NegrasandTrigüeñas: blackness and Afro-descendants in women’s emergency centers in Peru

In 2015 the Peruvian Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations added an ethnicity question to their Women’s Emergency Center (CEM) intake forms in order to document the background of women who report violence. This question is reflective of a change in identity politics in Peru and the Latin American region as well as international demands for the recognition of the diversity of the citizens of any given country, and the implementation of policy to help marginalized groups. This paperhighlights the way that Afro-Peruvian women repeatedly demand to be recognized before the state as Black women and Afro-descendants. It also considers how their definitions of African ancestry do not align with those of CEM workers tasked withdeterming and documenting women of African descent, at a time when the national discourse on ethno-racial diversity is shifting but popular beliefs about Blackness remain largely unchanged. This paper is based on dissertation research conducted between 2013 and 2016 in Lima and Callao, Peru.