La Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad de Cusco me honra al nombrarme Profesor Honorario en una ceremonia que tendrá lugar el 6 (Miércoles) de agosto.

Tuve la oportunidad de dictar en la UNSAAC en 1989 y 1990. Fue una experiencia inolvidable y enriquecedor por muchas razones. Me tocaron alumnos muy dinámicos, con ganas de examinar nuevas perspectivas, desarrollar la historia comparativa, y mejorar sus habilidades como historiadores, sobre todo en la redacción. Me acuerdo su sorpresa al ver la larga lista de lecturas y mi exigencia que todos estuvieran listos a discutir los textos en clase. Sin duda, algunos se fueron debido a mi estilo exigente. Pero se quedaron excelente alumnos, varios de ellos profes ahora, y aprendí mucho de ellos. Con Iván Hinojosa, un gran intelectual, me tocó compartir el curso sobre “Modos de Producción”, símbolo de alguna manera de un curriculum muy rígido. En los cursos logramos tener un diálogo en cada sesión, discusiones que iban de la historiografía hasta el Perú del primer gobierno de Alan García y Sendero.

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In its 2003 final report, the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission calculated the number of dead from the violence that raged between 1980 and 2000 at 69,280. Even though this was more than double the figure usually cited, some specialists believed that the actual number was even higher. Both the Shining Path and the Peruvian Armed Forces hid or disappeared thousands of victims, and many communities and individuals refused to collaborate with the truth commission. Thus, despite the indefatigable work of the commission members, the report left out entire massacres and countless smaller tragedies. Nonetheless, it denounced with rigor and indignation the violence that spread throughout Peru and the shocking silence about it in Lima and beyond.

These two books examine the era of violence and its aftermath. This is not easy reading: gruesome sexual violence, paralyzing personal guilt, and heartbreaking family separations are among the major themes. Both books respectfully and skillfully explore how the primary victims of the violence (the indigenous peasantry of the south-central Andes, in the Ayacucho region) understand the period and seek justice. Both contribute to these efforts as well as the more scholarly examination of how people, communities, and societies remember, forget, and forgive.

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I must admit that I’m particularly excited about the presentation at City Lights. As a kid growing up in Santa Cruz county, a mediocre student but a voracious reader, I would visit the store to feel like a Beat poet. I had read Jack Kerouac’s On The Road more than once and hoped to run into Lawrence Ferlinghetti or Allen Ginsberg.

As an undergraduate at Berkeley, I crossed the bay to visit the store. I remember buying a copy of Kerouac’s Dharma Blues, which I had already read, because it seemed cool to do so. I returned when I lived in Palo Alto for a year and in subsequent visits to Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. Since I moved to Davis I make it there frequently and have taken friends from Peru, Spain, and the east coast.

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Several people have written me in the last few days to ask what my book has to say about Tupac Amaru’s execution on May 18, 1781, 224 years ago today. I believe I give a full account with some new contributions, including an analysis of the wretched torture session, la garrucha, on April 29. His legs tied together and his arms behind his back, weighed down with 100 pounds of lead and iron, Tupac Amaru was slowly pulled to the ceiling via a pulley then dropped down violently, the ropes stopped just before he hit the floor. His bones broke and dislocated, the pain increasing every time he was raised to the ceiling. His first words: “AY, AY, AY, MERCY Lord, AY, AY….” There would be no mercy. The session lasted thirty minutes.

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Entrevista con José Miguel Silva que apareció en El Comercio.  José Miguel sabe mucho de historia y de su oficio de periodista.  Resaltamos algunos de los temas centrales del libro.

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