Reparations Between Transitional and Development Policies: The Institutional Framing of Post-War Subjects in Peru

• In Event: After Political Violence: Human Rights, Policies, Sequels and memories in Post-War Peru

Abstract

In recent years, significant research has been conducted on the memories and sequels of the victims of the Peruvian internal armed conflict. However, little attention has been paid to analyzing the way in which the categories of "victims" and "post-war subjects" are being shaped by the actually-existing political processes of State Reparations. This presentation focuses on the emerging tensions between two diverging governmental logics for addressing and shaping post-war subjects: one coming from transitional politics –which granted the right to reparations, in the first place– and other coming from development policies –in charge of executing such reparations–. By tracing the trajectories of reparations within government-run welfare programs, a significant shift is addressed: from the aim to repair the past experiences of violence to the palliation of current economic necessities; in other words, changes in temporality (from past to present), traits (from violence to poverty) and legitimacy (from rights to necessities) are simultaneously undertaken. The post-war subject emerging from this shift blends into the broader categories of the “poor” and “populations in need”, and thus jeopardizes the right to reparations of those victims who do not fit into the development programs' criteria. This transit from humanitarianism to (neoliberal) development signals two consequences: the State dismissal of resilience and the remaining need to keep victims' social organizations alive, in order to keep mobilizing for their rights to reparations.

Author

• Rogelio A Scott, Universidad Rovira i Virgili