Covid-19 and racism in Peru

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August 22
In the article Covid-19, the Chinese diaspora, and the enduring legacy of racism in Peru, José Ragas, Assistant professor at Instituto de Historia/ Universidad de Chile, and Patricia Palma, Assistant professor at Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geográficas/ Universidad De Tarapacá Arica, examine three major epidemics (yellow fever, the bubonic plague, and covid-19) to demonstrate attitudes toward the Chinese community in Peru.

The destruction of callejón Otaiza (Variedades, v.4, n.63, p.254-256, 1909)

 The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a global tendency throughout history to blame immigrants for propagating epidemics. Chinese individuals were thus targeted during past public health crises in Peru, but during the current coronavirus pandemic racist notions painting people of Chinese descent as “agents of contagion” diminished significantly.

The authors argue that the shift in attitudes toward the Chinese community in Peru during the current crisis was part of a major geopolitical transformation in the role of the People’s Republic of China, and a more positive view of Chinese people.

Ragas, José and Palma, Patricia. Covid-19, the Chinese diaspora, and the enduring legacy of racism in Peru. História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos [online]. 2022, v. 29, n. 2 [Accessed 24 August 2022] , pp. 381-398.

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