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'Race' And Inequality In Postcolonial Urban Settings; Examples From Peru, Jamaica, And Indonesia, Peter J.M. Nas, Rivke Jaffe, Line Algoed

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

In this essay we present three case studies of Peru, Jamaica and Indonesia to illustrate the use of the concept of race in daily life in relation to labour, popular culture and beauty respectively. These cases demonstrate how the use of the concept of race changes in the transition from a colonial into a postcolonial setting, depending on the role of the state and nation building. In Peru, we see a clear continuation of racialized thinking; thinking and speaking in terms of 'race' is still the norm. In Jamaica we find a process of inversion: the concept of race is …