Whiteness, Coloniality and Distributive Justice in Claudia Llosa’s La teta asustada (2009)

Abstract: First released in 2009, Peruvian filmmaker Claudia Llosa’s La teta asustada has received “mixed” critical attention. While some accuse Llosa of exotifying Indigenous peoples and traditions, others suggest that the film succeeds in representing the traumatic memory of victims of Peru’s Internal Armed Conflict (~1980–2000). Without necessarily disputing either interpretation, this article explores the filmmaker’s apparent grappling with questions of coloniality, whiteness, and complicity, particularly among Lima’s white elite. Analyzing the tense relationship between the film’s Indigenous protagonist and her white employer, the essay proposes that La teta asustada offers an important critique of Lima’s persistent coloniality, particularly as it relates to limeño responses to rural-to-urban migration and the nation’s recent civil war. Moreover, it suggests that Llosa’s critique of “White Lima” represents an exploration of her own privilege and complicity, as well as a possible reckoning with the problematic Conflict-era musings of her uncle, Mario Vargas Llosa