Families, Kinship, and Marriage

Who they consider family

In Peru no matter what their status is, they show a high degree of unity, purpose, and integration through generations and as well as in the nuclear unit.The average size for families per household is 5 people. The roles of the different family members and sexes follow  uniform patterns within social class and cultural configurations. The fathers are the head of the household, his wife follows him in this respect, but also exercises a reasonable amount of control over her own such as respect to property and marketing. families walk in a single-file to market, each carrying their bundles. The father leads the way then followed by the wife then their children.

Kinship 

They practice patrilineages which means the wives belong to their father’s lineage and their children to their father’s side of the family tree. The mothers kin is part of the extended family. They also practice god-parenthood taking on from the catholic religion they have ceremonies when the god parent is chosen. The people involved include the child in the ceremony, the parents, and the godparents who are the protectors over the child. The primary relationship in this triad is between the godchild and the godparents. The secondary bond is between the parents and godparents who after the ceremony will forever mutually call each other compadre or comadre.

Descent Groups

Most of the groups in Peru are of Spanish descent. There are Peruvians who are also of European descent. The Peruvians that are of European descent are called “Mestizo”. In Peru, there are also Peruvians of Japanese descent. The European and Japanese descent groups exist because of the Spanish conquests that occurred in the 16th century.

Marriage

Peruvians follow the historical pattern of marriage, where women become a part of their husband’s family. They define marriage as not only a ceremony, but the stepping stone to start a family. Peruvians cherish the idea of having a family and culturally the religious ceremonies matter to them the most compared to the fact that the government sees their marriage ceremony as a documentation. Marriage is also a way for the women to play their assumed role in the house, which is care taking and the man to be the financial support. Some groups, including the Incas, practice endogamy. One generation ago in a village, fifty percent of the families practiced endogamy and that is relative to the residential unit. Presently, most of the Peruvians are now marrying outside of their descent group and are practicing Exogamy. This is the case because urbanization has influenced Peru into changing their culture. The Divorce rates in Peru are as shown below.

As you can see, Peru has a 1.4% divorce rate which is really low. It is reported that most of the divorces are causes of bad pairing or unstable family problems. Again, some areas within Peru approve same-sex marriages and relationships culturally. On the other end of the spectrum, some areas in Peru even go as far as killing any LGBTQ person. Unions in Peru have formed to rally against those people who disapprove of their sexuality. In Peru, they do not practice polygamy. Marriage is considered as a link between a man and women. Culturally and religiously, it is wrong in Peru to marry and have more than one spouse.

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Works Cited

“Peru – FAMILY LIFE.” Peru – FAMILY LIFE. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

https://books.google.com/books?id=DwgwGs__4c4C&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=peru+exogamy+or+endogamy&source=bl&ots=O5gye5uHzW&sig=AZ5_WkRxgAumacSrgAKFoZ8EvQU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_tvnBlJjQAhUK5SYKHcZGBeUQ6AEIHTAA#v=snippet&q=incas&f=false

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1960.62.3.02a00040/pdf

http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata308.htm

 

Political Systems

Political System and Leader

The head of state is vested in the President of Peru, who is elected to a term of five years; incumbents can not be re-elected for a second consecutive term. Family members may also not immediately succeed another family member’s presidency.The executive branch, in addition to the legislative branch, may propose legislation. After legislation is passed by the congress, the President may promulgate the legislation, giving it the force of law.
In addition to the president, the executive branch contains the Council of Ministers, which, in addition to the Prime Minister, are appointed by the president. Peru is ultimately a democratic republic. The current president of the republic is Pedro Pablo Kuczynski; He was newly elected this year on July 28th 2016 succeeding Ollanta Humala who had been in presidency since 2011. Along with the New president, Fernando Zavala was appointed as his new Prime minister succeeding Pedro Cateriano.

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Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (President Elect)

Fernando Zavala Lombardi (Prime Minister)

 

State Systems 

Peru currently is a democratic republic, therefore, their government and state are separated but each state has their own legislative laws. “Its government is structured following the principle of the separation of three autonomous and independent powers: the Executive, whose maximum representative is the President of the Republic; the legislative power; and the Judicial power” (Peru.travel).Peru’s states are distinguished as provinces. The president of the Republic and the 130 members of the congress are elected every five years.

Social Control

Hegemony definitely takes place in Peru as the government and political leaders are accepted as being the higher ups. Peru has their states divided into many provinces in order to maintain control. It is just easier that way and it becomes harder for the provinces to gather or assemble. Another tactic the Peruvian government used to control society was fear. The “Peruvian regime was an agent of fear itself, deploying state power to silence and intimidate opponents” (Burt).

Peru has faced the serious challenge of one of the most ruthless guerrilla groups on the continent, popularly known as the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). Since erupting in the early 1980s, the armed struggle between the Shining Path and the Peruvian state has cost over thirty thousand lives and has helped to justify the increasing police and military repression. This has meant a greater military presence in the cities and a significant increase in the incarceration of both males and females.

Works Cited

Portal, International. “About Peru.” Peruvian Government. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

News, BBC. “Peru Profile – Leaders.” BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

http://www.peru.travel/about-peru/peruvian-identity/government.aspx , About Peru. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.

“Political violence and the Authoritarian State in Peru: Silencing Civil Society”

http://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Peru.html#ixzz4Si0bC09Z

Ethnicity and Race

Cultural Background

Peru is best known as the home of the Inca, but long before the Incas arrived there were many diverse cultures who settled there. Evidence has shown that once upon a time there was human habitation in Peru. Though, Not until 2500 BC was when researchers found organized village life. This was the time when climatic changes in the coastal regions arrived, moving toward the new fertile interior river valleys. Peru developed into a number of organized cultures such as, the Chavin and Sechin. Chavin are known for their stylized religious iconography. They used depictions of various animals to express their religion specifically the Jaguar. The Sechin are more about their military hegemony, rather than their cultural achievement. Peru’s population is about 23 million and is divided between the highlands, the population of the centres of the coast. This division provides a sharp cultural as well as a geographic divide. Most inland regions live in poverty while those who lived in fertile river valleys on the lower land tended to be wealthier.

“Peru – History & Culture.” Peru – History & Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2016.

Racial issues

Indigenous and mixed race communities in Peru have faced discrimination since the independence of Peru. These communities are socially and economically secluded and result in them to typically live in poverty. It is hard for these communities, especially the indigenous people of Peru to obtain a status as they are ascribed a status already as “savages” or “people who do not belong in Peru” because they don’t act Peruvian or were live in a civilized area. “Under authoritarian government, indigenous and peasant communities  became the targets of population control that resulted in 300,000 women being forcibly sterilized”. Since these communities are discriminated and stereotyped, the Peruvian government’s solution is to just stop their reproduction and i believe it is unfair for any ethnic group to be hated for the way they live or even not being pure Spanish.

“Peru Society and Conflict: Discrimination and Inequality” “Discrimination and Inequality”. Peru Support Group.  Web. 03 Oct. 2016.

“Amazonwatch.org”. Web. 03 Oct. 2016.

Genocide/Ethnocide

Genocide and ethnocide is a controversial and occurring issue in Peru. In the 1980’s members of the Nahua tribe in Peru came into contact with the company “Shell” who were in the works of searching for oil and gas. Contamination of these workers resulted in tribe members catching illnesses and diseases. Following the expansion of foreign workers entering the lands of the Nahua, there have been up to five gas leaks which affected the land and waterways killing more of the tribe members. Reportedly in 2014, Peru has approved of a project to allow  oil workers to enter the lands near the Nahua tribe to search and drill for oil. This project is known as “Camisea Gas Project” and fortunately was halted by the United Nations and other international human rights organizations. It is quite heartbreaking that the Peruvian government would allow this project to be done without the consent of the tribe on their own reserve. This project resulted in the death of “nearly half of the Nahua tribe” due to the oil leaks and contamination. In 2003, a supreme decree was placed to protect the Nahua-Nanti tribes and the reservation by the Inter-American Development Bank.

“Peru Approves Genocide for Uncontacted Tribes” Earthfirstjournal. Web. 03 Oct. 2016.

“Camisea Gas Project” Survivalinternational. Web. 03 Oct. 2016.

Plural Society and Multiculturalism

“Multiculturalism is the view of cultural diversity as valuable and worth maintaining”. All of the unethical killing of Peruvian tribes lead to a spark of outrage from Peruvian citizens and even international groups who believe that everyone is equal. Just because the tribes in Peru are culturally different, does not mean they don’t have rights. Protests in Peru were held to stop the expansion of foreign contamination of the lands of indigenous people and many supporters sent a message to Peru’s President Humala demanding to end the project. Another form of multiculturalism being practiced in Peru would be the 1993 constitution of Peru which was created by the Peruvian government during Alberto Fujimori’s time in the office. This constitution states that “The defense of the human person and respect for his dignity are the supreme purpose of the society and the state”. In article 2, the constitution gives rights and condemns discrimination on the basis of origin, race, sex, language, religion, opinion, economic status, or any other distinguishing feature.

“Political Constitution of Peru. Congreso. Web. 03 Oct 2016.