Nativized exoticism in "el país de todas las sangres".

In this paper I develop a perspective of nativized exoticism to describe how discourses around Peruvian Chineseness as both assimilated and exotic promote a multicultural mestizo national narrative that nevertheless overlooks questions of representation and the subject gaze. Using a qualitative approach, my argument connects micro-level analysis of spoken and mediated discourse to the broader contemporary and sociohistorical context. Findings extend existing work on processes of racialization in diaspora and the image of Asians as "perpetual foreigners" as well as imagined societies (Anderson, B. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso) and myths of equalizing mestizaje in Latin America. Findings further connect cotidian discourses to broader issues of appropriation and materiality within the national identity narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]