News

We are pleased to invite you to the First Colloquium on Latin America at the University of Bayreuth, which will take place on Wednesdays from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. in the Iwalewahaus, Wölfelstraße 2.

The current political and socio-economic crisis in Peru is an occasion to take a look at the country's history to understand the escalation of conflicts since December last year. After initially demanding the release of President Pedro Castillo, the protests are now also calling for new elections and a new constitution; the demonstrators are raising the question of power. The conflict between indigenous, rural and peasant groups, especially from the impoverished south of Peru (the so-called deep Peru), and Lima's "white" elite has deep historical roots. These have erupted repeatedly throughout history, most recently in the 20-year "internal war" (1980-2000) in which the indigenous, rural and peasant population was worn down between Sendero Luminoso and the army. In the perspective of the longue durée of Peruvian history, it becomes visible that the social blocs that are currently confronting each other are also visible in past times, in each case historically and socio-politically concrete, as is also reflected in anthropological research, for example. Anthropological research in Peru, which has been going on for a little more than 100 years, has developed influential and farreaching tools to be able to grasp social and political realities. The question to be explored in this lecture is to what extent this research has contributed to the perception of a population frozen in time, to a non-anticipation of social conflicts and thus also to a stabilization of existing power relations.