12 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 5 
are Mestizos and Whites.’ Cultural criteria, how- 
ever, were not employed in any systematic way 
in the original compilation of these data; had they 
been, the writer believes, a higher balance prob- 
ably would have resulted in favor of the Mestizo 
segment, particularly in Junin Department. For 
after more than four centuries of race mixture and 
interbreeding between Whites and Indians, the 
distinction in every case of the full-blooded Indian 
as opposed to the Mestizo on purely biological 
grounds would tax the abilities of a highly trained 
physical anthropologist. The identification of the 
Indian, then, is one of the most perplexing prob- 
lems in the whole Indian-Mestizo question. The 
crux of this matter has been stated capably by 
Steward: ‘When Indians have adopted the Span- 
ish language, European clothing, and other na- 
tional traits, so that they are no longer conspicu- 
ously different from other people, they are classed 
as mestizos, though racially they may be pure 
Indian” (Steward, 1945, p. 283). The question, 
however, is an academic one in any event, since 
prejudice based on purely racial grounds seems of 
as little importance in Highland Peru as it is in 
Mexico (Gémio, 1945, p. 409).° As in Brazil, in 
the Highlands of Peru, antogonisms are directed 
at cultural rather than racial differences. In 
Chucuito an apparently full-blooded Aymara 
Indian was generally considered a Mestizo be- 
cause he had learned ‘city ways” in Arequipa 
and had later married a Mestiza; his full sisters, 
however, were classed as Indians. A member of 
the upper class in Sicaya, when asked to list the 
Indian residents of the town, invariably selects 
those with Quechua surnames; “Of course they 
8 Extracto Estadistico del Pert, 1940, p.1x, table5. This census (pp. XLV- 
XLV, table 24) gives the proportions of Indians and Mestizos (including 
Whites) in the Departments visited during the survey as follows: 
Huancavelica Department: Number Percent 
SATAN SS sha 8 = en eee 5 Serincacnnsene 192, 441 78. 68 
Mestizos___- 51, 673 21.18 
Avacucho Department: 
Une: (ER ee 272, 605 75. 94 
INES Aa eo oe ee 85, 572 23, 84 
Junin Department: 
ONO LATS eee pe ee ea eeeeeaRece 208, 179 61.5 
IVE OS tis. OSt eateries ace 2 soos S 4 oo 128, 294 37.9 
Pasco Department: 
Dae | CNT [Seepage Se ep ee 52, 796 58. 43 
IMVGS1IZ OS: aot fee a8 ae coca ces a2ed 37, 419 41, 41 
At the time when the 1940 census was made, Pasco Department was the 
Province of Pasco in Junin Department. 
® On the Coast of Peru, which has special race problems not encountered 
in the Highlands, race prejudices tend to assume more importance. 
10 Pierson states of Brazil: ‘‘There are no castes based on race; there are 
only classes. This does not mean that there is nothing which might be 
properly called prejudice but that such prejudice as does exist is class rather 
than caste prejudice’’ (Pierson, 1942, p. 331). 
are Indians,’”’ he says, “they have Indian names.” 
In southern Peru the members of the aristocracy 
frequently berate the Indians for chewing coca, 
for speaking no Spanish, or for going about bare- 
foot, but rarely is the Indian condemned on purely 
racial grounds. Hence, as the Mexicans have 
discovered and have utilized to their advantage 
in obtaining census materials, race as such is of 
little use in the identification of social groups; for 
these reasons—and because of the difficulty in 
handling them—the racial criteria were not 
employed in the present survey. 
Nor are linguistic criteria of primary importance 
in delimiting the segments of the population of 
Highland Peru according to class lines. The 1940 
Peruvian census states that of a total of some 
5,200,000 individuals over 5 years of age within 
the Republic, approximately 1,810,000 speak only 
native languages (Quechua or Aymara), some 
864,000 are bilingual (i. e., speak a native language 
and Spanish), while about 2,440,000 inhabitants 
speak Spanish only." It is clear, then, that the 
number of inhabitants speaking Quechua or Ay- 
mara, including bilingual persons, is about equal 
to that of the Spanish-speaking inhabitants. 
Those who speak only Spanish are in general con- 
centrated mainly along the Coast. 
Yet a closer inspection of the linguistic situa- 
tion in Peru reveals that the figures quoted above 
are not to be taken at their face value; unless 
additional nonlinguistic factors are taken into 
consideration, any interpretations based on the 
above-mentioned statistics must of necessity be 
11 Estado de la Instruccién ... , 1942, These data were adapted from 
the table facing page 24. In addition, it is stated in this work that in the 
Departments included in the present survey, the following numbers of in- 
dividuals speak Quechua or Spanish only, or are bilingual: 
Huancavelica: Number — Percent 
Spanish.onlye. 2022-5 ao eee nee eee eee 2, 541 1, 25 
Quechts only =i 25 -2oo so ee ee 160, 153 78. 84 
Bilingual < 325. aucsten. Seon Seek eee eee eeee 40, 434 19, 91 
Total 22<-2netacdeenteavhos. Seer ea eeeeeeee 203, 128 poe 
Ayacucho: 
Spanish only 22 38-2 eet ee 2, 880 . 96 
Quechua only. 26-25 see nee eee 246, 947 82. 38 
(Dilingiial..24. Ses eee ee Senn 49, 942 16. 66 
Wotdl os. 22250522225 eee eee 2995769"  ieeea. 
——— == 
Junin: 
Spanish only. o2.ce-5 sasonns se eee eee 79, 560 21.98 
Quechua only __ --- 112,397 31. 06 
Bilingual. <2. 2 2.2 satve =. eben sew ane eeeeeeees 169, 921 46. 96 
Totale 223s oo csc keen eee eee ene 361,878) .-22c2 
The figures for Junin Department include the present Department of Pasco. 
It will be noted that the Aymara language is not spoken in the region under 
consideration. 
