The Time of Fear (1980-2000). Modern Violence and the Long Duration in Peruvian History
To historicize the recent years of violence in Peru, I would like to identify, analyze, and differentiate apparently similar conjunctures in the long duration of Andean history — moments of eruption of violence akin to the sudden earthquakes that periodically shake this ancient land. Coincidentally, mass political violence has occurred in approximately hundred-year cycles: 1780, 1880, 1980. All were preceded by periods of relative peace and order, developed mainly in the countryside, and involved the indigenous peasantry. (Introduction excerpt).