Title
Collective memories of political violence of health-care providers in Ayacucho, Perú
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
PsychOpen
Abstract
The article presents a study about collective memories of the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC) in Peru (1980-2000) from the perspective of a group of health-care professionals providing services in the region that was most affected by political violence. A brief historical analysis of the IAC is presented. A qualitative design with 15 interviews based on Grounded Theory is used for analyzing the discourse of the participants, and accounting for collective memories of the conflict and the scares that the experience and memory of violence have left in the population and the health-care providers. The analysis focuses on four interrelated axes: (1) collective memories of conflict and its social and psychological consequences; (2) costs and benefits of narrating versus the costs of absence of narrating; (3) recovering memories as a way to overcome psychosocial trauma; and (4) direct experience, personal meanings and effects of exposure to victims’ stories on the health-care providers. Results suggest a scenario of unrelenting psychosocial effects and possible re-traumatization, both in those directly affected and, in the health-care professionals treating them. In addition, central to the participants’ discourse is the importance of acknowledging and claiming the right to construct the memory of the violent period as an act of justice, restoration, mental-health recovery, and strengthening of the social fabric.
Start page
520
End page
535
Volume
9
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Psicología
Ciencia política
Antropología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85119700571
Source
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
ISSN of the container
21953325
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus