“No hay una sola memoria”: Military and Police Encounters with the Place of Memory

• In Event: El Lugar de la Memoria, la Tolerancia y la Inclusión Social: Reflexiones sobre sus procesos, contenido e impacto

Abstract

Based on fieldwork conducted in 2013, this paper examines how representatives from the armed forces and police—institutions at odds with each another, but eager to present their heroes and victims—have encountered the Place of Memory project. Feldman analyzes these sectors’ participation in the LUM (and the perception thereof) as constituting a critical feature of the museum project’s “post-TRC” identity. At the same time, he documents the distrust apparent on both sides of the museological exchanges: military officials noting their disdain for the “caviares” (left elites) involved in the LUM, project officials rolling their eyes at military talk of “excesses,” and a retired policeman expressing concern over the possible display of “dangerous” Shining Path paraphernalia seized years ago. The paper concludes by considering what these observations might tell us about the relationship between national narrative and state power in Peru and other post-conflict nations in the region.

Author

• Joseph P Feldman, University of Florida