El conflicto armado vivido en Perú entre 1980 y 2000 constituye sin lugar a dudas el más triste episodio de la historia reciente del país. Durante ese periodo, y como consecuencia de la guerra declarada entre la agrupación terrorista Sendero Luminoso y las Fuerzas Armadas, se contabilizaron un aproximado de más 70 mil víctimas mortales. En esta cifra no se incluyen las incontables personas desaparecidas, cuyas familias –víctimas indirectas del conflicto-, mantienen todavía viva la esperanza de reencontrarse algún día. Terminado el conflicto, el país atraviesa por un periodo de transición en el que se desarrollan una serie de procesos con el fin de restablecer la democracia, fortalecer la institucionalidad, impulsar mecanismos para que la violencia no se repita y construir un nuevo tejido social el cual garantice el respeto a la dignidad y los derechos humanos. En este marco el desarrollo de una memoria que coadyuve a estos procesos se hace una necesidad en el Perú. El conflicto armado significó para muchos peruanos un quiebre en la armonía de las relaciones personales, familiares y sociales esto debido a las diversas posturas políticas que despertó el actuar de Sendero Luminoso. Para mí también tuvo gran repercusión pues como miembro de una familia donde la militancia política era característica esencial las discusiones en torno al actuar del gobierno y de los partidos políticos frente a este grupo terrorista fue un tema de ocupación constante. Durante mi niñez y adolescencia crecí con la presencia aterradora de Sendero en mi barrio, en la familia, en el colegio y más tarde en la universidad. La guerra interna marcó la mitad de mi vida, desde la niñez —cinco años— hasta los 25 años que fue el término no solo del conflicto, sino también de la dictadura del gobierno de Alberto Fujimori y con ello el retorno a la democracia en el Perú. El tiempo de conflicto lo recuerdo como época fue muy difícil para mí. Los atentados terroristas, la pérdida de seres queridos, los entrenamientos en la escuela para sobrevivir a las bombas, los paros armados que impedían la circulación, las discusiones en las familias sobre las posturas frente a Sendero y a la forma de cómo el Estado abordaba esta problemática, fue la realidad que se vivió no solo en mi casa sino en muchas otras familias durante en ese periodo. A esto se sumó que debido a la crisis económica que trajo la guerra mi familia pasó por una situación muy difícil que llevó a mi madre a dejar el hogar para ir a trabajar como responsable de una Unidad de Servicios Educativos (USE) en provincia, específicamente en zona de conflicto. A pesar de la distancia física tuvimos que convivir con constantes amenazas de muerte. En este contexto comprendí que estar frente a los terroristas o al ejército significaba el mismo riesgo, pues cualquiera de ellos podría de un momento a otro cumplir sus amenazas. Por otra parte, la existencia de familiares cercanos vinculados y perseguidos a causa del terrorismo hizo que sintiera que de alguna manera la guerra no era lejana, no se daba en la sierra cerca de los andes, sino también en la costa, en Lima, en mi familia. A causa de esta experiencia el deseo y compromiso para que esta violencia no se repita nació y se afianzó en mi pensamiento durante los años del conflicto. Más adelante la logré concretizar desde mi labor como docente. Con esta experiencia de vida orienté mi desarrollo profesional hacia una promoción de una cultura de paz, derechos humanos y allí en el camino me encontré con el tema memoria. Educar en y para la memoria significó para mí una esperanza para la construcción de una sociedad sin violencia. Durante este recorrido las recomendaciones del informe final de la Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación emitido en el 2003 se convirtió en mi guía y fuerza en todo el recorrido de mi labor docente y me acompañan hasta hoy. Como parte de mi compromiso docente con la no violencia fui enviada en el año 2007 por la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Católica del Perú para un perfeccionamiento en calidad educativa, organizado por InWent, GmbH (International Weiterbildung und Entwicklung GmbH) y el Instituto Paulo Freire de la Universidad Libre de Berlín, gracias a este programa pude profundizar en los temas de educación en la memoria y en los enfoques pedagógicos para su trabajo con poblaciones que habían sufrido violencia. A partir de ello pude elaborar un programa para trabajar la memoria con docentes y alumnos. Más adelante decidí estudiar una maestría en Derechos Humanos en la cual también desarrollé una investigación bajo la temática de pedagogía de memoria y educación en derechos humanos para docentes. Al término de este estudio es cuando decido ampliar el trabajo pedagógico de memoria e investigar cómo se desarrolla esta en la sociedad. Es por ello que postulo a una beca para poder iniciar estudios doctorales con esta temática. Luego de casi un año de investigación, me doy cuenta la importancia de tuvo haber dejado mi país para poder retomar temas que para mí misma eran muy difíciles pues mi contexto ya no era como las investigaciones anteriores con docentes, sino observar cómo fue manifestando el tema de la violencia en la sociedad. Los recuerdos de la experiencia de mi familia, de amigos, de los medios de comunicación abordando el tema vinieron uno a uno a mi mente con mucha claridad y esta vez en la distancia sin la convulsión de aquellos años adquirían para mí nuevos significados que me permitían entender aún más lo vivido. Ahora al término de la experiencia de investigación puedo decir que el hecho de haberla realizado en un contexto diferente al peruano me ha permitido también indagar sobre mi país y mi cultura desde otra perspectiva. Por consiguiente, puedo decir que realizar el trabajo en Alemania, ha significado una oportunidad para tomar distancia y poder observar diversos aspectos de la realidad. Además, es importante señalar la distancia física me ha permitido también hace cierta distancia emocional a partir de ello tomar contacto con situaciones dolorosas que no me serían posibles estando en mi país. Quisiera señalar también que el espacio proporcionado por la sociedad alemana para realizar esta investigación ha sido de gran utilidad porque me ha permitido conocer que es posible institucionalizar recursos orientados a la prevención de actos violentos, en concordancia con la promoción de una cultura de paz que busca el respeto a los derechos del otro. Alemania, luego de la experiencia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial ha logrado desarrollar una visión pedagógica de la memoria orientada al futuro, cuyos objetivos están dirigidos principalmente hacia el respeto a los derechos humanos, la inclusión y la prevención de violencia. El conocimiento de ello permitió también mi acercamiento a la realidad peruana desde una perspectiva del otro que me permitió observar desde las miradas de las víctimas e investigar sus las necesidades en torno al establecimiento de una sociedad más justa y digna para todos. El mirar a través de los ojos del otro, en este caso a través de una cultura de la memoria como la alemana, ha contribuido tanto a nivel personal como en la investigación. Me ha permitido reconocer los factores que posibilitan y obstaculizan la construcción de vínculos sociales. Asimismo, he podido tomar contacto con un enfoque pedagógico de la memoria, que consiste en mirar y analizar el pasado, para de esta manera entender le presente y poder orientarse a un futuro esperanzador. El ser testigo de la importancia del respeto al otro en estos procesos ha sido un aprendizaje importante para mí. Esta experiencia me ha permitido tener contacto con víctimas directas del conflicto armado en mi país y descubrir por medio de los diálogos con ellas un conjunto de conceptos profundos que revelan la riqueza de mi cultura y con ello el interés de construir una sociedad más humana. Con estas personas se ha desarrollado esta investigación. A partir del contacto con la población afectada por la violencia se buscó un aspecto que represente el sentir e inquietud de cada una de ellas. Teniendo esto como horizonte se logró elaborar durante todo el proceso la siguiente cuestión de investigación: ¿Qué demandas manifiestan las víctimas del conflicto armado interno para el establecimiento de un nuevo tejido social? La metodología planteada para la investigación fue principalmente la Teoría Fundamentada, gracias a esta se pudo durante el todo el proceso reformular tanto la cuestión de investigación como los objetivos para poder acercarnos de manera más próxima a lo que manifestaron los participantes en las entrevistas y grupos de enfoque realizados. Asimismo, durante la investigación podremos apreciar algunos lineamientos del método biográfico dado que a partir de sus experiencias de vida las víctimas explican diversos conceptos. Si bien el objetivo principal que resultó del proceso de investigación es, como se ha mencionado, descubrir las demandas de las víctimas del conflicto armado interno para el establecimiento de un nuevo tejido social, otros cuatro objetivos específicos han resultado a partir del propio proceso: 1\. Identificar la relación que existe entre las demandas planteadas por las víctimas para el establecimiento de un nuevo tejido social y los contenidos propios de la cultura andina a la cual pertenecen. 2\. Identificar la importancia que tiene para las víctimas del conflicto armado, el establecimiento de un nuevo tejido social. 3\. Identificar la relación que las víctimas hacen entre memoria y construcción del tejido social. 4\. Explicar la relación que establecen las víctimas entre los conceptos de empatía-compasiva, reconocimiento, perdón, reconciliación y alteridad; con la construcción de un nuevo tejido social.
This research seeks to address the need for victims of the internal armed conflict in Peru to build a social fabric that allows them to live with dignity and to establish non-repetition of violence agreements. Within this framework, memory, for the victims, represents the tool that allows the construction of this fabric, because within the exercise of memory is the desire that the past not be repeated. This conception of memory that victims propose has been posed and developed by organizations that defend human rights, by investigative commissions for conflicts, or truth commissions, in order to restore peace after periods of violence. Even if the reference to “memory” conventionally is mentioned in the singular, it leads to the plurality of a collective´s remembrances, therefore a reference to “memories” is considered (Jelin, 2012). This conception of memories has a pedagogical perspective, hence the name, pedagogy of memory. The pedagogical basis for this lies in an ethical focus that drives an approach and analysis of the past which allows an understanding of it in the present. In this way, lessons from the past can be drawn that make it possible in the future to not repeat actions that violate the dignity of the person (Bárcena and Mèlich, 2015). Likewise, this pedagogical perspective is based on an ethics of alterity which proposes responsibility for the one who suffers, and necessitates, as a central concern, bond-building--for only as long as this is taken on, can a dignified and fair society be built (Levinas, 2014). The research process was conducted in the city of Ayacucho, where the internal armed conflict began. Ayacucho, located in the Peruvian highlands and with a completely indigenous population, suffered in the greatest magnitude the effects of terrorist violence. The problematic circumstances of the country— centralism, abandonment, and discrimination by government authorities— was the breeding ground for the start of the conflict. After twenty years of violence and a transition period, the population of Ayacucho seeks up to this day to restore the social fabric fractured by violence. For them, memories are configured as a hope by which the building of a caring society will be achieved. It also implies a responsibility to build a more humane space that chooses peace and respect for the rights of each person. In this sense, this research aims to show the feelings, thoughts, and concepts that have been drawn from interactions with the victims about what is understood by “memories” and the way in which they contribute in the building of the social fabric. It is important to note that the research findings also hold an ethical and philosophical approach extracted from the experience of those who participated in this research. A pedagogical perspective aimed at building a social fabric based on the recognition and respect for human dignity is one of these findings as well. The research consists of five parts in which it is intended to show the way in which the victims conceive the process of building a social fabric. Below the contents of each part of the research are briefly presented. The first part of the research deals with the referential framework of the country’s situation. The importance of this section lies in the development of the Peruvian context during the twentieth century and its relationship with the causes that led to the armed conflict, which lasted from 1980 to 2000. The governments that existed during those twenty years are also referenced. After the end of the conflict the country goes through a transition period in which the Truth Commission is created and established, led by Dr. Solomon Lerner, a recognized Peruvian philosopher. A year after the commission was instituted, a mention of Reconciliation is added as a concept considered necessary for the establishment of the social fabric. At the end of the work of the commission a final report was issued, which listed some guidelines for the country to make a memory process in order to not repeat violent events. Since 2003, when the final report of the Truth Commission was released, the victims of the conflict have show the need for memory to be part of the national agenda and for its development in the country to be a priority. In the second part of the research, theoretical reflections on the concept of memory have been developed: its perspectives, its plural construction, and the performance of these in society. It also approaches the concept of “memories” from a pedagogical approach which is based on learning from the past and thus looks to the future. This perspective, sustained on philosophical and ethical frameworks, is based in alterity and the responsibility towards the other, a contemporary thought of philosopher Levinas. With these considerations, the guiding of the development of memories as a linking element in the building of the social fabric has a correspondence with human rights, as both put their focus on safeguarding human dignity. Also, because the study sample is the Andean population, this section develops an approach to the Andean culture in order to understand the meaning of memory in this context. In the third part, the methodological framework of the research is conducted. This section explains in detail the process of research, which is also influenced by my own experience. Having also been a victim of the armed conflict was favorable to me in approaching and accessing victims. Given this circumstance, it was possible to establish deep dialogues and for people to share their experiences and their related feelings. This situation was an advantage for the development of the research and for the construction of this question: What are the demands the victims make for the establishment of a new social fabric. Given this issue, a qualitative method was proposed for interpretation and analysis of the research: the development of “Grounded Theory”, since it favors the analysis of the population in its own environment and focuses on how people perceive the phenomenon. Starting from this, theoretical guidelines that respond to the reality of the population can be established. In other words, it is the data provided by people in the research that generates the understanding of the phenomenon (Hernandez et al., 2010). Also, the justification of the method is based in the openness to sensitive and concrete expression of the subjects in their own environment, a possibility provided by Grounded Theory. This understanding, according to Glaser and Strauss, favors the understanding of complex phenomena (Hernández et al., 2010). It is appropriate to note that due to the investigation´s topic, some guidelines of the biographical method have also been used in order to understand how some concepts are lived or understood in the population. In the fourth part, the analysis of data is presented. The application of grounded theory to the analysis process has allowed the identification of three base categories by which the analysis process is carried out. These categories have been identified and confirmed by the process of saturation. The identified categories correspond to the concepts of need and indifference, both of them experienced in society by the victims of the armed conflict. Regarding the need, victims express that the government does not show any support to reverse this situation; on the contrary, it is responsible for the existence of economic and social need. Also its indifference to the demands of the victims becomes a situation that generates constant discomfort and frustration among the population believing that these actions are not recognized as part of society. Victims identify and clearly describe the difficult social dynamic in which they live after the end of the conflict. This dynamic shows a fractured social fabric which, if it persists, will generate much suffering and prevent them from building new social connections. Faced with this difficult reality in which the victims live, far from giving up on themselves, they express hope in their memories, because through them they position themselves to build a social fabric from a framework of justice and peace, this argument is supported in the conception of the group from the Andean culture. Grounded in their cultural background the victims manifest the existence of some requirements for the concept of memory to fulfill its hopeful role and to have an impact on the construction of a more dignified society. Supported in their cultural vision the victims also manifest the existence of some actions that would reveal if they are truly dealing with a responsible memory that seeks analysis, learning from the past, and a commitment to the future. These actions are the following: the search for truth, justice, and reparation, and the promotion of forgiveness and reconciliation. The fifth part of the investigation consists of a final report divided in a general thesis and four secondary ones. This report considers the theoretical approaches that come from the analysis of data. Likewise, the data respond to the objectives that have been developed throughout the research process. The general thesis identifies the actions that the victims have for the establishment of a dignified and fair society. These aspirations show a perspective of memory that emphasizes an understanding of the past and that is oriented to the future. This perspective plays an important role in the construction of a new social fabric. Throughout the development of this thesis, it can be identified that victims understand the concept of relationship as the linchpin of these actions, this based on the basic principle of Andean culture, which seeks the maintenance of collective because in this is founded the harmony with the environment. For the victims, the recognition of dignity starts with concrete actions that show interest in the existence of the other, since it is with others that society is built. In this sense, they identify indifference an attitude that does not build social links and attacks the human nature. In the Andean culture all the actions performed by mankind are ruled by the principle of relatedness and because of this deep way of thinking, of this on-going consciousness, victims can point very clearly the urgent need of proper actions and corrections in order to develop a society that is more human, more responsible of each other and their environment, dignified and hence, fair and supportive. The actions identified from interventions with the victim population have been termed as follows: empathy-compassionate, authentic recognition, forgiveness and reconciliation and otherness as a principle for responsibility and exercise of memory. For a better understanding of each of these actions expressed by the victims, four secondary ones have been developed. The first one states that compassionate empathy is understood as a necessity for the development of human relationships. Empathy for victims is configured as an approach to another person and therefore opposes indifference. This approach was the first thing devastated by violence, hence the need to recover it. For victims, the approach to another person starts with the most basic and fundamental gesture such as looking in each others eyes. This is the first step toward accesing another. This attitude brings us together, makes relationship possible, and it is through it that compassion can awaken. Victims understand this compassion as something active that generates actions, gives rise to commitment and responsibility, and in short, as what moves the person to prevent the suffering of others. The relationship they establish between empathy and compassion is what enables the connection between people. It is, for them, the first step to building a social fabric. The second aspiration states that an authentic acknowledgement is the foundation for the development of decent, fair, and supportive social bonds. For victims, this acknowledgement is the result of compassionate empathy, because only through it will social and political actions also be achieved at a social and political level. For victims, the mention of an authentic acknowledgement has an important connotation because this concept has been made reference to in many political speeches. However, the mention has not been accompanied by any actions that show it, hence the victims refer to authenticity as a condition that impacts the behavior of the government towards those who suffer, as this will be the base for building a decent, fair and supportive social fabric. The suffering and abandonment the victims have experienced since before the conflict is what sustains the approach to building a social fabric. They consider that before the conflict, there was also no authentic recognition of their status as human beings. The third refers to the concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation as actions required for a memory for the future. The victims argue that without these it is not possible to speak of a future-oriented memory. Memory for the Andean culture which will enable the restoration of ties. Understanding memory from the Andean goes beyond recall, it is a reflection that generates hope that in future what caused the rupture of the collective does not repeat. Forgiveness for the Andean culture is understood as a necessary process in order to live in peace. Both the request for forgiveness as well as the granting of it, would offer the possibility of a new beginning, both personally and socially. Acknowledgement is understood as a preliminary step to forgiveness and reconciliation, and to the extent that it occurs authentically the process of forgiveness and reconciliation will be more feasible for victims. For victims, reconciliation and forgiveness processes are the most important ones in human and thus social relationships. For that reason, effective requests for forgiveness, and reconciliation processes, would be the result of a desire to build a more just and humane society, and thus the principle of relatedness prevail. The fourth refers to the concept of alterity. It is understood as an essential condition for the development of a memory oriented towards the building of the social fabric. The mention of alterity that victims make is based on the way they have learned to interact within Andean culture. Therefore, concern for others and feeling responsible for the other person they are relating to, are not novelties but a necessity for building society. This responsibility is grounded in the recognition of the other as a human being. In other words, feeling affection for the other, even if they are a stranger, is something that is part of Andean society, and it is not possible to be indifferent to others’ suffering. For the victims the responsibility toward the other, their neighbor, transcends life itself. They even feel responsibility for those who are dead, to ensure that what happened to them is not repeated. For this reason, to remember what was lived is a way of taking responsibility in order to avoid the repetition of the violent events that violate human dignity. Only with this exercise of memory can a new social fabric be built, where every person can answer for the other and thus build a decent and fair space for everyone. In this understanding, we can say that the exercise of memory in the Andean culture carries many meanings. Memory, within the Andean culture, is to remember, recognize,discover and make judgments. In sum, it involves a thoughtful exercise aimed at building a future in wich relationality prevails between those who form the society. In this sense, to remember the victims will enable the construction of a social fabric where everyone can be responsible for the other and so build from the present a worthy and just space to those who are and those who will come. Conclusion and Final Thoughts After the research, one of the conclusions that can be identified is that the victims of the internal armed conflict in Peru have developed a concept of memory that is the axis for the construction of a social fabric. This concept builds its bases on the principle of relatedness, which guides all the Andean people's way of thinking, feeling and acting. For the Andean culture the memory is plural because it hosts many remembrances with which an analysis can be made to draw lessons from the past so that violence will not be repeated. In this sense, memory Memory is an element that is at the service of building society, i.e. it means hope for building a more humane social fabric that in this way helps to maintain the principle of relatedness. Memory for the victims is the hope to build a society. Through the exercise of it, processes of forgiveness and reconciliation can be generated. The victims are aware that this process is not easy, yet they are willing to do it because of their desire to build a decent society for everyone, in which every person is committed to work for peace and non- violence this in line with the principles of their culture. It is important to note that within this framework of reflection, the role of the government is vital for building a social fabric, as it is understood and posed by the victims. However, progress in this aspect occurs very slowly since memory is not listed as part of the national agenda. This situation reinforces the perception around the indifference of the government toward the needs of victims. To finish, it is important to mention that this investigation has approached a reality that is still very painful for the country. Despite this, the depth with which the victims have expressed their own process of memory shows the commitment they have to build a more just and decent society. Likewise, it manifests the commitment they have, not only to the deceased victims of violence, but also to the coming generations.
