Identity and memory as resilience: Applications of liberation psychology in a rural Maya Achi community

Abstract

This study sought to understand interpretations of interconnections between historical trauma, contemporary violence, and resilience in a Maya Achi community currently engaged in promoting peace and social change through popular education. In particular, the ways in which participants drew upon identity and memory in articulating characteristics of community distress and resilience are discussed. The research is informed by liberation psychology and critical perspectives of mental health, particularly considering the challenges inherent in the promotion of collective memory of trauma and resistance in contexts of violence and humanitarian settings. Participant reflections on historical and contemporary violence highlight elements of collective distress, connecting identity and memory with acts of both oppression and resistance. Education and development are signaled as possible sites of resilience but also experienced as sites of power upholding the status quo. Diverse experiences and applications of identity and memory provide insight into the ways in which community organizations working in contexts of political violence might navigate polarizing and paradoxical discourses in order to subvert, co-opt, or adapt to hegemonic cultural, political, and economic power relations in the process of transformation for collective resilience.

Resiliencia y memorias en Perú durante la pandemia

“…La decisión de involucrar la participación de los militares determinó un estatus predefinido de autoridad política del ejército en el manejo de la situación de crisis social, económica y sanitaria, al ser una institución altamente reconocida y respetada dentro de la sociedad peruana (Cáceres et al, 2021, p. 3). A lo mismo, esta situación llevaba evidentes paralelismos con las formas de control social y manejo de la situación de crisis implementadas en el pasado dentro de las zonas rurales del país, eso tanto dentro de la época del CAI como en momentos de crisis económicas o de desastres ambientales (Mitton, 2022).…”