Carlos Aguirre

A new introduction to the groundbreaking work of one of Latin America’s major Marxist thinkers, Alberto Flores Galindo (1949-1990). Written by two specialists in Peruvian history, this book introduces English readers to his life and work. Flores Galindo wrote several important books on Andean utopianism, José Carlos Mariátegui, subaltern Lima, and more. He also participated in fiery debates on the left about Marxism, democracy, and socialism. In this book, authors cover many of his major topics and contributions, including Peru's rupture with Spanish colonialism, his role as a Marxist public intellectual, his relationship with the Cuban Revolution, the Shining Path and human rights, and his passion for literature.

An ancient knowledge is hidden in myths, legends and dogmas of the great religions. Kept in chains of knowledge, it was revealed in the West by Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Alexandra David-Neel. This essay shows its main concepts in a friendly style.

Durante la mayor parte del siglo XX el Per fue gobernado por reg menes militares y autoritarios en alianza con las lites sociales y econ micas tradicionales. En la d cada de 1920, proyectos radicales de transformaci n (Partido Comunista, APRA) intentaron abrir caminos para el cambio social, algunas veces recurriendo a la violencia; sin embargo, las fuerzas que defend an el statu quo prevalecieron. Hacia mediados del siglo XX nuevos grupos pol ticos y sociales empezaron a movilizarse detr s de proyectos de modernizaci n y de consolidaci n de la democracia representativa. Ello fue interrumpido por un golpe militar en octubre de 1968, que sac del poder a Acci n Popular, cuyo gobierno se vio envuelto en acusaciones de corrupci n y en controversias por la negociaci n de contratos petroleros con empresas extranjeras. Los partidos pol ticos, seg n los militares, hab an fracasado en la defensa de los intereses de las mayor as, de modo que las Fuerzas Armadas sintieron como suya la obligaci n de llevar adelante las transformaciones estructurales necesarias para poner al pa s en el camino hacia la aut ntica soberan a, independencia y justicia social. Un sentimiento nacionalista generalizado acompa al Gobierno Revolucionario de la Fuerza Armada, el cual, al margen de cualquier juicio valorativo, transform radicalmente la sociedad peruana. A los 50 a os del golpe militar de Velasco, presentamos diversas perspectivas que abordan lo que se ha venido a llamar el experimento peruano en el que se aplicaron cambios sociales y pol ticos que se dejaron sentir en las d cadas posteriores e incluso hasta el presente.

The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds is the first major historical study of the creation and development of the prison system in Peru. Carlos Aguirre examines the evolution of prisons for male criminals in Lima from the conception-in the early 1850s-of the initial plans to build penitentiaries through the early-twentieth-century prison reforms undertaken as part of President Augusto Leguia’s attempts to modernize and expand the Peruvian state. Aguirre reconstructs the social, cultural, and doctrinal influences that determined how lawbreakers were treated, how programs of prison reform fared, and how inmates experienced incarceration. He argues that the Peruvian prisons were primarily used not to combat crime or to rehabilitate allegedly deviant individuals, but rather to help reproduce and maintain an essentially unjust social order. In this sense, he finds that the prison system embodied the contradictory and exclusionary nature of modernization in Peru.Drawing on a large collection of prison and administrative records archived at Peru’s Ministry of Justice, Aguirre offers a detailed account of the daily lives of men incarcerated in Lima’s jails. In showing the extent to which the prisoners actively sought to influence prison life, he reveals the dynamic between prisoners and guards as a process of negotiation, accommodation, and resistance. He describes how police and the Peruvian state defined criminality and how their efforts to base a prison system on the latest scientific theories-imported from Europe and the United States-foundered on the shoals of financial constraints, administrative incompetence, corruption, and widespread public indifference. Locating his findings within the political and social mores of Lima society, Aguirre reflects on the connections between punishment, modernization, and authoritarian traditions in Peru.

The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds is the first major historical study of the creation and development of the prison system in Peru. Carlos Aguirre examines the evolution of prisons for male criminals in Lima from the conception-in the early 1850s-of the initial plans to build penitentiaries through the early-twentieth-century prison reforms undertaken as part of President Augusto Leguia’s attempts to modernize and expand the Peruvian state. Aguirre reconstructs the social, cultural, and doctrinal influences that determined how lawbreakers were treated, how programs of prison reform fared, and how inmates experienced incarceration. He argues that the Peruvian prisons were primarily used not to combat crime or to rehabilitate allegedly deviant individuals, but rather to help reproduce and maintain an essentially unjust social order. In this sense, he finds that the prison system embodied the contradictory and exclusionary nature of modernization in Peru.Drawing on a large collection of prison and administrative records archived at Peru’s Ministry of Justice, Aguirre offers a detailed account of the daily lives of men incarcerated in Lima’s jails. In showing the extent to which the prisoners actively sought to influence prison life, he reveals the dynamic between prisoners and guards as a process of negotiation, accommodation, and resistance. He describes how police and the Peruvian state defined criminality and how their efforts to base a prison system on the latest scientific theories-imported from Europe and the United States-foundered on the shoals of financial constraints, administrative incompetence, corruption, and widespread public indifference. Locating his findings within the political and social mores of Lima society, Aguirre reflects on the connections between punishment, modernization, and authoritarian traditions in Peru.