Intimate Enemies: Violence and Reconciliation in Peru

Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights

by Kimberly Theidon

"Received Honorable Mention for the 2013 Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America from the Washington Office on Latin America-Duke University Libraries Received Honorable Mention for the 2013 Eileen Basker Prize from the Society for Medical Anthropology" In the aftermath of a civil war, former enemies are left living side by side—and often the enemy is a son-in-law, a godfather, an old schoolmate, or the community that lies just across the valley. Though the internal conflict in Peru at the end of the twentieth century was incited and organized by insurgent Senderistas, the violence and destruction were carried out not only by Peruvian armed forces but also by civilians. In the wake of war, any given Peruvian community may consist of ex-Senderistas, current sympathizers, widows, orphans, army veterans—a volatile social landscape. These survivors, though fully aware of the potential danger posed by their neighbors, must nonetheless endeavor to live and labor alongside their intimate enemies. Drawing on years of research with communities in the highlands of Ayacucho, Kimberly Theidon explores how Peruvians are rebuilding both individual lives and collective existence following twenty years of armed conflict. Intimate Enemies recounts the stories and dialogues of Peruvian peasants and Theidon's own experiences to encompass the broad and varied range of conciliatory customary law before and after the war, the practice of arrepentimiento (publicly confessing one's actions and requesting pardon from one's peers), a differentiation between forgiveness and reconciliation, and the importance of storytelling to make sense of the past and recreate moral order. The micropolitics of reconciliation in these communities present an example of postwar coexistence that deeply complicates the way we understand transitional justice, moral sensibilities, and social life in the aftermath of war. Any effort to understand postconflict reconstruction must be attuned to devastation as well as to human tenacity for life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology

480 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Anu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kimberly Theidon is one of my favourite professors, so this is very well a biased rating. That said, it remains one of the best text books on transitional justice I have read. Intimate Enemies works as a study on transitional justice because it focuses on what few such books do - on the victims.

[Anneliese Peerbolte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read chapters 1 and 2 for my Spanish course, regarding Peruvian communist history and civil war. This book is so incredibly powerful and well written. I simply must read more. Later. Soon.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theidon talks about how Truth and Reconciliation Commissions are "victim-driven," and then this book goes on to further prioritize the "victim" perspective behind the official reports and behind the violence. She does a great job challenging the victim and perpetrator categories and the presentations of violence, loyalties, and reconciliation attempts through an emphasis on the voices of the people themselves. As someone particularly interested in both Peru and TRCs, this book was interesting and valuable, but given its length it may be less accessible for people not quite as invested. Further, the prevalence of Peruvian voices made the story particularly powerful, but also made it harder to follow if you don't already have a strong understanding of the Shining Path period in Peru.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous, deeply empathetic, and illuminating ethnographic analysis of the origins and consequences of Peru's civil conflict, comparing villages in the north and south of Ayacucho province. Anthropology at its best. A must-read for anyone interested in debates over truth, justice, and reconciliation in the wake of civil war, as well as those interested in legal pluralism.

[Roxani · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best anthropological, narrative texts I have ever read about violence, memory and the (loaded term) 'reconciliation.' A must-read for anyone who considers questions of memory, individual and collective, trauma, and recovery after mass violence.