중남미

Between 1849 and 1874, nearly 100,000 Chinese indentured laborers (coolies) arrived in Peru. Although coolies were treated much like slaves, thousands gained their freedom and made lives for themselves during the coolie era. This article focuses on the difficulties facing ex-coolies and how they coped with them. I argue that free Chinese responded to the challenges of making a living, discrimination, harassment, and the threat of a return to forced labor, by uniting and forging a Chinese sub-community while simultaneously integrating into Peruvian society. On the one hand, free Chinese cooperated with each other to find housing and jobs, establish businesses, maintain their culture, and deal with legal troubles. On the other hand, they integrated with Peruvian society and challenged their status as outsiders by establishing business ties with Peruvians, adopting aspects of Hispanic culture, forming interracial families and friendships, and demonstrating publicly their Peruvian patriotism. Well before the end of the coolie era, ex-coolies became immigrants and proceeded to construct Sino-Peruvian identities. In making this argument, this study also suggests the importance of analyzing Chinese indentured labor beyond the paradigm of slavery. Although scholars have tended to separate the experience of coolies in Spanish America from other overseas Chinese communities during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, careful analysis of the post-indenture experience during the coolie era reveals considerable overlap.