Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores processes of migration and urban settlement and how ideas about mobility and progress are negotiated in terms of Andean notions of sociality. It shows how people's quest for mobility and progress are informed by Andean practices of reciprocity and exchange between human beings and with the animated surroundings. The spatial surroundings through which these processes of mobility take place are vested with meaning, not only due to the hierarchization of spatial categories in a sociological sense, but also since the natural surroundings are ascribed significant power and potency in Andean thought. The book deals with local organizations and especially the women's organization in the neighbourhood. The idea of mestizaje is important in relation to processes of migration and mobility since it represents an ideological notion for the unity of a common Peruvian nationhood.