The co-production of ethnoracial categories: Census-takers as street-level bureaucrats in the 2017 Peruvian census

• Autores: Gonzales Huaman, Meylin, Moraes Silva, Graziella, Sulmont, David
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2021
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:revistaspuc:article/24570
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/debatesensociologia/article/view/24570
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Census-takers; Ethnoracial categories; Mestizos; Peru; Self-identification; Empadronadores; Categorías étnico-raciales; Perú; Autoidentificación

Scholarly work that examines the production of ethnoracial categories has more closely examined the role of nation-states, social movements, and transnational trends. This focus has shifted attention away from the internal institutional processes that influence the production of ethnoracial categories. In particular, the role of the census-takers as key actors in these institutional processes has been underexamined. In this study, we draw from fifty-four semi-structured interviews with census-takers who participated in the 2017 Peruvian National Census to argue that census-takers can be considered street-level bureaucrats because of the influence they exercise in the production of ethnoracial categories. In a context where ethnoracial categories are contested, participants in our study drew from their own understandings of the ethnoracial question which ultimately –albeit inadvertently– influenced the self-identification of household members and, to a greater extent, increased the probability that household members self-identify as mestizo. Although census-takers play a temporary role, they are still important actors who can be considered street-level bureaucrats in the production of ethnoracial categories in contexts where these categories are continuous subjects of debate and contestation.