In 1969, Juan Velasco Alvarado’s military government began an ambitious land reform program in Peru, transferring holdings from large estates to peasant cooperatives. Fifty years later this reform ...remains controversial: critics claim it unjustly expropriated land and ruined the Peruvian economy, while supporters emphasize its success in addressing rural inequality and exploitation. Moving beyond agricultural policy to offer a fresh perspective on the agrarian reform, Land without Masters shows how ideological assumptions and state interventions surrounding the reform transformed Peru’s political culture and social fabric. Drawing on fieldwork in three different regions, Anna Cant shows how the government adapted its discourse and interventions to the local context while using the reform as a platform for nation-building. This comparative approach reveals how local actors shaped the regional impact of the agrarian reform and highlights the new forms of agency that emerged, including that of marginalized peasants who helped forge a new social, cultural, and political landscape. Making novel use of both visual and cultural sources, this book is a fascinating look at how the agrarian reform process permanently altered the relationship between rural citizens and the national government—and how it continues to resonate in Peruvian politics today.
Latin American military dictatorships of the twentieth century were often right-wing, elitist and violent. A marked exception was the left-wing Peruvian military government of Juan Velasco Alvarado. ...More exceptional still was the government's use of visual media. Between 1968 and 1970 it produced approximately 20 posters, printed in editions of 50,000 to 200,000, to promote the radical Agrarian Reform Law. These posters provide vibrant representations of the agrarian reform's ideological aspects, which have been under-studied. A detailed exploration of visual communication shows that the government deployed aesthetically sophisticated propaganda and symbols to encourage social participation in the reform. Las dictaduras militares latinoamericanas del siglo XX con frecuencia fueron derechistas, elitistas y violentas. Una notable excepción fue el gobierno militar izquierdista peruano de Juan Velasco Alvarado. Aún más excepcional fue el uso gubernamental de medios visuales. Entre 1968 y 1970 produjo cerca de 20 afiches, impresos en ediciones de 50,000 y 200,000 unidades, para promover la radical Reforma Agraria. Estos pósters proveen una representación vibrante de aspectos ideológicos de la reforma agraria de lo cual hay pocos estudios. Una exploración detallada de la comunicación visual muestra que el gobierno utilizó una estética y una propaganda estéticamente sofisticada y símbolos para alentar la participación social en la reforma. As ditaduras militares latino-americanas do século XX geralmente foram de direita, elitistas e violentas. Uma exceção marcante foi o governo militar peruano de esquerda de Juan Velasco Alvarado. Mais excepcional ainda foi o uso da mídia visual pelo governo. Entre 1968 e 1970 produziu-se aproximadamente 20 cartazes, impressos em edições de 50 mil a 200 mil unidades para promover a radical Lei da Reforma Agrária. Esses cartazes apresentam vibrantes representações dos aspectos ideológicos da reforma agrária, ainda não suficientemente estudados. Uma detalhada examinação da comunicação visual demonstra que o governo utilizou símbolos e propaganda esteticamente sofisticados para incentivar uma participação social na reforma.
In announcing the agrarian reform law, President Velasco declared that the Peruvian campesino would become “truly a free citizen,” whose right to the land finally would be recognized. The campesino ...would “no longer be, as until now, a diminished citizen, a man to be exploited by another man.”¹ As well as being enshrined in the agrarian reform law, this shift in citizenship rights for the peasantry was emphasized throughout the government’s educational policies. Alongside a general educational reform to overhaul the formal education sector, the Velasco government invested in a nationwide literacy program and training for agricultural
The land struggles that came to the fore of Latin American politics in the twentieth century can be traced back to the colonial era. In the years immediately after the 1532 invasion, the early ...Spanish settlers were granted an encomienda by the Spanish Crown, which gave them rights to the tribute and labor of the subjects of certain indigenous chiefs, or caciques.¹ However, as Robert Keith shows, the encomienda system collapsed about thirty years after the Spanish invasion due to massive decline in the indigenous population and a simultaneous increase in the settler population and its consumption needs. Keith’s
SINAMOS ANNA CANT
Land without Masters,
04/2021
Book Chapter
The Velasco government is frequently characterized as an example of “revolution by decree.”¹ The absence of formal checks on the power of the executive allowed the regime to implement reforms that ...were more radical and wide-ranging than any introduced under democratic rule.² Yet as the previous chapter demonstrated, the agrarian reform was an extremely contentious policy that faced opposition from various quarters, especially the landowning elites. To promote agrarian reform at the regional level, the government worked through targeted propaganda and grassroots organizing, and SINAMOS engaged with local politics and translated its message into locally meaningful discourse.
Reflecting on the interviews he conducted in the 1990s and 2000s with people affected by the agrarian reform, Enrique Mayer commented: “In the case of the Peruvian agrarian reform, there is no ...‘official story,’ let alone a ‘history’ of the reform or of Velasco’s military leftist government, that might lay out some guidelines along which people can order their own remembrances.”¹ In that respect, Peru differs sharply from Mexico, where the seventy-one–year rule of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) made the country’s agrarian reforms a key part of its revolutionary narrative.² In Peru, Velasco’s abrupt
The 1969 agrarian reform was characterized by the government’s extensive and innovative use of mass communication. During the course of the agrarian reform, mass communication became a locus of ...intense political struggle. The Velasco government recruited communications professionals and used the mass media in innovative ways to inform and persuade the population about the agrarian reform. Operating on the premise that the creation of a “new Peru” depended on the simultaneous transformation of the country’s economic and cultural systems, it also expropriated the national press, expanded government communications in rural areas, and provided state sponsorship for creative projects in
Introduction Cant, Anna; Robles Ortiz, Claudio
Historia Agraria de América Latina,
04/2020, Letnik:
1, Številka:
1
Journal Article
With immense gratitude to the large number of people who, in several countries and across three continents, have contributed so generously their effort, initiative and commitment to this ...editorial project, we are pleased to present the journal Historia Agraria de América Latina (HAAL). The main purpose of this journal is to promote and disseminate research and interdisciplinary debate on the history of rural societies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our editorial perspective is informed by a wide-ranging conception of agrarian history as a complex and diverse field of research. We seek to disseminate works on a wide range of topics, processes and problems, from technical and economic issues, such as production methods in the ever-challenging field of “cows and plows agricultural history”, to cultural representations of the “countryside”, which are often politically charged and not always so subtle or sophisticated. A journal with this perspective, we think, will help not only to better understand the rural past, but also to reflect on the societies in which we live.
At the same time, this journal aims to be a point of encounter for agrarian historiographies in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are interested in publicizing the research being carried out in different countries, but also in promoting dialogue on theoretical-methodological approaches and historiographic debates. In that respect, our aim is for national, regional and local rural histories to gain relevance beyond their empirical content and use within comparative research, by providing ideas and strategies that can be adopted and adapted to advance the study of agrarian history in other countries, regions and places. To facilitate this encounter among the region’s historiographies–sometimes quite unknown beyond their own national borders–the journal will publish articles and book reviews in Spanish, Portuguese and English, the principal languages in which those who study the rural history of our region write, read and engage in academic discussion. Furthermore, this journal seeks to promote interdisciplinary dialogue; works in economics, anthropology, political science, sociology, cultural studies and other disciplines, that examine rural society from an historical perspective, will also be welcome. Here, we invite you to begin with the first issue.
Anna Cant & Claudio Robles
Co-editors of the first issue of HAAL
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