Wellbeing and Development in Peru: Local and Universal Views Confronted (Studies of the Americas)

This is a very welcome addition to the development literature on Peru both because of the richness of its data and its innovative and methodologically rigorous use of the idea of wellbeing to extract generally applicable insights. An ethnographic approach and a long period in the field in seven poor Peruvian communities, chosen to represent a rural-urban continuum, result in compelling data on how people perceive their situation, on their goals and their experiences of migration and community institutions. The contributors successfully illuminate the differences in the patterns of wellbeing, showing why these differences do not necessarily correspond to objective differences in poverty, education, or employment. The volume concludes with the general implications of their findings for Peru, for international development policy and practice and, finally, for advancing well-being research and theory. - Bryan R. Roberts, Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin; Director of Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies