Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Spanish and Portuguese

Although much has been written on the social, economic and political causes of the Peruvian armed internal conflict (1980-2000) and the difficulty in determining who should be counted as a victim during the conflict, there is a lacuna of research that considers how the victims of the violence are represented and recognized within the dominant public sphere. My project seeks to address this gap in the literature on Peru through an analysis of two organizations dedicated to the victims and their families, the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (PTRC 2001-2003) and the National Association of the Family Members of the Kidnapped, Detained and Disappeared in Peru, ANFASEP (1983-present). I draw from Judith Butler's recent works on recognition and the public sphere and Homi Bhabha's theories of performativity in order to assess how the PTRC and ANFASEP frame or represent the victims specifically along the lines of gender, the underlying assumptions that inform the frames used and the kind of recognition conferred to the victims as a result of that framing. I demonstrate how the PTRC fails to take up responsibly the voices and the experiences of the victims such that the victims of the violence are denied agency and presented in the public sphere on the basis of their passivity. Through the eschewal of narratives of victimization and an assertion of the humanity of their loved ones who were disappeared or murdered by the State, ANFASEP affirms the agency of its members as grieving mothers and wives who are actively engaged in battling for the recognition of their losses. My analysis focuses on narratives of the violence produced by the PTRC, including its Final Report, photographic installation and televised public hearings, in addition to ANFASEP's five bulletins published during and just after the conflict, their testimonio, ¿Hasta cuando tu silencio?, and their museum in Ayacucho, Museo de la Memoria de ANFASEP, Para que no se repita. In Chapter 1 I present a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ana del Sarto (Advisor); Laura Podalsky (Committee Member); Fernando Unzueta (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Ethics; Ethnic Studies; Foreign Language; Gender; Hispanic American Studies; History; Holocaust Studies; Latin American Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Museum Studies; Social Research; Womens Studies