(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, 2011-08-18) Méndez Gastelumendi, Cecilia
In Peru the terms Indian and serrano (technically, a person from the hills or the mountains) are used as synonyms, and are frequently considered insults. But it wasn’t always like that. In colonial times the term Indian was not associated with any geographical region in particular. Indians could be found anyplace: on the coast, in the foothills or in the mountains. However, at some moment toward the end of the eighteenth century, and most of all during the course of the nineteenth century, the term Indian came to be intrinsically associated with the mountains, and the word serrano acquired a derogatory connotation. Based on literary, historical and visual sources this article aims to describe the process by which the concept of Indian came to be closely associated with serrano, and how the adjective serrano became a substantive and, finally, how that term ended up in Peru as an insult.
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, 2011-08-18) Aguirre, Carlos
This article explores the short but intense history of the word terruco, a colloquial term which is used as a substitute for terrorist. In particular, the article aims to show that the use of terruco as an insult, although originally aimed at members of groups in arms, contributed decisively during the years of the dirty war and even in recent times, to stigmatize sectors of the Peruvian population, including defenders of human rights, relatives of those detained and other victims of political violence, and in general persons of Indian origin. Its frequent use in torture sessions and episodes of sexual assault added an additional dimension to the connection between the term terruco and generalized forms of abuse and violence which were considered by many Peruvians as necessary and even legitimate during the years of internal armed conflict.
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, 2011-08-18) Ruíz Zevallos, Augusto
This article aims to lead to a deeper understanding of the political project of Alberto Flores Galindo by examining his intellectual work as an historian. It will begin from an internal perspective by looking at the dynamics involved in the incorporation of theoretical and methodological approaches in which Marxist concepts predominate but then which begin to assimilate non-Marxist concepts and currents. At the same time emphasis on structures gives way to emphasis on subjective interpretations. This dynamics of incorporation came to be the theoretical operating mode which he used as an historian and political intellectual which from 1980 on he began to develop as an intellectual construct for the Peruvian left. In order to understand this development we also need to look at the external context, that is, the social, political, and ideological background which allowed him to go beyond his theoretical frontier and fix new limits. In other words, the changing political ambience in Peru influenced the changes in his political and historical thought.
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, 2011-08-18) Chocano, Magdalena
Through an examination of several episodes we will study the persistence of the practice of duels and honor fights in the political atmosphere of republican Peru. Each episode reveals different interests which aimed to maintain the duel as a mechanism to avoid or limit freedom of expression or debate. A good number of members of the political and social elite defended dueling in the press as an acceptable practice even though it was penalized by government law. This attitude can be seen as concomitant with repression of political organizations in the country and the maintaining of a type of patriarchal domination which called for the prolonged exclusion of women from citizenship.