Between Play and War. Psychological and Sociocultural Resources of Asháninka Children in the Face of Political Violence

This text is situated within the singularly dramatic framework of political violence, which having erupted in the 1980s extended into the early 1990s. Specifically, it grows from the work experience of the CAAAP mental health team with Asháninka people of the Peruvian central jungle. Both the psychologists who carried out the program and the leadership of that institution deserve credit for having successfully combined psychotherapeutic care for victims with the gathering of valuable elements for understanding indigenous populations, in close interaction with the world that surrounds them. The fruit obtained abundantly demonstrates how children in situations of helplessness can build more promising alternatives if they are accompanied in their development with empathy and a sufficiently broad horizon of knowledge. Essential is the systematic follow-up of the process, filled with imponderables and ups and downs, which demands the contribution of professionals who maintain a greater distance than those doing fieldwork. (Excerpt from the presentation).