Affective Economies of Migration

Affective Economies of Migration examines the emotional and sentimental dimensions of the Chinese diaspora in Peru and offers a nuanced analysis of how affective relationships—romantic love, friendship, trust, kinship, and more—were converted into forms of economic capital. Estimates suggest that around five percent of Peruvians have Chinese ancestry as a result of transpacific migration. Challenging conventional historical and literary frameworks, Cuya Gavilano demonstrates how emotions such as love, longing, loss, and hope played a crucial role in enabling social mobility, facilitating community integration, and reshaping the collective trajectory of Chinese Peruvians. Letters, literature, interviews, newspapers, and archival documentation reveal social connections, social change, and upward mobility in communities of Chinese descendants in Peru. Grounded in interdisciplinary scholarship, this book invites readers to reconsider the role of emotion in processes of economic and cultural transformation and belonging across borders.