvido-pobreza-y-pérdidas/a-53608369.

Edholm, Felicity, Olivia Harris, and Kate Young. 1978. “Conceptualising Women.” Critique of Anthropology 3 (9–10): 101–130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X7800300905

Federici, Silvia. 2014. “From Commoning to Debt: Financialization, Microcredit, and the Changing Architecture of Capital Accumulation.” South Atlantic Quarterly 113 (2): 231–244. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-2643585. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-2643585

Frisancho, Verónica, Pablo Lavado, César Liendo y José Carlos Saavedra. 2020. La Formalización del Empleo, la Protección de Las Familias y la Construcción de una Sociedad Más Igualitaria. [The Formalization of Employment, Social Protection of Families and the Construction of a More Egalitarian Society]. Documento para Discusión Número 805, Departamento de Investigación, Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) [Discussion Paper Number 805, Department of Research, The Inter-American Development Bank]. Washington: Inter-American Development Bank. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18235/0002771

Gago, Verónica. 2017. Neoliberalism from Below: Popular Pragmatics and Baroque Economies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1134frn

Gastelumendi, René. 2020. “Como duele la migración inversa.” [The Pain of Reverse Migration]. La República, 23 April. https://larepublica.pe/opinion/2020/04/23/coronavirus-en-peru-como-duele-la-migracion-inversa-por-rene-gastelumendi/. (accessed 24 April 2020).

Hansen, Karen Tranberg, Walter E. Little and B. Lynne Milgram, eds. 2013. Street Economies in the Urban Global South. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School for Advanced Research Press.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Informática (INEI) [National Institute of Statistics and Information]. 2015. 3.21Población Total al 30 de Junio de Cada Año, Según Sexo y Grupo de Edad, 2005–2015. [3.21 Total Population on 30 June of Each Year, by Sex and Age Group, 2005–2015]. http://www.inei.gob.pe/estadisticas/indice-tematico/poblacion-y-vivienda/ (accessed 12 May 2015).

——. 2020. Perú: Estimación de la Vulnerabilidad Económica a la Pobreza Monetaria.[Estimate of Economic Vulnerability to Monetary Poverty]. Technical Briefing, December, 2020. Lima: INEI. https://www.inei.gob.pe/media/MenuRecursivo/boletines/estimacion-de-la-vulnerabilidad-economica-a-la-pobreza-monetaria.pdf(accessed 13 May 2015).

James, Deborah. 2021. “Life and Debt: A View from the South.” Economy and Society 50 (1): 36–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2021.1841930. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2021.1841930

Jessop, Bob. 2015. “Hard Cash, Easy Credit, Fictitious Capital: Critical Reflections on Money as a Fetishised Social Relation.” Finance and Society 1 (1): 20–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2218/finsoc.v1i1.1369. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2218/finsoc.v1i1.1369

Karim, Lamia. 2008. “Demystifying Micro-Credit: The Grameen Bank, NGOs, and Neoliberalism in Bangladesh.” Cultural Dynamics20 (1): 5–29. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0921374007088053. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0921374007088053

La República. 2020a. “Ayacuchanos Envían sus Cosechas a Lima para Ayudar a sus Paisanos.” [Ayacuchans Send their Harvests to Lima to Help Ayacuchan Migrants]. La República, 23 April. https://larepublica.pe/sociedad/2020/04/23/ayacuchanos-envian-sus-cosechas-a-lima-para-ayudar-a-sus-paisanos-lrsd/ (accessed 7 April 2021).

—— 2020b. “Pareja de Ancianos Vende Hamburguesas para Ganarse la Vida en Medio de la Pandemia.” [An Elderly Couple Sells Hamburgers to get by in the Middle of the Pandemic]. La República, 16 July. https://larepublica.pe/sociedad/2020/07/15/noticias-positivas-pareja-de-ancianos-dan-ejemplo-vendiendo-hamburguesas-en-smp-respetando-protocolos-de-bioseguridad-coronavirus-en-peru (accessed 16 July 2020).

Long, Norman and Bryan Roberts. 1984. Miners, Peasants and Entrepreneurs: Regional Development in the Central Highlands of Peru. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511735448

Lust, Jan. 2019. “The Rise of a Capitalist Subsistence Economy in Peru.” Third World Quarterly 40 (4): 780–795. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1529540. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2018.1529540

——. 2021. “A Class Analysis of the Expansion of COVID-19 in Peru: The Case of Metropolitan Lima.” Critical Sociology. Early view online. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0896920521991612.

Mauss, Marcel. [1954] 2016. The Gift. Chicago: Hau Books.

Mayer, Enrique. 2002. The Articulated Peasant: Household Economies in the Andes. Boulder: Westview.

Mendoza, Waldo. 2013. “Milagro Peruano: ¿Buena Suerte o Buenas Políticas?” [The Peruvian Miracle: Good Luck or Good Policy?]. Economía 36 (72): 35–90. http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/economia/article/view/7699.

Murra, John. 1972. “El ‘Control Vertical’ de un Máximo de Pisos Ecológicos en la Economía de las Sociedades Andinas.” [‘Vertical Control’ of a Maximum Number of Ecological Zones in the Economy of Andean Societies]. In John Murra, ed. Visita de la Provincia de León de Huánuco en 1562, Vol 2, 427–476 [Visit of León de Huánuco Province in 1562, Vol. 2].Huánuco, Peru: Hermilio Valdizán National University Press.

Overå, Ragnhild. 2007. “When Men do Women’s Work: Structural Adjustment, Unemployment and Changing Gender Relations in the Informal Economy of Accra, Ghana.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 45 (4): 539–563. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X0700287X. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X0700287X

Palomera, Jaime. 2014. “Reciprocity, Commodification, and Poverty in the Era of Financialization.” Current Anthropology 55 (9): S105-S115. https://doi.org/10.1086/676420. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/676420

Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, Maria. 2005. “Redes Económicas del Estado Inca: El ‘Ruego’ y la ‘Dádiva.’” [Economic Networks in the Inca State: The Plea and the Gift]. In El Estado está de Vuelta: Desigualdad, Diversidad y Democracia [The State is Back: Inequality, Diversity, and Democracy], edited by Victor Vich, 15-47. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

RPP Noticias. 2020. “Huancayo: Comercio Ambulatorio se Incrementa en 60% Durante el Estado de Emergencia.” [Huancayo: Street Vending has Increased by 60% During the State of Emergency]. RPP Noticias, 3 July. https://rpp.pe/peru/junin/huancayo-comercio-ambulatorio-se-incrementa-en-60-durante-el-estado-de-emergencia-noticia-1277684(accessed 13 May 2021).

Sahlins, Marshall. 2017. Stone Age Economics. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge Classics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315184951

Smith, Gavin. 2018. “Rethinking Social Reproduction in an Era of the Dominance of Finance Capital.” In Western Capitalism in Transition: Global Processes, Local Challenges, edited by Alberta Andreotti, David Benassi and Yuri Kazepov, 61-76. Manchester: Manchester University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526122407.00013

Soederberg, Susanne. 2014. Debtfare States and the Poverty Industry: Money, Discipline and the Surplus Population. New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315761954

Stack, Karen. 1974. All Our Kin. New York: Harper and Row.

Stensrud, Astrid B. 2017. “Precarious Entrepreneurship: Mobile Phones, Work and Kinship in Neoliberal Peru.” Social Anthropology 25 (2): 159–173. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12395. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12395

Trivelli, Carolina. 2020. “Un Nuevo (y Urgente) Esfuerzo en Pos-pandemia de la Inclusión Financiera” [A New (and Urgent) Effort in Post-Pandemic for Financial Inclusión]. In Crónica del Gran Encierro: Pensando el Perú en Tiempos de Pandemia [Chronicle of the Great Lockdown: Thinking Peru in Pandemic Times], edited by Raúl Asensio,106–110. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP).

Vázquez-Rowe, Ian, and Andrea Gandolfi. 2020. “Peruvian Efforts to Contain COVID-19 Fail to Protect Vulnerable Population Groups.” Public Health in Practice 1 (100020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2020.100020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2020.100020

Vega Solís, Cristina. 2019. “Reproducción Social y Cuidados en la Reinvención de lo Común. Aportes Conceptuales y Analíticos desde los Feminismos” [Social Reproduction and Care in the Reinvention of the Commons: Conceptual and Analytical Contributions from Feminisms]. Revista de Estudios Sociales 70: 49–63. https://doi.org/10.7440/res70.2019.05. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7440/res70.2019.05

Vigh, Henrik. 2008. “Crisis and Chronicity: Anthropological Perspectives on Continuous Conflict and Decline.” Ethnos 73 (1): 5–24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00141840801927509

Villarreal, Magdalena. 2014. “Regimes of Value in Mexican Household Financial Practices.” Current Anthropology 55 (S9): S30–S39. https://doi.org/10.1086/676665. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/676665

Vincent, Susan. 1998. “Gender Ideologies and the Informal Economy: Reproduction and the ‘Grapes of Wrath’ Effect.” Latin American Perspectives 25 (2):120–139. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X9802500207

——. 2014 “Why Beautify the Plaza? Reproducing Community in Decentralized Neoliberal Peru.” Journal of Agrarian Change. 14 (4): 522–540. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12048. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12048

——. 2018a. “Pensions, Peasants, and the Informal Economy:Family and Livelihood in Contemporary Peru.” Latin American Perspectives 45 (1): 195–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X17726084. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X17726084

——. 2018b. “The Rise and Irrelevance of the State: Political Views from a Peasant Community of the 2016 Peruvian Presidential Election.” PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 41 (2): 247–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/plar.12267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/plar.12267

Weiner, Annette. B. 1980. “Reproduction: A Replacement for Reciprocity.” American Ethnologist 7 (1): 71–85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1980.7.1.02a00050

Wilhoit, Mary Elena. 2017. “’Un Favorzote”: Gender and Reciprocity in the Andes.” The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 22 (3): 438–458. doi is: https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12288. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12288

World Bank. 2021. Peru- Country Data. https://data.worldbank.org/country/peru (accessed 13 May 2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513574806.002

World Health Organization (WHO). 2021. WHO Coronavirus Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/table (accessed 13 May 2021).