Paper short abstract:

This article aims to present ethnographic research on strategies that Peruvian migrants from Andean and Afro-Peruvian descent bring into play to counter racialization as migrants in Europe. The focus is on their joint resistance practices to gain visibility and claim membership specifically in Belgium.

Paper long abstract:

This article aims to present ethnographic research on the diverse strategies that Peruvian migrants from Andean and Afro-Peruvian descent bring into play to counter racialization of migrant populations in Europe. The focus is on the joint resistance practices of Andean and Afro-Peruvian migrants to gain visibility and claim membership specifically in Belgium.

In Belgium, the dominant discourse has associated migrants with the idea of guest worker, allochton and immigrants of Muslim origin. Through different immigration and integration policies the country has reproduced a hierarchical structure of inferiorization and segregation of the migrant population. In this context Peruvian migrants who previously have been silenced and marginalised in Peru because of their ethnic origin, have tried to resist discrimination and gain visibility in Belgium through cultural, religious and political participation within the host society. The ethnographic data analysed here --part of a doctoral research on Andean Migration and de-coloniality-- centres on the participation of Andean and Afro-Peruvian origin migrants in the organization of a Quechua language course in Brussels, the festivities to celebrate the Lord of the Miracles, and participation in a Belgian political party. The racialization of Peruvian migrants here is analysed under the analytic axis of the 'coloniality of power' (Aníbal Quijano) and the strategies they use to counter discrimination are considered within the theoretical framework of de-coloniality.