Fighting Racism via the Cumbia

March 9th, 2007 Piura, Peru

Graduation

My host dad´s side of the family is from the regional city. My cousin attends the public university there and invited me to attend her graduation. It was pretty much the same as any other college graduation although much shorter with fewer speeches. I am not complaining. After the ceremony, which takes place at night, we attended a very formal and nice reception dinner. Each department (accounting, nursing, etc.) has its own reception dinner. It was quite nice and I was very impressed with the class the place had been decorated. My host uncle was present which leads me to my next entry.

Fighting Racism via the Cumbia

My host uncle had been in attendance in La Encantada for the birthday for my host father. At one point during the night he told me that it made him very happy to see me dancing the “Cumbia” and the “Huayno”. At first I thought, “Yeah, I have accustomed myself and can dance a couple Peruvian traditional dances.” But this wasn´t his point. You see, many of the elite in Peru will not dance these two particular styles because in their opinion they believe that they are at a level above these two styles, and therefore would never dance like so. He proceeded to tell me that when I danced just like everyone else it demonstrated to the elite Peruvians that we are equal. Sometimes I forget that I am a role model at all times in this country, whether I am playing with the kids, eating vegetables, cooking despite that my chromosomes read XY, or dancing the “Cumbia”.