ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the discursive production and reproduction of race and what it means to be an Andean woman in Peruvian media and social networks. The case study examined here is the public image of Magaly Solier, a Quechua-speaking Andean actress who has recently attained recognition in Peruvian cinema—a medium where those perceived as Andean have traditionally been excluded. The celebrity construction of Magaly Solier as an Andean woman, however, is riddled in contradictions. While the public celebrates Solier’s rural and “indigenous” roots, it simultaneously rejects her Andean origins. As a response, the actress negotiates different Andean identities that do not always concur with the hegemonic discourses and folkloric images of the Andes. We argue that her main strategy is to brand her Andean heritage as cultural capital, one that is constantly being negotiated, restructured, and extrapolated outside the local and regional spheres in ways that allow her public figure to belong to what is perceived as modern and global.
