Dogs and "Promos"

Memory, Violence, and Affection in Post-Conflict Peru

Abstract

During the 1980s and 1990s, Peru experienced one of the most violent periods in its contemporary history. The violence perpetrated by both the Shining Path and law enforcement against rural populations was brutal. The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) reported on the various human rights violations perpetrated by the military against civilian populations: extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, torture, and rape. Jelke Boesten and Lurgio Gavilán's book, "Dogs and Promos: Memory, Violence, and Affection in Post-Conflict Peru," is a fundamental text that contextualizes the behavior of the military in emergency zones during the armed conflict. The book's premise is that the violence perpetrated by the military against rural populations did not emerge overnight, nor in a vacuum, but was the product of a ferocious military culture that, at times, facilitated the dehumanization of its own soldiers within the barracks. In a context of polarization due to the armed conflict, the pre-existence of authoritarianism, racism, and systemic violence within the military facilitated the spread of violent practices toward civilian populations.