Cholas and Pishtacos

Cholas and Pishtacos are two provocative characters from South American popular culture - a sensual mixed-race woman and a horrifying white killer - who show up in everything from horror stories and dirty jokes to romantic novels and travel posters. In this book, these two figures become vehicles for an exploration of race, sex, and violence. Mary Weismantel's theory of race and sex begins not with individual identity but with three forms of social and economic interaction: estrangement, exchange and accumulation. She maps the barriers that separate white and Indian, male and female - barriers that exist not in order to prevent exchange, but rather to exacerbate its inequality. Weismantel weaves together sources ranging from her own fieldwork and the words of potato sellers, hotel maids, and tourists to classic works by photographer Marin Chambi and novelist Jose Maria Arguedas.