Feminist Assemblages: Peruvian Feminisms, Forced Sterilization, and the Paradox of Rights in Fujimori’S Peru
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FEMINIST ASSEMBLAGES: PERUVIAN FEMINISMS, FORCED STERILIZATION, AND THE PARADOX OF RIGHTS IN FUJIMORI’S PERU LUCÍA ISABEL STAVIG Bachelor of Arts, New College of Florida, 2010 Masters of Science, Arizona State University, 2013 A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS Department of Anthropology University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Lucía Isabel Stavig 2017 FEMINIST ASSEMBLAGES: PERUVIAN FEMINISMS, FORCED STERILIZATION, AND THE PARADOX OF RIGHTS IN FUJIMORI’S PERU LUCÍA ISABEL STAVIG Date of Defence: April 11, 2017 Dr. Patrick Wilson Supervisor Associate Professor Ph.D. Dr. Catherine Kingfisher Thesis Examination Committee Member Professor Ph.D. Dr. Raúl Necochea López Thesis Examination Committee Member Associate Professor Ph.D. Dr. Janice Newberry Chair, Thesis Examination Committee Associate Professor Ph.D. Dedication Esta tesis la dedico a las mujeres del Perú. A nuestras luchas. A nuestros futuros. Como siempre ha dicho mi madre, la justicia tarda, pero llega. iii Abstract How does it come to pass that the rollout of a women’s rights regime becomes a condition for the violation of women’s rights? This thesis begins with the rollout of the PNSRPF 1996-2000 (a family planning program), as part of a larger women’s rights campaign in Fujimori’s Peru, and the forced sterilization of upwards of 10,000 campesina women. I examine the historic memory of the Peruvian feminist movement for factors that led to the vulnerabilization of campesinas in a women’s rights campaign. The feminist movement was made up of three assemblages concentrated around reproductive and sexual rights, critical human rights, and civil and political rights. However, only the critical rights paradigms was able to contend with the intersectional identity of campesinas and their inclusive exclusion as citizens. The other two assemblages assumed they were protecting “all women” or “all Peruvians,” leaving campesinas to fall into the lacunae created by the siloization of rights paradigms. iv Preface Didn’t anyone see this coming? Given the global history of population control, didn’t anyone see this coming? The more I learned the more horror came like a freight train, faster and faster—it was so clear to me what was going to happen. Or maybe it was only clear because it already had. The thing was, this seemed avoidable. It seemed improbable given the various UN conventions at play, that the feminist movement was involved. It shouldn’t have happened. Some did see danger. This story is as much about them as about those who didn’t. How didn’t we see it? How didn’t we see it coming? What were the conditions of possibility for this horror? Might we see it coming in the future? This thesis comes out of the larger question of how this happened, how we didn’t see this coming. It focuses on the feminist movement and the issue of rights discoursing: Who do citizenship and human rights protect? Who don’t they? Who can’t they? Who might they? It starts with the paradox of rights and begins with our collective future. v Acknowledgements First I would like to thank all the incredible feminists I spoke with in Lima in the summer of 2015. I have been awed and humbled by your unwavering dedication to women and justice. I hope to have done justice to your stories and knowledges. Though our approaches sometimes diverge, what we all want is a better world for women and a better world, period. I also thank you for your time and patience with me, a Peruvian gringa making sense of the many ways in which her worlds interact, contradict, and create one another. I would also like to thank the University of Lethbridge, the School of Graduate Studies, the Graduate Student Association, and especially the Department of Anthropology and Dr. Patrick Wilson for financial and academic support. This innovative Master’s program allowed me the space, flexibility and resources to embark on a truly unique research experience. This thesis would not have been possible without the support of my academic committee, Dr. Patrick Wilson, Dr. Catherine Kingfisher, and Dr. Raúl Necochea López. I thank you for your time, thoughtful commentaries, and most of all, enthusiasm and support for my work. I would like to especially thank you, Patrick, for your tireless encouragement and your trust in my ability to “get ‘er done”. Your support as an academic supervisor and kindness as a human being have helped me grow as a scholar and educator. I will carry your example with me in my work and in my interactions with students. I would also like to thank my whole family in Perú, and especially my tíos Mariella Corvetto, Ewald Schmidt, Patricia Morante, Stacy DeLano, Mariella Sala, and vi Memma Manarelli for housing and feeding me; connecting me to people of interest, and to the history of Lima and its social life; and for loving on me when I needed help and support throughout this process. ¡Que viva la vida universitaria! I would also like to thank my many wonderful friends in Lethbridge without whom I would be nothing and the world would be a little less bright: Rolando Rodríguez Bueno, Thuy Vi Nguyen, Vanja Spirič, Hunter Guthrie, Dakota Lizeé, Geoffrey Chappell, Dr. Aki Matsuoka, Sandhya Sunawar, Hossein Hosseini, Sahar Siavashi, Emma Jing, Dr. Bill Ramp and Dr. Atif Khalil, and the folk at the Barrett- Henzi lab. You all made the going much more enjoyable. Thank you! To Martha Many Grey Horses for reminding me of my wings. I would like to thank my mentors and peers and at UNC Chapel Hill for their support through this endeavor, with particular thanks to Dr. Florence Babb, Sugandh Gupta and Molly Green whose good company and good cheer saved me more than once. Also thanks to Greg Mu and Eriberto Rosales for being awesome roommates. I would like to thank Erica Schoon, Mariana Stavig and Dr. Ella Schmidt and Dr. Florence Babb for their proofreading, editing and general enthusiasm for this project. A most deep and special ‘thank you’ to you, Mahmudul Hasan. You are truly my angel, Ridwan, watching over me, taking care of me, providing food, hugs, laughs and most of all, love. Without your care (and swift kicks to the rear from time to time) this thesis would not have happened. You are a truly amazing partner and friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. vii And finally to my mamita, Dr. Ella Schmidt, my late father, Dr. Ward Stavig, and my sister, Mariana Dora Stavig. You are the light of my life and the stars of my sky. Your love and guidance have made me who I am and have taught me to be a fierce, courageous, compassionate, and dedicated human being. Your examples light a path that unites the life of mind and the love of people. Mil gracias, mis amores. viii Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................. ...1 Conditions of possibility: las mujeres son más indias ...................................... 10 “How did it come to pass...”: Forced sterilization and historical memory ............................................................................................................ 17 The Roadmap: The conditions of possibility ....................................................... .23 Engaged Scholarship........................................................................................................26 Methodology .................................................................................................................................... .28 The Politics of Research ................................................................................................................ 31 Methods and Analysis ..................................................................................................... 36 On Compassionate Research ........................................................................................ 42 Chapter 1: On the Peruvian Context ........................................................................................ 44 Programa Nacional de Salud Reproductiva y Planificación Familiar 1996-2000 ............................................................................. 49 Family Planning in Peru ................................................................................................. 49 Reading Fujimori against the ICPD ............................................................................ 51 “Choice” ................................................................................................................................. 57 The Indian Problem and Hygienic Racism ............................................................. 61 Citizenship, Human Rights, and Coloniality ........................................................... 70 Chapter 2: The Feminist movement of the ‘80s and ‘90s ............................................... 82 Feminist foundations ....................................................................................................... 87 Divides and Discords ..................................................................................................... .100 Chapter 3: Feminist Assemblages ............................................................................................. 107 The Sexual and Reproductive Rights Assemblage .............................................. 115 Cairo Accords and Discords .........................................................................................