You are on page 1of 11

This article was downloaded by: [UVA Universiteitsbibliotheek SZ]

On: 12 March 2013, At: 07:54


Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,
37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies: Travesia
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjla20
Magical, Mystical: The Royal Tour of Alejandro Toledo
Vctor Vich
Version of record first published: 13 Mar 2007.
To cite this article: Vctor Vich (2007): Magical, Mystical: The Royal Tour of Alejandro Toledo, Journal of Latin American
Cultural Studies: Travesia, 16:1, 1-10
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569320601156712
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic
reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to
anyone is expressly forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents
will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should
be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims,
proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in
connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Vctor Vich
MAGICAL, MYSTICAL: THE ROYAL TOUR
OF ALEJANDRO TOLEDO
An elegant limousine enters the Government Palace in Lima. The marching honour
guard, the Husares of Jun n, receives the guest while a crowd of curious people in the
Plaza Mayor look on, trying to get as close as possible. As soon as President Toledo
appears at the main door, everyone imagines that an important dignitary has arrived
at the end of a long red carpet. The atmosphere is festive, though with a touch of
solemnity. Who could it be? It is not a head of state, nor is it the United Nations
Secretary-General. It is also clearly not Pope Benedict XVI. It is only Peter Greenberg
(who is that?), a modest American journalist who is in charge of lming a travel
documentary on Peru: The Royal Tour.
This image is a useful starting point to begin theorizing what the nations of the
contemporary world are becoming and to visualize more clearly the desperate
performative acts through which Peru, as nation-state, seeks to present itself as an
attractive commodity for the world market (Vich, 2003). In this essay, I maintain that
Toledo decided to receive Greenberg with such disproportionate attention because a
set of power relations that go beyond his government and himself have placed him
in this position. Beyond the fact that tourism may be considered today an important
agent of development, this initial scene also reveals a clear relation of subordination.
Indeed, in late capitalism, national states have ceased to be sovereign constructs
and have become simply functional parts of a world economic system that engulfs them
in part through capital ows over which they have very little control. We know that the
main political and economic decisions exceed the grasp of national states and that the
great world powers are constituted on the basis of transnational corporations that
subordinate all they nd in their path.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that the nation-states are disappearing or that
they lack any political function. Rather, they take part in very complex processes
through which national states redene their functions and assume new roles according
to certain imperatives of the world system.
It is worth pausing and reecting for a moment on the fact that the President of the
Republic decided to play the role of amateur tour guide for a few days. In my opinion,
this provides the most conclusive evidence that a peripheral region like Peru has clearly
and explicitly been affected by the coloniality of power. This is the work of a new
apparatus, with a global reach, that has as its goal the calculated invention of subaltern
identities in order to continue to extract limitless gain from them. In this sense, one
could say that Alejandro Toledo is not Alejandro Toledo and Peter Greenberg is not
Peter Greenberg. Rather, they are gures with their specic roles to play, embodying
two differentiated entities: Peru and the global market, the new order before which the
Inca Toledo, the old-but-new Pachacutec, surrenders everything in his Empire.
Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Vol. 16, No. 1 March 2007, pp. 1-10
ISSN 1356-9325/print 1469-9575 online q 2007 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13569320601156712
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

The Royal Tour is a television programme co-produced by the Discovery Channel,
the Travel Channel, and Seck Six Productions. Each programme is meant to promote
tourismin a particular country, though the programmes are distinguished by the fact that
in them the president, prime minister, or king of the particular country is charged with
the task of revealing the marvels of the country, through interaction with the journalist-
tourist.
1
In the case of Peru, the production of The Royal Tour was initiated
by the Peruvian government through its agency, Prom Peru.
2
In reality, we nd a very
conventional product in which we see the standard images, precisely those that the
tourist gaze wishes to see over and over again. However, these images are very important
as they allow us to theorize the different ways in which the country discursively
constructs highly de-politicized artefacts like the exotic and magical. I maintain that
this model of representation is simply a response to a demand for exoticism articulated
by hegemonic centres and which Peru has decided to satisfy at any cost.
We already know that before it homogenizes cultures, the contemporary market
encourages and promotes cultural difference as part of a strategy over whose control
powerful actors compete. Gradually, the political power of cultural difference
(in relativizing our own, as a sign of new alternatives and as a critique of monological
and ethnocentric discourses) no longer scares the hegemonic centres and instead is
being systematically used as a way to create greater exibility in supplying products in a
highly competitive market. In other words: the world is no longer presented as a place
of political struggle or of identities that seek more social rights and greater access to
resources, but simply as a place where diversity is celebrated as a kind of postcard
aesthetics and emptied of all political content. Gisela Canepa y Rossana Reguillo have
summarized it in the following manner:
We only seem comfortable when those others and their cultural manifestations
can be appreciated as objects of consumption and aesthetic pleasure. But once they
reveal themselves as political actors with their own interests and dictates, cultural
difference and diversity are no longer tolerated. (Canepa, 2004: 31)
If the concept of diversity does not take into account the dimension of power and
does not work through its formulation towards making visible the conicts
generated by the interaction of diverse cultures, it will not have a great impact or
analytical viability, and condemns itself to becoming a mechanism useful only for
selling world music, indigenous objects or culinary repertoires. (Reguillo, 2005: 99)
As one might assume, The Royal Tour is inscribed within precisely such a dynamic
and it is no exaggeration to suggest that the ways in which tourism in Peru is organized
are disclosed here. This does not, of course, undermine the importance of tourism but
only suggests a change in the way we see and understand it. Thus, in this essay I opt to
dene tourism as a discursive machinery that produces representations of the nation
that have important consequences on the ways in which history and cultural identity are
conceptualized. In other words, in producing a narrative of nation, tourism has a great
impact on social imaginaries and on the educational system and on relations with
the outside world. We would be mistaken if we considered it as an innocent process
that had no direct effects on the geopolitical division of the world and on development
programmes.
L AT I N AME RI CAN CUL T URAL S T UDI E S 2
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

But let us turn to the video. Its rst images reveal some of Perus geography and
show a number of scenes of running feet. Little by little we realize that these belong to
Alejandro Toledo who is dressed as a peasant (or as a festival Inca) and who nally stops
at the summit of an Andean peak, with an expression on his face that is nothing short of
mystical. The image suggests perhaps a scene of a hacendado or landlord looking over his
territory, his gaze serving as a sign of his power over his land. Yet, the image seems
almost comical until we understand it from a more political perspective: throughout
the video, President Toledo is represented as a good leader entrusted with the conduct
of a nation that needs guiding patriarchs ( padres tutelares) and that continues to
anxiously search for Incas. Toledo is looking at the country and seems to proclaim that
we all must exit from underdevelopment.
However, even if we conclude that Toledo looks little like a hacendado (Toledo
resembles more closely the Andean gure known as brichero, or pub-dwelling gringa-
hunter), we nd something political beyond mere promotion of tourism. Indeed, a
deeper analysis demonstrates that the video has the goal not only of constructing an
image that will sell Peru to the outside world but also of articulating a message that
will legitimize the government and the president, and offset the many political errors
and political malaises that have plagued Toledos term in ofce. Promote Peru,
promote oneself might serve to suggest the interchangeable aims of this kind of
textuality.
Given Toledos particular personal history, Peruvians know all too well that he
never managed to integrate himself into Peruvian society and that he is ill-versed in the
prevailing codes of social groups. Looked down on by the upper classes and never
embraced by the poor, Toledo tried to create his own discourse, although his attempts
often seemed trivial and could not create a broad sense of solidarity and citizen
inclusion. He and his government were incapable of constructing a new cultural
politics that would combat the existing racism and found new political imaginaries.
While it is true that the work of his wife, Eliane Karp, sought to put indigenous rights
on the agenda, it is equally true that beyond the scandals over misused funds this work
was not an organic part of the government but simply the isolated acts of a very
controversial rst lady.
Nevertheless, the video maintains that Alejandro Toledo is the rst president in
500 years of modern history who is a descendant of the Incas. In this way, nation and
subject become interchangeable and, thus, before the video shows the country, it
begins with a brief introduction to the political leader. The facts are familiar, but here
they are part of a chain that link by link leads to the construction of a character that is
somewhat messianic and certainly liberal (invoking freedom and democracy): from
shoe-shine boy to challenger of a dictator, from poor rural boy to a Stanford Ph.D.,
from migrant to president of Peru.
After the scene with the limousine, Toledo gives Greenberg a tour of the palace and
offers to show him around the entire country. The entire relationship between the two
has a colonial air about it and it is reminiscent of certain moments in Peruvian history.
It is something like an updated story of the ransom of the Inca Atahualpa: I will give
you two rooms of gold, three of silver and you must promise to deliver me from
underdevelopment. Thus, the entire performance of Toledo aims at inventing a
country that does not exist, a Peru that is magical and mystical, the basic characteristics
that the new international tourism dictates.
T HE ROY AL T OUR OF AL E J ANDRO T OL E DO 3
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

Z

izek says that we have reached a new stage of capitalism in which production is
greatly de-materialized and in which we are obliged to consume not merely cultural
products but lifestyles. In this sense, the emergence of a New Age trend must be
understood as a ideological process that appeals to a supposed return to a natural state
since human ties have been systematically commodied.
In cultural capitalism, the relation between an object and its symbol has been
inverted: the images no longer represent the product, but rather the product
represents an image. We buy a product say an organic apple because it
represents the image of a healthy lifestyle . . . . What we are seeing today, the
denitive trait of postmodern capitalism, is the direct commodication of
experience itself: in the market, products (material objects which are possessed)
are being purchased less while life experiences like sex, food, communication,
cultural consumption, and participation in a particular lifestyle are being purchased
more. Material objects serve only to support this experience, which is increasingly
offered for free in order to seduce us into buying the actual experiential
commodities. (Z

izek, 2003:1202, translated from the Spanish)


If capitalism has destroyed many of the links between subjects and the links between
the subject and his or her historical tradition (which is converted into a simple
photograph that invisibilizes the constitutive antagonisms), then we should understand
New Age discourse as a mechanism that is capable of returning to the subject the hope
of a new, rm place to stand. This does not involve, of course, a link with his or her
peers or (much less) with the antagonistic past. What is being promoted today is the
relationship with a natural space, always depoliticized, in which the subject believes
here or she will nd some guarantees. Of course, none of this is natural and much of it
is expensive, but the New Age is always ready to pay for it.
In The Royal Tour, we see the constant staging of nature and of those subjects
immersed in it (Peruvians) as examples of a harmonic interaction in which traditions
have not been lost and are in contact with pure elements that make the country a truly
transcendental experience. The illusion of purity and the static characteristics of
Peruvian life are present throughout the narrative that The Royal Tour constructs,
and there are innumerable examples that we could discuss. Perhaps the clearest
example, however, takes place in Ollantaytambo when Toledo and Eliane try to
explain an Inca aqueduct to Greenberg: The Spanish could not destroy these stones,
they are a great symbol of Peruvian society, explains (or fantasizes) Eliane.
Apparently, far from marking fractures, loss and plunder, Peru is here represented
as a stable nation, solid and sure of itself. This is an almost metaphysical idea of cultural
resistance that, by distancing itself from the subject of the present, opts to invent a new
cultural interpretation based on a decontextualized image. However, these stereotypes
are not just spoken by the wife of the president but also by the narrative voice, the
voice of the world market. In the middle of the Yagua indigenous community, we hear
the narrator say unproblematically: This is the rst time that a helicopter has landed in
this place. Of course, one could make precisely the same declaration about any high
school in Boston or any French lyce e but this is of little importance since, as we have
argued, the main objective here is the construction of an exotic image of the country,
anchored in tradition yet outside history, and converted into a kind of living museum.
L AT I N AME RI CAN CUL T URAL S T UDI E S 4
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

The encounter with the Yagua indigenous people is important, moreover, because
here we can observe the relationship that the Peruvian state maintains with subaltern
culture, and thus it appears even more deserving of the approving external gaze of the
global market. One can see idyllic images of children running through the jungle and
splashing in rivers that are free from the dangers of industrial polluters or logging
maas. The president and his wife present themselves as the agents who bring
civilization (education and vaccines), even though in reality the Yaguas are laughing
and know that this is not the main reason that these illustrious guests have arrived in
their community. Greenberg is more interested in the indigenous blowguns and large
boas that at one point wrap around his body, allowing us to appreciate the ominous
presence of nature. People keep boas in their homes as pets, Toledo tells Greenberg
in an impressive leap of imaginative interpretation.
In the city of Trujillo a similar scene takes place. A helicopter ies over the citadel
of ChanChan and then over the sea of Huanchaco where several caballitos de totora
(small boats used to ride the surf) await the president and his important guest. The
scene is staged as a surprise visit by the Peruvian president to a shing village. The
caballitos de totora capture the cameras attention and Toledo does not miss the chance
to inform us that the ancient Peruvians rode the waves and surfed long before, and
much better, than the Hawaiians that the world knows today. Later, in the same place,
Toledo prepares a (very) natural plate of cebiche (made from raw sh) to show
Greenberg just how easy and good life is in that area. However, the camera does not
focus on those eating the delicacy but rather follows Toledo who walks up to a
gathering crowd and passes out small pieces of sh to outstretched hands.
This image of a leader at one with his people is also presented in Cuzco when a
landslide has swept away some of the property of inhabitants of the area and damaged
the railroad tracks close Machu Picchu. Here the video shows Toledo as someone who
knows how to make decisions, acts quickly and feels the suffering of the people.
Anyone who lived in Peru during the past few years might be surprised at such a
representation. Yet, even in the video the image is short-lived once we see Toledos
solution: he brings in the helicopters of the armed forces with one clear objective, to
get the trapped tourists out as quickly as possible.
It is also in Cuzco where, for our purposes, the most important scene takes place. It
involves Intihuatana, a large stone sundial located at the centre of the citadel of Machu
Picchu. As is well known, a few years ago this Inca artefact suffered a severe fracture
during an accident that took place during the lming of a Peruvian beer commercial. This
incident provoked a public scandal, though, so far, there has been no punishment of
those responsible. In any case, due to this accident the Cuzco authorities decided to place
a rope around the stone to prevent and prohibit people from touching it.
Nevertheless, in this video we observe something very different. President Toledo
disregards the regulation and invites Greenberg to ignore the rope boundary and both
men, with their eyes closed, kiss Intihuatana. In the fantasies of the new international
tourism, we might say that both are fullling the desire of globalization. They seal a
magnetic link between nature and a fetishized past. Now, after this pact, both can
calmly return to their daily routines.
But we should say more about this crossing of the rope-line and this transgression
of the law. We should say something regarding the historical consequences (for the
governability of the country) of the fact that throughout history it has been the Peruvian
T HE ROY AL T OUR OF AL E J ANDRO T OL E DO 5
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

state that has been the primary violator of the very laws it hands down. This old custom
(that goes back to the colonial period) is the main reason why the principle of authority
has been lost so completely and why the law has ceased to be a common bond that
articulates community life. If in Peru politics and that state are in total disrepute it is
because Peruvians constantly observe images like this one: authorities who believe that
holding public ofce exonerates them from following the law.
This transgression is even more serious when we consider that this video is one that
promotes international tourism. A geopolitical commentary is urgently required as
it the very president of the republic who invites a tourist to break the law, thus
providing one more sign of the relationship of subordination constructed between
the two characters. As mentioned at the outset, Peter Greenberg is a symbol of the
global market and before him/it there is no other option but to surrender everything,
including those things we thought we had put safely beyond reach. In this video, the
tourist becomes a special kind of subject, given a super-citizenship that places him
above law and community. It is clear that we observe a shameful manner of promoting
Peru as this involves assuming the position of a country truly colonized and whose
agency is reduced to satisfying the desire of the colonizer.
In any case, this is not the last image of the video. Subsequently, we see all the
main characters (Toledo, Eliane, Greenberg) mounted on elegant caballos de paso
(Peruvian horses), then driving dune-buggies through the Pisco desert, and bathing
happily with sea lions in the Paracas ecological reserve, another place put off-limits
by the authorities. Nature, spiritual magnetism, physical adventure and historical
patrimony are the elements on display and Toledo intends desperately to promote
them. On display is a stable nation with a political authority that is seemingly cloaked
by consensus and approval, yet nds it necessary to promote itself.
The video concludes perhaps inevitably in Cabana, the small Andean town in the
mountains of Huaraz where Toledo was born and spent his childhood. Descending
from the helicopter, almost as homage to (or transubstantiation of) Pope John Paul II,
Toledo kneels respectfully and kisses the ground before the international cameras. This
is the image of the poor boy who has returned, triumphant, with an important
international guest under his arm. For this reason, the local authorities welcome them
with musical groups and a festive celebration. Here it is neither culture nor history
that we are witnessing: it is a joyful people welcoming its victorious son. Toledo,
predictably, nds no better phrase to offer than the following: I will do all that is
possible so that this land gives rise to a new president of Peru.
Conclusions
It is estimated that the Peruvian state spent close to US$ 300,000 in the production of
The Royal Tour, and such expenditure is justied by the projected income generated
by increased tourism. Indeed, in the contract it was agreed that the video would
be shown, during a two-year period, over one hundred times on international cable
television channels including Discovery, Travel Channel, NBC, CNBC, NISNBS and
on famous programmes like Oprah and The View, among others.
It is important to add that this video was lmed during Holy Week of 2004,
between 7 and 12 April. It is interesting to note that during this period, the popularity
L AT I N AME RI CAN CUL T URAL S T UDI E S 6
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

of President Toledo had fallen to 6%, the lowest approval rating of his term, and social
unease was widespread. No other president of the republican period has reached such a
low point. The notion of a vacant presidency was bandied about often, and street
protests and social movements led to some very visible deaths.
3
This is not the place for
a detailed discussion of the troubled government of Toledo but I would like to
underline the enormous frustration that his administration provoked among many
Peruvians who hoped that the democratic transition would prove more solid, less
improvised, less fearful and less inefcient.
Carlos Monsivais says that in the contemporary world tradition returns to the
public sphere only as theatre for the tourists.
4
This is more than a clever phrase when
we understand it from a postcolonial perspective. The exotication of Peru is
undoubtedly a new form of colonialism, by which I mean the construction of a system
of cultural and political domination that, in the context of capitalist globalization,
places peripheral countries in the position of responding passively to the dictates
articulated by hegemonic centres.
We nd ourselves, then, before a project that is by no means innocent and that
transforms the antagonisms of history into folkloric symbols. Social identities are
systematically de-historicized and the country is converted into a great theatre, or
worse, a fetish. Media representation replaces the past and the only thing that matters
is spectacle, as even politics has been spectacularized. In this video, spectacles are
produced by the constant emphasis place on stereotyped Andean rituals that are what
the external gaze, the gaze of power, has come to take in.
Mignolo (1999) argues that coloniality is a discursive machinery that produces
subalternities and that reproduces social exclusion through representations and political
apparatuses. In this case, subalterns are invented as mystical and exotic objects but
never as political subject. The demands of the world market, the violent dictates of the
hegemonic Other, impose this desire and construct representations that oblige specic
kinds of subordinations and performances. What is interesting and terrifying about
The Royal Tour is that the state, the market and private enterprise nd themselves
fused together not only because they share the same discourse but because they
function as a single entity.
Thus, we are not that far from the ideas of Marx when he declared that individuals
have become slaves to a power alien to them. Today, that power is none other than
the global market and, in this case, a globalized discourse that empties history and turns
it into a simple and deceptive simulacrum. It is incredible to witness Toledo and his
guest Greenberg y over the dramatic Nazca lines and hear the president respond to the
reporters question about what function these lines may have played in ancient Peru.
Toledo responds easily that these lines may well have functioned as a landing strip for
extraterrestrials. As one can see by now, history no longer matters and the present
even less. What matters is business and, overall, moving the country towards a
different and more viable position in the world economy. The imperative of the world
market is simple: empty history, sell the country.
Be that as it may, from an academic perspective, viewing The Royal Tour is no
less terrifying as it implies confronting the limits of various categories of cultural
criticism that we have been using with excessive optimism. That is, the celebration of
cultural diversity, the political construction of the impenetrability of the other and
the idea of the nation as a performative device appear as weapons that are also well
T HE ROY AL T OUR OF AL E J ANDRO T OL E DO 7
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

suited for a neocolonial discourse. We could almost say that we share the same
theoretical tools, another sign of how dangerous is the territory on which we tread.
It is interesting to see at the end of the video how Toledo, who was an example of
the other about which we have spoken so much in contemporary cultural studies, has
become so invested, upon his return to Cabana, with the signs of cultural assimilation.
These signs refer not only to individual options or private characteristics but, as
representative of a nation and head of the Peruvian state, they illustrate that absolutely
passive manner in which the country responds to the command of the international
system. Indeed, no subaltern speaks in the video, no one represents him or herself, and
all are systematically spoken for by Eliane, Toledo, Greenberg, or that voice off-
camera that represents them mercilessly. Speaking more theoretically (following
Spivak), we can say that Toledo does not speak either in this video: he is spoken for by
the Other, the discourse that has imposed itself and is reproduced passively through his
performance.
We should emphasize that The Royal Tour is not very different from the
promotional materials that the previous governments of Peru have produced through
the agency PromPeru; the continuity is clear. What we always see is an aestheticized
spatiality (Harvey, 1998: 337) in which, generally, all historical depth has been lost
and it is impossible to nd a narrative that would interpellate the visitors in any other
manner.
This is not the place to analyse the subaltern strategy of appropriating this tourist
discourse, nor the place to describe the sets of local experiences with other
assumptions. What matters for the moment is to make clear that, like any other
discursive machinery, tourism could produce a narrative of history that is more
dignied and better conceived. In other words: tourism is not just the business of the
Ministry of International Commerce but also a problem of cultural politics that should
involve the participation of diverse social actors. To consider tourism as a purely
economic agent is to overlook all the consequences that its discursive production has in
the contemporary world.
Little or nothing is said about this today. Far from showing how the antagonisms of
the Peruvian past contribute to shaping a present that is so un-exportable, the discourse
of tourism ignores the problem and opts for the path of least resistance. The image
serves to set identity in the market (Harvey, 1998: 319). Today, all identities depend
on images that can maintain them and thus, far from representing subject or objects,
such images produce them. Reality has become pure ideology: the ideology no longer
covers or mediates anything, it is the foundation itself of reality and its constitutive
agent. It is reality itself, reality that has become ideological (Z

izek, 1992).
I think that the best way to explain this situation can be found in characterizing
the state of contemporary culture based on its strongly cynical component
(Sloterdijk, Z

izek, Ubilluz). This does not mean only that we nd ourselves before a
system of global organization that has commodied everything and, by divorcing itself
from history, has opted for a postcard image. Rather, this means showing that
cynicism understood as institutionalized rationality is the cultural nucleus of
capitalist globalization. And thus it is the main producer of discourses that force the
subject to believe and enjoy a fantasy that is emptied of all historical antagonisms
and that sells all to the highest bidder. The past is useful only when it is protable and
pliable.
L AT I N AME RI CAN CUL T URAL S T UDI E S 8
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

Understood as that knowledge that is hidden or that which is known but denied,
cynicism is a central component of the contemporary neoliberal culture. Cynicism is
the discourse of denial through which Peru has become subject to the demand for the
exotic imposed by the global market. Life is held hostage by the image, reality by
ideology, and history by the market. Peruvians know that what The Royal Tour shows
is false, that the indigenous people do not live in that way, that Peru is not like that, but
this does not matter as business justies all. Today, what matters is responding passively
to the commands of the outside (Be exotic so that we can come and see you!) and in this way
we continue to be trapped in a clearly colonial relationship. Under the singular
imperative of doing business, we end up counterfeiting ourselves, and convinced of the
cynical conclusion that we have no other hand left to play.
Addendum
During the military dictatorship of Odria, one phrase characterized his regime: one
cannot eat democracy. With this phrase, the military chief tried to justify a political
system that also failed to give Peruvians something to eat and that became one of the
darkest and most despicable regimes in Peruvian history. In the same way, one could
nish reading this article and reach a claim formulated with similar terms: one cannot
eat theory and if tourism brings some income then it is ne that it continues operating
in this fashion.
Indeed, we nd ourselves before a difcult dilemma. When do we use our history
to attract resources without betraying ourselves? In other words, how do we use the
intercultural potential of diverse Peruvian identities without falling into the trap of
eroticizing ourselves to satisfy the desire of the more powerful? Is it possible that
tourism could articulate a better and more interesting narrative based on the reality of
the country? Is it imaginable that tourism could become a space of reection in which
visitors could be more conscious of the antagonisms and possibilities of the present?
One thing seems certain: the extreme pragmatism that is being imposed upon
us (which could well be summarized by the phrase act without thinking, just do it) is
unacceptable. We should imagine and propose other more creative mechanisms with
which to narrate our history (and our identities) in order to introduce them politically
on the global stage. Spivak (1996) speaks of strategic essentialism, that is, a way in
which supposedly xed and stable identities can be manipulated to gain greater rights.
What I would like to suggest is that performance can be as much a weapon of liberation
as an iron cage. Tourism should be a space that articulates state promotion and private
initiatives with the participation of local populations. Tourism can no longer be the
ventriloquists story of a demand for exoticism that serves to silence and make
invisible. This is a question of options, of cultural politics, of cultural agents and actors
who are committed to not resigning themselves to a cynicism that is all too widespread.
Notes
1 So far, four programmes of this type have been completed: Jordan (2002), New Zealand
(2002), Peru (2005) and Jamaica (2005).
T HE ROY AL T OUR OF AL E J ANDRO T OL E DO 9
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

2 As one might suspect, the script was written in Lima by Peruvian ofcials but always
taking into account the ofcial instructions of the producers. Direct testimonies
conrm that the negotiations between the various actors were constant but that at the
moment of recording the programme, it was clear that President Toledo wished to
please the North American producers, going against the advice of many of his own press
advisers. This is hardly of marginal importance as many of the images analysed here will
demonstrate.
3 For example, the assassination of the former mayor of Ilave in Puno took place around
this time. A chronology of the government can be found in Grompone (2005).
4 I noted this phrase during a good conversation that we had in the Instituto de Estudios
Peruanos on the morning of 22 July 2005.
References
Canepa, Gisella. 2004. Los antropologos y los sucesos de Ilave. Quehacer 148 (Mayojunio):
2631.
Grompone, Romeo. 2005. La escision inevitable. Partidos y movimientos en el Peru actual. Lima:
IEP.
Harvey, David. 1998. La condicion posmoderna. Investigaciones sobre los or genes del cambio
cultural. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu.
Mignolo, Walter. 1999. Diferencia colonial y razon post-occidental. In La reconstruccion de
las ciencias sociales, edited by Santiago Castro-Gomez. Bogota: Instituto Pensar.
Reguillo, Rossana. 2005. Horizontes fragmentados. Comunicacion, cultura, pospol tica. El desorden
global y sus guras. Guadalajara: ITESO.
Spivak, Gaytri. 1996. Subaltern talk. In The Spivak Reader, edited by Donna Landry, and
Gerald Maclean. New York: Routledge.
Vich, Cynthia. 2003. 29 de julio de 2001: Toledo en el Cusco o Pachacutec en el mercado
global. In Batallas por la memoria: antagonismos de la promesa peruana, edited by Marita
Hamman, Santiago Lopez Maguina, Gonzalo Portocarrero, and V ctor Vich. Lima:
Red para el desarrollo de las Ciencias Sociales en el Peru.
Z

izek, Slavoj. 1992. El sublime objeto de la ideolog a. Mexico DF: Siglo XXI.
Z

izek, Slavoj. 2003. A proposito de Lenin: pol tica y subjetividad en el capitalismo tard o. Buenos
Aires: Atuel.
Victor Vich has a PhD in Latin American Literature from Georgetown University, USA.
He is currently Associate Professor at Ponticia Universidad Catolica del Peru and
researcher at Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP). He has published several articles in
different journals and three books: El discurso de la calle: los comicos ambulantes y las
tensiones de la modernidad en el Peru (Lima, 2001), El Canibal es el otro: violencia y cultura
en el Peru contemporaneo (Lima, 2002) y Oralidad y poder (Bogota, 2004).
L AT I N AME RI CAN CUL T URAL S T UDI E S 1 0
D
o
w
n
l
o
a
d
e
d

b
y

[
U
V
A

U
n
i
v
e
r
s
i
t
e
i
t
s
b
i
b
l
i
o
t
h
e
e
k

S
Z
]

a
t

0
7
:
5
4

1
2

M
a
r
c
h

2
0
1
3

You might also like