Education and Collective Memory in Peru

8/12/2019 Education and Collective Memory in Peru

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Education and collective

memory in Peru

Remembering a violent past for

constructing a democratic citizenship

Francesca Uccelli


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Content

Peruvian characteristics and context

Brief history of internal armed conflict (IAC)

Role of education during the years of violence Education and collective memory


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Peruvian characteristics

and current context

Total population: 30 millions

Complex territory: the Pacific coast area, the Andean area and the Amazonian.

Peru is a multilingual and multicultural country. The official and the most

spoken language is Spanish (84%) but there are also other native languages

spoken such as Quechua (13%), Aymara (1.7%), more than 40 other differentlanguages in the Amazonian area (1%). The foreign language represents only

0.1%

15 years of sustained economic growth but mainly based on commodity

(mining)

Poverty rate fell from 58.7% to 25.8% between 2004 and 2012

Poor and unequal educational, health and safety public system

Diversity is extremely associated with inequality: The majority of the

indigenous people live in rural areas and in the poorest areas of the country.

Recent history of violence and authoritarianism: the 80s and 90s decades

were years of intern armed conflict, democracy and economic crisis and

human rights violations.


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Regions in Peru

4


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Graphic N1: Learning Achievements in reading

comprehension and poverty: 2 grade elementary students

with sufficient level in performance test

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

Huancavelica

Huanuco

Puno

Cajamarca

Loreto

Apurimac

Ayacucho

Pasco

Amazonas

Piura

Ucayali

SanMartin

Cusco

Junin

Ancash

LaLibertad

Lambayeque

Callao

Moquegua

Arequipa

Lima

Met

Lima

Prov

Tacna

Ica

Tumbes

MadredeDios

Ms del 50% de la

poblacin es pobre

Menos del 50% de la

poblacin es pobre

Fuente: MINEDU - UMC 2004

Meta 2011 Comunicacin Integral

Elaboracin: MEF

More than 50% of the population is poor Less than 50% of the population is poor


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Brief history of internal

armed conflict Sendero Luminoso Communist Party of Perua

political Marxist, Leninist, Maoist group commonly known

as the Shining Pathdeclared war to State in 1980.

The internal armed conflict last two decades (80s and 90s)

The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission

(TRC) was established in 2001 to examine abuses

committed during the 1980s and 1990s.

An estimated of 69,000 people had been killed or had

disappeared during the years of violence.

Most of the victims were indigenous people from the Andes,

mostly peasant (56%) quechua speakers (75%), poor

(68%) who lives in rural areas (79%).

Shining Path was responsible for most of the deaths and

disappearances and it is classified as a terrorist

organization. Many atrocities are attributed also to the armed forces and

the police during the years of violence.

The population was attacked and human rights were

systematic violated by terrorist and state.


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Claudia Martinez, plastic artist. Invisible. Shining Path pamphlet

Ayacucho


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Role of education during

the conflict

Shining Paths main ideologist is a philosophy professor at

National University in Ayacucho.

Shining Path take over public education (schools, universities and

institutions of teacher training) to spread its ideology.

Many teachers joined the Shining Path

Also many teachers were killed by the Shining Path or by armed

forces and the police.

Authoritarian, intolerant and uncritical character of the school

allowed to accept violence as a legitimate means of claim. Decades of neglect of the education sector by the government

allowed all those situations.

In order to prevent that education system would never be used

again to incite violence, The TRC recommended a radical

institutional reform of public education.


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A public primary school

Photo: Anbal Solimano, 1989.


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San Marcos public university


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Main findings

1. School does not play any role in teaching of the IAC

2. Controversial teacher and students' discourse about Shining Path

and the State during the violence.

3. Students sources of knowledge are family memories and

information in media

4. Teachers were actors and witness of violence.

1. They dont know what and how to teach of the IAC

2. They feel afraid and insecure of teaching about IAC

3. Some of them need mental health help to overcome theirexperience with political violence

5. Social environment does not legitimize the approaches to the

topic

6. There is not educational policy of collective memory


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Policy issues

When the project began in 2012, teaching about the internal armed

conflict was not a subject on the public agenda.

When the MOVADEF, a new political arm of Shining Path, tried to

register as a political party that year, there was a renewed andurgent demand by the media and the public to address the events

of the past in schools so that new generations could understand

and learn from those experiences.

IEP was invited to participate in working meetings with authorities

and technical teams within the Ministry, and to participate in publicseminars and forums.

International Education and Memory seminar at IEP: explored the

concept and experiences of memory and recent history in the

education of children and young people in different countries.


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Discussion

Why, when and how to teach a

recent violent and shamed

past?


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Discussion

Recent violence past could be a mean

to discuss:

Diversity and discrimination Lack of empathy

Radicalism and fundamentalism

Inequality and social justice Violence as a mean of rights claim

Human Rights and Democracy


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Discussion

Teaching the IAC is a way to:

Learn to use different sources of information

Develop critical thinking

Understand how history is constructed

Confront antidemocratic discourse and

practices

Clarifies doubts about the past and imagine adifferent future.


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Thank you

Documents

Education and Collective Memory in Peru