The present essay analyzes how left-wing intellectuals and those related to it employ and deploy the concepts of autochthony, autonomy, and dependence according to current interests, aiming to demonstrate that Peruvian identity is embodied in the prehispanic past, especially in the incaian age. They create an idealized image of the prehispanic period, oversimplyfing Peruvian history. According to this narrative, Peru experienced autonomy prior to the Spain arrival, to later fall into a dependence that persists on the country. Consequently, true independence of the country is demanded, where the primary role is assigned to the indigenous population, to the detriment of the other Peruvian ethnicities.

The Peruvian intellectual Clemente Palma, considered the most important disseminator of scientific racism in Peru, participated in the controversy of April 1909, which revolved around the value of education in the potential transformation of the Peruvian indigenous people. Clemente Palma, after his 1897 thesis was referenced by Pedro Zulen, intervened in the debate denying the indigenous people the capacity for education. On the contrary, he proposed that the mestizo from the coast and the criollo are the only ones capable of being educated. Thus, they would no longer be exploiters and would treat the indigenous people well. The latter should subordinate themselves to the former, given that their intellectual capacities are limited. The controversy evaluates the continuities and changes regarding what he supported in 1897 in his thesis "The Future of Races in Peru".