Karsten Paerregaard

Andean Meltdown examines how climate change and its consequences for Peru's glaciers are affecting the country's water supply and impacting Andean society and culture in unprecedented ways. Drawing on forty years of extensive research, relationship building, and community engagement in Peru, Karsten Paerregaard provides an ethnographic exploration of Andean ritual practices and performances in the context of an altered climate. By documenting Andean peoples' responses to rapid glacier retreat and urgent water shortages, Paerregaard considers the myriad ways climate change intersects with environmental, social, and political change. A pathbreaking contribution to cultural anthropology and environmental humanities, Andean Meltdown challenges prevailing theoretical thinking about the culture-nature nexus and offers a new perspective on Andean peoples' understanding of their role as agents in the shifting relationship between humans and nonhumans.

Andean Meltdown examines how climate change and its consequences for Peru's glaciers are affecting the country's water supply and impacting Andean society and culture in unprecedented ways. Drawing on forty years of extensive research, relationship building, and community engagement in Peru, Karsten Paerregaard provides an ethnographic exploration of Andean ritual practices and performances in the context of an altered climate. By documenting Andean peoples' responses to rapid glacier retreat and urgent water shortages, Paerregaard considers the myriad ways climate change intersects with environmental, social, and political change. A pathbreaking contribution to cultural anthropology and environmental humanities, Andean Meltdown challenges prevailing theoretical thinking about the culture-nature nexus and offers a new perspective on Andean peoples' understanding of their role as agents in the shifting relationship between humans and nonhumans.

Return to Sender is an anthropological account of how Peruvian emigrants raise and remit money and what that activity means for themselves and for their home communities. The book draws on first-hand ethnographic data from North and South America, Europe, and Japan to describe how Peruvians remit to relatives at home, collectively raise money to organize development projects in their regions of origin, and invest savings in business and other activities. Karsten Paerregaard challenges unqualified approval of remittances as beneficial resources of development for home communities and important income for home countries. He finds a more complex situation in which remittances can also create dependency and deprivation.

Return to Sender is an anthropological account of how Peruvian emigrants raise and remit money and what that activity means for themselves and for their home communities. The book draws on first-hand ethnographic data from North and South America, Europe, and Japan to describe how Peruvians remit to relatives at home, collectively raise money to organize development projects in their regions of origin, and invest savings in business and other activities. Karsten Paerregaard challenges unqualified approval of remittances as beneficial resources of development for home communities and important income for home countries. He finds a more complex situation in which remittances can also create dependency and deprivation.

Peruvians Dispersed presents an anthropological study of transnational migration to the United States, Spain, Japan and Argentina. Karsten Paerregaard spent a total of one year living with Peruvian migrants in four continents which allowed him to make ethnographic in-depth descriptions of Peru's many migrant communities and at the same time discuss how immigration and labor market policies in the Global North both thwart and spur migration from the Global South. The book also offers an innovative contribution to the methodological debate about multi-sited field research, which in recent years has become prominent among scholars studying processes of globalization, transnationalism and multiculturalism. Because of the wide span of social groups in Peru that migrate and the global dispersion of Peruvians in America, Asia and Europe; the study of the Peruvian migration offers a unique opportunity to rethink current attempts to theorize transnational and diasporic migration and develop the methodological and analytical framework for a global ethnography.

Peruvians Dispersed presents an anthropological study of transnational migration to the United States, Spain, Japan and Argentina. Karsten Paerregaard spent a total of one year living with Peruvian migrants in four continents which allowed him to make ethnographic in-depth descriptions of Peru's many migrant communities and at the same time discuss how immigration and labor market policies in the Global North both thwart and spur migration from the Global South. The book also offers an innovative contribution to the methodological debate about multi-sited field research, which in recent years has become prominent among scholars studying processes of globalization, transnationalism and multiculturalism. Because of the wide span of social groups in Peru that migrate and the global dispersion of Peruvians in America, Asia and Europe; the study of the Peruvian migration offers a unique opportunity to rethink current attempts to theorize transnational and diasporic migration and develop the methodological and analytical framework for a global ethnography.

This pathbreaking ethnography of population movements between rural and urban places in Peru addresses the conceptual and methodological problems of studying ‘deterritorialized' populations and the implications of this for anthropology's notions of culture and identity. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book explores the economic, social and ritual bonds which link migrants in Peru's major cities to their Andean native village. Many urban migrants establish networks based on kinship and marriage ties to exploit resources in the city as well as the village. These networks ensure they maintain strong links to their native village. Fiestas, soccer tournaments and folklore festivals also play a crucial role in the formation of migrant communities in Peru's cities. The author analyses these performance practices and shows how they give rise to the creation of new social identities. The participation of second generation migrants, returning migrants, and migrant spouses in village life is also discussed.

This pathbreaking ethnography of population movements between rural and urban places in Peru addresses the conceptual and methodological problems of studying ‘deterritorialized' populations and the implications of this for anthropology's notions of culture and identity. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book explores the economic, social and ritual bonds which link migrants in Peru's major cities to their Andean native village. Many urban migrants establish networks based on kinship and marriage ties to exploit resources in the city as well as the village. These networks ensure they maintain strong links to their native village. Fiestas, soccer tournaments and folklore festivals also play a crucial role in the formation of migrant communities in Peru's cities. The author analyses these performance practices and shows how they give rise to the creation of new social identities. The participation of second generation migrants, returning migrants, and migrant spouses in village life is also discussed.