Concealment, coexistence, and citizenship: (Post-)conflict strategies of survival and inclusion in Sacsamarca, Peru

Abstract

What happens when the memory duty—the idea that remembrance leads to prevention, redemption, and recognition—intersects with a contentious past of violence between “intimate enemies”? This article turns to the microhistory of a small highland town that became a scenery of both collaboration and resistance during the insurgency of the Maoist rebels of Shining Path in Peru (1980–2000) to answer this question. An analysis of the (post-)conflict strategies deployed by the villagers reveals processes of both appropriation and contestation of the memory duty. On the one hand, the heroic narrative of resistance against Shining Path that dominates public remembrance in Sacsamarca serves to demand recognition by the Peruvian state for the community’s role in opposing the Maoist revolutionaries. On the other, putting emphasis on resistance enables the villagers to downplay their initial support for Shining Path, a necessary precondition for claiming reparations and citizenship as well as for maintaining a tense coexistence between community members.