Remarks on the Peruvian philosophical profession

This is our sixth installment of The Cocoon Goes Global, a series of posts on what's it like to be a philosopher in different countries outside of the Anglophone west. This is a guest post by David Villena Saldaña, Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru. 

Peru stands out as one of the most cultural and ethnic diverse countries in Latin America. The linguistic indicators of such a diversity are striking. Apart from Spanish, which the law establishes as the official language, 47 other languages are spoken along the country, among them the most spoken indigenous language in all the Americas: Quechua. (Other languages with an important population of speakers are: Aymara, Asháninka, and Awajún.)

Notwithstanding this rich cultural plurality and the lively and elaborate world views it encompasses, the philosophy which is taught at tertiary level for both philosophy and non-philosophy majors is overwhelmingly Western in perspective and scope. It is not uncommon for Peruvian professional philosophers to approach philosophy in complete alienation from Peruvian reality, pressing problems, and intellectual history. In fact, inside the mind of local practitioners philosophy amounts mainly to the consumption of the history of Western philosophy – which in most of the cases means summarizing the works of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, and so on, and seldom trying to expand or reinterpret the ideas and problems addressed by these thinkers.

The alienation is not restricted to the nature of the problems and the way in which they are approached. It also happens that Peruvian professional philosophers tend to work in complete isolation from other Peruvian professional philosophers. There is a pervasive and bewildering mutual ignorance. In addition to ignoring what other philosopher colleagues publish or what they specialize on, in my experience (more than 10 years teaching in several institutions and regions) they even ignore who the others are: their names and numbers. There are islands. Philosophers working in different universities and cities barely know anything about the very existence of their fellow compatriot philosophers.

This phenomenon – which is an epistemic and social deficiency – is not a consequence of the big number of philosophy schools and programs in the country. Actually, out of 143 universities in Peru, only 7 offer currently a degree in Philosophy: 1 in Arequipa (National University of Saint Augustine), 1 in Cusco (National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot), and 5 in Lima (Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University, Federico Villarreal National University, Lima’s Pontifical and Civil Faculty of Theology, National University of San Marcos, and Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) – not quite a disproportion in the distribution of Schools of Philosophy if it is taken into account that around one-third of the country’s population (which is 32 million of inhabitants) lives in Lima. (It is interesting to notice, on the other hand, that 4 universities (Catholic University Sedes Sapientiae, Female University of the Sacred Heart, Alas Peruanas University, and University of Piura) that offered a master degree in Philosophy shut down their respective programs within the last decade. This gives an idea of the local philosophical market’s contraction.)

The cause of the above-mentioned mutual ignorance between colleagues is to be found in the unstructured condition of philosophy as a profession in Peru – in some sense, this fact reflects the corresponding unstructured condition of Peruvian society, which is marked by a huge socioeconomic inequality gap, ubiquitous racism (blatant discrimination and subtle biases), and endlessly regional disputes. This kind of social solipsism and aversion to the others is not new in any sense. It is well exemplified by the thought of Alejandro Deustua (1849-1945), who is recognized as the founder and patriarch of the academic philosophical profession in Peru. He blamed indigenous people for the misfortunes of Peru, recommended not to waste money in education programs targeted to this vast sector of the population, and said that “[t]he Indian is not, and cannot be, anything but a machine” (La cultura nacional, 1937). Analogous racial deprecations against Afro-Peruvians and Chinese Peruvians can be found in the work of José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930), who is the most translated and influential Peruvian social and political thinker of the 20^th century. (Here it is pertinent to mention some figures. Demographically and genetically speaking, Peru is predominantly indigenous. Besides the fact that, according to the last national census, at least 25.8 % of the population is constituted by indigenous people, a recent DNA study conducted by Heinner Guio Chunga found that mestizo people in Peru have the highest concentration of indigenous genes (above 60%) among mixed-race people from all over Latin America.)

One could expect that the entity called to structure and strengthen the philosophical profession is the Peruvian Society of Philosophy, founded in 1940. The truth is that the existence of this Society has been merely nominal during the last quarter of century. I should mention, however, that just few months ago there was an attempt to reconstitute it. There is a new administration. It is too early to assess its labor and methods, though. In any case, it is a fact that for more than two decades the Peruvian Society of Philosophy has neither organized any activities nor supported the access to scholarships for philosophy students nor helped philosophy researchers looking for funding. It has not advertised teaching positions or any other kind of jobs suited to philosophers in the country or overseas either. It has not even backed the biennial organization of the National Congress of Philosophy – last September the 17th edition took place in Huanuco, a city in central Peru.

In part due to the lack of philosophically institutional support, and despite the praiseworthy efforts of the eventual organizers and their disinterested individual collaborators, this Congress habitually does not capture the interest and enthusiasm of professional philosophers and, consequently, does not provide a proper space for engaging in an enriching philosophical discussion. Attendance is composed basically of undergraduate students – who are eager to tour around the country and visit the host city – and people looking cynically for certificates in order to have a thicker CV.

As for getting a job after graduation, the prospects are not auspicious. It takes 5 years for obtaining a bachelor degree in philosophy and the most obvious and realistic post for someone holding that diploma is being a teacher either in a cram school or in a secondary school. People usually spend several years in this kind of job and many just resign themselves to stay in such an industry for life. Among the small percentage of those who, once completing a master program (2 further years), make it into teaching in tertiary level, most of them are not tenure-track and just teach introductory courses to non-philosophy students – for making a decent living they work in numerous universities at the same time and have a massive teaching load. At the end, just a tiny percentage of philosophers get a tenured appointment and teach to philosophy students. This is an elite among professional philosophers – an “elite” mainly in the sense of a small, influential, and well-connected group within a field and not necessarily one defined in terms of the academic excellence of its members.

On top of that, it should be stated that tenured vacancies are not adequately and sufficiently advertised. Public universities advertise them just to the minimum extent necessary in order to fulfill the legislation’s requirements and private universities many times advertise these positions only through internal bulletin boards. This may count as evidence of a piece of common knowledge in the area: available positions have already specific winners even before been advertised. Usually having a good network is more efficient than a strong publication record if someone aspire to get a job as an academic philosopher in Peru. Indeed, a case of an individual lacking any publication and being hired with tenure does not constitute a total exception in the local scene.

Yet getting a tenured post is not a dream job in the context of a system that has been typically neglected by successive governments. In relation to other South American countries, Peru has the lowest investment in education as percentage of GDP and the poorest performance in the PISA tests – unhappily, it is also the country with the highest index of school-age children working (21.8%). Peru has one of the lowest investments in research within the region, and among these already scarce resources the funds allocated to philosophy are negligible. Actually, philosophy as a field is officially excluded for the allocation of funds by the national council promoting research, innovation, and development. As a rule, research funding for philosophers is provided by the university in which they work or by foreign development agencies and NGOs.

Still and all, the complexity of Peruvian reality gives many themes for philosophers to work about. For example, public ethics is a new and vigorous trend flourishing in the recent years and philosophers are being hired by some ministries for giving courses on this topic to public servants. (This interest is not without reason. The last six Peruvian presidents have been involved in serious issues. A. Fujimori is in jail and condemned for corruption, kidnapping, and murder; A. Toledo is under arrest in the USA, charged with corruption, and in a current extradition fight; A. García killed himself six months ago when policemen entered to his house for arresting him under corruption charges; O. Humala spent 9 months in prison last year and is facing currently a corruption trial; P. P. Kuczynski resigned last year from the Presidency in the middle of a corruption scandal and is currently facing a trial; and M. Vizcarra, who is the current President, dissolved the Congress just three weeks ago (Sep 30, 2019) in a movement whose legality is still yet to be determined by the Constitutional Tribunal and that some former congressmen denounce as a coup d'état.)

And finally, as for foreign philosophers looking for a job in Peru, they are not likely to find the available positions advertised in platforms such as PhilJobs, Philos-L or some others similar in nature. As I said lines above, even for local philosophers it is difficult to know about new available positions in the job market. If anything, I recommend to write directly to the small number of philosophy departments asking for information about coming hiring processes. It would be even more effective to already have contacts among Peruvian philosophers with a tenured position (they are the ones who manage the information) and express them your interest to be kept posted about any future available job. Just take into account that philosophy faculties are not international in composition. (There are just two foreign teachers with a tenured position in a School of Philosophy in the country. Both are theologians working for confessional universities. One is a priest and the other, who got the tenured post recently, came to Peru many decades ago not looking for a job, but for family reasons.)

In general, neither faculties nor campuses are international. It is true, however, that every term there is a number of foreign philosophers who visit Peru for giving a talk or participating in a workshop. These events tend to be a kind of pompous and to take place in big auditoriums packed with flags, photographers and cameramen who are streaming online. So do not be surprised by formality and big expectations regarding your talk as well as by excessive respect for your condition of foreigner. Local organizers show great interest in these activities. They are welcoming and friendly. Their enthusiasm turns even bigger if they have a full house attendance. That is the mark of success they upload to their respective websites. As odd as it may sound, it commonly happens that Q&A sessions are neglected in favor of pictures and videos.

Comments

[Ada Agada]

The Peru situation is similar to what obtains in Nigeria. Funding remains the greatest obstacle to philosophy practice in the developing world.

[Italian philosopher who is not working in Italy]

"At the end, just a tiny percentage of philosophers get a tenured appointment and teach to philosophy students. This is an elite among professional philosophers – an “elite” mainly in the sense of a small, influential, and well-connected group within a field and not necessarily one defined in terms of the academic excellence of its members.

On top of that, it should be stated that tenured vacancies are not adequately and sufficiently advertised. Public universities advertise them just to the minimum extent necessary in order to fulfill the legislation’s requirements and private universities many times advertise these positions only through internal bulletin boards. This may count as evidence of a piece of common knowledge in the area: available positions have already specific winners even before been advertised. Usually having a good network is more efficient than a strong publication record if someone aspire to get a job as an academic philosopher in Peru. Indeed, a case of an individual lacking any publication and being hired with tenure does not constitute a total exception in the local scene."

This is a perfect description of the Italian academia as well.

[luis escobedo]

Buen articulo del profe Villena; pero le falta el enfoque social de lo que representa ser un filósofo comprometido con una de sus ramas filosóficas que es la política. Hay un divorcio entre teoría y práctica filosófica, solo se tiene la máxima aspiración de ser profesor universitario (según el propio prof. Villena) pero lo fundamental es contribuir a la ciudad como lo hacían en sus comienzos los padres de la filosofía en las ciudades griegas, hay que llevar la filosofía a la ciudad y sobre todo el Estado para lograr cambiar todo lo que vivimos a diario, la presencia de políticos incapaces que solo buscan beneficiarse económicamente. Hay una carencia de intelectuales pensantes que conciban nuevos caminos para salir de esta crisis moral, política, social, etc. Precisamente esa es la razón de ser de la carrera de filosofía en las universidades de lo contrario seguiremos en la misma miseria humana ...

Publicado por: luis escobedo El | 11/11/2019 a las 10:58 AM