My first read through of Vargas Llosa’s left me feeling defensive of Peruvians and dislike of the author. The excerpt starts out by explicitly stating the risk of harm that may result from stereotypes and generalizations applied to a cultural group. He then immediately launches into his introduction and description of the elusive term huachaferia, and highlights some of its characteristics such as “bad taste or tackiness, lack of authenticity, florid language, and an appetite for upward mobility” (156). According to Vargas Llosa, those who fail to understand the huachafo(a), cannot understand the psychology and culture of the majority of Peruvians.
This upset me because it seemed that the author was stereotyping Peruvians as inauthentic posers. I clearly interpreted the huachafo(a) as a malicious person aiming to deceive others with the ultimate goal of personal gain in mind—not unlike a conman. I refused to believe that under the surface of the many kind and interesting Peruvians I’d encountered in the previous week, malintentions were lurking. Furthermore, Vargas Llosa’s assertion that “a peasant is never huachafo[a], unless he or she lived in the city for a protracted period” (157), demonstrates an air of pretentious privilege through the assumption that he has the authority to bestow/withhold this quality on his fellow Peruvians.
After consulting my peers and observing the lecture, it seems that I may have been missing the nuanced meaning of this cultural aesthetic, as others interpretations were that the term could carry as much positive valence as negative. It was suggested to me that the distinction between poser and huachaferia, may be that a poser is doing a poor job of putting on airs while a huachaferia is nailing it! And if there is no malicious intention beneath the surface then is there potential for harm? As identity is both complex and fluid, and I would argue that trying on different identities is an integral part of identity formation. If huachafo(a) is regularly engaged in this practice, is their identity like that of a chameleon? Does a chameleon have an authentic nature?
Perhaps huachaferia is more of a cultural identity than a stereotype. Some questions that I have for you lovely humans are:
- Who gets to decide what is authentic and what is posing?
- Do stereotypes always have to carry negative weight? For example, Canadians are thought of as polite people who always say thank you and apologize.
- Is the “friendly Canadian” a harmful stereotype or simply part of Canadian culture?
3 replies on “The Lima Reader: Understanding Huachaferia”
Hi Andree! I appreciate your critical reading of the text about huachaferia. I had a bit of trouble understanding this excerpt because of the multiple descriptions that were given of what constitutes huachaferia, therefore, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly whether the connotation was negative or positive. You pose some intriguing questions! I do not think stereotypes always hold a negative weight because it depends on the stereotype as you demonstrated with your example of Canadians. In my experience, being perceived as friendly because I am Canadian has served me well in my travels as locals are much more friendly.
Hi Andree, I had the same initial confusion and head scratchy feeling about huachaferia when I first read it and we discussed it in class. This sentence of yours really stood out to me “As identity is both complex and fluid, and I would argue that trying on different identities is an integral part of identity formation.” I could not agree more. Furthermore the representation of your identity and the true identity are often not aligned temporally or maybe even at all so this adds another layer of complexity to what it means to put on “airs”. This discourse reminds me of the also popular quote “fake it till you make it”. I actually agree with this premise in a lot of aspects of life but is that huachafo also?
I think the only person who ever really knows is the person themselves, but even then, it’s not uncommon to be out of touch with your own huacheferia I think. I don’t think stereotypes are always harmful, I don’t mind being globally known as polite at all!
“Who gets to decide what is authentic and what is posing?” Vargas Llosa, with his classist vision, would say that those with good taste (that is, people like him) are the ones who can best judge him. Yes, I also felt a deep dislike for the author when reading the text. It also reminded me a lot of the famous essay by Susan Sontag that is worth reading to understand the references of the Peruvian Nobel Prize: https://monoskop.org/images/5/59/Sontag_Susan_1964_Notes_on_Camp.pdf