Socioeconomic mobility strategies through racialized practices in cusqueñan society in La voluntad del molle (2006) by Karina Pacheco

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of La voluntad del molle (2006), the first novel by the Cusco-born writer Karina Pacheco. The research hypothesis seeks to demonstrate that racism operates as a strategy for socioeconomic mobility in Cusco society during the second half of the twentieth century, as represented in the novel. The study argues that the novel represents racism as a set of normalized social practices, particularly within upper-middle-class families, embodied in the character of Mamá Gema. These practices are articulated through prejudices related to skin color, lineage, physical features, and Indigenous surnames, which legitimize discriminatory behaviors based on socially constructed racial markers. Methodologically, the study applies the concept of subalternity, as proposed by Ranajit Guha and John Beverley, in order to examine the condition of the subaltern subject, constructed through power dynamics imposed by dominant elites. Moreover, the article demonstrates that “social whitening,” a phenomenon studied by Juan Carlos Callirgos and José Solís, functions as a means of economic and social mobility employed by dominant groups through the enactment of racist prejudices and discriminatory practices. As a result, the study demonstrates that racialized practices operate as transgenerational strategies for the preservation of social status and the maintenance of the unity of the traditional Peruvian family within the fictional narrative presented in the novel.