Affirmative biopolitics: Social and vocational education for Quechua girls in the postcolonial “affectsphere” of Cusco, Peru

A grassroots educational center in Cusco, Peru, mediates the lives of Quechua-speaking girls through postcolonial biopolitical governance, revealing how they navigate rural-to-urban mobility, labor precarity, and tourism-driven professionalization. The study employs an affirmative biopolitical framework to analyze affective responses to education, social care, and vocational training, highlighting contested terrains of youth in urban spaces. This approach contributes to understanding the production of aid, protection, and alternative childhoods in marginalized contexts.

Lin, C.-C. T., Minca, C., & Ormond, M. (2018). Affirmative biopolitics: Social and vocational education for Quechua girls in the postcolonial “affectsphere” of Cusco, Peru. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 36(5), 885–904. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775817753843