Pachaticray. The World Upside Down. Testimonies and Essays on Political Violence and Peruvian Culture Since 1980

In 1980, another chapter of political violence begins in Peru. A bloody era that claims the lives of nearly seventy thousand people and forever changes the lives of millions of Peruvians. The cultural output during and after that period is truly impressive. Just to give the example of Peruvian narrative fiction, since 1982 at least 104 writers have published 192 short stories and 47 novels on this subject, but there are many more people who have not published their works. An important task for scholars of Peruvian culture is to gather and analyze the different cultural manifestations concerning political violence. This book takes a step in that direction by bringing together testimonies and essays by intellectuals who approach this subject from many perspectives. The ten testimonies collected here give a sense of the decisions and challenges that many people faced. The writer and journalist Juan Cristóbal writes about the disappearance of a student. The former officer of the Fuerza Aérea del Perú (FAP) and native of Ayacucho, Samuel Cavero, publishes one of the first novels about the insurgency, which causes considerable controversy within the FAP.