How difficult it is to be God : Shining Path's politics of war in Peru, 1980-1999 / Carlos Ivan Degregori ; edited and with an introduction by Steve J. Stern ; translated by Nancy Appelbaum ... [and others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Degregori, Carlos Iván.

Contributor:

Stern, Steve J., 1951-

Appelbaum, Nancy P.

Series:

Critical human rights

Standardized Title:

Qué difícil es ser Dios. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Sendero Luminoso (Guerrilla group).

Violence--Peru--History--20th century.

Violence.

Political violence--Peru.

Political violence.

History.

Peru--Politics and government--1980-.

Peru.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xix, 250 pages : maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Madison : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2012]

Summary:

The revolutionary war launched by Shining Path, a Maoist insurgency, was the most violent upheaval in modern Peru's history, claiming some 69,000 lives in the 1980s-1990s and drawing widespread international attention. Yet for many observers, Shining Path's initial successes were a mystery. What explained its cult-like appeal, and what actually happened inside the Andean communities at war?

In How Difficult It is to Be God, Carlos Iván Degregori-the world's leading expert on Shining Path and the intellectual architect for Peru's highly regarded Truth and Reconciliation Commission-elucidates the movement's dynamics. An anthropologist who witnessed Shining Path's recruitment of militants in the 1970s, Degregori grounds his findings in deep research and fieldwork. He explains not only the ideology and culture of revolution among the insurgents but also their capacity to extend their influence to university youths, Indian communities, and competing social and political movements.

Making Degregori's most important work available to English-language readers for the first time, this translation includes a new introduction by historian Steve J. Stern, who analyzes the book's contribution, why it matters, and the debates it sparked. For anyone interested in Peru and Latin America's age of "dirty war," or in the comparative study of revolutions, Maoism, and human rights, this work will provide arresting new insights. Book jacket.

Contents:

Beyond orientalism in twentieth-century Peru : Carlos Iván Degregori and the Shining Path war

The years we lived in danger : the armed conflict, 1980-1999

How social sciences failed? On the trail of Shining Path, an elusive object of study

The maturation of a cosmocrat and the construction of a community of discourse

Revolution by handbook : the expansion of Marxism-Leninism in the social sciences and the origins of Shining Path

Youth, peasants, and political violence : Ayacucho, 1980-1983

Harvesting storms : peasant rondas and the defeat of Shining Path in Ayacucho

How difficult it is to be God : ideology and political violence in Shining Path

Open wounds and elusive rights : reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780299289249

0299289249

9780299289232

0299289230

OCLC:

781556020