Education and collective memory in Peru

Remembering a violent past for constructing a democratic citizenship

Francesca Uccelli

Content
Peruvian characteristics and context Brief history of internal armed conflict (IAC) Role of education during the years of violence Education and collective memory

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 different languages 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.

Regions in Peru

Graphic N1: Learning Achievements in reading comprehension and poverty: 2 grade elementary students with sufficient level in performance test

40.0% 35.0%

More than 50% of the population is poor poblacin es pobre

Meta 2011 Comunicacin Integral 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0%
Ucayali Puno Junin

Ms del 50% de la

Menos del 50% de la Less than 50% of poblacin es pobre

the population is poor

Lima Met

Lima Prov

Tumbes

Fuente: MINEDU - UMC 2004 Elaboracin: MEF

Madre de Dios

Callao

Moquegua

Pasco

San Martin

Huanuco

Cusco

Huancavelica

Lambayeque

Loreto

La Libertad

Amazonas

Ancash

Cajamarca

Ayacucho

Apurimac

Arequipa

Tacna

Piura

Ica

Brief history of internal armed conflict

Sendero Luminoso Communist Party of Peru a political Marxist, Leninist, Maoist group commonly known as the Shining Path declared 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.

Ayacucho

Claudia Martinez, plastic artist. Invisible.

Shining Path pamphlet

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.

A public primary school

Photo: Anbal Solimano, 1989.

San Marcos public university

Education and collective memory study

Problem: Little progress towards education reform.
- The internal armed conflict is included in the national curriculum - Textbooks treat the internal armed conflict Phase 1 (2012-2013): Research: Study & recommendations published Objective: Provide information on the cultural and political perspectives from which teachers and students view the internal armed conflict and how the subject is addressed in secondary school education.

Phase 2 (2013-2014): recommendations of the first phase is being implemented and tested Objective: Provide the Ministry of Education with a set of tools to build awareness and skills amongst teachers for addressing the topics regarding the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC) .

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. 2. 3. They dont know what and how to teach of the IAC They feel afraid and insecure of teaching about IAC Some of them need mental health help to overcome their experience with political violence

5. Social environment does not legitimize the approaches to the topic 6. There is not educational policy of collective memory

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 and urgent 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 public seminars 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.

Discussion

Why, when and how to teach a recent violent and shamed past?

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

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 a different future.

Thank you