Decolouring. The Racial Imprints of Upward Mobility in Lima's Dominant Class

A significant body of literature highlights the fluid and adaptable nature of racial categories in Latin America, often invoking the concept of 'whitening' to explain how upwardly mobile individuals reshape their racial or ethnic identities by adopting cultural and social traits associated with class privilege and 'whiteness'. This study builds on these discussions. Drawing on 42 interviews, it examines the racial imprints of class mobility within Lima's dominant class, focussing particularly on 'Mestizos' in the sample. I show that upward mobility has distinct racialised effects for this group, especially when contrasted with the experiences of their 'Afro-Peruvian' counterparts. Whereas for the latter, upward social mobility engenders little change to their racial status, for 'Mestizos', it involves shedding the stigmatised racial label 'Cholo'. Rather than achieving a symbolically higher racial status, for 'Mestizos' mobility prompts a process I term 'decolouring', characterised by distancing from racial stigma and navigating a heightened sense of racial ambiguity.